Chapter 6 Prisoners of Truth

Valeria's heart raced at Rafael's words that lingered in the silence.

Read more from the author "I always knew you were supposed to be mine.

She couldn't breathe. Photos visited her from all corners, the four walls compressing, closing in on her, reminding her that Rafael DeLuca was watching her long before she was ever aware he was a thing.

Her fingers quivered as she picked up one of the photographs. It was an old photo, shot outside her university. She was smiling - blissfully ignorant of the monster who had already fixed his sights on her.

She whipped back around to Rafael, blood thundering. "Why?" She whispered, the word escaping her lips like a secret. "Why me?"

Rafael reached over, closing the space between them with his big body. His emerald eyes glimmered with something unreadable - obsession, possession, something deeper, something darker.

"You were always meant to be mine," he said, his voice smooth, controlled, but with an unnaturally sure edge to it. "Long before your family betrayed you, long before your father signed that contract, I made the decision that you would be mine."

Valeria stepped back shakily, but had nowhere to go. "You-" she swallowed, struggled to keep the shaking out of her voice "-you knew about me before all of this?"

Rafa's grin was imperturbable to her horror. "Oh, Valeria. Did you think I stumbled across you?"

She felt sick.

He had orchestrated this. Since she had been thrown into prison, since she had been sold, she had been falling straight into his hands.

Her hands balled into fists. "This isn't destiny," she hissed. "This is manipulation. You stole my life. You-"

Rafael acted so quickly, she had little time to respond." One moment, he hovered next to the door, and the next he was before her, his fingers around the rounded tip of her chin, making her look him in the eye.

"Careful, mi amor," he said gently. "You're in my world now. And in my universe, you don't get to interrogate me."

She glared up at him, her eyes alight with defiance. "Then kill me," she spat. "If I am nothing more than your twisted game, then end it.

Rafael's face fell, his hands closing tighter. "You think I want you dead?" He moved in, breath whispering over her lips. "No, Valeria. I want you alive. I want you mine. "

A shiver ran down her spine.

This wasn't just about power. It wasn't only about revenge.

This was obsession.

The Past Unveiled

Valeria's mind raced. There had to be an escape from this, a way to turn the tables. If Rafael had been watching her for years, then he had vulnerabilities - emotional ones he likely didn't want to admit.

She needed to use them.

She swallowed hard and made her voice steady. "If you've wanted me all this time, why wait to now? Why not take me years ago?"

Rafael's eyes ignited, if only for the briefest moment. A crack in his armor.

"Because you were sheltered from betrayal back then," he confessed. "You had faith in love, in family. You were innocent."

Her breath hitched.

"And you wanted to unravel that," she discovered.

A slow smile crept onto his lips. "No, mi vida. I wanted to break your illusions first. I wanted to be the only thing you had.

A chill ran through her.

He didn't just want her body. He wanted her soul.

A New Kind of Prison

Valeria broke free of his hold but Rafael released her, snickering as she staggered back.

"You aren't holding me here forever," she replied, her voice more pointed now. "I will escape."

Rafael chuckled darkly. "Escape?" He tilted his head. "I think you are misunderstanding me, Valeria. I don't have to lock you in a room to make you stay here."

She frowned. "What-"

His smirk deepened. "You're never leaving because, eventually, you will not want to."

Her stomach twisted. "I never want to stay here with you."

He gripped her shoulders, invading her space again. "We'll see."

Then, without saying anything more, he turned and walked away from the door. But before he departed, he looked back over his shoulder.

"Oh, and Valeria?"

She refused to answer.

His smirk didn't fade. "If you ever try to escape again..." His voice was low, almost fond. "I won't be that forgiving next time."

The door closed behind him and she was alone in a room filled with artifacts that her life had never really belonged to her.

Valeria's hands clenched.

Rafael thought he had won.

But he had not counted on her.

She wouldn't allow him to break her.

She would not be taken in by his tricks.

She would find a way to make him pay.

Even if that need making him as ruthless as he had been.

Even if that meant burning everything to the ground.

Even if that meant bringing him down with her.