(Grace's POV)

Waking up in an uncomfortable bed, I slowly opened my eyes. The things around me were unfamiliar, the wall was white but old, and dust littered the ceiling.

Where the heck am I…

“You’re awake…” A voice with no emotion spoke.

I realized I wasn’t alone in the room. He was just standing beside my bed. My forehead furrowed when I noticed more. Rails were behind him. He put me in a prison cell!

Recalling what had occurred, I finally remembered I had tried to attack him but failed, and he had me captured!

I glared at him as I sat at the edge of the bed.

“Where did you take me?! What place is this?! Did you do something to me?!”

He chuckled mockingly and looked at me from head to toe with obvious malice in his eyes. “If I did something, you wouldn’t even wake up by now…”

Pervert!

I covered my arms to my chest area, which just made him raise his brow.

“How are you feeling, by the way?” he asked, not sounding like he cared. More like he just wanted me okay for his gain!

“Why do you ask? You want to hear I’m okay so you can proceed to killing or torturing me?” I asked him back, voice full of hatred.

“Bingo!” He smiled widely. “You got it right!”

It hurt me over and over again!

The person who used to protect me actually turned out to be a devil who wanted nothing but to harm me! I shouldn’t have trusted him! He was a two-faced asshole!

“Shameless beast! You’re heartless! If only I were given another chance, I would’ve killed you, and this time, I’ll make sure I succeed!”

He chuckled in more entertainment as if hearing the best joke of the year!

He came close to me and held my chin.

“You think I’ll let you? I’ll bury you in hell first before you can even do anything to me. I promise you that!” he said confidently and even winked.

My eyes grew angrier! He was so disgusting as fuck!

I could never forget the amount of pain he inflicted on me! He did not just break my heart, he shattered my whole world into tiny pieces!

I remembered that on the wedding day, after he stabbed and left me deeply wounded, I still did my best to continue to live and survive. When they were no longer around, I forced myself getting up despite the pain I carried. My feet and my hands were shaking not only in madness but also in the trauma that he left me for trusting someone to love me, only to have that someone betray and kill me in the end!

It might have been a miracle that I indeed did survive. Leaving the church quickly, I aided myself. I was a nurse, so I knew what I was doing. It wasn’t that easy, but the motivation to get back and take revenge on the man who betrayed me was enough to make me fight to live!

I sent myself to the emergency room to receive proper medical treatment, but the whole time of my recovery, I was just thinking of how I could take my revenge. I was so determined to make Luke pay for what he did to me!

A month later, and my wound had healed, I was back to make it happen. Unfortunately, he was too quick, and I once again fell into his hands!

“Why don’t you do it then? Kill me!” I dared him. “It’s what you want to do, isn’t it? Do it then!”

For the nth time, he just annoyingly laughed!

“Uh oh! I know you’re excited but there’s always a right time for everything, my sweet love!”

My tears were welling up, but I still kept to be tough. “Why wait for the right time when you can kill me now? After all, you have already gotten what you wanted in the first place, haven’t you? You hurt me. Ah, no, you destroyed me! So, what else do you want from me?!” My voice raised.

He raised his voice, too. “Still not enough! I haven’t tortured you enough yet! I wouldn’t have let you live if I had already been done with you! While you’re still useful to me, I will not kill you! I’m not going to make death so easy for you, let that sink in your mind!”

Tears rolled down my cheeks. “You hate me that much, don’t you?”

“Hate? No, darling. I don’t just hate you. I curse you and your entire family!”

I felt suffocating with this kind of unimaginable amount of pain!

“You might be innocent of the wrongdoings committed by your parents in the past, but unlucky you, you’re still their product, especially of your shameless father! You’re the only one in your bloodline who remained alive so I have no choice but to take it all out on you. You’re going to be the one to pay their debt! A tooth for a tooth! An eye for an eye! I’ll make sure to have you suffer ten times of what my used-to-be-poor family had been through!”

The way he was so determined to make me suffer was already enough to have me killed so many times deep inside! It was so painful!

"I was just a baby when my parents worked for your family's business," he said, his voice full of pain. "They were loyal and worked hard, which is what all good employees should do. But how did your family pay them back? When your father's gambling and poor management almost put the company out of business, they blamed my parents. They said they did things they didn't do. They lost their jobs. Shamed. And the stress... it was too much for my mom. She couldn't handle it. She took her own life.” His voice echoed in the room as he said the last sentence, which was full of rage and sadness.

I stood still, my eyes wide. I didn't know. None. I had no idea that our families had a history shared, let alone one full of pain and unfairness. My parents never mentioned it to me. I didn't know that what my family did had ruined his. I was completely clueless.

He kept going. "My dad and I begged on the streets for years. That was how we lived. He took care of me by himself. While you?” He laughed at me. "You lived like a queen. You had comfort, safety, and luxury. My dad was breaking himself to feed me even once a day. I learned how to scam, steal, and even rob while I was living in the gutter. It was the only way to stop hunger.”

My eyes filled with tears and they ran down my cheeks. Cold and quiet. I was very angry with him a moment ago. Now, it was full of overwhelming sadness for everything he had been through.

He went on, his voice getting lower and almost bitter. "Do you want to know how we got out of that hellhole? My dad almost sold his soul. Then, one day, fate changed. He saved a powerful businessman in Asia from getting killed, and that man changed our lives. Took us in. Gave us all of he could give. He left us all of his money when he died.”

I didn't know what to say. Words would not have been enough.

He continued coldly, "The tables have turned, haven't they? Back in the days, you were on top. Now, you're just under my feet. Emilio Wilson is my father, and I'm his only son. He’s a leader of a mafia group. A business mogul. The man who made a business empire around the world. And I'm his heir, which means I'll be in charge of the whole network. From resort chains to high-stakes casinos, even the illegal gambling rings that operate behind closed doors.”

My heart raced.

He leaned in a little bit. "Do you remember your jewelry store? The one that fell apart while you were still in school? It wasn't just your father's bad management. My dad made sure that was your last stake. He had someone pretend to be a buyer, bought it in secret, and then cut it up. He destroyed the rest of it to build his resort empire on its ashes.”

I recalled it. I was in my second year of university when he said the competition had gotten too tough, so my dad had to sell the business. I thought it was to help pay for my education finances. But that wasn't the end of the bad news. He got sick right before I was going to graduate. Very sick. To pay for his treatment, we sold our house, our properties, and everything else. He stayed strong for two more years until he could no longer fight…

Presently, I watched Luke as he marched out of the cell and left.

Meanwhile, I weakly leaned my back against the wall, embracing myself and staring at the air. I wished that even up to this hour, it was just a bad dream…

The door opened again, and Luke came back, carrying a tray of food.

He put the tray down on the side table.

“Eat,” he commanded gently.

I smirked. Really? He still had a brain to feed his prisoner while he was planning to torture her!

With no emotions, I looked at the tray. There was a bowl of soup, rice, fried chicken, and a glass of water.

“Don’t you think you’re being kind for feeding a prisoner?” I asked sarcastically. “Why not just starve me to death?”

He smiled and tilted his head. “Starving you so you can die? Hmmn… Great idea. But no. It will be too easy for you. I already said it, didn’t I? I will not make death easy with you. I’ll have you suffer in my ways.”

I looked away. He really never failed to get on my nerves!

“Come on.” He handed me the bowl of soup. “Eat,” he once again commanded with soft authority.

The soup honestly smelled good, but it didn’t entice me enough to want to consume it. Over my dead body, I would not take anything from him! Even food! I would rather starve myself than eat food coming from him!

I relentlessly pushed his hand that was holding the soup, and because it was hot, it burned his skin when it was spilled on him and the bowl made of high-quality beech rolled on the floor. Ha! Satisfying!

And I was not done yet! I even cleared out the tray from the side table, causing the rice, fried chicken, and water to spill on the floor! None was made of glass, they were all made of plastic containers so nothing broke, but of course, the food messed up.

Insanely mad, Luke did not shout or slap me. What he did was walk over to the food that was messed up on the floor, and to my surprise, he picked up the fried chicken, not caring that it was already dirty!

I became nervous when he sat beside me. Calm, yet I knew he was so mad deep inside!

“Eat it,” he repeated using a low but dangerous tone.

I did not back down.

I mockingly answered him, “Eat it if you want! It’s as dirty as you are after all!”

To my surprise, he took a bite of the fried chicken, completely not giving a damn that it already fell and might have germs!

I froze when without looking away from my eyes and without saying a thing, he held my nape, forcing me to stay still while he put the chicken bite in my mouth using his lips!

I pushed his chest, but he was so fucking strong and refused to let go of my lips!

When he finally pulled out, I spit the chicken out on the floor. I vomited it out, making sure that both the chicken and his saliva didn’t leave a stain on my mouth!

I glared at him! He was a brute! I hated his cruel ways! His arrogance! The way he forced himself to have his lips on mine! Damn him!

He stood up and had his back to me before he said, “To take revenge on me is what you want, isn’t it? How the heck will you be able to kill me if your belly is growling in hunger? Use your head, Grace. Let your brain decide for you, not just your heart and emotions.”

He went out and left. My eyes were green with rage as I watched him leave!