Valerie's POV

"Not bad..." He says after checking me out, his icy gray eyes looking at me like he was staring into my soul.

I scoffed at his comment, could he get any more rude? I think quietly.

"What's your name?" He asks.

"Excuse me?" I ask in return.

" What-is-your-name?" he deadpanned, annoyance written all over his face.

"Drop the act, I'm aware you've been keeping tabs on me for almost a month now. How is it possible you don't already know my name" I say, rolling my eyes at him.

He takes a quick step towards me, closing the distance between us. His hands reached for my neck and enclosed it, his grip not tight enough yet to stop my breathing entirely.

"You better watch your mouth kitten, you might not survive another day here if you continue like this. Now what the fuck is your name" He said coldly, his grip on my neck tightening.

"Valerie" I choked out.

"Good girl" He says then releases my neck from his right grip making me pant heavily. Turns his back and starts heading out of the room.

"Fucking bitch" I mutter quietly.

"What did you just say?" He asks, turning to look at me. He glares at me coldly, his eyes holding so much malice I almost peed my pants.

"No-nothing" I say, stuttering.

He raises one eyebrow, eyes still glaring at me.

"I swear I didn't say anything just now" I lied swiftly.

"The marriage contract is on the table over there" he says pointing at the marble table at the center of the room. "Read it and sign it immediately. Bring it to my office when you're done, ask any of the maids to direct you" He says, completely ignoring my slip up and walks out.

I exhale in relief.

That feeling of relief only lasted for a second as I realized what he just told me.

Marriage contract?? So soon?? Why did I think I was going to get some time? Of course he was going to make it as quickly as possible.

I walked over to the marble table and indeed there was a contract on top of it. It wasn't like the regular marriage contract I believe… This one had so many clauses.

I flump on the fancy looking couch and start to read the clauses.

Everything seemed normal until I got to section C of the contract. It was titled Party B Do's and Don'ts.

'Party B' refers to me.

'Party A' referring to Stephano.

section C contained…

Party B will not raise her voice at Party A

Party B will do what Party A asked, when she's asked and exactly how she was asked.

Party B would be submissive, and totally obedient to party A

Party B shall never have any affairs and will only refer to Party A to satisfy her sexual urges.

And most importantly, Party B must bear Party A's child who would be the heir.

What the hell was all this! no way I was signing a shitty contract like this.

"Hey, where is Stephano's office?" I asked one of the maids.

She explains the directions for me. I marched to the direction of his office, fuming in anger.

Not bothering to knock. I opened the door immediately and threw the contract on his office desk, startling him a bit, but he managed to regain his composure immediately.

"What has gotten into you?" his relaxed expression quickly switched to anger once again.

"I think the right question would be, what the hell are these clauses for?" I ask in annoyance.

"what?" he asks again, pretending to be unaware of what I was talking about.

"What is the meaning of the last two clauses?" I ask back. Of course I didn't care about the other clause, I'm going to break them anyways.

"I wasn't aware you weren't educated enough to not know what they mean" He says smirking.

"It simply means I'm the only one allowed to fuck you, and you're going to carry my child" He explains mockingly.

"Who says I'm going to let you have sex with me?" I say, raising my voice.

"Oh darling…" he says, getting up and walking closer to me.

"If I want to fuck you, I can" He says in a husky voice, his right hand roaming down my shoulder. Pausing at my left breast and squeezing it lightly. His hand continues going downwards, pausing again between my legs. His hand slips inside my lace panties. I feel three of his fingers enter my hole without any warning, making me release a loud moan. My heart rate increases as he slowly slides his fingers in and out, like he wanted to torture me.

A sweet torture.

My moans echoes loudly in his office.

He chuckles at my reaction and withdraw his fingers, snapping me back to my senses.

"Listen kitten, I fucking own you now. Sign the goddamn papers" He says, with a smirk on his face. Very much aware of the effect he has of me.

In daze, I sign the papers realizing I have no choice in this. Threw the files on his table once again just for my own silly satisfaction, then stomped out of his office.

I go back to my bedroom, Pat showed me earlier.

Sitting on the bed, I reflect on how my entire life just changed within a day. Tears starts to drop slowly from my eye, I was full on bawling my eyes out minutes later. In exhaustion, I fall into a dreamless sleep.

°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°

"Valerie..." a short pause follows.

"Miss? please wake up" I hear Pat voice calling me, while tapping on my shoulder slightly.

"What is it?" I groan in frustration. If there was one thing I hated the most, it would be being woken up from my sweet sleep.

"It's time for dinner. The Don wants to have it with you" she says softly.

"Tell him I'm not interested, can't I have dinner here in this room. I don't want to see his ugly face" I deadpan.

"Valerie, you know the Don is anything but ugly" she says giggling, almost like she had a crush on him.

"And no, Don has made it compulsory to have dinner with him at all times. Exception for when he's out on a business trip" she tells me.

I frown, hearing this information and hoping he's out on trips frequently.

"Okay, I'll be down in a bit" I muttered.

"Sure" she says, then leaves the room.

I get up from the bed and walk over to the bathroom room. I'm startled by the sight I saw. I look like a serious mess, my eyes red and puffy indicating I had been crying. My strawberry blonde hair in tangled mess due to my sleep.

I also forgot to cleanse my make up before falling asleep, now I look like a ghost. The tears from earlier really messed up my make-up. I wonder how Pat looked at me like that without making any comments.

I quickly wash my face, comb my hair and left the room after freashening up.

"Took you long enough" Stephano says, after noticing my arrival.

"At least I showed up" I replied, knowing fully well I was playing with fire.

"I'm going to ignore your attitude since it's your first day here, next time I won't hesitate to bend you over and spank that ass red" He replied.

My face turns deep red at that, memories from the encounter in the office flooding back. I squeeze my thighs together trying to ignore the foreign sensation between my legs.

Stephano doesn't fail to notice this, but thankfully he ignored it without making any comments.

I eat my food quietly, silence filling the room. I start to grow annoyed by the awkward silence. Stephano didn't seem to have any problem with eating in silence.

"Why did you pick me?" I ask, breaking the silence.

"I didn't exactly picked you" He replied, not bothering to look at me. His focus fully on his food.

"What do you mean?" I ask curiously.

"Just stop with the questions" he stated.

"Just tell me please" I groan, not planning on stopping until I get answers.

"You really want to know why you are here?" he asks.

"Yess" I saw, nodding my head repeatedly.

"Follow me" He replies.

Finding out

Valerie's POV

"Follow me" He says, then got up from his chair. Ignoring his unfinished food, he heads out.

I quickly got up and rushed after him, curious on what was happening. It was already really pretty late when we stepped out of the mansion.

"Where are we going?" I ask, following him as he enters one of his numerous cars.

"Just shut up and follow me, do you want to find out or not" He asks coldly.

Not wanting to annoy him any further, I keep quiet and just wait patiently till we get to the destination.

We past through familiar streets, I've come to memorize by heart. We were heading to my grandparents house I figured.

But why?

It hasn't been a day since I left this house. I wasn't feeling really excited to return because of how betrayed I felt towards my grandparents. Although staying with Stephano wasn't an exciting option...

Soon after we arrive and he the parks in our driveway.

"What are we doing here?" I ask in confusion.

"Again, stop with the questions." he deadpanned.

He rings the doorbell located at the doorway and wait for the reply. It doesn't take a minute before the door opens, revealing my grandma and her face morps into shock immediately she sees us.

"Wh-what" she stutters, trying to process what was happening.

"Hello ma'am, would you mind explaining the situation to Val?" He asks. He was surprisingly polite, that was the least I expected of him.

I also didn't fall to notice his nickname for me…

"ohh… sure" my grandma smiles for the first time today.

"I'll leave you guys to it then" Stephano says then walks back inside the car, waiting for me.

"Come in darling" my grandma says softly to me.

I followed her inside without a word, still very mad at her.

I sit down directly opposite her, waiting for her explanation.

"Where do I even begin…" she muttered.

"From the start. I want to know everything" I replied.

" Well you see… Your father's business went bankrupt three months ago" she starts.

"What does that have to do with me? that man already cut off all connections with me ten years ago" I say coldly.

"It gets more complicated than that. Your father wanted to save his already sinking business, so he took a loan from Stephano. Using you as his collateral" she drops the information calmly, trying to reason with me.

"He did what?!" I screamed, immediately getting up from my sitting position. How dare he cause more trouble in my life after happily abandoning me years ago. When I was just ten for god sake! seeing me as too much of a burden.

"Calm down, I know it's hard to process. I can understand how you feel, but keep in mind that the deed has already been done" she says, maintaining her calm composure.

"What happened next?" I ask, trying to calm down my rage.

"Unfortunately, your father wasn't able to save his sinking business. He had to hand you over to Stephano since you were the collateral. Of course we refused when your father told us, but then he threatened to kill both I and your grandpa if we didn't back off. I'm so sorry Valerie, we really had no choice. I'm so sorry we couldn't protect you" She says.

By now she had lost her calm composure, her face already streaming with tears. Unlike her, all I could do was stare blankly in shock.

How could he be so heartless? threatening their lives like it didn't matter. Where was his conscience?

I had no tears left to shed. I had cried so much already for today.

"Please forgive us Valerie, we really had no choice. I'm sorry I screamed at you earlier, I didn't mean to" I hear my grandpa say, making me look up.

"Don't apologize, I get it now. You guys really had no choice..." I whisper softly.

"Thanks for understanding," my grandma says, pulling me to her warm embrace. My grandpa will join soon.

ding ding

The sound from the doorbell makes us separate from our emotional embrace. I had already forgotten Stephano was waiting outside for me.

"Bye darling, try to visit sometime if you can" my grandma says teary eyed.

We exchanged goodbyes and left the house.

Stephano didn't utter a word throughout the ride home, allowing me to process the new information.

Damn! What a chaotic day…

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

The next morning when I woke up, I felt even more annoyed with my new situation. Stuck in this oddly quiet mansion, being the wife of a dangerous Mafia leader.

It was all too much...

I couldn't bring myself to accept this was my new life. I sit in bed trying to come up with a plan, a solution hopefully.

I just wanted a way out.

What if I went back to my mom? I know she left me too to focus on my career. But she's doing a lot better I believe. I haven't had any contact with her for ten years now, but I'm aware she sends funds to her parents so they could take care of me.

Just maybe she will be kind enough to accept me back when I explain the situation to me. I know where she lives too, I just never bothered to visit her because of the hatred I had towards her.

It was in a far away city too. Just perfect! Stephano would probably not find me there too.

With that thought in mind, I bolted out the bed and rushed to the bathroom so I could freshen up.

I sing happily in excitement of leaving this place, as I take off my nightgown.

I entered the bathroom, stepped into the shower and washed my body thoroughly with a vanilla scented body wash.

I made use of all the fancy bathroom supplies I could find. I mean since this was my last day here, I have to make the most of it… right?

I hum a song as I dry my hair, straighten it too. I applied some make up, just for the fun of it. I was feeling really dizzy since I was getting my ass out of this place.

Throwing on some comfortable clothes, a sweatshirt and leggings. I wanted to feel at ease since I was going to be stuck in a public seat on the train for hours.

I take my phone and credit cards, deciding to carry no other extra loads so I wouldn't make my plan obvious.

With that I make my way to the front door.

"Are you going somewhere, miss?" one of the house maids asks.

"Yes. is there any problem?" I ask in annoyance.

"Umm… The Don has instructed that you shouldn't leave the house unless it's something really important and urgent" she replies timidly.

"I have to go get some tampons, mother nature showed up today and I already ran out of tampons" I lied without missing a bit.

" Ohh… I can give you my spare sanitary pads if you want. Or I could help you get the tampons" she offers, smiling brightly.

"Thanks for the offer, but I prefer tampons and don't worry I can get them myself" I say to her, trying to maintain the fake smile on my face.

"Okay sure" she replies, finally backing off.

I exhale in relief and rush out of the mansion, trying to avoid any more questions. Luckily the guards just ignored me when they saw me. Escaping Stephano's mansion was so easy.

Too easy… it almost got me worried, but I quickly trash the negative thoughts.

I called for a taxi when I was a bit far from the mansion surrounding. Five minutes later the taxi arrived. I gave the driver the location and relaxed in the back seat as we headed to the Metro.

Soon after we arrive, and excitedly skip over to the next moving train after paying the taxi.

I feel a sudden urge to pee, so I walk down the lonely hallway leading to the restroom. I still had ten minutes before the train was ready to move anyways, so I didn't have to worry.

After doing my business in the restroom, I leave the rest room and start walking out of the lonely hallway.

Just before I walk out, my vision is suddenly covered by a black cloth placed over my head. Strong hands circling around my waist, pulling me back with so much force.

"Hello darling" I hear an unfamiliar voice say.

Hostage.

My vision is suddenly covered by a black cloth placed over my head. Strong hands circling around my waist, pulling me back with so much force.

"Hello darling" I hear an unfamiliar voice say.

I try to scream for help but his other hand immediately covers my mouth, muffling my voice. I start thrashing around, trying to free myself from his tight grip. I managed to remove the blind fold from my eyes.

"Stay still, don't make this any harder. Well… if you don't want to get hurt" He says, voice coated in anger.

Ignoring his demands, I continued to try and free myself.

I wanted to scream but the person behind me still had his hand over my mouth, then hurled me inside the car, it was a black van I had always seen in movies associated with kidnapping. I looked around and saw two masked men in the back seat and one masked person in the front. The car speeds down the unfamiliar streets.

After what seemed like hours of driving the car finally came to a halt. Someone picked me up and took me outside then dropped me on the ground. “Ow, that hurt,” I said to myself. I slowly rise to my feet.

In an attempt to free myself, I punched one of the men hard on his face. My knuckles turned red at the painful impact.

"Stupid girl" he snarls, then I feel something placed over my nose. Having an idea of what it could be, I tried to stop my breathing for as long as I could . Of course I couldn't do that for long, I immediately started to lose consciousness as I inhaled the substances in the cloth placed over my nose.

"Good" I faintly hear him say in a mocking manner.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~~•~~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

Eyes covered…

Small whispers everywhere.

I felt slightly dizzy and disoriented, as if I had awoken from a slumber, but I couldn’t have fallen asleep. The last thing I remember was walking back from the restroom, then boom, suddenly I’m here.

I tried to move my body from its sitting position but I couldn't get up. My hands had been tied behind my back, waist tied to the chair. I was stuck.

In summary, I've been kidnapped.

"oh look, she's finally awake" I heard a male voice say.

"Finally! take off her blindfolds" Another man said, I could tell he was annoyed.

The cloth is removed from my head and I blink repeatedly to adjust my eyes to this new setting.

I took a quick look around, trying to recognize my surroundings. It was too strange, it looked like I was in an abandoned warehouse. There were no windows in the warehouse, so that iron door at the corner of the room was my only chance at escape. There were two men in black standing in front of me, they looked strict and dangerous.

"What do you want from me?" I managed to ask, my voice cracking a bit.

"Something important, or rather someone" One of the men says, while chuckling a bit.

"Don't worry, we won't harm you if you just do your part and stay still. All we want is that husband of yours crawling on his knees" The other man stated.

"And you think you can achieve that by bringing me here?" I ask mockingly.

If there was one thing I'm sure of it would be that Stephano would never get on his knees for anyone, especially me.

"Stephano doesn't give two fucks about me" I continued.

"Then we might just have to kill you then, since you are unimportant" He said, while dragging my hair with so much force. I screamed in pain.

"No no, please don't kill me" I begged, feeling as though he might be able to hear my heart pounding inside my chest. Wondering if he might be able to hear my heart pounding furiously inside my chest.

"Don't kill her now, she might still be useful. Let's just lock her up here while she starves here until Stephano comes. And if her words are true, she might as well starve till death comes." The other man who I assumed to be the boss said with so much malice in his voice.

These men were brutal! I could feel goosebumps all over my body.

•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~~•~•~•~•~~•

Stephano's POV

"Boss, Lugard's men have captured your wife" One of my men said to me.

Of course Lugard would try to do something stupid. After he heard I already got married to someone else who wasn't his daughter he was very furious. My father had made a deal to join the two Mafia families together through our marriage so the whole rival nonsense would come to an end. The idea wasn't appealing to me so of course I rejected it.

"How did they manage to get past the mansion security?" I questioned darkly.

"They didn't. Your wife planned to escape just like you predicted. I believe she was captured while still at the metro" He responded.

"Hmmm… serves her right. Prepare the men for tomorrow when we would rescue her. Let her spend the night in Lugard's warehouse, that should teach her a lesson" I said, smirking.

"You mean we shouldn't rescue her today?" he asks in confusion.

"Did I stutter? get the fuck out of here" I glared at him, still maintaining my calm composure.

He quickly rushed out of my office not wanting to piss me off, very much aware of how brutal the consequences could be.

I smirk in satisfaction knowing how predictable everything went. Valerie being naive failed to realize she's now a major target after becoming my wife. I was aware his men wouldn't dare kill her, they were too much of a pussy to do that.

I already knew where they took Valerie to.

Predictable fuckers...

Questioning.