~VALENTINA MONROE~

I had been knocked unconscious.

The last thing I remembered was Kael throwing me over his shoulder after putting a bullet through my thigh. Everything after that was darkness. How long I'd been out, I didn't know. Where he'd taken me, I knew even less.

As I opened my eyes, I realized that I was in a stuffy enclosure, barely lit, with shadows stretching across the concrete walls. It was unfamiliar but resembled prison walls. My enemy's prison walls.

I was in so much pain. My head ached as though it'd been split apart, my muscles throbbed, and my legs felt numb. I was standing, but I guess I must have been doing that for hours as I couldn't feel my legs any longer.

Slowly, I attempted to move. That's when I discovered that I couldn't. My hands were stretched above my head, secured by chains attached to the ceiling. Every shift of my body caused the metal to bite harder into my skin.

The robe I had worn at the airport was gone, and as I looked down at myself, I saw that I was just in the sleeveless undergarments I had worn beneath, leaving me exposed to the hot air and my skin dripping with water.

The place where I had been shot on my thigh was wrapped tightly with bandages. I couldn't even tell if it still hurt because I could barely feel my body anymore.

This was exactly what he wanted. To break me. Getting caught by my father's other enemies suddenly felt merciful. Because I knew I would encounter worse at Kael's hands. He wanted me alive. And now that he's got me, he would make me wish I was dead.

The sound of the door creaking open shattered the silence. My heart jumped. I lifted my head immediately, expecting to see him.

Instead, a boy walked inside.

At first glance, he couldn't have been much older than nineteen. Dark hair, black clothes, and sharp eyes. There was something unsettling about him however, something in his eyes that seemed far older than his age. He carried a bucket in one hand and without a word, he approached. Then threw the entire bucket of water at me.

I gasped as freezing water drenched me from head to toe, the shock stealing my breath.

"What the hell!" I hissed.

The boy remained completely silent.

Water dripped from my hair and down my face while I stared at him. "Where's Kael?" I asked, but his silence was deafening.

"Please, I need to speak to him," I pressed desperately.

The boy only tilted his head a little as though I was uttering gibberish, then he turned to leave.

"Please. Just tell him I want to talk," I yelled as the door shut behind him, leaving me alone once again.

My arms were on fire from the strain and, unable to bear it any longer, I began to sob. The ugly sound echoed in the empty room and it was humiliating, for my father taught me to be much stronger.

But damn him! He was the reason for all this. The reason why I could never live a normal life as he had enemies everywhere.

Still, I knew I couldn't blame him for Kael. Him becoming my enemy was all my doing. I had a choice and I chose to betray and destroy him.

The sound of someone tsking echoed through the room, and it instantly froze me. Slowly, I lifted my head and found Kael standing near the doorway. I hadn't even noticed him enter the room, but that didn't matter.

He was here now.

His hands were folded across his chest as he leaned against the door, watching me. He was dressed in a black suit and black gloves. His presence spiking a great sense of unease in me.

"Crying already?" His voice was calm. Too calm, and that felt more frightening than rage. Like he'd already decided just how he was going to peel me layer by layer and punish me.

I watched him approach me, and I was suddenly unable to speak. What do I say? Saying sorry was nothing. It wouldn't make up for what I'd done. It wouldn't heal the fact that I was the reason for his mother's death. The reason his empire had burned down.

He settled into the iron chair in front of me and I got a clear view of his face. The same face that had hunted me every night for the past eight years, only more mature now. More striking. Familiar, yet somehow unfamiliar.

His gaze settled on me and my chest tightened. There was no hint of warmth or mercy for what he was putting me through. Instead, the smirk plastered on his lips told me he was rather delighted and wanted to see me suffer even more.

Fair enough.

"What do you think your father would say if he could see you right now? The little whore you've become?" His tone was mocking, his eyes daring me to look away from him.

"Disappointed?" A smile touched his mouth. "I think he'd be ashamed. But he's too far in the ground to care."

The words struck harder than I wanted to admit.

My father was dead.

No matter how complicated our relationship had been, no matter how many mistakes he'd made, hearing Kael speak about him like that still hurt.

I swallowed against the tightness in my throat.

"Kael, I know you're angry. I know you hate me very much..."

"Do you now?" He cut me off and I let out a shaky breath.

"I made mistakes I can never undo. I know an apology means nothing after everything I took from you. But not a day has passed that I haven't regretted it."

"Really touching. But unfortunately, time cannot be reversed, so save your bullshit," he said, getting up and stalking closer to where I stood restrained. "We do agree on one thing though. Sorry fixes nothing."

"Please, Kael."

"Relax, sweetheart. Save the begging for later."

"Please..." I pushed on. "I'm really sorry. I swear I never meant for you to get hurt or for your mother to die."

The last words escaped before I could stop them, and instantly, every trace of expression vanished from his face. The silence that followed was terrifying.

His jaw tightened.

That guilt had lived with me since. But I never meant for it to happen. Surely, he didn't think I was that evil, right?

My father had used me as bait for Kael. He wanted me to get close to him and report back secrets as Kael had always operated as a lone wolf. He refused to bow or bring Green Veil underneath the Uno Conglomerate and that made my father seek for ways to bend him to his will.

I was young and stupid and desperate for my father's approval. I had no idea that it would cause a war. Or that Kael's secrets that I exposed would end up destroying him and everything he held dear.

"Don't." His tone changed at my words, sounding more dangerous.

"I—"

"Don't you ever dare." This time the warning came sharper.

His eyes locked onto mine. Cold and merciless as he fisted his hands. He looked as though he was contemplating killing and finishing me off right there.

However, he held himself back. Then that smirk returned.

"You stole a watch from me," he reminded me.

Right, I actually did. I sold it off for ten thousand dollars. It was my escape plan. What Ava and I used to board the plane. I wondered what Ava was thinking. I wondered if she was safe. She had gone to the restroom at the time Kael arrived and took me off with him. She must be worried sick at my disappearance.

"It's made of diamonds and it costs a million dollars."

My eyes widened.

I knew I was being cheated while selling the watch, but I took it anyway because I was desperate and couldn't afford to waste any more time. However, I didn't expect it to be that expensive.

"To me, however, it's priceless because it has my mother's favourite necklace melted into it."

Shit!

That made it worse. I sold it off to a random jeweller and it turned out to be even more important. Priceless. Something that reminded him of his mother.

Shit! I was in serious trouble. I could tell by the way he was staring at me.

"I need it back."

"I sold it. I'm so sorry. I had no idea. I didn't know." I tried to explain, but he wasn't buying it.

"I'll give you three options, Valentina. You've taken a lot from me and it's only reasonable I return the favour. However, I am not cruel like your father, so I will give you a choice to decide your fate." He said, and dread crawled up my throat as he raised one gloved finger between us.

"I hand you to Theodore, and every enemy who's spent two years hunting Rudolf Monroe's missing daughter gets to decide how slowly you die."

I didn't breathe.

"Or." A second finger. "I leave you here in this prison. No light. No visitors. You rot here until your body gives up, and nobody outside this house will ever know what happened to you."

My pulse stumbled hard enough that the chains rattled.

"Or." His voice dropped, and something darker moved behind his eyes. "You work for me. As a courtesan at Green Veil Club and anything else I want you to be. You do as I say every time. You'll belong to me."

He finished.

Working as a whore for him at his club? Belonging to him? That sounded terrifying.

"Don't look so gloomy. It isn't anything different from what you already are." The insult found its mark exactly where he'd aimed it. "It's mercy, in fact. You must pay for your debt one of these three ways."

Except I knew this wasn't just about the watch. He wanted to break me and he would achieve it using any of those three options.

"Fine. I choose the last," I said, and his smile grew even more cunning.

"Excellent choice."

He moved then, circling behind me, and I lost sight of him entirely. I felt him instead— the heat of him at my back. He was close enough that awareness crawled down my spine despite every part of me screaming that fear was the only thing I was allowed to feel right now.

"There is one more thing," he said from behind me and my heart thumped faster

"I like to make known what belongs to me." I felt his voice low against my ear. He must have moved closer and my body went rigid.

"As you work to repay your debt, I want every man who looks at you..." He paused. "Who touches you..." His voice dropped lower, almost seductive under different circumstances. "And who fucks you, to know exactly who you belong to."

The door opened before I could find an answer. A woman walked in, red hair packed into a low ponytail, black leather fitted close enough to look like armour, and unbothered by whatever scene she'd just stepped into.

"Maeve here is going to give you a tattoo," Kael said.

Maeve's gaze flicked between us, assessing. "Where?" She asked.

Kael’s hand found me before he answered. His gloved fingers pressed against my lower back, resting just above the curve of my backside. The leather should have blocked any real sensation. But it didn't. Heat shot through me anyway, traitorous, unwanted, and I despised my own body for answering a man who'd just given me three ways to die.

"My name. Make it bold here." He said, leaving me stunned.