It was funny how life worked.
One second you were having the best of your times and the next it was all gone. Taken away from you. Just like that. Poof!
*3 months earlier*
"Stay safe. Be alert. You better come back alive and kicking or I'll kill you." I mutter, handing him his gun and working his tie as he looked down at me musingly.
"Relax my little warrior. It's just a small gang. Nothing to worry about. I'll be back by midnight latest. I promise. Don't worry for me. Go and enjoy with your friends, I know they are in the city. Take my car." He stated, kissing my forehead.
"Here's your watch." I mutter, coming out of the closet after a minute, a black watch in my hand.
"I'll be fine Valerie. Stop worrying." He murmured, kissing me briefly.
"It's you. Of course I'll worry. Just come back home to me safe." I murmur back, tracing his jaw lightly.
"Always. See you later little one."
"Take care!" I yell, running after him. I grabbed him before he could go down the stairs, pulling him down by his tie and giving him a time-stopping kiss. "You come back quickly and safe, there'll be more of that." I murmur seductively, backing away before e could pull me into him.
I curtesy mockingly, grinning as I look back up at him, ignoring the darkening look in his eyes. "You have work to do Mr. Regio. Sir. Go ahead. Don't keep your men waiting."
"You're done for when I get back." He growled, crossing the distance between us in a step and pulling me in for a gut-wrenching kiss. "There will also be a lot of that." He muttered, his sound alluring as he skimmed his nose up and down my face.
"Looking forward to it." I state, backing away.
He nods, kissing my hand and going down and out of the house.
I went back in our room, quickly going into the closet and changing. Alright. Busy day ahead of me. Olivia and Noah were in the city to visit NYU's campus since they had taken a gap year and we were meeting up today after they were done, which would be in about an hour. Just enough time to get in the city.
I walked out of the closet, noticing a brown bag placed on the bed. He got me something?
I pick up the bag, getting confused as I see a small black phone in it and an envelope. Weird. What was he doing?
I open the envelope, reading the letter. 'Call on the number provided in the phone.' Huh?
I do so, very confused. What game was Darius playing?
"Hello?" I ask, waiting for a familiar voice to speak from the phone. I was met with an unfamiliar one.
"Hello there Valerie Gunnar. I hope you're doing well?" The man asked, a hint of mockery in his voice along with something... sinister. I distrusted him immediately. It was a voice of a man that would not think twice before stabbing you in the back.
"Whose this?" I ask, my voice turning hostile.
"I see you're as feisty as the tales have made you out to be. Pleasure to talk to you Ms. Gunnar. Perhaps you have a few moments to talk?" He asked, laughing at the beginning. Yay! Opening to escape.
"I'm sorry. I do not. I need to get going." I state, about to disconnect. His next words were what stopped me from doing it.
"Oh well then... looks like you don't want your mate to return back home." He smugly spoke, knowing he had my attention.
"Who are you and what do you want?" I hissed, clenching my fists as I thought about Regio getting hurt.
"Here's what you're going to do Ms. Gunnar. You're going to tell everyone you're about to meet up with your little friends and you're going to drive out here in the city. From there, you're going to come with me. Don't worry, I'll pick you up the second you get out of your car. You won't have to search for me. As to who I am... why don't we leave that for when we meet?" He spoke as if he was just telling me to pass the sugar for his tea, his tone perfectly calm.
I laughed at him, deliberately mocking him.
"You really think I will do that? What do you take me for? A fool? I'm going to cut this call and I'm going to call my men so that they can track you down. Then..." My voice turned cold, a short laugh escaping me, "I'll let Regio deal with you as he pleases."
"Wonderful plans." He stated, chuckling.
Fuck that ain't good. Here comes the punchline.
"Only, half the men that are out with your soulmate on the little mission are mine. Waiting for my command so that they can shoot." I quickly take my phone out to warn Regio, not caring if he was bluffing or not. "I wouldn't call or message him, I've hacked your phone. Messages and calls will have to be allowed by me. Do not try to smart or I'll order them to finish your mate right now."
"You're lying." Even a deaf man could make out the tremble in my voice.
The phone in my hands pinged, an image popping up. It was Regio's in the attire he had left in, driving the car while Zach sat beside him in the front seat. Shit he wasn't lying.
"Hope that answers your question. Now, leave your mate a note saying you do not want to be with him and get here. You have an hour Ms. Gunnar." I rushed out before he could disconnect.
"Why are you doing this!?"
"Because I hate your mate and have some unfinished business with him. There are other men in the house that work for me as well Ms. Gunnar. I would refrain from trying to be smart. They'll go through your room once you leave. If they find anything unwanted, let's just say that you coming here would be futile." The phone was cut after that threat.
I had done as he asked. Instead of writing what he had said, I had written just two words, not having the guts to write anything. He'll be furious as it is. I left the 'I'm sorry' note on his table, called my friends that I won't be able to come today and left after informing the maids just after I was done crying in our room.
It was possible that I would never see him again.
***
Three months had passed since I had done that and I was a new woman, literally.
A wig adorned my head, my chestnut hair now covered and blonde short hair in its place, my eyes holding green contacts, my brown ones hidden away.
Zeke Montgomery, the man that had taken away everything for me entered the café, a smug smile on his face as I glared at him with absolute hatred. I hate him.
"Hello there my dearest hostage. Hope you're well. I am terribly sorry I couldn't see you in the morning. I had to make some provisions after the little stunt you pulled yesterday. How's my little café going?" He asks sickly, looking down at my bandaged arm and smirking.
I scowled, not bothering to answer and continuing what I had been doing. Closing up.
Zeke had decided to mock me. He had given me a café to work after I had driven him crazy in the first month of my idle sitting in the room I was kept in. It was a small posh café in the Chicago downtown, the picture perfect place not holding much to me.
It was a cage, a well furnished sweet looking silver cage. I hated it. But it was better than being around him.
I couldn't run away, neither could I ask anyone for a call. He had somehow managed to gain control over all devices that entered around here. Clever fucker. And had hurt me when I tried to run away or call Regio, those memories making me shudder. He was cruel.
He had managed to find me before I could get even a mile away, the nights in his dungeon clear as day in my mind, now too tired and scared to try doing that again.
No. I'll find another way.
"Finish quick. I want to have dinner with you Valerie. It's been long since we sat down and had a meal together." Fuck you.
"I'm not eating shit with you!" I sneered, swiping the table clean. He laughed, a light polished sound, might even sound angelic to some. If only you heard the underlying fakeness.
"Yes you are. Don't forget my men still are around your soulmate who by the way seems ready to kill you. Why don't you see yourself?" He says chuckling, my heart clenching painfully, knowing exactly what he meant.
Darius had not bothered to keep my leaving low. You would think he would, not wanting mud thrown at his name but no, he had made it public. My cruel capturer switched the little T.V. on, Regio's oh so beautiful face coming on.
He looked more rugged than I had last seen him as, his eyes not holding a single glinting light, only darkness. He looked vicious. The man people feared. The man I feared for when he would find me.
"Valerie." He sneered in the camera, making it feel like he was actually pinning me down with his dangerous gaze, my hands fisting the little rag in my hand, scared. He suddenly smiled, the unnaturally large grin scaring me more, he looked unnerving, "Just you wait. I won't be making the same mistake I did the last time." He continued a little more, the unnerving grin probably the only thing people noticed.
Meanwhile, I read his eyes while hiding from them. In them I saw fury like I had never seen, betrayal that was painful to even look at and sadness concealed well enough to never be noticed. But I also saw resolution and determination and iron built finality.
I was dead. The second he found me, I knew I was a gone case. My fate was made.
"I could kill you right now!" I yelled, throwing the cup in my hand towards him. He narrowed his eyes after ducking, getting angry. Uh-oh.
"No need to resort to violence Ms. Gunnar. We both know how that will end for you. Come on out quick. Do not keep me waiting."
Reluctantly, yelling every profanity in my mind at him, I walk out of the café, not bothering to protest when I was shoved in the car.
The dinner went horrible. Memories surfaced me, of Darius, of my old life that I would probably never have back, of the first few days here, of the things I had felt the first night I was brought here, the emotions Regio had felt that day when everything went wrong.
The first thing I had felt was anger, soul burning fury. Then late at night I had felt self-doubt followed by more anger and then sadness. The sadness was replaced by fury each passing day, his emotions feeling so dark that I felt suffocated.
I lay in my bed, my eyes travelling to the one thing I had to remind me of my old life. My watch. My father's watch that Regio had gotten corrected after I had thrown it on the balcony all those months back. I would kill to go back there.
I twisted and turned, falling into a restless sleep after a while, missing the arms that I had plucked off of me in the earlier times, wishing I had never let go.
Fate, I decided the and there, was the biggest most cruelest of bitches.