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Chapter 1

Just The Beginning....

I am sitting inside a personal jet, which is owned by Balthazar de Lucas. He's an infamous underground mafia and he has his hands in almost every illegal business.

You must be wondering how do I know all of this?

Well, the merciless mafia has told me himself. In fact, he is sitting right beside me and reading today's newspaper like a normal person.

But even though he's doing what a normal person does usually, there's nothing normal about him. The way he carries himself, speaks volumes about him and his personality. Being on the run for almost 3 years, has taught me enough about looking over my shoulder every now and then and reading people like an open book.

Balthazar is no exception, he's simply what he wants to be and can turn ruthless any minute. He's the man of promises, not action. He will keep his words only when he sees fit, otherwise he'll do as he pleases.

I don't know if this feature makes him appear unpredictable or foolish.

In my opinion, that's foolish.

Those people who have a mind and lots of money, only think that they are the most powerful person alive. But those people who know how to use that mind and money, they don't have to think they are powerful.

They already know that they are.

They don't have to separate themselves from the real world and build a new world to live in an illusion, just for feeling powerful. We all become weak and start feeling powerless when we're in the real world, because there we have to actually fight for our position.

And the person who fights and wins, is in the true words.... the most powerful person alive.

I shake my head, imperceptibly.

Not the right time to work on your understanding of human personality and the functioning of the real and the illusional world.

Get the hell out of your head!

I think I'm still in shock and the reality hasn't settled in yet, otherwise I wouldn't have been sitting here so calmly. Maybe that's also one of the reasons why I've stopped crying and fighting and begging everyone.

5 hours....

5 hours have passed since my parents left me behind after handing me over to a stranger, in the name of paying off a debt.

It's half past 3 in the afternoon right now, the exact same time 3 years ago when I had cheated and run away from my fate.

But you see, life has a very wicked mind. It takes you back to your destination which you've been dreading the most, but not before it gives you a taste of something new, something different, just to make sure you suffer even more when you're thrown in the cruel arms of your fate.

You'll forever be wondering what if I had done this or done that. And there's no bigger torture than that, nothing breaks your heart and your soul like this.... Wondering for the rest of your life, about the life you could have if you had chosen to live your life like that.

You want to know how I know all of this so well? I'm going through the same thing right now.

“What would you like to have, honey?” Balthazar's heavy voice drags me out of my muses.

I turn my head to face him. He has folded away the newspaper and tucked it in the back pocket of the front seat. He is looking at me expectantly now, as though he's waiting for me to decide something. His head tilts to the side and I look up.

A blond woman, dressed in a blue uniform which leaves nothing to the imagination, is staring at me with a huge smile. I glance down at Balthazar who's eyeing her racks at the moment.

I feel like puking, even though we haven't even taken off yet.

“Tell her whatever you want and she'll bring that for you.” Balthazar drags his eyes away from her breasts to look at me with a brow raised. “Go ahead. What are you waiting for?”

I turn my head to stare out of the window. I don't even want to look at his disgusting face. He's just so pathetic. A fucking scum.

“I'm waiting for nothing and I don't want anything to eat or drink. I want answers to the questions I had asked you.” I say, tersely.

Just before we were about to board the plane, I had gathered up enough courage to ask him about the debt and how my family is related to it.

He had not replied then, of course.

And now also, that bastard just cackles beside me instead of answering my question. I clench my teeth. If he thinks that I'm joking then he's got another thing coming.

You already know that I've given up all my fighting but I never said that I would cooperate either. I'm going to get the hell away from him as soon as I'll get the right opportunity to make my escape.

I'm not going to let him make me pay for anyone else's debt. Even if it's my great grandfather.

“You want answers. Fine.” I snap my head back, caught off guard by his agreement, to see his huge purple face who in turn looks up at the blond woman. “You can leave. I would like to have some privacy with this lady here.”

I hate the way he'd emphasised on his word "privacy" a little more than needed, as though he is trying to make a point by saying that.

The blond hostess dips low, flashing her equipments to him as well as me then turns on her heels and walks out of the cabin, swaying her hips like a swing.

Yuk!

Freaking slut, I wonder how she ended up here?

A dreadful thought occurs to me. Has she been collected as a debt too and positioned here to work and pay off?

What will I have to do?

The possibilities make me shudder, inwardly.

No. Don't go there.

“Before I tell you everything, I want you to promise me that you will never disclose this information to anyone, not that I will ever let you out of my sight for that long to expose me. But still, I want your promise.” He has turned all serious now, talking to me like he's going to discuss business with me, instead of telling me about my past.

Well, I can handle this.

“I promise.”

A promise, which I very much intend on breaking.

I bite back a smirk before Balthazar can notice.

When everyone has done nothing more than trying to break me down then why should I bother to keep anyone's promise intact?

After all, promises are a flimsy thing. Situations can get everything they want out of us, with the help of choices which are, of course, our very close enemies in disguise of friends.

“Perfect. If you'll do as I say then I might keep you for myself instead of giving you away….” His eyes lower down to my chest and I immediately cross my arms over my chest. “Not right now, honey.”

Back off, you douchebag!

I growl at him, silently.

“Just tell me.”

I hate seeing amusement in his black bloody eyes.

“Okay, okay.” He reaches inside his coat and pulls out a cigar. He lits it and puffs out breaths of smoke, making me scrunch up my nose in disgust and give him a hard glare. I know he's doing it on purpose. I can tell by the smirk on his purple face.

After a minute of smirking at me while blowing the smoke in my face, he holds the cigar away and turns to face me directly.

“Do you have any idea how serious this debt is? Tell me, Miss. Danforth. Did you know that your great grandfather was a true bastard…. Just like me.” Balthazar barks out laughing as if he's cracked the funniest joke ever. I keep my eyes averted from his purple face.

Where is he going with this?

“Your great grandfather, Mr. Allen Peter Danforth, had raped my family's first and only grand-daughter. He had taken her virginity when she was only 12 years old and after using her for a few years, he minced her to pieces and delivered her in a sack to my family.”

My head snaps back to look at Balthazar, who's seemingly lost somewhere in his own thoughts.

WHAT?

My great grandfather did that!?

That has to be the most brutal form of cruelty.

My heart sinks down to my stomach and I start feeling nauseous.

How can I believe him? Why should I believe him? He can be lying to me.

But haven't I asked him to answer my question myself? And why would he like something like this?

Shit!

I think I'm going to be sick.

“I know you don't believe me and I don't blame you. It was hard for me to believe too, at first but when my father showed me all the proofs and the papers, it was hard not to believe.”

He turns to stare at me again, his black eyes cold and detached as he speaks again. “You see, it's my misfortune that I was born in the de Lucas family. From a very young age, I had been trained and groomed to be what I am now. Just like it has always been in your family but it all ended when your father refused to get involved in this shit. Our families used to be old friends and always did their transactions together. But after your great grandfather took our family's first grand-daughter and raped her as well as killed her, things took a drastic turn and we became thirsty for each other's blood. I know everything. That old man was such a bastard, a sick twisted person that he had even tried to rape his own daughter-in-law.” He shakes his head but his features remain clean of any emotion.

Whereas me, I've started trembling like a fluttering leaf. His cold words have chilled me to my bones. I still can't believe that my great grandfather did that. My mind is reeling in too fast for me to focus on just one thought.

“You mean, my great grandfather tried to assault my grandmother?”

He doesn't speak, just nods his head.

“How do you know this? How did your family find out it was my great grandfather? Why did he do that? Was he taking revenge or something from your family?” The questions tumble out of my mouth one after the other, my over exhausted mind working through the haziness to try to understand the volume of the action he has just told me about.

Dammit! I can't even think straight.

I wasn't prepared for this shocking revelation.

“You're still suspicious, aren't you?” He cackles lightly, deflecting my questions with one of his, that has nothing to do with the topic at hand. “You know what, I would have been disappointed if you would have believed me so easily.”

This time when he looks at me, there's no trace of lust in his eyes. Only some kind of weird fascination and respect. My stomach rolls nauseatingly.

Why isn't he telling me everything?

Even more important question is, do I really want to know everything?

“You don't have to worry, honey. If you'll do as I say then I'll let you walk out of this after you've paid all of your debts. I know that you didn't even know anything about all of this and that it's your misfortune too, to be born as a FEMALE in the Danforth family.”

“What if I don't do as you say? Will you kill me then?” I don't know when did I get so courageous but I swear I don't want to know the answer to my stupid question. I should be prodding him for more details but instead I'm wasting my time in asking about my future.

I just can't help it. I need to know so that I can be prepared or at least, not get caught off guard.

“Kill you?” He shakes his head, as though I've disappointed him. “Is death what you're most scared of Miss. Danforth? I expected more from you.”

“I'm not going with you to live up to your expectations, am I?”

I'm surely trying to seal my death warrant. Stop taunting him!

But I just hate it when he talks to me like that, like an A-grade asshole.

“God, you've got a big mouth.” He grins at me and I grimace.

“You've not told me yet. How did your family know it was my grandfather and why did he do that?” His promise to set me free one day has done nothing to calm down my pounding heart. Instead, the words have sent my mind into overdrive.

“That I'll tell you when we're back in Europe, honey. For now, relax and enjoy as much as you can because when this plane will touch the English ground, I will not be so frank and open with you. I have a role to play.” I swallow hard when he finishes his statement. “And so do you.”

“Do you know why....” He whispers after taking a long drag from his cigar again. “Why do I have to make you pay?”

I stay perfectly still.

I don't want to know, really.

“Because the girl your grandfather had raped, was my grandmother and I've got the task to take centuries worth of debt from you, by punishing you in even worse ways than a human being can imagine. Your pain will be the payment for your great grandfather's debt. And I love pain. ”

Balthazar reaches out his hand to touch my cheeks. I flinch away but not before he catches a single tear drop on his forefinger. Rubbing the moisture of one of my tears between his fingers, he gives me a detached and cold look.

“Don't waste your tears right now. I would like to see them more when I have you at my mercy.”

He gets up from his seat beside me, buttons up his blood red coat and with a last glance in my direction, he walks out.

I turn my head to stare out of the window. His words keep repeating in my head but nothing registers. All the confusing words just fly around inside my brain.

More silent tears track down my cheeks.

I know only one thing for sure now.

He'll never let me go and even if he ever decides to do so, I'll be nothing more than a shell of the person I used to be.

Even though he treated me with no interest and indifference, the hatred and anguish boiling up behind his black eyes has somehow reached out to scald me and let me know that he's not the person he pretends to be.

He truly believes the shit he has just told me.

——————

We are in Europe now, exactly in London. Except for this information, I don't have any idea about where we're going in London.

Just as Balthazar had promised, he'd come for me as soon as the jet wheels had touched the runway of the airport. His goons were right behind me when he had dragged me out of my seat and pushed me down on my knees. I hadn't tried to fight, neither had I made it easy for him to bind my hands and legs together. He had to slap me thrice and kick me twice in the gut to get me out of the jet.

I'm extremely sore and I think I'm going to have some nasty bruises but all in all, I'm still alive and breathing.

Not bad for a start, I hope.

When we were moving towards the transportation area, he had his goons carry me over the distance because I straight out refused to walk that one more step closer to my death.

So, I think I had given him one hell of a trouble before he could get me where he wanted.

I don't know where I am right now as I'm blindfolded but I can feel the ground moving beneath me. I'm lying on my side inside a moving van and I just became conscious a few minutes ago. He had me drugged when I had tried to jump out of the van and runway. I don't know how many of his goons are around me but I'm sure he must have planted his best men to keep me from running.

You must be wondering why I'm not pissing myself right now, instead of being stubborn and juvenile?

Balthazar has done nothing more than slapping me and kicking me. His words had planted a seed of fear inside my mind but when he didn't do anything to me that I'd thought he would do, that seed died.

I don't know why but I just want to escape and run away. I feel like I can escape and run away.

It's crazy, isn't it?

“Pourquoi ne pleure-t-elle pas? N’a-t-elle pas peur de ce qui va se passer avec elle?” (“Why is she not crying? Is she not scared of what's going to happen with her?”) I hear someone speak from somewhere behind me. His words bounce right over my head as I don't know anything about French language.

“Elle ne sait pas ce qui va se passer avec elle.” (“She doesn't know what's going to happen with her.”) Another voice replies. “Ferme-la ou vous nous aurez des ennuis.” (“Now keep your mouth shut or you'll get us in trouble.”)

After a moment, they both fall silent.

What were they talking about?

“Nous sommes ici.” (“We are here.”) I feel the rumbling of the van start slowing down and within a second, it comes to a stand still. Noises of doors opening and being slammed shut makes me jump.

What's going on?

I wait with my breath held for someone to come and drag me out of the van. A long time passes but no one comes for me.

I let out a sigh of relief….

…. Just as I feel someone grab me by my hair and slide me out of the van, directly on the soiled ground.

“Ahh!” I cry out when my body slams down on the ground, sending jolts of pain shooting up my sore body. What the hell are they thinking? Are they trying to kill me already?

Within the second, the blindfold is off my eyes and when I try to open my eyes, I find nothing but sheer darkness around me.

“Roma, free her from the ropes.”

Someone works me out of the heavy ropes and pulls me up on my weak legs.

“Miss. Danforth, welcome to my estate.” A heavy voice speaks from somewhere.

Freaking Balthazar.

Bright light flashes on my face and I squeeze my eyes shut to save them from the assault. Blinking a few times, I squint through my narrowed eyes.

The first thing I see is a huge fountain, overflowing with sparkling water and when I tilt my head back, I notice a huge building looming over us. It's a complete square, with at least 20 floors. Each level is encased with iron rods, caging and protecting the structure. The whole building looks ancient, the bare brick structure makes it seem like a haunted and abandoned house jail.

What the hell is this place!?

It surely can't be anyone's home!

“I hope you will come to like your new home soon, Miss. Danforth.” I move my wide eyes to find Balthazar standing right beside me. “Because this place never welcomes those who don't like it.”

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