Chapter 1: Locked in the basement.

CRASH!!!!

“No!” a young girl gasped in horror as she looked at the broken glass all over the floor.

Another girl walked into the room and her reaction was just like the first girl's.

“I’m so sorry Kia,” The first woman apologized and tears started to drop from her face as she knew what she had done meant trouble.

“It’s okay, Sammy,” Kia said. She quickly went to the kitchen and brought a broom and a dustpan and started sweeping up the shards of glass.

“No it’s not okay, the old witch and asshole won’t take this lightly,” Sammy said. “You know what, let me take responsibility for what I have done.”

“No, if you do that, they’ll double my punishment for sneaking you into the house and they’ll stop you from coming here,” Kiandra pointed out.

“Oh yeah that’s true,” Sammy said as she helped Kia with the remaining shards of glass. “I can’t wait for you to finally turn eighteen in two days so you can finally leave them, Dad says you can live with us.”

They finished sweeping the glass and went to dispose of it in a place where Kia’s parents wouldn’t find it.

“I don’t know Sammy, she is still my parent,” Kia said. Even though she wasn't the best when it came to her parental responsibility, she was still her parent and she was skeptical about leaving her.

“Yeah, but parents are supposed to be loving and not an asshole like the one you have, no offense,” Sammy said.

“Kiandra, where the hell are you?!” A voice yelled from outside the house before Kiandra could respond to Sammy.

The two girls froze in horror when they heard the voice. “Kiandra, don’t make me come in there!” the voice yelled again, snapping them out of their frozen state.

“Sammy, you have to leave now,” Kiandra said as she pushed her friend towards the back door. “No matter what you do, don’t get caught or else I’ll kill you myself,” she threatened, before turning back.

Kiandra took a deep breath to gather her composure before she turned and headed out to meet her mother.

“Mom, let me help you with that,” she said as she collected the grocery bag from her.

She saw something flash from the corner of her eyes and the next thing she felt was a painful sting on the left side of her cheeks. “You cursed child, what the hell took you so long?!” her mother yelled.

A man walked up to the mother and put his hands around her shoulder to get her to calm down. “Relax May, you shouldn’t touch filth with your hands,” he said.

“Stephan, even filth has more worth than this useless child!” May exclaimed as she stared at Kiandra in contempt. Tears started to drop from Kiandra’s eyes and she looked at the ground to hide them.

“Come, honey, let’s go inside!” Stephan said and he led May into the house.

Kiandra stood rooted in her point as she cried. She had been going through this from the time she could remember and she was supposed to have gotten used to it but she still wasn’t.

Every time her mom would treat her like this, it would always hurt her. It was like her entire existence was a burden to her mother.

She wiped her tears and turned to go into the house before her mother would hit her again for wasting time. When she got into the house, she found her mother's boyfriend, Stephan, holding up a shard of glass.

‘Shit!’ Kiandra cursed inwardly as she saw that it was from the antique that had broken. Her eyes met with Stephan, and the latter gave her a devilish smile.

Kiandra recognized the smile, and chills crept up her spine. The asshole, as Sammy liked to call him, was worse than the devil in Kiandra’s eyes. He had been dating her mother for about six months and those six months had been hell for her.

He would always look for ways to get her in trouble with her mom, and after he had done so, he would suggest ways to punish her just for the thrill of it.

‘Please,’ she begged him with her eyes, but she knew that the chance of him not doing what he was planning on doing was very slim.

“Honey, it seems the little filth has broken something very precious of yours,” Stephan said, showing May the piece of broken glass.

May gasped upon seeing the broken glass and she immediately lunged at Kiandra. “You bastard, my grandmother gave that antique to me!” she said as she started hitting Kiandra.

“I’m sorry Mom, it was an accident,” Kiandra apologized, but that didn’t do anything to stop her mother from hitting her.

“Honey, that’s enough!” Stephan said after he was done enjoying the drama.

“No, I'm going to kill the bastard today!” May yelled in anger.

“It’s not yet time for that,” Stephan said. “Why not just lock her up for the meantime?” he suggested.

“Drag her to the basement,” May ordered.

“No please, Mom, not the basement,” Kiandra pleaded. She hated the place with a passion due to the fact that it was always dark, the place had insects living in it and at night, the sounds it always made terrified her.

“Drag her Stephan!” May growled, and Stephan immediately grabbed hold of her hair and started dragging her to the basement. He was much stronger than her and so she couldn’t break free from his grip.

“There you go!” he said as he pushed her into the basement and locked the door.

“No, please!” Kiandra pleaded, but her pleas fell on deaf ears. Something suddenly fell on her shoulders and when she touched it to feel what it was, she felt a wall gecko.

“Ahh!” she yelled and pushed it off. “Open the door please,” she yelled and started banging on the door. She banged it till she had no strength left in her, but no one opened the door for her.

Feeling tired, she collapsed on the ground and hugged her knees, trying to get herself to calm down. The creaking noises started and the sound of droplets of water dripping from the tap wherever that was also began.

Her mind immediately began to think of the worst possible scenarios, and that only added to her fears.

‘Nothing is going to happen to me,’ she muttered to herself. ‘It’s all just in your head,’ she said, but her words did little to stop the panic attack that was coming.

Her breathing got heavier and heavier, and not long after, she fell unconscious.

****

“Ahhh!” a man groaned in pain as he slowly opened his eyes. He found himself staring at an unfamiliar ceiling and so he jerked up from the bed.

The last thing he remembered entering his car and suddenly feeling a sharp pain in his neck,

‘What the hell?!’ he exclaimed when he saw that he was in a private aircraft. His eyes immediately turned cold as he figured out who was behind everything.

‘I’m going to kill that bastard!’ he muttered to himself and got down from the bed.

He walked into another compartment and saw the devil sitting on the chair working on his laptop. “You bastard!” he yelled in anger. The man looked up from his laptop and gave him a bored look.

“How do you want me to kill you?” he asked the man as he folded the hands of his t-shirt.

“Have a drink, it will help you to cool down,” the seated man urged the one standing. And as soon as he was done speaking, an air hostess walked into the compartment holding a bucket of ice that had a bottle of alcohol in it.

“This is only going to postpone what I intend on doing to you,” the man said and he took his seat opposite the other man. He immediately poured a glass for himself and started drinking.

“Don’t forget that if you harm me, you will be the only one to deal with your paranoid mother, Liam,” the other man retorted.

“Well, I think I will rather put up with her than have to deal with you, Lucas,” Liam fired back. ‘I wonder why I‘m stuck with you all the time,’ he muttered under his breath.’

Lucas heard it and rolled his eyes. “That’s because you’d be a lost cause without me,” he stated.

"You mean you'd be a lost cause without me," Liam corrected.

"No, I'm sure of what I said," Lucas retorted to which Liam rolled his eyes.

Lucas and Liam were both from very prestigious families; the Valencia and the Volcano family respectively.

And due to the fact that their fathers grew up together, the two were forced to grow up together as well.

While Liam was outspoken and jovial, Lucas was the complete opposite as he always kept to himself and was very cold.

People wondered how the two had managed so far as they were opposites but the truth was that they complimented each other.

"Where are we headed?" Liam asked, not bothering to respond to Lucas' words.

"To one of the family's hotels. My dad wants me to represent him at one of his meetings," Lucas answered.

Liam sniffed and pretended to wipe his imaginary tears from his eyes.

"Wow, I'm so proud of you for finally acting mature and stepping into the family's business," he said and applauded Lucas.

He suddenly stopped applauding, and his face contorted into a frown as soon as he realized something.

"Wait, so why are you taking me along?" He asked.

"So you can also suffer along with me," Lucas replied.

"You idiot, I already have my own meetings and schedule to suffer through. Why the hell are you dragging me into yours?!" Liam asked in anger.

"You could have just asked me," he added.

"I know you well enough to know that you wouldn't have hesitated to refuse to come along with me," Lucas said.

"Yeah, but still, I would have liked to be asked rather than being kidnapped," Liam sneered. "You wait till we get back home. I'm so suing your ass."

"Aren't you the future COO? I'm going to be the future CEO, which means you're going to be stuck with me forever," Lucas grinned evilly.

"I have been stuck with you since we were both born and that was twenty-three years ago. I swear I'm going to kill you," Liam promised and Lucas shrugged casually.

"That's what you get for both our families knowing each other," Lucas stated.

Lucas and Liam's father were both childhood friends who grew up together and went to the same high school as well as college together.

They did everything together, including building their multi-billionaire empire.

And so naturally, when they gave birth to their sons, they made sure the two boys were stuck together just like they were.

Liam poured another glass for himself and gulped it down in one go.

This made Lucas frown a bit."You're going to get drunk if you keep on drinking," he stated

"Don't worry, I have a high alcohol tolerance," Liam said and he poured himself another glass.

"Besides, if you're going to force me to attend your stupid meeting, then I plan on getting drunk all through and getting laid," he added.

"Why does your word revolve around getting drunk and getting laid?" Lucas probed.

"Because, my dear brother, that right there is the beauty of life," Liam answered and raised his glass at Lucas.

'Impossible," Lucas muttered under his breath. Liam heard what he said and laughed.

"Don't go around acting like you're so innocent. We both know you also get laid as I do," Liam fired at Lucas.

"Yeah, but I do not make it my life's priority like someone sitting right in front of me," Lucas quipped.

"Don't try to justify it!" Liam retorted. "Getting laid means getting laid."

"Go to hell," Lucas cursed Liam and the latter laughed.

The door to the compartment opened and the Co-pilot walked in. "Good evening sirs, we will be landing soon, so please fasten your seatbelt," he instructed them.

"Hmm," Lucas said and the co-pilot left.

"I hate you for this," Liam said as he fastened his seat belt.

"I know you've made it pretty clear for the last twenty-two years of our lives," Lucas retorted, and he also fastened his seatbelt.

The plane landed not long after and the two men came out from the private jet.

They wasted no time and got into the five cars waiting for them upon arrival. The cars then took them to the hotel.

After collecting their exclusive keycards, they headed up to the private elevator, which would take them to the floor reserved only for the two men and their families.

"What time is the meeting tomorrow?" Liam asked on their way up to their floor.

"Four in the evening," Lucas answered, and the doors to the elevator opened.

"Wow, I would have thought that it was four in the morning," Liam quipped as he got out of the elevator.

"Why did I bring you along with me?" Lucas mused, immediately regretting his decision.

This would have been his chance to get away from the overbearing man-child, and he threw it away.

"And I plan on making your stay with me miserable," Liam told Lucas before entering his room.

Lucas also turned and entered his room. As soon as he was in it, he went into the bathroom to take a quick shower as he felt sticky.

He came out moments later and after getting dressed, he collapsed on the bed. Tomorrow was going to be a very busy day and so he wanted to get a proper rest.

****