Chap 3: Mariana's Pov

I’m seated alone when all of a sudden, I feel a presence beside me. I look up and my eyes find Mathew staring down at me with his creepy smile.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Mathew plops down beside me, breathing out an alcohol reeked breath. I have to physically force my throat to tighten in order not to gag.

Out of all my friends, Mathew is the one I mistrust the most. I often find his traits very bizarre and he’s someone who exudes desperation for attention.

More like he wants to be noticed by me but for a specific reason.

“Hey Matt, having fun?” I question and he hums with his eyes closed shut.

We both maintain the very much needed silence for some minutes before he speaks up. “What exactly is your deal, Mariana? You have access to drugs, you’re sometimes covered in blood, you live in this castle with lots of guards. . .” He trails off and my eyebrows furrow at him.

A sudden gasp that has me flinching erupts from his throat, “Your father is a drug lord? Tell me! It makes sense now that I think of it.”

This fucker.

Why’s he always trying to get information out of me?

I crash my lips against his to keep him from speaking any further. Luckily for me, the fool gives in and begins kissing me hard and rough, his tongue plunging in and out of my mouth.

Mathew pulls me unto him so that I’m straddling him and begins fiddling with my dress.

Shit!

Big mistake!

I can hear people screaming and cheering as they gather around to watch I and Mathew fuck. Christ! How did I get myself involved with these sort of sick people?

Pulling away from the kiss, I whip my head around, stealing a glance at where my brother and his friend are supposed to be seated—a frown coats my face when I find the couch empty.

That fucker!

Is he fucking Iris?

My heart constricts with jealousy, my nose flaring angrily. Expelling a groan, I roughly slam my lips on Mathew’s, this time kissing him fervently until I feel the air around me change.

The energy drifts to something dark and a few gasps are heard.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I hear an angry growl of a thick, husky voice, causing me to look up. It’s him, the hot stranger. And he’s staring down at me with nothing but rage.

His tone of voice is thickly accented and his words aggressive—Russian accent.

He’s Russian?

He cannot be Russian, my family do not involve themselves with any crime family in Russia.

“Get off him.” He orders in a voice too calm and cold.

I throw my head back in laughter, “mind your business.”

“Are you a whore?” He questions in irritation.

My face immediately contorts in displeasure, my lips dropping open in shock. Rage perhaps. “What?!” I scream my question.

“Are you a whore?! How dare you let him touch you in that manner?” He scoffs humorlessly, “and that too in a public place? Fucking get off him!”

My body vibrates in anger as my eyes dart around the room in search of my brother but he’s nowhere to be seen. “My body, my business!”

He chuckles so dark, causing the crowd to go completely silent in fear. Even the music is tuned to the lowest volume.

With gritting teeth, he declares. “Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for attending but the party is over and I’ll need everyone of you out of the property. Now!”

My friends share a look of confusion amongst each other and all that can be heard in the room are hushed murmurs. I get off Matthew’s lap with my chest heaving and molars grinding, “what the fuck is wrong with you?! How dare you come into someone else’s house and order them around?!”

He doesn’t utter a word for about five minutes.

Just deafening silence that has me shaking in fear.

“I swear to God, if I have to repeat myself then I promise that you all will be leaving here in a body bag.” His voice is monotone. Those are the only words he spits before everyone begins running out of the room in fear. “You too, Mariana. Go home or I’ll have no other option than to put a call across to your father and inform him of the things you’ve been up to.”

I feel my eyes well up with tears at how easily a stranger destroyed my party. A party that was carefully planned out for months and now this stupid, idiotic animal messed it up in minutes.

“You’ll pay for this.” I mutter as I shamefully walk out of the room.

Here goes my twenty-fifth birthday. Dust.

. . .

I’ve been in my room, drowning myself in alcohol, sulking over my ruined party. Just as I’m about to dump another glass of scotch into my mouth, the vibration of my phone resonates, causing me to groan.

“Mariana speaking,” I murmur into the phone.

“This is Iris. I heard about the party and decided to call and see how you’re doing. If you want, we can go to a private club. . . I have free passes.” Iris declares and I suck in a breath, biting my lips in contemplation.

“Weren’t you high out of your mind just a few hours ago? How do you still have it in you to party?” I question.

Iris groans. “That hot stranger sobered me up quicker than I’d imagined.”

My heart drops and I murmur an, “Oh.”

“Not like that, stupid,” Iris grumbles. “The guy is insane. He probably has a personality disorder because one minute he was all over me and the next he fazed out and then blinked a few times and forgot who I was. He was even asking where he was and shit. He probably took some drugs,” She chuckles.

What?

Really?

“Send me the location of the club, I’ll be out in thirty minutes.” I proclaim, desperately wanting to meet up with her so that I could get more details about the stranger whose name I’m yet to know.

I quickly throw on a not so decent dress and hurry my way downstairs, but as I run past the bar area of my living room, that familiar, thick Russian accent echoes through the quiet room, stopping me in my tracks.

“Where are you going dressed in that manner, Mariana?” He questions as he takes long, calculated strides towards me with his piercing gaze burning holes through my skull.

“None of your business.” I hiss and a dry chuckle escapes the back of his throat.

His tongue darts out, swiping across his bottom lip as he slowly roams my body with his eyes. Shamelessly. “With the way you’re dressed, Mariana, one might think you’re a desperate whore looking for a dick to sit on. . .” He chuckles, “You could always sit on mine if that were the case.”

My eyebrows furrow and I fake a gag. “I’m not interested in sitting on dicks that are as little as my pinky finger,” I mock and he throws his head back, laughter bubbling out of him.

“And here I was thinking that you enjoyed the smaller sizes of dicks, seeing that the one I found on your boyfriend wasn’t really that impressive.”

My boyfriend. . .

My boyfriend?

Shit! Mathew!

My eyes widen. “What did you do?” I rage and he tuts, shoving his hands into his pockets.

“He was getting on my nerves and I took care of him. You should have seen the way he was crying and screaming like a bitch when I cut his disgusting, wrinkled, shrunken, tiny dick off. Pussy. It was so hilarious, I almost toppled over while laughing.” His lips stretch into a wide grin as he reminisces.

“You’re sick! Where’s he?!”

“Dead.” He shrugs his shoulders.

“Why? Why would you do this?” A lone tear slides down my cheek but I’m quick to smack it off.

“I was bored and he touched what I wanted for myself.”

“And what might that be?”

Reluctantly, he proclaims. “You.”

Sick.

Fucking.

Bastard.

Who the fuck does this man think he is? Crashing my party, calling me a whore, threatening my friends, and now, killing Mathew just because we made out. . .

He’ll definitely regret this.

Letting out a scoff, I turn on my heels, walking toward the door when he declares. “You walk out that door dressed like that and I’ll tell your father that you’ve been sniffing cocaine.”

I pull open the door, and with the boldness of a lion, I walk outside before turning around to face him with a forced smile plastered across my face.

“I dare you.”