More and more men threw their checkbooks at Valerie's new Best Man Award endeavor, and when she finally did give the floor up it warmed her heart that the at least twenty girl strong line on the stage with her... came down off the stage with her.

The room was alive with people chattering about what just happened.

As soon as she stepped off the stage, Margaret was on her like white on rice. Jeffrey sat stupefied in surprise at their table still.

"What in God's name do you think you're doing?! How do you expect the AAA to get these girls home seamlessly, safely, and without being caught?" She fumed in her face. The woman was an easy five foot ten, luckily Valerie had on heels tonight so they were almost toe-to-toe.

Adrenaline was already coursing through Valerie's veins, in the corner of her eye she could see Luca still staring at her, she just knew Margaret was the precursor to the hellfire that was to come. So, she swallowed thickly and looked Margaret squarely in the eyes.

"Well, you got them here seamlessly, safely, and without being fucking caught. You're the veteran chairperson. Make it happen." Valerie growled lowly.

She'd be damned to back down on this endeavor, Best Man Award be damned too— she was not allowing more girls to be trafficked.

She'd burn this place down with her in it before it happened.

Margaret's neck looked as if it could burst from how it strained to contain her anger. She sputtered with emotion before turning to Luca with her arms out in front of her in exasperation. "Can you speak to her? Does she realize what she's done?!" She cried.

Valerie finally met Luca's eyes, whom she'd been avoiding since she'd canceled the auction, it was as if he was void of all emotion. He said nothing, he held her gaze with a steel resolve; then he returned back to Margaret.

"Make it happen, Margaret." He told her plainly.

Margaret turned ghost white.

"W-what?! Luca— these girls are from every damn continent of the world, we can't just—" She bursted, incensed with her anger.

Luca held a long stemmed glass of wine in one of his hands, the thinness of the stem looking foreign in his strong hands, but he held it with a delicate touch. His eyes never leaving Margaret's enraged expression, he threw the last gulp of red wine back into his mouth before shattering the stem of the glass over the table.

Unfazed by the broken glass in his very palm, he wiped the shrapnel off on the cloth of the table and leaned back coolly in his seat, his other hand raking through his hair.

"You're a smart woman, Margaret. You know what was asked of you."

Margaret looked like she could throw up. Stomping her six-inch-heel clad foot in dismay, she threw her hair back before spearing Valerie with a look Valerie was sure would've burned her to ashes had she cared, before the dark blonde woman huffed out of the room.

The screeching sound of a chair sliding against the floor made Valerie look towards Jeffrey who held his wine still in his hand, he had a look of bewilderment stuck on his face as he drunkenly rose from the table. He glanced at Valerie and laughed out a scoff as he shook his head.

As he passed Luca to follow the trail of flames his wife left behind, he patted him on the shoulder pitifully. "What a catch." He punctuated his departure with as he turned away from the couple.

Luca shrugged off the pat he'd just received and stood from the table, calmly brushing his wine glass mess to the middle of the cloth and proceeding to tie up the cloth before setting it in the center of the table.

He didn't meet Valerie's eyes again when he was done, he turned his back to her and stuck his hand out for her to take behind him.

"I-" Valerie started to say something, but quickly realized she didn't have anything to say.

She was not sorry for what she did. Not one bit.

Walking slowly, she took his hand and he pulled her up to his side, beginning to walk towards the exit of the room they were in. As they exited, men said their goodbyes to Luca and he returned them with ease, a complete one eighty degrees from the silent ball of fury he'd seem to be seconds ago.

One man ran up in front of them, effectively stopping them from going outside. Valerie recognized him as one of the new members who stood up tonight. He was a light brunette with beautiful green eyes, freckles smattered his nose and he looked fairly young overall. The man's eyes lit up when he saw Luca dead on.

"Mr.Giovanni, it's a pleasure. Russell George." He introduced himself anxiously with a smile on his face, extending his hand to Luca. Luca accepted the shake and nodded to the excited young man, "Yes, George. Congratulations on your membership."

The man's smile got brighter. "Thank you, sir! Thank you! I stopped you because my father, he'll have questions about this new Best Man Award instead of the auction. He's trying to get me married you know? Gross—"

Luca arched a brow at the now rambling boy.

"I-I mean no offense to you! A-and the future Mrs. of course!" Russell gave a quick nod to Valerie who he had not acknowledged until now. Valerie just softly smiled, he was a picture of how Luca made her feel on the inside.

Russell took a deep breath before starting again, some of the redness of his cheeks disappeared with his long exhale.

"My father, he emphasized me taking a girl home this evening to prove that I could even land one... this new incentive you introduced tonight...how will it compare to the auction?" He finally got out and Valerie wanted to strangle him.

Yes, dig me six feet deeper into the mess I'm already in!

Luca still didn't look Valerie's way. Instead, to Valerie's surprise, he smiled a rakish smile at the young man. "I will personally make sure Ferguson knows that the ladies loved you."

Russell grinned.

Then Luca sobered up, his face returning to its natural stone-like resting place.

"An email will be sent out regarding this new award and how it will usher us into a new association." Luca told the still smiling young man and Russell nodded, now turning towards the exit himself.

"Thank you, sir. It's great to be apart of you all." Was Russell's goodbye before leaving the building.

Valerie laughed a bit at that, "Cute kid." She commented, looking to Luca to see if he had any comment.

He kept his face forward as he walked them to the car. Brian got out and opened Valerie's door for her and they broke their hand hold. For some reason, Valerie knew that would be the last sense of comfort she got from him for the night.

It was beginning to be a silent car ride home, until Luca got a phone call.

"Yes, Romano. I know that the board didn't consent."

A rock fell to the bottom of Valerie's stomach.

"She wasn't prepped on the protocol. She wasn't even on the program."

Very true.

"I'll handle it. I always do."

The conversation was heavy and Luca was pissed.

It was in every movement he made, from the way he hung up the phone on his still speaking father to the way he exhaled when he sat back in his seat. Every breath he took seemed to flicker with fire, like a dragon's would.

When the car pulled up in front of his house, long gone was the extended hand behind him for her to grab. Luca walked ahead and went inside the house while Brian kept pace with Valerie. Before he told her goodnight, he left her with these words on the doorstep:

"I'd give him some space tonight, miss. I haven't seen him this upset since his father first handed the company to him."

Valerie thanked him softly for his concern, but she knew exactly what she was getting herself into when she decided to free those women.

She would choose them over whatever the hell Luca had in store for her in this house.

A loud thundering crash came from Luca's study once Valerie had closed the door behind Brian.

At least I thought I knew what I was getting myself into.

Her mind mumbled as Valerie walked up the stairs. Everything in her body was screaming at her to just go into a guest bedroom and hide the rest of the night. Everything cell in her being was shrieking that tonight she should leave him alone.

But she couldn't. Her feet had a mind of their own.

I must be a fucking masochist.

That was Valerie's only explanation for her walk of shame towards the increasingly loudening crashes and rumbles going on inside of Luca's study.

She slowly peeked her head in and was shaken to her core to see the beautiful bookshelf that covered the expanse of the wall behind his desk in pieces on the ground, the books strewn about the room like a tornado had struck. The antique wooden desk of the room was split in two from catching the brunt of the falling bookcase's weight.

Luca had his back turned to door, his suit jacket was gone and his shirt was untucked now as he took a long swig of brandy from the intricate glass flask he kept on his desk. When he was done with every drop of the glass, she heard him sigh.

"Get out."

The sound of his voice made Valerie flinch, but she stayed in her place by the door.

Without warning, the glass flask was thrown into the nearest wall to the side of Luca. The bursting of glass did not have effect on the deep breathing man. He slowly turned to Valerie, who was now cowering behind the door instead of in the doorway, dragging a hand down his face he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Did you not hear what I said?" He asked her like it pained him to even speak to her. His eyes were closed, refusing to look at her it seemed.

Luca was the eye of the hurricane in the massively destroyed room. He stood with his admiral blue shirt fully open, the view of his sculpted chest and abs made Valerie weaken at the knees.

She was still at a loss for words behind the door. What could be said to soften anything she did? She took a chance for those women.

That it's, that's all.

"Valerie, come from behind the door at least. I'm not going to hurt you." Luca continued to speak to her, his jaw ticking as he waited for her to reveal herself fully.

Valerie did as she was told, now standing in the doorway for him to clearly see her. She stood with her hands wringing nervously in front of her, but she dared to look at him straight on.

"I'm not sorry for what I did."

Her voice sliced through the silence of the room.

Luca opened his eyes just barely, squinting them at the visibly scared woman.

"You don't even understand the gravity of what you just did." He snarled with disdain, walking towards Valerie like she was the next thing to be thrown against a wall and broken until a million pieces. Valerie kept her stance in the doorway, bracing herself by holding the frame of the door.

"The reputation of the AAA now rests in the hands of a few teenage girls who are scared shitless. People's lives are at stake." Luca spat over Valerie's head, not looking at her again now that he was but a few steps away.

"What about their lives?" Valerie asked, with a tremble in her voice. She wouldn't just let him berate her when she literally freed women. A thickness in her throat began to take over her sense, his words were bordering on something she wasn't sure she could stomach.

"What about their lives?" He countered, a darkness in his tone.

A fire spiked in Valerie's spirit as she audibly withdrew a disgusted breath.

"You piece of shit." She lowly growled out. "And to think, after you saved Hydia, I thought you were one of the good guys."

Luca's eyes burned at the mention of Hydia, his expression blackened as he stepped forward and closed the distance between them, his chest touching hers.

"Billions of dollars are at stake. The dismantling of a key part of the organization at whim is not something you take lightly." He patronized her, "but you wouldn't know that would you? You always have to have things your way— bulldozing your ends by any means."

"There are ways we do things. I told you myself the auction would cease after I took control of the board, you have no respect for order. I expected more—"

"Expected more of a what, Luca? " Valerie broke into his tangent, exploding with emotion. She couldn't believe she had to defend why the fuck the auction had to cease right then and there.

Why an auction had no place in any society. No matter how high it was.

"Expected me to sit and eat my food while twenty girls were sent home with the sick fucks you call colleagues?" Punctuating the "you" of her sentence with a finger to his chest.

"I expected you to listen. Your stubbornness has turned into outright disrespect and you will not make shit of what my family has worked so hard for." Luca thundered, standing over her like he could break her in two. The two of them clashing like this matched the blackening sky outside, the roll of thunder matching Luca's deep timbre.

"If what your family has worked for depends on the blood of the innocent, none of you deserve what you have." Valerie concluded lowly and Luca's eyes widened at her statement, then again they narrowed. His brown eyes now obsidian.

"Take it off then." He ordered haughtily, still looking down at her. His whole demeanor dared her to do something.

He stepped back from her, Valerie for the first time did not yearn for him to come closer again.

Valerie was caught off guard, she sputtered in irritated embarrassment.

"Wh-what? Are you fuckin' crazy?" She asked, standing her ground still in the doorway. She didn't move a muscle.

Luca folded his arms and stood his ground as well. Regarding her coolly, "The clothes on your back right now, paid for by this blood money you despise— take it off."

Valeries blood ran cold as she realized what he was saying. She didn't move for a second, but she realized he was trying to humiliate her, make her cave and maybe even accept his means for the way they were. No amount of money was worth this.

No amount of money could compare to twenty school aged girls's lives.

She had nothing to be ashamed of. She'd stood her ground a thousand times tonight it seems as Luca tried to steamroll her and mold her into his perfect society wife, but she told him. She told him she was not a debutante and she didn't want to be in a million years if this was what it was all about.

So, she began to take off her dress.

Luca stood there silently as she did so, their eyes never leaving each other.

Once again her fire clashing with his ice.

The room was once again a hurricane— but instead of flying objects from Luca's rage— emotions; the two were in the eye of a hurricane of their own creation.

Now Valerie stood in nothing, but a lace pair of plum colored panties. Kicking herself for choosing a dress that she needed to be braless for.

That didn't show on her exterior, on the outside, although tears wanted to spring up so bad she willed them away as she started on her earrings. Throwing the diamond encrusted beauties to the pool of fabric her dress had turned into.

And then she got to her engagement ring, which hadn't even been on her finger for a full twenty four hours.

As she pulled it off her finger, she swore she heard Luca's sharp intake of breath. Holding it between her index finger and thumb she marveled at it for a second.

"I got this today because the woman told me my first choice was too plain. You see, I was hellbent on fitting this part for you, down to the fucking ring on my finger. Do you understand?" She found herself incredulously whispering the end, amazed at how the day had changed on her.

"To fulfill this contract dutifully just how you liked it, but just like this ugly thing— you're nothing without your price tag."

Her chest hurt, it burned to say these things, but if she didn't say it who would? The man lived in a world where there were nothing but dollar signs and decimals. He saw those women like money to be made and not scared children.

It was a fatal character flaw. One she could not stomach, not even for twenty seven million dollars.

Then she threw the ring right at his feet, the sound of it pinging against the floor felt like an atom bomb dropping.

When both of their heads rose from the spinning ring on the floor, it was Valerie's turn to narrow her eyes as she kicked her clothes towards him, her naked feet patting the wooden floor softly with every step she took.

"You and your money can go to hell." Valerie scathingly hissed before bowing out from the conversation, her naked skin producing goosebumps as she walked down the hallway alone and found a guest room.

Ironically it was the forest green room that reminded her of Hydia's eyes. Without a second thought, she got into the bed and melted into the mattress.

So much was going on inside her head.

Valerie couldn't believe that Luca would try to bring her down as he did. Stripping her down into the very thing she came into this world with, her skin— to try to prove a point. A point that was non negotiable.

Human lives are non negotiable.

She wondered just what heights he'd go to secure his family's fortune.

A fake marriage.

A sex trafficking ring.

How low was too low for the Giovanni family?

Michael's face flashed in her mind. Snarling and hellbent on achieving what he felt he was "owed". Her body infinitesimally convulsing at the trauma he put her through.

Michael was born from the same stock Luca was almost, and it was becoming impossible to ignore it.

Her Prince Charming was turning out to be a real fucking rotten pumpkin.

***

When she awoke the next morning she realized how stupid it was for her to go to bed without any clothes to put on when she woke up.

The staff were surely here now and they'd be up to see something they'd never seen before for sure now.

As she laid in bed thinking of an escape plan that'd scar the least amount of people, there was a knock on the door.

Victim Number One, you're up.

Valerie thought as she pulled the whole duvet off the bed like a royal train to cover up her nakedness.

She yawned as she was opening the door, simply grasping the knob and waiting for someone to speak to her or put a pallet of something in her hand like most of he-who-shall-not-be-named's staff did.

Yet nothing greeted her, in word form or with something being given to her causing Valerie to peek her eye open when she finished yawning. Her knees began to tremble and she slapped a hand over her mouth to keep herself from screaming, tears pricking her eyes.

"What's wrong, princess? Don't like your eggs served with a side of me in the morning?" KJ darkly chuckled, pushing passed her door and walked slowly into the room, looking around.

The eggs he was referencing being tracked into the room under his black combat boots.

Valerie had no idea what he had done to get inside the house. His face was bloody, particularly by his cheek and mouth, but he had no wounds. His knuckles were also soaked in crimson.

KJ confidently leaned against the window of the room, opening it and looking down at the view outside. Nothing, but lush green court yard. Valerie clutched her blanket against her body with all the force she had, kicking herself all the more for not having clothes on.

It was Luca's fucking fault.

"Pretty swanky place pretty boy's got. I know Nicki would love to hear how her bestie is living it up while she's barely living."

He laughed at his own joke as he raised himself upright from his appraisal of the grounds and looked Valerie up and down very slowly.

He smirked when he realized the delicate predicament she was in.

"Don't tell me this is my welcoming gift?" His eyes lighting in dark delight.

I just can't catch a break.