Chapter 1

• CHAPTER ONE.
• EVANTHE’s POV.
• Year, 2014.
• His screams wake me up from my much deserved sleep and the urge to smash the vase on the table envelopes me but instead I pull my body off the bed and make my way out of the room. This is my secret hideout. The place I always come to sleep when the activities in the house has become too crowded for me but then, that fucking prisoner won’t let me rest. Father has had him here for more than two hundred days and every single day, he sounds like he wants to scream the roof down.
• The door creaks open and I step out, I see some men walking in and out of a room and I follow them. I am not restricted in my own house, my father made sure of that. He always taught me to go for what I want no matter how hard it was and I have always lived by that notion.
• “Young mistress” one of them men bows to me as soon as he sees me, “I didn’t know you were in your secret room”
• “Is that why that bastard wants to scream down the roof?” I ask him, “what are you guys doing to him now?”
• “The boss gave an order to kill him” he answers.
• “About time” A smirk forms on my lips as I make my way towards the other side of the building where he is.
• This is an attachment to the main house in which father concluded most of his illegal activities. He was the beta of the blood moon pack and a ruthless man at that. All eighteen years of my life, I have seen my father kill people who crossed paths with him and I grew up like him. I grew up having a competitive spirit, to always want things going my own way.
• “You must always take what you want” he always said, “or someone will snatch it right out of your hands” he would always say.
• The door is slightly ajar and I step inside, my eyes catching the young boy who is tied with chains heavy enough to hold down an elephant. The last time I saw him, it was a few months ago because I was preparing for my college exams and my father banned me from going to that part of the compound. Now the prisoner looks like he went to hell and back. His hair has grown so long and dirty, his whole body covered with blood and the whole place stank of his many days of torture. I knew him even before he became what he was now. His father used to be the alpha of the blood moon pack and also my father’s business partner but the man died in a car crash a year ago. They both co-owned the biggest gaming company in the country, Mirage. His son was supposed to take over the pack but he was just a weak little child. Father wanted to be alpha and he went for it like he always told me, go for what you want. When we were kids, my father made me befriend the prisoner because he wanted me to capitalize on his weak points and that I did. I always want my father to win and that means I have to step on everyone’s toes including the prisoner. I watched my father hurt a lot of people and somehow that has become my comfort zone.
• “Young mistress” one of the men calls out to me as I step into the room, “sorry that you had to wake up to the sound of his screams again”
• “I thought father said to kill him?” I ask, “what are you still waiting for?”
• The prisoner looks up at me, his eyes full of hatred and regret. How dare he look at me like that? He never had to work for anything like others. His father had the biggest shares of the company, times three of what my father had and also an alpha of the pack by default whereas my father stood by his father’s side all his life. I hate this prisoner, I hate him with everything I own.
• “We are on it, young mistress” the man answers, “do not let him bother you”
• I take a step closer to the bloodied prisoner and my lips tilt into a mocking smirk, “you misery will be over soon”I tell him, “and make sure you tell your father that the company and the pack will be well taken care off”
• Despite how ugly and battered he looks, I still see his lips curl into a smirk.
• “Daddy’s little pussy” he mutters and I angrily whack him hard across the face. How dare he? He may be older than me but now, he is my prisoner and I can hurt him as much as I want.
• “Make sure you make his death so slow and painful. He doesn’t deserve the luxury of an easy death” With that, I turn around and make my way out of the dungeon, cleaning my bloodied hand on the wall.
• *******
• Present day.
• January, 2025.
• “Mama!!” I hear my daughter’s voice from my sleep and I slowly pull my eyes open letting out a sigh. I was dreaming again. This has become a norm for me and Zoe always wakes me up at the right time.
• “Good morning mama” she beams excitedly, “I should get ready for school now”
• I let out a little yawn as I pull my body off the bed to a sitting position,“Good morning my love” I kiss her forehead, “did you sleep well?”
• “Yes mama. Now I need to get ready for school now”
• Staring back at her, a pain tugs at my chest. Her father used to do all these for her while we were still together. He would bathe her and get her ready for school even before I woke up but now…. I shake my head to dispel such thoughts. Now is not the time to think about things like that. I have an important meeting today and I am going to focus on that”
• “Let’s get you ready for school, sweetheart”
• We both make our way into the bathroom and I help her shower, get dressed in her clothes before taking her downstairs for breakfast. Even though I regret a lot of things in life, I would never regret having my daughter. She is the most important person to me and I am going to take care of her with everything I have got whether her father is in her life or not.
• Dad is already seated at the table when he sees the two of us and his eyes light up. He loves Zoe with his entire life. Even though our relationship has strained over the years, he loves his granddaughter with everything inside of him.
• “Good morning grandpa!” Zoe squeals excitedly as she presses a kiss on his cheek.
• “Good morning, my princess” I watch him scoop her into his arms and she settles on his thighs,“Did you sleep well?”
• “Of course grandpa, I did”
• “That’s good. I asked the kitchen to make all your favorites, eat till your heart content okay?”
• “Will you feed me?”
• “Of course!”
• The two of them get lost in their bond while I stand looking at them. Times like this make me miss mum. She died when I was fourteen and since then, nothing has been the same.
• “Won’t you have breakfast?” My father asks, looking up at me.
• “I am on a diet” I tell him, “I will eat later”
• “Hmmm” he doesn’t say anything again, returning his focus back on Zoe. At that moment, the landline chose to ring and I make my way towards it.
• “Hello”
• “Hello” a deep baritone voice reaches out from the other end of the line, “am I onto the Festilio residence?”
• “Yes, who is this?”
• “Okay, this is the bodyguard you wanted” he says, “I am only calling to confirm”
• “Oh, okay. Please, you can come over to the house later”
• “Sure, I will be there soon and we can talk”
• “Alright”
• After ending the call, I return to the dinning room to see dad wiping Zoe’s mouth with a napkin
• “That was the bodyguard, you…
• “I told you I would find one myself” he cuts me off, putting Zoe to the ground, “I told you not to bother”
• “Dad, I can find a bodyguard myself”
• “I am not letting a daughter of mine have a random bodyguard. Have you forgotten who you are?”
• I rake my fingers through my hair, this is more frustrating than I actually thought. He has rejected six bodyguards of mine in the span of three months.
• “The driver will drop you off at school okay?” I tell Zoe.
• “Sure mama”
• “See you after school”
• After kissing her goodbye, I watch her nanny lead her out of the house while I return my eyes to my father.
• “What exactly do you think you are doing?”
• “I already found a good security agency and I am waiting for them to confirm”
• “You can’t just…
• “I have every right young lady” he cuts me off, “you just got out of a marriage and I am trying too hard to keep all these under wraps, “you can’t let my hard work go to waste. We have tried so hard to keep these under wraps and you…
• “What’s so bad in the world knowing that I have a daughter?” I almost yell. I know he means well for me but he makes me feel frustrated at times and I hate it. I hate that after all these years, father still has me wrapped around his fingers. It’s not like it’s my fault that my marriage ended and for how long am I going to hide the fact that I have a seven year old daughter?
• “And you think the company we have fought so hard to keep all these years won’t go down the drain? Listen, Evanthe..he walks up to me and cups my face, “I love you and you know that. Allow father to handle everything for you. Yours is just to live like a princess. Can’t you see? Everyone adores you, everyone is at your beck and call. Let me handle this”
• “But… I try to protest but I stop. I know he means well for me, “fine, but if I don’t like him. I will choose someone myself. Deal?”
• “Deal!”
• “Fine, I will give the other company a call and cancel. I will go get ready”
• “Sure” With one last final sigh, I turn around and make my way towards the in-house elevator. Today is not a day to take on any kind of stress, I need to be prepared to ace that meeting. Ever since I was young, I have always wanted to be the best and make my father proud. He lets me take care of the pack in his absence and I am doing a pretty good job at it. I handle some meetings for him and I love it but there are times when he is too overbearing and it messes with my mental health like what he is doing now. He is pushing me to the edge and I have nothing to say about that.
• “Not today, Eve” I tell myself as I allow the water to pour down my body, “not today”
• After taking a shower, I go ahead to do my skin routine before getting dressed. I get dressed in a limited edition jumpsuit from the Dior brand. I pair it with a pair of black heels and I let my hair fall in ringlets beside me. I do my normal makeup with my red lipstick, grabbing my phone, I make my way out of the room. Today I refuse to let anything hinder my success. I am going to close that deal and make a wave in the gaming world.
• Halfway down the stairs, I hear my father's voice. He seems to be talking to someone. It seems the new bodyguard is here. That was fast.
• I freeze the moment I set eyes on the olive skinned man seated on the couch away from my father. He looks so much like someone from my past, someone that I have struggled so hard to forget about his years ago.
• Hello” my face breaks into a tiny smile, “are you my new security guard?”
• “That depends” he answers in a deep baritone voice, “your father doesn’t seem convinced enough to hire me and I am surprised since he is the one who called our company to hire”
• “I like him” I blurts out and father’s eyes almost bulge out of their socket, “I want him to be my guard”
• “You don’t even know anything about him,” father cries out.
• “I trust your judgment, dad” i say, “I have an important meeting later, I want him to accompany me and moreover, aren’t you supposed to be happy that I agreed to this one”
• “Fine then” he finally says ,turning to the bodyguard who has an amused look on his face, “I trust your agency but best believe that I will have your balls on the table if anything happens to any of them”
• “You have more to worry about”
• With a smile, I watch him pull his body off the couch before returning his focus back to me.
• “You said you have a meeting, right?” He asks
• “Hmm” I nod, “I will grab my bag” With that, I turn around and make my way upstairs again, eager to get my day started with my new bodyguard.