His Wicked Love

Chapter Sixteen

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exitio mendacium praemisit

"Did you see who killed her?"

The words were the least of what I expected to hear from him. I had a damned gun in my hand and his cousin's lifeless body at my feet, and he was asking if I saw who killed her?

I don't know if I should call him a fool or feel thankful for his twisted faith in me. But whatever it was, it wasn't my concern, neither am I to feel warm in my heart.

My lips twitched up in a cruel smile, holding the gun before him, showing him that he needn't trust me at all.

"I killed her."

All it took was a second for me to confess a lie without an ounce of hesitation. All it took was a second for his usual flashy expression to crumple down, revealing an emotion so unmatched with the usual playful face of Rafael de Luca.

I knew I was dragging myself towards huge trouble; there might as well be brutal punishment waiting for me. But for now, for a brief moment, I didn't care about that. I only mourned all these days, desired, and wished and prayed to God so I could cause an ounce of pain in that entitled man's face after all the things his actions made me go through.

Now it was the perfect opportunity for me. And if my eyes weren't lying, Rafael de Luca was definitely mortified, so much so that he forgot to even close that mouth of his that continuously ran with words after words, or more like bullshits.

He was shocked, and it took him more than a few minutes to break out of his disbelief and come back to reality.

But then, as if his psychotic side was at its peak again, he stepped into the room. Gone was the sorrowful expression of his face, replaced with one that reflected my own destruction, a slight grin apparent on that face.

Either I ruin the world for you, or I ruin you for the world.

The words suddenly ticked in my mind, causing a whirlwind of emotions to rise within me. That was until he came so close to me that he grabbed me by my throat, and I didn't even realize.

"That's alright, Queen. I love you anyway, but," his tone caused my stomach to churn in discomfort. Because there were no emotions beneath those empty words.

"We'll have to pay the price."

Realization hit me like a truck, leaving me now in mortification that I didn't only endanger my life but as well as my family's.

"What price?" I hissed. He let out a chuckle before tightening his grip, causing my windpipe to close slowly, but deliberately. "You shouldn't have done that, Queen." He didn't reply to my query.

"You did the same with my friend."

"Damn your friend." Before I could fathom his next movement, I felt him yanking the ring out of my finger and throwing it on the ground, replacing it with another one with a red stone adorning its top. Even the sound of the small metal clashing on the floor brought me to shiver as I found myself unable to speak. "What are you doing?" I screamed, only for his to shush me by putting his finger on my lips.

Then, as if in remembrance, he sighs. "My bad, did I forget to tell you that we were getting married?" I froze, only for him to continue. "No worries, you know now."

Is that... Is that how he will take vengeance?

"You killed my cousin, I can't forgive you for that, Queen, but," a sadistic smile played on his lips, "I can always punish you after our marriage, right?"

My face pales. "Where is Anastasia?" I finally asked, finally getting a hold of my sense.

His eyes glinted under the ray of yellow light at the mention of my cousin's name. "Oh, you don't want to know what will happen to her now, sweetheart," he whispered the next words in my ear. "If you disobey me."

He suddenly let go of my throat, causing me to cough out. My breath turned normal after a while, and I forced my tears to not fall. I looked up, only to find the man's eyes locked in me, an unreadable emotion on his face.

I tried pulling out the ring he made me wear, and he chuckled. "Don't do that, Queen. Causing trouble will get you nowhere."

"Are you crazy?"

He smiles. "I thought you knew."

Then he says. "Now, Charlie won't like it if we got married without her, right? So I'll call the priest here."

I failed to take off the ring, so to confront him anymore. I whispered. "You're supposed to marry Ana."

"Oh no no," he laughs, "I was always supposed to marry you, sweetheart."

I didn't know what his words meant, neither did I want to. "I won't marry you."

"You're cute to think you've got a choice." Rafael made his way closer to me again, and I backed away out of instinct. "It's either marry me or Anastasia's life. You wouldn't want to lose your lovely cousin as well now, would you?"

God, no.

I made a mistake. I made a mistake. I made a mistake.

A middle-aged man came into the room at that moment, his eyes looking down, and body shaking slightly as he made his way to Rafael and stands beside him.

Rafael beams at me, as if he'd already forgotten that there was a corpse right in this damn room, grabbing a hold of my hand, he speaks in his so-called gentle tone. "You've only got one option left now, Queen."

Either I ruin the world for you, or I ruin you for the world.

Where is everyone else? I didn't know. But I knew he had everything planned anyway.

He was going to ruin me now.

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