Marie brushed her hands through the numerous dresses on the movable hanger in front of her. It was two days after Drey had asked, or rather commanded her to be his date for a ball, and it was that day of the ball.
It was 2pm in the evening, and a team of beauty experts had come to drag her literally from the comfort of her room to doll her up for the event. She didn’t know why Drey had asked her, of all the women at his disposal, to be his date to the ball. She didn’t know much of his personal life, but there had been rumors of the son of The Shadow Empire being a playboy, but she really couldn’t care less.Now, she was in a dressing room with nothing less than eight beauty workers in the room, some with makeup products, some hair tools, and the others were trying to get her to pick a dress from the options lined up. She was dressed in a robe, as they made her have her bath all over again in a bid to get to work.After scanning the clothes for the 100th time, her eyes landed on a red, floor-length dress hanging at the extreme end of the hanger. She reached out for it, and instantly fell in love with it. It was cut in a v-shaped neck which plunged down below her bosoms. Although it was extremely long, it had a very high slit. It was simple, but also a statement piece.She handed over the dress to the worker beside her, and they soon moved her to the seat in order to begin her hair and makeup. After what felt like two eternities later, the beauticians finally announced that they were done with the process.Marie slowly opened her eyes to look at the mirror, and she slightly gasped. Her hair was curled into full bouncy curls, and the makeup, although minimal, was fierce and bold. Marie couldn’t remember the last time that she dolled up or looked this pretty, maybe high school prom.Thinking about it now, her ex-boyfriend never took her on fancy dates or made her dress up to go anywhere. She smiled brightly at her reflection in the mirror, and couldn’t have been more pleased with the outcome of the entire look, and hopefully the dress would tie it all together.And the dress did just that. She was standing in front of the full length mirror, and everything about her screamed royalty and class. The red dress was paired with silver stiletto heels and silver jewelry. The colors popped out on her pale skin, and she really couldn’t have looked prettier.After a full minute of gawking at herself in the mirror, she heard a soft knock on the door.By now, she was all alone in the room, so she went ahead to open the door. Standing on the other side of the door was Bob who was dressed in a navy blue tuxedo, and he looked a bit better than the first time she met him. She could see his eyes widen a bit, obviously in amazement of how she looked. Bob cleared his throat softly“The ball had started, and the big boss had to leave earlier to meet with guests. Now, I’ll be the one to escort you downstairs.”“Alright, we may leave now” Marie told him with a little smile on her face, and surprisingly, he smiled back at her.They interlocked arms and proceeded to the direction from where Marie was hearing soft music. Soon enough, they reached a grand staircase with the people dining and networking in the wide area below. As they started walking down the stairs, over half of the crowd turned to them and were gawking in admiration.Marie could care less about the other people, and looked out earnestly for Drey to see his reaction. Finally, she found him standing beside an equally gorgeous woman, and her stomach churned a little. His face was blank, so she couldn’t read what he was feeling at that point. She couldn’t tell if he was unhappy or impressed about the way she looked. However, she saw his fists tighten a bit as he watched her walk down the stairs, but she couldn’t tell what it meant.By the time she got to the bottom of the stairs, Drey was waiting for her with his arms stretched out for her. For the first time, she saw his eyes linger on her for more than two seconds, but he removed his gaze right away. They interlocked hands and he they started walking back to the crowd, who had already resumed their mingling and drinking.“You look good,” Drey told Marie curtly.With a small smile, she replied him“You don’t look bad yourself” He was dressed in Jet black tuxedo, with a white shirt, with the first two buttons open with a simple necklace resting on his chest. To be honest, her captor looked hot at that moment.“Snap out of it, Marie”“Hi Roberts, meet Marie.” Drey talking to an old couple snapped Marie out of her thoughts. The couple looked sweet, and should be in their mid-sixties. The woman gave her a warm hug and gave her a side to side peck.The man shook her hand instead and gave her a firm smile.“Marie, meet The Roberts, our incoming partners” Drey gestured to the couple“It is of utmost pleasure to meet you, Mr and Mrs Roberts” Marie found herself naturally saying.“Same here, Marie. Both of you make an amazing couple, and I would love to see more of you two.” Mr. Roberts said with a wide grin.Marie almost choked on an inexistent drink over the mention of the word “couple” but Drey didn’t seem fazed about it; more like it was all planned out by him.Drey gave her arm a gentle squeeze, more like telling her to play along with it, and she got the message immediately.“At least, she seems like a much sweeter person than that young woman, Percy” Mrs Roberts stated, looking over at the woman Drey was standing with earlier, who was now flirting with another young man.“Wait, wait. That woman is Drey’s ex???” Marie whisper-yelled in her head.She could see Drey’s muscles tense up at the mention of the woman’s name, and Marie could only think of the numerous ways they could have broken up. Not only that, she did admit that she was a bit jealous of whatever they may have shared.She turned out of the conversation going on between Drey and the couple, and looked over at Percy. She was a tall woman with the stature of a supermodel. She was dressed in a short, black sleeveless dress which complemented her jet black hair which was put up in a tight bun. Her makeup was bold and fierce, particularly with the bright, red lipstick revealing an amazing dentition when she smiled.“So, does Sunday work, Marie?” Mr Roberts asked, but she didn’t understand what he was asking since she was zoned out.“Sorry? I zoned out because I was tired out from the whole planning of the ball.” Marie lied through her teeth, so the sweet couple wouldn’t hate her.Drey quickly intervened before she made the situation worse“Mr Roberts here was simply asking if you’d be available for dinner at his villa on Sunday, darling?”“Oh! Most definitely, sir. It would be a pleasure to be hosted in your home” Marie said, smiling sweetly, grabbing the opportunity to finally step out of this hole that she had been trapped in.“Alright dear, see you both then.” Mrs Roberts replied this time, and the couple walked away from the couple.Drey glanced at his watch, and squinted his eyes like it was cue for him to do something in that moment. Surprisingly, he turned to Marie beside and stretched out his hand, doing a little curtsy.“May I have this dance, my dearest?”“ Yes, you shall”Marie woke up feeling all giddy from the previous night. It is so ironic that she was kidnapped into a life much better than the life she is coming from. But, she was having an eerie feeling that things would soon take a turn, but until then, she decided to just live in the moment and have fun.Her mind went back to yesterday, and a large grin broke out on her face. She remembered how Drey’s hands felt against her waist as they danced into the night, and how all eyes were on them throughout, including Percy’s. Right, Percy!! Drey’s ex. The woman gave her an edgy vibe yesterday night, and she could really see why she could fit in as Drey’s ex.However, she had never heard any rumors whatsoever regarding Drey having an ex, a popular one at that. And from what she saw, it seemed like she was either involved in the Mafia or belonged to a very powerful organization in the country. Curiousity was eating her up, and she wanted answers.She looked over at the laptop across the room which was
It was exactly six days since Marie had last seen Drey, and six days from when they had their last training featuring his outburst. Within those days, she had been made to attend the boxing trainings with other teachers, and they were introducing some elements of Martial Arts as well. She didn’t what she was preparing for, but she went along with it anyways. Now, it made more sense as to why she is his property; they’ll probably train her till she ready to start running dirty errands for them. She felt caged, and she desperately yearned for freedom. In her freetime, she would brush up on her hacking skills, and play around a bit, however her internet usage was strictly monitored.Other times, she would take night strolls within the compound, only with the accompaniment of her personal watcher, Iroh. He was assigned to her during the course of the week to make sure she doesn’t run away or do something that’ll put them at risk. She found it frustrating at first that a man had to follow
The truck was barely kilometers away from them and Drey was left in a pickle. If they remained there, they would be crushed by the oncoming truck, and there was no sufficient time to run and ditch the car. Marie was in full panic mode, and hyperventilating heavily. Suddenly, Drey began to reverse on top speed, but the truck kept coming at them, and then it dawned on him.“This is an assasination attempt” he took a quick look at the plate number from the windshield and memorized carefully. Realizing he had take a drastic decision, Drey turned off the road and drove into the forest on the right side of the road. The car was hitting trees left and right, but Drey knew he had to drive as far away from the road as he could. After driving crazily in the forest for about a minute, the car stopped moving as they hit a very strong tree. Both of their heads were saved by the Airbag who came on as a result of the impact. However, Marie still sustained an injury on the side of her head as she wa
It was around 5am when Drey had told her to get dressed, as Bob and another guard had come to pick them up. She could barely sleep at night, not only because of the new and uncomfortable environment, but because Drey was constantly moving from one calls to another trying to track down the man that almost assassinated them.Right now, they were on their way back to the villa, and Drey and Marie were seated at the back, while Bob and the other guard sit in front.“Did you track the plate number as I asked you to? Drey asked, in direction to Bob.“Yes sir. But as we thought, it was a stolen truck which got missing yesterday morning. We tracked down the actual owner and he turned out to be a farmer in the hillside.” Bob replied, his eyes steady on the road.“Find out exactly where it got stolen, and gangs around that area that might have anything against The Shadow Empire. I want my hands on him tonight.” Drey folded his hands in anger, and Marie could see the literal rage in his eyes.“Y
It seemed as if the past week had been one problem to another for Marie, and it had been seriously affecting her sleep patterns. She woke up, thinking of all that happened at dinner last night. She didn’t know if she was more concerned that Drey had no real one to call family or what exactly he meant by saying his father killed their mother. She was also bothered at Nathan’s statement where he referred to Marie as a new plaything. She wondered if it was a kink for Drey to just get girls, and keep them in just to treat them as he wants. For a moment there, she felt hurt and almost felt stupid for thinking she was special for a second. He took her as a date to his ball, and even had dinner together with his intended partner.Sighing, she stood up to look for her friend in the entire estate, Iroh so she could relate all of her ordeals to him. She wore a pair of black leggings and a black tank top with a pair of sneakers, planning to also take a jog in the process of looking for him. Aft
*Two and a half years ago*“You cannot tell me what to do. This is my life and I’ll do what makes me happy!” Marie screamed at the top of her lungs in her parent’s small living room in a conversation with her father and mother. They had called her to discuss her life after high school, but had flared up when she told them of her intention to become a hacker.It was two months after high school graduation, and it was time to start writing tests for college. Her sister was in year two in a high end college on the other side of town studying Law. Marie had never been a fan of school, and her parents were well aware so she didn’t understand the sudden decision they wanted her to make.“Even if you wanted to waste your life away behind the computer, you should at least get formal education first. I am your father and you would do as I say!” Her father slammed his hands harshly against the table.“You have really never cared about what I wanted for myself. Just because my sister is your mode
The past couple of days have been weird for Marie. She had been feeling feverish, even though they were nowhere close to winter, and had been weaker than usual. She couldn’t tell if it was still the stress from living in an unfamiliar environment, or she was really going to be sick. Maybe she needed the check up that Drey offered to her after all. She made a mental note to ask Drey for a Doctor’s visit.Right now, she was taking an evening stroll in the compound after a long day of training and coding. Her life felt monotonous, and boring but there was nothing she could do about it at this point. She was currently taking a walk in the compound to think clearly, per her routine these days.A wave of breeze hit, and she subconsciously closed her eyes in order to feel it. She bumped into a heavy figure, and her eyes swung open in order to see who she hit this time. Lo and Behold, Nathan, Drey’s brother was standing in front of her in the evening glow, with sweat all over his body. He was
Two days later, Marie was seated in her room facing her laptop. After the conversation between her and Drey, he actually took steps towards providing her with accessing social media, and now was the time for her to sign into her accounts to see what she has been missing since her kidnap and detach from the actual world.She was hesitant because she was scared that what if nobody had checked in on her or at the gruesome things that she would find on the media. After having a mental debate of about 30 seconds, she finally turns the PC on. Before long, she began to log into her sites and emails to see what’s up. The first post that popped up on her Facebook page was that of her boyfriend, or rather ex-boyfriend.She clicked on his profile to see what he has been up to in the past three weeks. The first thing that broke her was when she noticed he had changed his dating status from “in a relationship” to “single”. She checked through all of her direct messages, and there was not one messa