Remains

For five years, I fought illegal matches in an underground cage ring to scrape together enough money to repay the massive high-interest loan I had taken out to treat my son Luca’s illness. Dragging my still-dislocated left arm, I rushed to tell the father and son the good news. Yet when I reached the door, I saw the capo who managed the cage arena bowing low before my husband, Vicenzo. “Underboss, Eva said she’ll repay the loan in a few days. Do we still keep pretending to pressure her?” Vicenzo idly spun the Browning in his hand, the diamonds set into it worth enough to buy the entire cage arena. “No need. She’s suffered enough these past few years. Even when she had two ribs broken a few months ago, she didn’t dare tell us.” Elena, his sworn sister, seated beside him, let out a soft laugh. “Vicenzo, what if she’s a spy sent by a rival family? After all, you are the underboss of the Carlini family. “Besides, Luca has been pampered since he was little. How could he live with someone who reeks of blood?” My six-year-old son wrapped his arms tightly around her neck and echoed her words. “I don’t want a woman covered in scars as my mommy. Just looking at her wounds makes me feel sick.” Then he turned to her and pouted. “Aunt Elena, I wish you were my mommy.” Vicenzo hesitated only a moment before looking at them indulgently. “Then we’ll test her for another six months. If she remains this obedient, I’ll officially let her become part of the Carlini family.” I watched the farce with cold eyes, because to avoid frightening Vicenzo, the ordinary librarian I believed him to be, I had hidden my identity as the principessa of the Moretti family. Also, to keep from being found by my family and my fiancé, the Don of the Carlini family, I had not touched a single cent of family money. Instead, I chose to earn it with my fists in places piled with the dead. So it seemed my endurance and sacrifice were nothing more than a taming game in their eyes.

I'm Alpha Bruce Smith's most docile and understanding daughter. In fact, I'm the type who obeys literally anyone's orders. When my parents pick me up at the Rogues' den and take me back to the pack, my adopted younger sister, Andrea Smith, begins making fun of me. "I thought the Rogues killed you for sure! I never thought you'd be able to return to the pack, safe and sound! You really are lucky! Why can't you just die already?" With hollow eyes, I just nod quietly. Then, I extend a claw and move to stab myself in the neck without hesitation. My parents are terrified out of their wits. They quickly stop me from hurting myself. But my older brother, Tobias Smith, remains impassive about my condition. "You really love attention that much, huh? What makes you think you can still remain my sister, anyway? You might as well drink some wolfsbane and die!" That night, I grab a bottle of poison and down it immediately. Tobias discovers me afterward. He whisks me to the hospital anxiously. When the doctor tells him that I'd die if he were two minutes later in discovering me, Tobias' complexion turns pale. Some time after that, when Andrea snatches my necklace from me, she loses her balance and falls down the stairs. Her fiance points at me while exclaiming, "It's just a necklace! If anything were to happen to Andrea, you'd better pay the price with your life!" Pay the price with my life, huh? I don't hesitate to draw the silver sword out of its hilt on the wall. Then, I slash my throat with it. My parents happen to witness it. Shell-shocked, they scream at the top of their lungs. "Call an ambulance! Hurry!" Tobias tries to stem the blood flow with trembling hands. He's completely stunned by the ordeal. What everyone doesn't know is that they've been calling me a lowlife during my five-year stay in the Rogues' den. Even if I could live 100 times over, those lives are nothing compared to Andrea. Even if I gave my life, it would never be enough—because to them, my life was never worth anything in the first place.

Kael Silvenia is more likely to be called an orphan. He lost his father at the age of 16 and it is not hidden from his knowledge that his mother had another man when his father was still alive. To make things even more complicated, it got worse when his father passed away. Her mother left him and eloped with another man when he turned eighteen. But even with that fact that her mother abandoned him, he couldn’t dare to loath her. So when the news came to him that his mother had been raped by the man she eloped with and was found thrown into the abyss, his world really collapsed. It's like life really played tough on his part when a fact emerged from her mother's autopsy result that apart from her male partner, there were nine other accomplices in the rape of his mother. Due to the trauma suffered from the findings, after a year of grieving, his mind made an action. It made a different persona. Timothy. His dark persona who is so much far from his weak personality. Timothy searched for the man who caused his mother's death but unfortunately the man is already dead. The only remains he got that has a big involvement on the man's life is a photo of his daughter when he went to the suspect's abandoned home. He found out that the assailant had been separated from his wife and daughter for a long time, so the only picture it has for its daughter was only twelve years old. That's when he decided that he would make sure the man would regret what he had done to his mother. He must have his revenge! Timothy looked for the girl on the picture and not long after, he found a match. Her name is Yngrid Angelique Villegas. As what the assailant did to his mother, Timothy raped Yngrid who was only twenty years old that time. The woman can't do anything but pity herself when he claimed her repeatedly. But despite Timothy's wickedness, Kael's personality prevailed when tears blurred the woman's eyes. He pulled himself together to stop Timothy. Conscience struck Kael's system. He started to investigate the girl's background. To his shock, his conscience swallowed him even more when he realized that Timothy had just mistaken the woman. She's not the daughter of his mother's rapist. He was even more conscientious when it became clear that even the business of Yngrid's parents was also sabotaged by Timothy. Due to lack of ways on how to approach Yngrid's family, he used the company's crisis as an opportunity to offer the Villegas a contract. All the terms that are stated in the contract are in favor of Yngrid's family. But there was only one thing he could not understand on himself. Why did he include in the contract that the woman must marry him?