Chapter 1

Jenna’s POV

I have been trapped in this building for exactly five years now, he locked me up on my twenty-fifth birthday, and on my thirtieth birthday was the day I would escape, or so I thought.

***

I lay on the queen-sized bed with nothing but different thoughts running through my head, how did I fall so low, how would I escape, would I spend the rest of my life here?

I was once the proud and unreachable princess of the Hidden Valley.

My brother who was twenty at that time went to the orphanage, took a liking to my intelligence, and adopted me when I was just nine years old. He was the leader of the Hidden Valley which everyone across the world feared.

The hidden valley was like a mafia but my brother begged to defer, he always argued that the hidden valley was a more legal version of a mafia, but we all knew…

By the age of 19, I was already a professional in medicine and anything computer related, I was so good to the extent that I was given the name ‘miracle doctor’ and Dr X in the hacking world where I ranked second .

People from around the world would pay just any amount for me to treat them, this all improved the prestige of the Hidden Valley, and my ego was unmatched because of this. People feard me as my anger brought about Rio’s wrath and he was for sure ruthless.

MI began treating people based on my mood or if I found their faces a pleasure or disgusting to look at, and nobody dared to do anything to me, that was the fun of it.

That was until my ‘darling brother made his intentions clear’ he did not want me to be the princess of the hidden valley anymore, no he wanted me to be his queen, to bear his children, and I felt nothing but repulsed by the idea. I came to the realization that he had been grooming me to be his perfect bride, I had always thought I was the smartest being on the planet, but on that very day I realized how stupid I was to miss all the signs. Why would a ruthless master who kills with no mercy, who has a bunch of goons, and who leads the underground world suddenly want a little sister?

Without thinking I rejected him, yes I did love him, but as my brother and only that, I could not even imagine both of us having kids together, but he did not take that answer too well. How could he let what he has been investing in for how many years go to waste?

It was my twenty-fifth birthday when he took me out of the hidden valley saying that he had a surprise for me, I was more than excited when he said that, and my brain began thinking of all the possible surprises he could prepare, but I was not ready for his true surprise. He took me to this villa, there were balloons and decorations everywhere, it was only me and him, and after everything, including making my birthday wish, he looked at me with a smile on his face. He suddenly got closer and closer to me while I backed away with nervousness.

“Do you like it here?” he asked me while he was looking at me like I was his prey and I nodded thinking he was about to gift me the beautiful villa as a birthday present.

“That's good, you will not suffer here, your brother will come to visit you every day,” he said referring to himself and I felt goosebumps spread all over my body.

“Why would you need to visit me?” I whispered and he chuckled while his grip on my chin became harder.

“This is your new home now Jen, today is your birthday, today you will do what faith has always had in store for you, you are finally my bride,” he said and I reeled back in shock. He forcefully pulled me back into his embrace, I looked into his eyes which had always been calm without any ripple, and for the first time since I knew him, I saw a hint of craziness in his eyes. I came to a realization that he did not just like me, he was obsessed with me.

“I told you no a million times Rio, I don't want this, we are not married, please drop this obsession, Rio, please” I begged him, I have never been the one to be scared in my life, especially after I became the princess of the hidden valley. But at that moment, I felt like my life was about to end.

“You are, because I said you are” he smirked as he removed a ring from his pocket, and forcefully shoved it into my fingers as if that was not enough he brought out a tiny key and placed it in a small hole in the ring on my finger, he turned the key and I felt the most excruciating pain on my ring finger, blood began to flow down my hand, I realized that the ring was embedded with pins which were now inside my finger.

“The only way to take off this ring Jen, is by cutting off your finger,” he said with a triumphant smile and I cried out with pain. With anger in my spirit I swung at him, but how could I easily defeat the one who taught me how to be a ruthless fighter in the first place? Nobody could defeat me in combat, except for him.

Very easily he held my arms and pushed me to the wall, and I knew I was about to lose the battle when his rough lips landed on mine.

When he had enough, he left, he locked the doors and left as I banged on it, begging him to change his mind. I sat on the floor trying to process what had just happened. I immediately ran to the bathroom trying my best to wipe his kiss off my lips, the more I thought of his actions the more disgusted I felt.

I ran around the whole house looking for ways to escape, but he was well prepared, even a mosquito could not sneak out of that house.

He made sure everything was available, food, water, a television, even a laptop and a phone, but I had no access to the internet.

After trying every possible method, I realized it was useless, I was going to be stuck in that villa until he changed his mind. And when I had thought the worst had happened, he easily proved me wrong when he came every day intending to get me pregnant.

As a doctor, a miracle one to be exact, I knew of a couple of tricks to stop me from getting pregnant, but I guess he still found a way to outsmart me.

Five years later I lay in the bed, five months pregnant with his first child. He finally won.

He stopped coming as usual and sent a nanny to take care of me, unlike most mothers, I had no feelings for this child in my stomach at the same time I was scared of for it, how could I bring a human being into this cruel world?

It was my thirtieth birthday and for sure I knew he was going to come here , to ‘celebrate’. And I have grown tired of him and tired of life, I hated him, I hated everybody. So there was going to be either of these two outcomes when he arrived. I was either going to escape in peace, or we were both going to die together as a ‘family’

Two thirty pm I finally got out of bed, ignoring the nanny he prepared for I sat on the living room couch and turned on the TV to watch.

And there it was, ever since I disappeared, there would always be a segment in the news discussing how I was suddenly hidden from the world, they all speculated that Rio was doing it to protect me, if only they knew. I chuckled.

Five thirty pm I began to expect his presence when I noticed that Nanny Li was not around, she was obviously instructed by him. I went to the kitchen to look for a knife after testing out the camera-jamming device I had been working on for the past five years trying to be as discrete as possible. He was always watching, so I had to do something about it.

Once I was sure that the camera was not working, I ran to the kitchen as I had limited time, and of course, nanny li would lock the knives away. But I easily opened the cupboard and brought out a knife I could hide in my clothes. I immediately ran back to the couch and sat, just in time the camera started working.

Six thirty pm he arrived wearing a tuxedo. Once he saw he gave me a small smile and I shivered, I was beyond scared of him, if my plan failed, no doubt he would torture me like during the previous times I tried to escape.

“Darling, happy birthday,” he said as he walked towards me and drew me into his embrace I only felt repulsed but I could not push him away, I did not want to be punished.

“I bought something for you,” he said with a smile and he handed the gift bag over to me. And just like I expected it was expensive jewelry.

“I can't wear it anywhere” I whispered and he laughed.

“Don't worry, you can wear it for me just like the previous ones” he said and I shivered as he removed the jewelry from the box and placed it on my neck.

“Happy birthday my darling,” he said as he took in a wiff of my scent looking intoxicated .

“Has the nanny prepared our celebratory dinner he asked and I reluctantly nodded.

I had always looked forward to my birthday, but because of his actions, I hated this day.

We went to the dining room together and the table was filled with a nice dinner, it was also decorated.

We sat and dined in silence.

“How is the baby doing?” he suddenly asked.

“It is fine” I replied curtly as I continued eating.

“Come here let me talk to him” he said and without wasting time I stood up and walked towards him, once I was in front of his his cold hands lifted my shirt and rested on my stomach.

“He is getting big,” he said with a huge smile on his face while I gave him a reluctant smile. My hands were getting sweaty, this was the only chance I had to do this.

I let out a small shout in shock when he suddenly drew me down to sit on his lap.

‘Do it’

‘Do it’

‘Do it’

My inner voice kept telling me and for the first time in a few years, I listed.

While he was distracted in my embrace trying to be intoxicated by my smell, I sneakily brought out the knife I had been hiding and drove it straight into his back causing him to losen his hold on me in shock. Taking advantage of the opportunity I made a run for it, the door was open and I ran.’

Straight into the woods, I went and I kept on running, still with that knife on my hands.

I was almost there I was near civilization.

‘I am really free’ I thought to myself.

But my whole train of thought crashed down the second I saw the headlights of his car, which was driving towards my direction at extreme speed, just as I thought it was about to hit me, the car suddenly stopped.

He came down, blood dripping from his back, he had the most scary look on his face and I reeled back in fear.

“Please just let me go” I begged with tears running down my eyes.

“You are in trouble darling,” he said as he walked towards me, not looking like he had been stabbed. He forcefully pushed me into his car, entered, and drove back to the villa.

“No! No!” I shouted in desperation, I could not go back to that prison.

As we got him he pushed me to the ground.

“Darling you know what happens when you try to pull stunts like this,” he said in an eery voice.

“You are pregnant so don't worry I would go easy on you, just don't do it again,” he said as he began to get weaker and weaker as he was losing blood. Realizing this he made a phone call probably telling his doctor to come.

“Will you keep me here forever?” I whispered.

“Darling you had a choice at first, but you rejected me, you can only live here for the rest of your life” he laughed and I nodded in understanding.

“I understand,” I said my heart suddenly becoming numb and without wasting time I ran the knife through my stomach and again through my heart.

“Jen!” he shouted with horror on his face. I felt the excruciating pain in my stomach and my chest. I wanted to close my eyes but I refused to, I had to do one more thing before I left.

He ran towards me trying to use his hands to stop the blood from flowing. And I finally got to deliver my last gift to him. With happiness in bleeding heart, I ran that same knife through his heart as he looked at me in disbelief. It was my turn to give out an eerie laugh.

At the end of the day, I won.