Chapter 2: A nightmare

~~ One month earlier ~~ 

Warning: Chapter contains details of killing, trauma, and blood, and may not be suitable for all readers. If you are easily triggered by any of these subjects, it is advisable you skip and refrain from reading ahead for your mental health. Read at your own risk. 

~ ♧ ~ 

A woman in a black lace gown that enhanced her flawless fair skin walked out of the kitchen. Her beautiful face was swollen, and her eyes were red, an indication she had been crying a very long time. 

Yes, Reina just returned from her parents' burial; she was mourning their sudden death. Yet the first thing her husband demanded on reaching home was for her to prepare him coffee. Knowing how much he loved her coffee, she yielded and prepared it, hot and creamy, just like he preferred. With elegant steps, she approached him with a mug of coffee. 

“Here is your coffee, mi amor,” Reina said, handing the coffee to the devilishly handsome man seated on the sofa. His thick eyebrows were knitted together as he concentrated on his phone. His bold jawline, prominent cheekbones, small nose, and piercing silver-gray eyes; his confidence; and his powerful aura that couldn't be ignored. Lucas smiled, taking the coffee. 

Doe-amber eyes filled with anticipation looked down at Lucas as he took the mug to his lips. This wasn't the first time Reina was serving Lucas coffee, but the expression that appeared on his face after he tasted it and the compliment he gives her always makes her day. She couldn't be proud of her decision to learn how to prepare coffee from her nanny.

However, a grin so cruel and wicked washed over Lucas' features after taking a sip. He chuckled with mirthless humor, his eyes darkening as he looked up at Reina's love-struck expression. The expression he wanted to see on her face before he shattered her fairytale. He stood up, and...

Slap!! 

The loud, piercing sound of a slap echoed through the enormous living room of the Black Mansion. Reina, the receiver of the cruel slap, moved her hand to her burning cheek, her eyes brimming with unshed tears. She wasn't expecting that from the man standing in front of her, glaring at her with a bone-chilling gaze as if she were an enemy.

“Lucas…?” Reina murmured as the tears she badly wanted to hold back fell down her face. “Why did you slap me?” she asked. But Lucas only smirked at the woman in front of him with a cold expression on his face. He must hate her more than he thought. He always had a soft spot for crying women; he was the knight in shining armor that came to the damsel in distress’s rescue. But not the fragile-looking woman in front of him. Disgusted, he threw the scorching coffee at Reina.

“Ah!” Reina cried, falling to the floor when she tried to avoid it, her hand that got burnt trembling from the excruciating pain.

A loud gasp from the maids present in the living room causes Reina to look around with her wet face. Concerned faces scrunched up with pity and sincere indignation looked back at her. She looked up at the man in front of her. ‘What has gotten over Lucas? Why was he hurting her? He is her beloved husband, the man who had been holding onto her gently like she was an egg that would break if mishandled a few minutes ago.’ 

“Lucas… What is wrong with...” Reina hadn't finished speaking when Lucas kicked her and snarled in a dark, eerie voice, causing goosebumps to erupt over her entire body. 

“Whore! You have no f*cking right to mention my name!” He growled.

“What? Lucas, I don’t understand. It’s me, the love of your life." Reina said, her voice filled with disbelief at how the man who had been her husband for years would address her as a whore when he was her first; she gave him her innocence. Lucas smirked and said,

“For a mafia princess, you sure are naive; I can't believe I spent four freaking years trying to get you to love me, trying to please you and your parents, especially that old jerk dad of yours, always doubting my intentions.” Lucas laughed, throwing his head back. He looked back at Reina with a darkened expression and said, “He was right to doubt me; my intentions weren't pure; it was evil, Queeny!” Reina's eyes widened, her heart skipping a beat. There’s only one person who used to call her Queeny back at high school.

“Luca...?” She muttered in disbelief. No, that's impossible; Lucas can't be Luca. She had wanted to find Luca and apologize to him for embarrassing him at prom night and dance with him. She had wanted to give him her first kiss in front of everyone. But she couldn't find him; he just disappeared. How can he be Lucas? Lucas is the son of one of the elite families in Colombia, but Luca was poor; he wore rags to school. Everyone made ridicule of him because of that. But he summoned his courage and proposed to her. 

But her best friend, Bianca, told her she loved Luca and asked her to break up with Luca. She agreed because she honestly didn't feel anything for Luca. She was with him out of pity, but Bianca would love him, she thought back then.

Bianca came up with a plan, but Reina didn't realize it would lead to Luca's embarrassment. She didn't know Bianca and some girls had white paint hanging up the spot where she would ask Luca to stand, according to Bianca's instructions.

“Luca, I'm sorry, is it really you?” Reina asked, but Lucas growled, 

“Shut up!” He bent down, gripping her jaw tightly. “Luca was the mockery nickname you rich bullies gave me; my name is Lucas; you don't remember because you preferred Luca the rag boy, right?!” Lucas asked, pushing her; she hit her head. Antonio and Otavio, Reina's bodyguards who had entered the living room just when Lucas pushed Reina, drew out their guns, pointing them at Lucas. 

“Bastard! Get your filthy hands off her!” Antonio growled. He never liked Lucas, but Reina loved the jerk. So he even hid the fact the bastard was having an affair with Reina's best friend, since he didn't want to hurt her. But for Lucas to hurt her, that would be over his dead body.

“No, Antonio, drop the weapons; this is between us, please...” Reina said with pleading eyes. Antonio opened his mouth when two gunshots from behind silenced him. He dropped to his knees, blood coming out of his mouth. 

“Madam… I'm sorry.” Antonio managed to say before dropping dead. Otavio, shocked, turned to take down whoever had shot Antonio but was met with a bullet to his forehead. He dropped without a word.

“Nooo!!” Reina shrieked, tears falling down her face as she crawled to her bodyguards lying in the pool of their own blood. “Antonio, Octavio, please don't do this to me! You guys are the only family I have left. Wake up; I just returned from my parents burial; I can't lose you. Please! I want everything to be a nightmare I will wake up from,” Reina said, hugging Antonio. She crawled to Otavio, hugging him. However, Reina snapped out of her anguish when a gun's muzzle was pressed to her temple.

Reina turned, her wet, bruised, and bloodied face from hugging Octavio, coming face to face with the man she had her whole life planned with. The man who whispers sweet nothings into her ears whenever they make love—the man who promised to burn the world to ashes if anyone dared to lay a finger on her—was squatting next to her, holding a gun to her head. She looked into Lucas' dead eyes, hoping to see a glimpse of her Lucas, her beloved husband, the love of her life, but sadly... 

“I should just blow your fucking brain out...” Lucas trailed off, saying inwardly, ‘But her bastard father made it so that he will lose everything he possessed if she is dead or they're divorced.’ So from now on, he was going to make her life hell since he couldn't kill or divorce her. But he was going to keep the fact he needed her to have the power he now possessed from her.' That's why he had to kill her meddling bodyguards. 

After the accident yesterday, Lucas had an emergency meeting with all the men to test their loyalty. They all pledged their loyalty with their lives to him. Who wouldn't, though? When the only way out was death?

So, Victor, Lucas' all-in-one consigliere and right-hand man, his friend with whom he planned his revenge since prom, was to eliminate Reina's bodyguards, so it would be easy to control her. Now, with no obstacles in his way and he was the Don, there's no need to hide his woman. She had been by his side since then. She sacrificed being close to Reina just to help him get to her. 

Now he was going to give her the world, even though he couldn't announce their relationship to the world. His men and maids know better who to treat as the new madam of the house. Lucas snapped out of his thoughts when Reina spoke, her voice sounding irritating to his ears. 

“Lucas, you have to trust me; I really had your best interest at heart. Back then, I thought I was…” Reina paused as a thought suddenly crossed her mind. ‘If Bianca loved Luca like she claimed, why did she spill paint on him? Did Bianca…?’

“Tell him to stand on stage; I will propose to him there. Remember, don't tell him my plan.” Bianca's exact words 10 years ago played in Reina's mind. ‘Bianca wanted her to take the blame. Bianca framed her?’ At the realization, Reina's eyes shot to Bianca, seated on the sofa. She was so overwhelmed with everything that was happening that she had forgotten Bianca returned with them from the funeral. But the heart-wrenching part was when she met Bianca's eyes; Bianca smirked at her triumphantly, like she had won a trophy made of diamonds.

“Bianca…? You?” Reina murmured with widening eyes, turning to Lucas. She held his knees and said with a trembling voice, “Lucas, you have to believe me; it was Bianca,” Reina desperately explained, pointing at Bianca. “She planned everything; you have to believe me.” But Lucas pushed her away, standing up. 

“Reina, I knew you would try to blame me again, but not this time,” Bianca said as she approached them in her sorry excuse of a black dress she had worn to the burial. A sleeveless jumpsuit that ended under her ass. “Reina! I'm sick and tired of taking the fall for your misdeeds in front of your parents, but not anymore. I won't be forced to live in your shadow anymore, you bitch!” Bianca said, delivering a hard slap on Reina's cheek after spewing her lies. “Now that your parents are dead, you didn't think I would let you use me as you pleased, right?!”

“What are you talking about?” Reina asked, her hand moving to her cheek, but she swallowed her next words when Lucas wrapped his hands around Bianca's waist, pulling her to him, and began kissing her hungrily.