I looked at myself in the mirror and I saw a shadow of who I used to be. My eyes had dark circles, my lips were cracked, and my stomach made a low, empty sound where my child had once been. I wondered if my new owner even knew I was carrying a baby before.

After I freshened up, I walked back into my new room. To my surprise, it wasn’t a cage like I thought it would be. It was a room for humans. Decent enough. Clean bed, a dresser, curtains. I sighed.

This was going to be my home now. A life lived for my owner. Never in my life did I think I would be sold like this.

My mind drifted back to when Valerio looked at me. I couldn’t place the look in his eyes. It was distant, unreadable. But I didn’t care. I already had enough problems to carry.

Tears filled my eyes. They burned as I wiped at them, but more came.

“No, Althea,” I whispered to myself. “Your father didn’t raise you to be weak. He taught you to stand even when you’re forced to kneel.”

“I will make them pay,” I said louder this time. “I will make them all pay. They’ll gnash their teeth and fall to their knees. I’ll make them lose every penny they took from me. I’ll make them pay!” My voice cracked, but I didn’t care if anyone heard me.

“For my unborn child, I’ll make them pay with their lives,” I whispered as the tears slid down my face.

My eyes searched the room until they found it, a small pocket knife lying on the dresser. I picked it up, my hand shaking, and dragged it across my palm. I winced as blood welled up and fell in drops onto the floor. I stared at it, dripping and wasting, and I made my promise. This was my oath. I would live for it and I would die for it. No one was going to stop me, not even my future self.

I wrapped my hand in a cloth I found in the wardrobe. My head spun from the blood loss, but my mind burned with one thought…revenge.

Only one name came to me.

Valerio Moretti.

He was the only connection I had left. The only thread to hold on to. Dangerous as he was, he was the one I had to use. Maybe it would kill me. Maybe he’d snap his fingers and I’d be gone. But what choice did I have?

I paced back and forth, my hand pressed tight. I needed power. I needed money. I needed a name strong enough to crush those who destroyed me. And Valerio had it all.

A voice in my head screamed at me. “You must have gone mad. You want to use Valerio Moretti? He’s a mafia, a killer! The stress you’ve been through these past few days must have messed up with your thinking faculty” it voice thundered in my head. “ It must have made you lose how you think. Do you know who he is? He’ll never let you close. With one glance, he’ll end you.

I bit down hard and answered myself. “Mafia or not, do you have anyone else? Do you know another person who is respected and feared like him?” The silence inside me was enough of an answer.

“Exactly,” I said aloud. “I’ll find a place in his heart. I’ll force my way in if I must. Even if it costs me my life.” My chest rose and fell as the words left me. “I’ll do it for my father. For my baby. For myself.”

I sat back down and let out a shaky laugh. I knew I wasn’t ugly. My father always said I looked like my mother, and he was right. I was beautiful. And I would use it.

I would use my face, my body, my cold beauty, and I would play with his emotions until I got what I wanted.

Valerio Moretti would fall for me. I would make him.

From now on, I was no longer the girl who cried. I was the girl who wanted nothing but revenge.

They wouldn’t escape. None of them. They would pay. And Valerio Moretti was going to be the weapon I used