⋆⁺₊⋆☽ | Verity’s POV | ☾⋆⁺₊⋆
I regret the day I saved Valentino Consani from drowning.
As little as I was, only eleven years old, I’d managed to pull a struggling child just like me out of the water using a fallen tree branch. Together, we collapsed soaking wet on the grass, and that young boy turned to me red-faced and breathing heavily to ask for my name.
“Verity.” I replied, not thinking much of it.
“Thank you, Verity. My name is Valentino.” And with solemn green eyes gleaming in the drying sunlight, Valentino said that very day, “When we grow up, I’ll find you and marry you. I swear it.”
What a funny, childish promise. I couldn’t help but giggle, peals of laughter alleviating the previous tension in my little body. But little did I know that Valentino was being serious.
As serious as the day he stormed my wedding.
Shouts erupted in the church, sharp and deafening as fists collided with Drew's body. My husband—No, my ‘fiance’. The priest had barely even pronounced us husband and wife before chaos descended. People screamed, scattering like leaves in a storm, diving behind pews or bolting for the doors.
Frozen in place, I could only watch in horror as their leader stepped forward, a menacing man cutting through the chaos. He knelt over Drew, knuckles streaked with blood, and with a final, resounding crack, he ended it. Drew crumpled lifelessly onto the marble floor.
My scream tore through the air, raw and piercing, and I fell to my knees, shaking in the pool of crimson that spread beneath me.
“Why…?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper. I trembled with pain and tears leaked out of the corners of my eyes. Then something within me snapped, and my words erupted in fury. “Who the hell are you? Why are you doing this?!”
“Who am I?” His voice was chillingly soft as he turned to face me, a devilish smirk playing on his lips. “Sweetheart,” he cooed, his blood-streaked fingers brushing my cheek. “I’m hurt. Have you really forgotten? Ten years is all it took for you to forget the boy you saved?”
“D-Don’t touch me,” I stammered, recoiling. My words were meant to be a demand, but they came out weak, hollow. My gaze met his and that particular shade of green… It rang an alarm bell in my head, pulling at memories I had buried over the course of years..
His expression softened, almost tender. “We made a promise,” he whispered, his tone dangerously intimate. “You saved me from drowning, and I swore I’d make you mine. My sweetheart, my savior. Here I am, keeping my word.”
Before I could react, he tilted my chin with surprising gentleness and leaned in, his lips mere inches from mine. A surge of rage and adrenaline shot through me, and I struck him. Hard.
The slap rang out, sharp and defiant, slicing through the eerie silence that had descended over the room. Gasps echoed from the few who hadn’t fled, their terror palpable.
“Don’t you dare put your filthy hands on me, Valentino!” I hissed, infuriated and disgusted. “I never promised you anything!”
For a moment, silence hung between us. Then, he laughed. A deep, guttural sound that sent chills racing down my spine. It wasn’t the laugh of a man scorned. No, it was the laugh of a sick man who enjoyed my resistance, who fed off my fear.
“You remember my name,” he said, his amusement fading into something darker. “Good. That’s a start.” His gaze hardened, a cold look taking over his expression. “But you’ll learn, princess. You’ll learn never to break an oath. And you’ll learn what happens when you raise your hand against the man who loves you more than anyone else ever could.”
Valentino’s men moved swiftly, stripping everyone of their phones and locking us in. My family was helpless, their pleas silenced by the barrel of a gun or the cold steel of a knife.
That day, I finally became a bride. Not the bride I had dreamed of being, not the one who had pictured walking into a lifetime of love and joy with Drew.
Instead, I became the bride of a monster.
