Demyan

She was sleeping. Safe and sound in the bed, tucked in.

Sitting on the chair, I just stared at her sleeping form. I couldn't sleep in the first place ever since I woke up early in the morning. Even a run hadn't stopped my mind. Even the shower hadn't helped me at all. She was on my mind and I couldn't understand why. I had been in this chair many times since the day had begun, but she was just unaware of it sleeping away.

How deep was she in her dreams? What was she dreaming of? Our future together?

I laughed at just the thought. Love is nothing but a hoax. It always has been. It was a poison that once you got in your system, either would leave you destroyed or give you everything you ever desired. I knew it well. I had seen both sides.

The point was, which side did Valencia got? The good or bad?

Getting up, I once again looked at her, stared a little longer. Last night she had pulled herself open for me, telling me about the child she had to let go because of someone's else hatred for her. She had lost a baby and here she was with another one.

Moving away from her I got started with my day. I had a lot of mess to clean. The first of one was finding the pills and switching them out.

I could see from her face that she wasn't quite happy about the pregnancy. She was still in shock, but I wasn't. I had planned that part down to tie her down with me. She was always fleeing, and I knew this would ground her in the places I wanted and give me control over her. She might have been my queen, but no one should ever forget that I was the king in the end. My word would always be the final.

Rummaging through her drawer I found the bottle and switched them with the real one counting them perfectly. She wouldn't go to the depths to have them checked because it was a task that would require a lot of hustle but it was better to be safe. I looked at her for the last time before leaving the room. Still sleeping, looking like an angel, I wasn't scared that she would wake up because I had made sure that the medicine I had given her would keep her knocked out for while.

It was better for her to rest because, in the end, she would need all her energy to face what was coming to her. I had promises I had to take care of. I was running on limited time and even her time in my life was limited.

I didn't want the burden of taking care of her on my list right now.

The study was my office giving me the vast space to actually learn all about these people. Everyone had their dark secrets and skeletons the issue was that some kept them hidden better than these idiots did. Valencia didn't need to work hard at all. Even the detective she had hired had to work hard. It was as finding a rock in the hay. The private investigator had almost ripped her off with the huge amount of fees he had asked. It was her money so I had let it happen till the end after which I had extorted all the money back from him.

No, I wasn't a saint. I hadn't returned that money to her. She didn't have any idea. There were too many things she didn't know, and I would like to have it that way until it came to it.

"How is Claire?" I asked Zach, who was busy on his laptop on the sofa. He was more than my right man. He knew all the dirt that corrupted my empire, but more than that he was my watcher. I had power over him only to an extent the rest belonged to someone else, to the man who had helped me in the dire need of mine. He had taught me the biggest lesson that everything came with a price and that went for even any kind of help.

Valencia wouldn't know something like this. How could she when I was the one keeping her in the dark? Even Natalia didn't know what this meant. She wasn't the one who had to sell her soul. I had done that for us and it was something that I would never ask from her. If Natalia ever gets to know all my intentions and my darkest secrets, maybe she would be the one running away from me.

"She is as good as she could be. The doctors still have her drugged as you asked, no one can see her for now." I gave him a nod as I looked at a live feed of where she laid. This woman had the audacity to take the most important thing from me.

Something that I have worked so hard for. How could she take just away from the only thing I had preserved for myself? This woman had pulled a gun on Valencia and shot her. She needed to pay for what she had put me through.

"Take Valencia to the hospital today and stay by her side," I ordered because I knew it would be the first place she would go to confirm the results. More than that her experience of being pregnant once and having lost it would bind her to do so. I was sad for her for a bit, but in this cruel world, I knew it better that innocent people were the ones that died brutally.

They were the ones whose blood has been shed the most. Once the devil had told me that this world wasn't heaven but hell. Even gods loved the blood of the innocent and that is why the innocent bled the most. Somewhere deep down I was happy for the loss of that child, though it wasn't me who had any hand in it. That child would have only created problems for me, and I had enough ever since Valencia came in it.

"Mail me today's schedule. I will look into it myself and send Natalia to the study. I bet you would have already told her the news." There was no need for me to look up for confirmation. Dismissing him, I looked up into a set of new contracts and blueprints. When you were the manufacturers of war weapons and things that could only end up making others bleed, it was better to have a dark soul and heart.

Natalia came in without concern about knocking, but I was expecting that.

"I'm not even sure that I'm old enough to be an aunt." Her words didn't phase me beside the one time when she had said that she had found Valencia.

"You already are an aunt to some children in Russia," I reminded her. In reality, it was more than that. She was already betrothed, and it was a decision she had no idea about. Sadly, it was too a man I didn't know much of. I had never seen his face, and it wasn't that I was going to until it was demanded that I married Natalia off. She was too young to understand my reasoning. There was no way she would have ever agreed to it, but it was for her best and her security. Something that I couldn't give her.

"This wasn't in our plan," I looked at her. There was no happiness on her face.

"It wasn't," I wanted to add that it wasn't in hers but it was in mine.

"You know this might tie you to her," It didn't faze me. I had to marry her eventually for my aim to come to an end. I had tried the right way, but her revenge was getting in the way. Hence I had to take matters into my hand.

"You know I'm still in the processing phase and yeah, I'm seeing what I should do." She sat down in front of me with pity in her eyes.

"Abortion can be an option. She might even not have to know." She didn't bat an eyelash as she said this. I wanted to laugh at her. Abort the baby, no way. It was just a means to an end.

"I don't want that, but it is an option that is open too."

"What if it's a boy? An heir," the whole if it's a boy thing worked for anyone and it would on her.

"And you understand that I can control Valencia as I like. Mold her in any way I want. Maybe it won't be bad but would make my life quite easier." I had to make her believe the words I spoke. They might not be the whole truth, but they held a bit of truth.

"You really think a loveless marriage could work?" She asked in disbelief, making me laugh at her words. Love is nothing but an illusion.

"Where did love lead us to, Natalia? Don't you remember how Mom had died? Or how in the name of love our father has left us turning into nothing but beggars driving our mother to take her life?" I saw her face turned down, and I didn't feel an ounce of pity in it.

"We can never love anyone because we had seen how love hurts and kills you. It turns you into nothing but a shell and useless person. It destroys you and turns you into this mad person that everyone wants to run away from. So yeah, there is no way I would ever think of love or marry for it. Your words just make me realize that why I should choose Valencia to actually marry her." The real reason behind marrying Valencia was that I wanted to hurt her too.

Turn her into a madwoman.

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Writer's Note

Forgive me for the late chapter

Not been well so I had to put myself on rest to get better.

Can you see Demyan's game plan?

What do you think about him?

Would Valencia come to know of it before Demyan bounds her to him?