I was forced to marry a monster.
Vegas Theerapanyakun is the heir to his father's empire.
He has the reputation of being a dangerous monster who can bring even grown men to their knees.
And he's about to become my husband.
Our families have been at...
I WOKE UP early that Tuesday morning, starving. Mama told me my body is going through some kind of growth spurt, and it's like I can't get enough to eat. She always makes me a big breakfast before I go to school, so that I can make it until lunch time without my stomach eating itself.
With my guts grumbling, I go downstairs to the kitchen. The house is quiet, but I know Mama will be awake. She's always the first one up.
When I walk into the kitchen, I slip on something wet and almost fall. Gripping the counter to steady myself, I look down at the tiled floor and see something dark and shiny. My first thought is maybe it's dirty water or some kind of cleaning product, but it smells like pennies, not bleach.
My feet are covered in the liquid, and I flip a switch nearby to see what the heck I stepped in. It takes a few seconds for my brain to process what exactly I'm looking at.
Blood.
There's blood everywhere.
Why is there so much blood?
And then I hear it. Something scratching against the tile floor. I walk around the center island and see my mother, crawling towards me. Her throat has been slashed, but she's still alive as blood pours out of the wounds in her neck.
"Mama!" I yell, panicking. I rush to her side, falling to the floor beside her. She collapses into my arms, gazing up at me with fear in her eyes. Three deep slashes are on her neck, and I can't stop staring at them.
She's trying to talk, but no words come out. Quickly, I cover the wounds on her neck with my hand the best I can, but I can feel the blood pushing out between my fingers. "No, no, no!" I cry. "Someone help us!" I yell. I don't know if anyone will hear me, but I can't leave her like this.
Mama's eyes drift closed, and I scream for her to wake up. "Please, Mama! Don't leave me! Don't leave me!"
Her body goes limp in my arms, and I sit there, stunned. I hold her tightly to me, rocking her like she used to rock me to sleep when I was a baby.
If only I had been a few minutes earlier, I could have saved her. I could have seen who did this. I could have killed them instead.
I rock her gently, and I cry.
My mother's dead.
She's dead.
She's dead.
She's dead.
"Vegas!" my father's voice roars as he barges into my bedroom, effectively waking me out of the nightmare I was having.
I sit up straight in bed. I'm covered in sweat from head to toe, and it takes me a few seconds to realize where the fuck I am. I don't have the nightmare about my mother's death often; but when I do, I always wake up confused and terrified.
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