⋆⁺₊⋆☽ | Verity’s POV | ☾⋆⁺₊⋆

The man who claimed he loved me kept me imprisoned for three years in a villa on one of his private islands. I had no human contact save for the housekeepers who were all female—no other man but him was allowed near me.

When I first arrived, I tried to learn anything about him. All I could gather from the maids’ hushed whispers was that he led a mafia gang. Their fear of even speaking his name confirmed it and finally, the despair sank in—There was no way out from the grasp of such a powerful man.

Valentino visited every few days, trying to win me over with gifts and moonlit dinners. I refused it all and it vexed him deeply.

His obsession ran deep. Valentino found for himself a woman who looked like me to cope with my rejection. The same fiery red hair and honey eyes I had was present in her.

This woman, Aella, was the spitting image of me in the pictures Valentino shared. She could have very well been my twin, and I could not imagine how much he paid to find my copy, one who smiled and laughed, and seemed alive unlike me. But it did not matter. Such a thing couldn’t make me jealous as I imagined was his goal. I had lost my emotions a long time ago.

It was a Thursday evening when Aella stormed into the garden with her clique. I was confused when I heard their loud, nasally voice all the way from afar.

“Didn’t Mr. Consani say this villa is private and no one but him is allowed here? I don’t think this is a good idea, Aella.”

“It’s true. I heard he dug a man’s eyes out and broke his hands because he snuck a peek inside.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Aella bit out in response. “How can anyone sneak in here? It’s an island and that’s just a rumor. I must find out what it is he’s hiding…” She trailed off as she sighted me when they finally reached the garden.

“Who the hell are you?”

“You shouldn’t be here.” I warned quietly. “Leave before my husband gets back. Quickly—”

I could not finish speaking because the sound of a sharp slap rang out. My entire head was thrown to the side and pain spread across my flesh and jaw. I could not help but remember that fateful day when I had done the same to him.

“Your husband? How dare you, you wretched slut!” Aella screamed. She grabbed at my hair and started pulling, dragging me so hard pain rang through my skull, but not once did I retaliate or try to resist.

“You thought you could fool everyone, didn’t you?” Aella spat, words laced with contempt. “Getting plastic surgery to look like me? Sneaking into our private property? And for what? To try and steal Valentino?”

I said nothing. There was no point in fighting back. I had truly become a soulless husk because I could not find fear or anger in me to even react, and this infuriated Aella even more.

“Valentino is in love with me. Do you understand?! Using cheap tricks to try and replace me. I’ll make you regret the day you were born!”

“I didn’t choose this,” I whispered hoarsely. “I am Valentino’s real wife. I am telling you, you should get out of here before—”

“Valentino would never look twice at a pathetic, desperate whore like you. We’re going to deal with you today.” One of the girls said, cutting me off, and the others cheered.

Her words were a death sentence, spoken with chilling certainty. But Aella didn’t act so fast. Her confident demeanor faltered in the wake of my last spoken words, claws digging into my shoulder where she still held me tight. “What did you say? You’re Valentino’s real wife?”

“Yes,” I replied urgently. They had to understand before it was too late. “You’re just my replacement because I refused him. If he knows you’re hurting me, he won’t spare your life.”

Silence descended in the room at my chilling revelation, the sheer weight of it sinking in to all of them. But it wasn’t enough, because Aella’s confused futures contorted once more into rage.

“Liar!” She snarled. “Victor! Enzo!”

Two hefty, muscled men I didn’t see before entered the living room, tall enough that their heads were nearly touching the ceiling. I furrowed my brows in confusion.

“Yes, mistress?”

“Cut off her tongue.”

I used to think if death ever came for me, I would welcome it with open arms. It wasn’t that I couldn’t take my own life, but there were no sharp objects anywhere in the villa on Valentino’s command. I was also under 24/7 surveillance by both security cameras and the watchful maids that lingered around me at all times.

Death was not an escape option from the horror that was my life.

But as I watched those two strange men approach me, my heart did something it hadn’t done in three years. It began to beat, jackhammering away in my chest so hard I thought I was going to have a cardiac arrest.

I did not want to die…

I had no plan, no clear escape route. My mind was a chaotic swirl of terror and determination. I had to think fast. If only there was a way to confirm. Shit! I didn’t have my phone with me. My gaze snapped to Aella as I scrambled away from the approaching bodyguards.

“Wait! Just call him!” I yelled, stretching out trembling, pleading hands in desperation. “Please, I know Valentino loves you more. But you can prove it, yes?” Even my voice trembled, but I pushed on, “J- Just call him and see—”

“I’m giving you both this bitch to do as you see fit.” Aella cut me off, ignoring my pleas completely. “Whoever tortures her the most gets a reward of two million dollars this very evening!”

Immediately, one of the men lunged toward me and I screamed as I fell over myself trying to get away. Their eyes gleamed determinedly at the promise of money but determination settled in my gut beside the fear.

I did not want to die!

Adrenaline surged through me, fueling every inch of my body as I scrambled backward, falling over the concrete table beside me. The vase that was on it shattered on the floor and my hand darted toward the largest shard I could find, fingers trembling as I wrapped them around the jagged edge. The pain of it slicing into my palm barely registered over the fear coursing through me.

“Stay away!” I screamed, holding the shard out in front of me. My voice was hoarse, shaking, but filled with raw desperation.

The bigger of the two men paused, a smirk tugging at his lips as if amused by my pathetic attempt to defend myself.

“She’s got some fight in her,” he said, turning to Enzo.

“Not for long,” The other man replied, stepping forward.

The two men surged forward, but to my utter shock, it wasn’t them who got to me first. Aella and her clique took matters into their own hands and descended on me, a chaotic flurry of clawing hands and mocking laughter.

They tore at my clothes, ripping the fabric away as I thrashed and screamed, trying to fight them off. I fought like I hadn’t fought in years, not since three years ago when I was dragged kicking and screaming from that church into a black SUV.

But my strength was no match for their numbers, and soon I was left exposed and trembling. My dignity was stripped away along with the last shreds of fabric.

Tears blurred my vision, but I refused to let them fall. I refused to let her see me cry. “Valentino will—”

“Valentino will what?” she snapped, cutting me off. “You’re nothing to him. You think you can waltz in here and steal what’s mine?” Aella sneered, her eyes glinting with malice. “Since you’re so desperate for men, you can have a few, you slut.”

Aella stepped away and as promised, she ordered her bodyguards to defile me till I bled all over the floor.

Valentino did arrive that day, albeit late. His eyes were wide and unmoving as he took in the gruesome scene. And Aella, so foolish, ran to meet him.

“My love, I found this impostor dressed up like me to try and steal you from me. She called herself your wife, can you imagine?! Look, I took care of her for you.”

She smiled up sweetly and proudly, unaware of the murderous rage brewing in Valentino’s mind.

⋆⁺₊⋆☽ | Verity’s POV | ☾⋆⁺₊⋆

Pain.

So much pain I’d never felt before. Pain I knew I didn’t deserve.

“Valen… tino…” I moaned weakly. Pathetic.

Even though I did not care for this monster, I still felt unbearable shame as his eyes took my sorry state in. My eyes were swollen shut, but I felt it. The heat of his gaze.

“What are you doing here, Aella?” Valentino spoke finally, voice cold and empty. “You know I strictly warned you about this island after you asked, so why would you disobey my orders like this?”

Aella stuttered, clearly at a loss for words. She’d obviously never been told off by her beloved husband before, but I guessed there was a first time for everything. A sick satisfaction rolled deep in my disfigured gut as I waited for this to play out how I’d warned Aella, how I’d warned all of them.

No one messed with Valentino’s prized possessions. No one did and lived.

“Honey,” Aella’s voice turned sweet once again, “I met this suspicious woman who snuck into the villa and was creeping around. She made so many ridiculous claims to try and get away with it but I followed her and taught her a lesson.”

“Is that so?”

Aella laughed happily at the deceptively approving tone Valentino had taken. “Yes!”

“It’s true.” One of her lackeys piped up in support. “Aella knows how much this place means to you. We won’t go messing around in it however we like.”

Such useless words. I could practically feel Valentino’s anger radiating off him in waves. Any time now, he was going to tear into these girls.

“Did any of you go into the main residence?” A chorus of ‘No’s filled the space and Valentino continued, voice deep and dangerous, “Good. Thank you, my dearest Aella. You shouldn’t come here again in the future, but I can rest easy knowing you’re so dedicated to my safety.”

Wait.

What?

Where was the anger? The punishment?

“Goddamn,” Valentino swore. “You f*cked her up so bad she’s barely recognizable. I’m proud of you.”

The sound of kissing reached my ears along with an obnoxious female moan, and disbelief filled me achingly. Was I really so swollen and disfigured that Valentino could not recognize me? That he did not question for a moment the coincidence of Aella and her men violating some random woman when I was the only one here?

I wanted to sob. I wanted to scream and curse Valentino out for believing a fake ‘me’ over the real Verity he claimed he knew inside and out. The Verity he claimed he loved.

I wanted to laugh at the idea that I could have fallen for him eventually, and all his lies. But I could not manage a sound anymore, not to talk less of his name to utter a curse. Just a single tear rolling down the side of my face.

Even as I lay there, awaiting what came next for my abused body, I had to listen to more of Valentino’s pretenses of love for Aella.

“Do you know what I like about you the most?” He asked in a sweet voice. An unfamiliar twinge of jealousy went through me at the thought of him using a tone he reserved only for me on that fake version.

“What, dear?”

“I love it when you get all ferocious when it comes to me. It’s so hot.” The monster murmured softly. “But next time, don’t take these matters personally into your own hands. Just as you want to protect me, I want to protect you too. And this place is private. If not for you, no one here would leave alive.”

“Oh, baby… I love you.” More kissing sounds of kissing. I wanted to retch.

“Enzo, take care of her.” Finally. I needed relief from the pain. I just wanted them to get this display over with so Valentino could go in the house and discover I wasn’t there. When he realized truly what his precious ‘wife’ had done, I would watch him make Aella pay. But as was my luck in this world, that wasn’t what Valentino meant.

His next words, spoken with pure disgust, sent a chill down my spine. “Find somewhere on the island and bury her alive so she can suffocate to death. This'll be another lesson for future trespassers.”

Huh…?