𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐀𝐌𝐄 || 𝐁. 𝐁𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐄𝐒 ||

Prologue

[A/N like a year later] This book is like, kind of old and is NOT an accurate representation to how i write my stories now, so if you're new to my account just know that this book definitely isn't my best or favourite piece of work.

"What the fuck did I tell you about wearing makeup?" Nico yells, slamming you against the wall, hard.

"It's my fucking birthday!" You spit back. "Can't I just have this one thing?"

You do not have the time for his tantrums. You were supposed to be at a fancy restaurant for brunch with your friends an hour ago.

"No, you can't." He growls, pinning you against the wall by your arms. "When you date me, you obey me. Understood?"

Manipulation. It's a powerful tool that can be used in any common circumstance. Like, when it's your first day of school and you're on your best behaviour, to show all the teachers that you're a good student. You keep that good behaviour up for a few weeks, then you just switch back to your normal self without any warning. One could say you manipulated your teachers into believing you were an ass kisser.

Well, as minor as that situation is, it's kind of the same situation you're in now.

Your boyfriend Nicholas won you over on your first date. He was truly a gentleman.

Past tense.

Who wouldn't want to go steady with a guy who was a feminist, had amazing manners and morals and was good looking at the same time? You really thought he was too good to be true.

You were right. He's a piece of shit.

He started little by little. Telling you what clothes to wear, then telling you what friends to hang out with, instructing you not to wear makeup anymore, taking your phone away when you didn't 'behave'. All of that slowly started to fuel the physical abuse you suffer with now.

"I didn't know I was dating a sicko!" You yell, and Nico's eyes darken.

He slams his fist across your face and your head crashes against the hard wall with even more force.

Nico drags your hair down so you're forced to the ground. "You brought this upon yourself." He smirks down at you.

While you were with him, you tried to conceal the skills that you had, in fear that he'd leave you for it. Nico did always say he liked his girls to want him for protection. You thought that if he knew you were able to protect yourself, he'd want nothing to do with you.

Today is not one of those days anymore.

You get up and punch him in his face. Hard.

So hard that blood starts trickling down from his lip. You put your fists in front of you and plan your next move carefully.

Nico has abused you long enough for you to know what his go-to method is. He usually goes for a punch, and then a kick in the ribs.

When you see his legs lifting, you hold it in place and use it to drag him onto the floor. He curses when his head makes contact with the wooden floor, and he tries to get up. You prevent this by getting on top of him and punching him in his face repeatedly, until his face becomes a bloody mess.

"Do not ever touch me again." You warn, holding your tears back. You don't want to give him the satisfaction of seeing you cry.

You get up from on top of him, slowly. Then you back up out of the living room, leaving a wounded Nico in there with no way to call for help. He'll survive, but not without a few bruises that'll never go away.

Hurting people isn't really your thing, regardless of the skill set that you have. You were trained very specifically in a place you were instructed to never speak about. It was an amazing place, with the most polite of people. You knew your stay there was going to be temporary, though. They don't allow people who aren't from their country to stay there for too long. Well-the ruler didn't want you to stay for too long. The same couldn't be said for the prince and princess.

Dashing over to your bedroom, you turn the whole room upside down in search for your phone. Nico had confiscated it from you some days before, simply because he'd caught you getting Starbucks with one of your guy friends. Apparently you couldn't be trusted with it anymore.

Once you do manage to find your phone, the first thing you notice is that you're on 1%. Shit.

You then begin to hear thumping in the living room, letting you know that Nico's on his way, probably trying to maintain his balance.

Quickly, you call Raya, your best friend, in hopes that she might be able to give you some shelter. There's no way you're going to be staying here.

"Hello?" She says cheerily, as always. "Where are you, everyone's waiting for you at the-"

"Um..." You hold back a sob. "I- I don't think I'm gonna be able to make it there, Raya. You guys just order without me, I gotta ask you something."

"Boo." She says in a solemn tone. "What happened?"

"It's nothing." You shake your head, although she can't exactly see you. "Could I stay at your place for a little bit. It's just- I need a break. From everything."

"Of course." She answers without hesitation. "You want me and the girls to-"

"No, don't go anywhere. You guys got all dolled up for a reason, I want you guys to have fun."

"But it's your birthday brunch." Raya says.

"I know." You move away from the mic so you could sniff without her being suspicious. "Drink ten more cocktails for me, okay?"

Your best friend chuckles. "Okaay. The key-"

Raya gets cut off and you take the phone away from your ear to see what happened, only to be greeted with a black screen. Great, your phone died.

It doesn't even matter, you know where Raya's key is. Underneath the mat, as always.

On cue, Nico bursts into the bedroom, looking like something out of a horror film. His face is all busted and he has bruises all over his torso. You stare at him in shock, not believing that you actually did that to him.

"Don't act all scared now." He chuckles darkly, spitting out blood onto the floor. "You're going to pay for this."

Instead of letting him get another hand on you, you grab the flower pot on your right and chuck it at him, hoping it'll do some damage. Fortunately you were right, since it knocked him out cold.

Since you didn't know if and when he was going to wake up, you thought it would be best to get out of there as fast as possible. Grabbing your phone knowing that Raya has a charger at her house, you practically run out of the apartment and out of the block.

Away from Him.