"Do you have any idea what your presence means in Zaniel's wedding?! You have obligations as head of the family, Prince!" My elder sister, Penelope, yelled at me.
She complained over the phone, my negligence towards the family matters was a serious issue but I had dumbbells of afflictions over my head.
Besides, How do they expect me to go and ask hand for marriage for the person who is my fucking wife?!
"I understand, Penny but-" I tried to convince her but to no avail, my words were superficial.
"No, you don't, Prince. We have to go but you are not here."
Her series of scolding came as I sighed in response earning a gasp from her.
"Don't you dare to sigh. Stop doing this, Prince."
"Penelope."
"What?"
"Do you know the girl?" I asked, pinching the bridge of my nose, wanting to know if she is involved in this matter or not.
"Of course I do. Her name is Cinzel Collins, she is a sweet girl, they were in the same high school. Our Zaniel loves her." She reasoned and I felt funny about how oblivious she was about the fatality.
I couldn't help but to chuckle, "What happened?"
"Nothing, I will be home on Friday, we will sort every matter one by one." I told her calmly.
"Promise me, everyone is missing you. At home, at least for Sky."
"I know. I'll be there."
"Good."
"Okay then, take care. Bye." With this, I cut the call.
Mentally preparing myself for the upcoming mayhem taking place at the center of my palace, invoking irremovable aversions.
Things were going to get messy.
I knew Cinzel was desperate for a chance to run away so I gave her one.
I told the servants I won't be coming home tonight and if she tries to run, don't stop her. Let her confront her so-called reality.
It makes me chuckle when she thinks she ran away while in reality, I was the one who provided this interlude.
Ah, the face when she will find me at her fiancé- I mean Penelope's Son, my Nephew, Zaniel's place.
No one except Garry knows about our wedding and if Zaniel came to know what I did to his beloved, he wouldn't hesitate to eliminate her out of his way.
I love him deeply, I had done everything for him and I knew how impulsive and obsessive he could become.
He always got what he pointed his finger at, none of us could say to him but not this time.
"I am sorry, Zaniel, not this time." I muttered, leaning back.
As if I couldn't perceive he wanted to marry the last Alroy to enhance his status in the underworld. Greed...
But, too bad I poured my marriage bomb on his head.
That was the problem with his young blood, ready to slaughter what couldn't provide him advantage and I had to stop it.
Reaching at the final moment, just as I predicted, he came to know she is in Poison Ivy and was enraged by this, ready to kill her but in my presence, it was futile to even graze her skin.
I reached at the edge, kicking the door close to avoid disputes and pointed my gun at Zaniel.
"Zaniel." I called him impassively.
Glancing at the forlorn form of Cinzel, perished by one on whom she placed all the faith, the hope she placed upon his heartbeats died.
"Zaniel, didn't you hear me? Put. The. Fucking. Gun. Down!" I snarled, taking a step back. Cinzel was petrified to find the one she loves passive about her breath.
Disheartened at my words, he held his chest as a display of woe towards my unresponsiveness, he was hurt when of all people, I neglected his demand.
"For this mere woman you are pointing your gun at me, Prince? At your own nephew?"
And I could feel the stagger dwelling along her breath, immersing in pure appall to know he was the nephew of someone as ominous as me.
Sighing, I told him, "She is not a mere woman."
But seemingly he held the inability to comprehend my words, "What does she have?! We can easily kill her and end this! Why is she so important to you?!"
He yelled and before he could make an irredeemable mistake, I shouted what I wanted to avoid for as long as I could.
"She is my wife!"
A consuming pitch silence took over the room as it took Zaniel a few seconds to wrap around his mind with horror detaching wrath instantly. Shutting my eyes briefly, I moved back as well, cursing under my breath.
I knew I fucked up.
"What...?" He whispered, finally putting his gun down.
Strange how I became a path to reach her destination was beyond my grasp but her safety was my top priority and for it; I shattered his heart.
"You've got to be kidding me." He fell on the couch, holding his head.
I pulled down my gun and walked up Cinzel who was panic-stricken, gasping for air to supply her some strength. She shivered when I looked down at her weak form, shaking to fathom what happened.
Grabbing her arm, I forced her to stand, "This ring is her wedding ring which proves she is the wife of the leader of Poison Ivy." I enunciated, earning a low-pitched voice of terror from her.
"P-Poison I-Ivy...?"
Agitation dripped from her to know my identity, she was even more afraid to the extent of breathing with my allowance. Not moving an inch.
"And I won't tolerate if anyone dares to lay a finger upon her; including you as well."
Proclaiming her officially chained to my jail, I took her back to the cage where she ran from, leaving Zaniel all alone in his apartment.
Our drive back was silent, the day just started, deprived of sleep and relief. She was scattered in fathomless tunnels of tension, not knowing how to react about the situation- expected.
There were countless things concealed from her, the secrets.
We reached, I grabbed her arms and pulled her inside with me. She didn't fight this time, only winced by my harsh grip as I led her to my room.
The moment we entered, She bit her lips nervously, looked away, held her elbow with another hand and released her first question.
"Is he.. truly your nephew?" She asked, looking up at me in distress, "What was that?" Another question.
"Just a part of reality hidden from you." I sneered, taking a step dangerously close to her until her back hit the wall.
Her breaths stopped, her terror was enhanced to know I was in the mafia. Putting my one hand beside her face, on the wall, syncing my gaze, along those heavy breaths with hers.
"Please tell me, what the hell is going on? How is Zaniel connected to you? Why did you marry me? And you... you are a Mafia leader. What the hell is this all about? Why-"
Before she could ramble further in her hurried yet soft voice, I held her waist, pulling her close, her breath stuck in her throat, putting her hands on my chest in dismal.
"I have no intentions of telling an ignorant girl who is unaware of her own reality anything." I hissed.
Pressing her softly against the wall, observing how her fingers clenched my shirt tightly, her action made my heart race, it made my breaths raspy while she was convulsing with a startle gathering between her eyelids.
"Then make me aware, who am I? Why is this happening? Please..." She pleaded in a whisper. Tears shimmering in the corner with desperation.
Scrutinizing her petite form, my thick lips parted, telling her real name.
"You are Cinzel. Cinzel Alroy." I enunciated, removing my hand on the wall and taking out my phone, pulling away from her.
Gulping hard, she just stared intensely at me. Releasing the breath which stopped when I was near, pressing to take support from the wall.
At this point she knew I knew her more than she knew herself so it was better to halt and move by my pace.
I called Alice and Jay over, she was shaking, failing to understand as I turned to her again.
"Your mother's name is Valencia Alroy, she was the heart, the queen, of underworld, to everyone Alroy name has been massacred-"
"Then how are you sure I am the one?" She asked.
"I was with you that day. I held you with my very hands on the day you were born. It was a horrible day, we all thought none of us would live."
I pulled away from her and sighed deeply, motioning her to sit. She sat on the couch as I made a drink for her.
"You.. held me?"
"Yes."
Leaning on the bedpost, I closed my arms at my chest, noticing how her lips were dry.
She was about to drink but stopped and looked up at me, "Aren't you going to drink?"
"I have low alcohol endurance." I shrugged.
She hummed and finished her drink in one go, pouring herself another shot.
"How can you be so sure? And besides, what are they?"
"It's not they, it's just her, the contaminated blood and after her- no, leave it. Valencia Alroy. Your mother was a fearless woman who never subjugated before anyone unlike you."
Putting her drink down, she responded sadly, "You cannot expect me to be like the person I have never known in my life."
Humming, I continued, "I had to keep her legacy secure, so I did." I told her casually, taking a seat beside her.
"Is that why you left Zaniel after me? And become a teacher in my High School, to keep an eye on me?" She asked sternly.
It sounded restrictive, horrible to be exact that someone kept an eye on you all the time.
"Zaniel and I have no connections but yeah, I became the teacher just to check how you are doing." she hummed, lowering her head.
"Why is my life so important?"
It is important to me, others just want to take it, silly woman.
"Simple, your biological Mother. I was- am your guard." I replied coldly, leaning behind putting my one leg over the other.
Things were uncertain for her to sink inside but I have to reveal things at one time so she can get used to her new reality.
Lowering her head, she pulled her hair, despondency glistening her face, it was too much for her to know. She was traumatized.
"I don't know who I am anymore... I.. I.. Don't understand." She hissed, covering her face with her hands, the dim light was too shallow for her to grasp.
"Totally understandable." I told her and soon Alice and Jay came.
"Mama, Papa..." She whispered and was about to rush to them but I stopped her.
"It was all necessary to keep you safe, My love." Alice said and Cinzel stopped struggling for a second.
Her eyes widened in disbelief, looking back at me and then at them, repeating it like a loop accompanied by a dead shiver.
"No.." She whispered.
"You guys worked for Prince Sir... from the very start." She whispered, moving back, holding her shirt, trembling in apprehension.
"Cinzel." I called her softly and was about to touch her but she yanked my hand away, horrified.
"Don't touch me."
"How.. Dare you... to make me... your puppet?" She asked in a broken tone, shaking, her mind constantly denied the crystal reality but delusions were afar from her.
Covering her mouth, she made an almost crying face, this was too much for her to hold.
"You... Controlled my life from the very start... what is happening in my life was your planning, isn't it?!" She shouted at me, releasing heartbreaking tears, the daze left her astonished, frightened.
"You are getting the wrong idea, Cinzel. I left you in their care and never came back until your high school and now."
"Why now?! And why this marriage?!"
"Because letting you in Zaniel's hand is too dangerous!" I growled, coming closer.
"Why do you even want to protect me?!" She shouted, pacing around her room in ultimate consternation disrupting her mind.
I motioned Alice to give me her ancient necklace with a ruby worth billions delicately carved into an 'A' shape inside a circle of a white golden chain.
This necklace was her identity that I protected all this time. Valencia made it especially for all her children.
Turning her to me, I held her arm with my one hand as I showed her the necklace.
"This is the proof of you being an Alroy."
Her eyes widened by the allure reflected by the jewelry, it was truly a piece to behold. Grabbing the hem of her shirt, I pulled her close to my face.
"Valencia was the queen of the Mafia world twenty years ago. She fucking ruled it and you are daughter and what's left behind is all yours."
Hissing my words finally made sense to her, bewildering her in trepidation of the fact I had to conceal so she could live a normal life.
I did all this to hide her from this world so she could have a life away from abhorrence and all those bloodthirsty wolves yet still Zaniel found his way to her.
"W-What?" She stammered, shaking from apprehension.
"Don't you get it, Cinzel?!" I snarled, looking dead into her eyes while declaring my purpose.
"You are Valencia's daughter who is one step away from entering this life of blood and gore and It is my fucking job to prevent it at all cost!"