CHAPTER 1 – The beginning of my death
Olivia’s POV
Four years ago
“As you can see the lungs of this person had reached a stage where they were completely covered with cancer cells. Do any of you have any guesses on what could have been the reason for his cancer?” Professor Wardwell raised her eyebrows as she lowered her spectacles to have a better view of her students.
She was explaining the autopsy of a man who had died due to lung cancer through a video presentation with the help of the projector. It was not a new thing for us to see autopsies and dead humans on large screens since, after all, we were medical students.
“Ma’am, I know!” A blonde girl from the third row raised her hand.
Professor Wardwell curved her lips and nodded, “Yes, go ahead.”
“Obviously it’s because of smoking,” the blonde replied. Professor Wardwell let out a loud sigh.
“Wrong. Any other guesses?” She pouted her lips and shifted her eyes towards me.
I quickly raised my hand and she smiled in response, “Yes, Olivia?”
Professor Wardwell was my favorite professor in the entire medical college and for some unexplainable reason, she also liked me and was always kind to me.
“Professor, according to the pattern of how the cancer has spread and the patient’s details where he mentioned that he had been exposed to some kind of dust for a long time, it indicates that he had inhaled a dangerous portion of this dust. Cancer cells that develop due to smoking have a different pattern.” When I justified my answer and pointed out the mistake in the previous answer given, the blonde girl shot me a glare, much like she wanted to drag me down to hell.
Professor Wardwell beamed at me. “Mind-blowing, Olivia! As always, you are correct. As Olivia said—”
However, before Professor Wardwell could finish her sentence, the classroom door slammed open with a loud thud. The door bounced off the wall violently and two men with full black suits entered the classroom.
Dumbfounded, the class turned unnervingly silent for a moment.
How disrespectful! Didn’t they go to school even on a rainy day? Shaking my head, my mind cursed them while freezing my b**t to my seat.
“Miss Olivia James?” a dark-toned tall man removed his black sunglasses and raised his deep voice.
The entire class’s gaze shifted toward me as if I was some cattle about to be slaughtered.
What the f**k? Did they just call out my name? That’s so freaky!
It was shocking since I had never seen them before. Curiosity bubbled within me as I narrowed my eyebrows at them.
“Excuse me! Who the hell are you? And who gave you the authority to barge into my class without any excuse or any permission like stray dogs?” Before I could admit that I was the person they were looking for, Professor Wardwell barked at them in frustration.
“We don’t need to talk to you, lady. We just need her and as soon as we have her, we will vanish out of your sight.” The man’s voice echoed through the classroom and he pointed his long index finger at me.
He was sharp, and he figured out who I was when he realized everyone’s gaze fixated on me. Yet, I was confused about what was happening and what was going to happen.
“It seems like you have never stepped foot into a school, gentlemen, but you can meet whoever you want after my class. Now, get the hell out of here before I call security!” Professor Wardwell raised her voice at them. She was very angry and the only thing that made her aggressive was when someone disturbed her class.
“Listen—” The stern man took a step forward to approach Professor Wardwell, but, at the same time, an administrative officer entered the classroom.
“Professor Wardwell, I am sorry if they have disturbed your class, but you need to release Olivia James. They are here to take her.” I was speechless by what was happening in front of my eyes. My body froze in my seat and my breath got stuck in my chest.
“What is happening here? Who are they? How can they take a student like this? Olivia, tell me, my dear. Do you know them?” Professor Wardwell turned to me and asked me kindly.
Fluttering my eyelids, I slowly stood up from my seat. My feet were numb and my throat had turned dry. My women’s instincts alerted me that something bad was going to happen.
“I…I’ve never seen them before,” I answered.
“That’s it, lady! We can’t waste our time! Miss Olivia, the boss is waiting for you. Come on, let’s go!” Before I could inhale a calming breath, the dark-toned tall man started to walk toward me. The entire class was just watching the drama unfolding before them and no one dared to take a step forward to speak on my behalf.
“Hey! Wait! You heard her. She doesn’t know you,” Professor Wardwell retorted.
The administrative officer shook her head and her face contorted into a sad look, “Professor Wardwell, I am afraid that there’s nothing we can do here.”
“Come on, Miss Olivia, we can’t waste any more time,” the man spoke again, glaring down at me.
“But, what is happening here? I don’t know who you are! Professor, please help me. Can someone call the cops?” I started to yell out in the class.
Then, through the corner of my eyes, I noticed the administrative officer whisper something into Professor Wardwell’s ear and her face turned into a solemn serious look.
What is happening here and who are these people? Who is their boss? Why are they taking me forcefully? The inner Olivia started to flood my mind with dozens of questions as they started to tug me by my elbow.
My vision of Professor Wardwell and the classroom started to blur the minute my eyes filled with salty tears. Fear and curiosity both entangled, pumping my heart. Adrenaline flushed into my veins instantly and sent a message to my brain.
Run, Olivia! Run for your life! At once, I bit the arm of the man who was dragging me and noticed that the other man was approaching us but he was still a few feet behind us. I knew that they never expected something like that from me so I took advantage of it.
“F**k! She is running away. Get her!” I heard the man shouting out to his accomplice.
Thankfully, I knew every corner of the university. I could run and hide anywhere, after all, they were just visitors who knew nothing about the layout of the university.
However, I couldn’t celebrate the happiness in my mind for a long time. My fate had a different, horrific plan for me instead. To be honest, I had always had an awful life at home, in fact, only university life was the best part of my life. But, things were about to get a whole lot terrible.
While looking back at my chasers, I bumped into something hard. It was odd since I was sure that there were no walls along those corridors.
So, where did this sudden wall appear from?
It didn’t take long for me to realize that it was not a wall, but the torso of a man. The stranger had his arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me hard against his chest. His lavender-scented cologne immediately hit deeply into my nostrils.
“Oh wow, look here. My bride is running into my arms already! Oh, baby, were you waiting for me?” The corridors were a bit dark for me to see his face clearly, but his deep voice echoed in my ears.
Wait, what did he say? Bride? Into his arms? What is this mystery?
The sound of the two men running toward us shook me out of my daze, “Boss, I am sorry. We didn’t expect that she would run away from us.”
Terror froze my veins as the reality of my situation. I started to struggle to release myself from the man, but his grip just kept getting tighter around my waist.
“Stop struggling, Olivia. There’s no way you can escape from me.” His words shook me with fear but it frustrated me that I still couldn’t see his face clearly.
“Let’s go, we are getting late.” With his arm still secured around my waist, he started to drag me outside of the university.
“No! Wait! You must be mistaken. I don’t know who you are.” My legs dragged across the ground as I kept struggling to release myself from the mystery man. I couldn’t comprehend what was happening and who they were.
“Oh, my darling.” He stopped in front of a lavish Rolls-Royce limousine and turned toward me.
In the sunlight, I finally saw his face for the first time. The face that would haunt me every day and every minute of my life even when he was not there with me physically. The face of the one who would brutally torture me until my body was painted with bruises and my clothes soaked with blood. It was the first time my deer-like eyes met with his hungry and deadly cheetah-like eyes.
Fedrick Alphonso, the death of my life. He was like Lucifer, the king of hell. He was the death dealer for all the underworld goons. I learned about him later on, but when my eyes first met him, I had zero knowledge about him. Naively, I kept fighting with him without knowing what my future would entail.
He had a scar across his left cheek and wore an earring on his right ear. His bulging biceps muscles were fighting to break free from his dark blue shirt even though the long sleeves had been rolled up to his elbow. I was nothing in front of his strength. He could have easily snapped my neck with just his fingers.
“We have enough time to talk later, my darling, because for the rest of your life you are going to stay with me. I will chain you to my bed and torture you for what your father owes me until I am satisfied.” His bloodshot eyes drilled holes in my body. My eyes bulged open wide with his violent words. My throat went dry and my legs stopped giving me the support to stand. All the adrenaline rush I had in my blood earlier halted, refusing to fight anymore. Instead, I started to hear the angels of death singing their songs for the rest of my life.
“Wh…what do…you…mean?” I gathered the remaining ounces of my courage to whisper the most important question plaguing my mind.
“You heard me correctly, Olivia. Your father sold you to me for his debts and now, I am going to get revenge for every penny he owes me.” His wicked smirk and his arched eyebrow washed me over with absolute terror.
“Wh…what…are you go…oing do with me?” My voice began to tremble and tears pricked my eyes. Soon, my hot tears started to escape my eyes and flow down my cheeks.
“You will soon find out, my love. Come on, we can’t waste our valuable time. We have to start getting prepared soon,” he said as he shoved me into the vehicle. Then, he entered through the door from the other side and sat next to me.
“P…prepared for what?” my mouth blurted out with curiosity.
Is he going to kill me? What debts did my father have? Why did he owe this man? My father never spent a penny on us. Mom was the only one who spent every dollar she had for us. Confused, my head started to throb with a mountain loads of questions.
“For our wedding, my love!” he declared out loud.
It was the beginning of my death.
