The Devil's Vow - Bella J. Page 0,1

the part I looked forward to the most.” Evil eyes locked with mine. “The part where I could share my most immoral and heinous fantasies with you. The part where I could show you just how perfect we are for each other.”

Before I could digest his words, he flipped the blade and pressed it against her shoulder, slicing it down her arm. She screamed through the gag, and I slammed myself harder against the bars, my cries joining hers with alarm. I tasted my fear as I watched blood ooze from her flesh. The monster behind her dragged his fingertips through the crimson liquid and spread it across her skin, his eyes dark and hooded, his expression that of the devil’s lust. Tears of pain slipped down the woman’s face. Dirty blonde hair clung to her cheeks and forehead, but no matter how she screamed, the lust glowed in her eyes as she tasted hell.

I sobbed while watching him fuck her from behind, her blood soiling the white satin sheets. Her cries of pain turned into shrieks of pleasure, the chains above her head complaining as her body was used mercilessly. It was an endless game of mindfuckery, a gauntlet on the devil’s playground. His low grunts of euphoria mimicked a demon’s laugh. The wickedness that radiated from the scene clawed at my soul, and I could no longer keep the bile down. I heaved and pressed my palms against the cold ground. My body expelled the morsel of stale bread he had fed me, and along with it the last shred of strength I had left.

The bars reverberated as I collapsed against it, my palms drenched in vomit. My mind pulled me back to the day my life changed irrevocably. The day my fate was decided because of my need to protect her.

“Do not defy me, daughter.”

“If you refuse, this duty will be passed on to her.”

“One of my daughters will marry the Silvestro boy. It’s up to you to decide which one.”

I decided.

While their moans of ecstasy filled the room, no part of my body untouched, and in agony, I didn’t regret my decision. I never would. No matter what kind of torment fell upon me, I’d endure it for a thousand lifetimes if it meant sparing her one day of pain. But now it no longer mattered. Nothing mattered anymore. But still…I did not regret it. There was only one thing I regretted the most, and that was falling for his deceptive lies. It was the biggest mistake I had made since I walked down that aisle. It was a mistake I would pay for every second I spent in this cage—an eternity because no one would come for me. No one.

So, even though my soul cried for God to help me, I refused to pray. I refused to fall asleep with hope, dreaming of a life before I walked down the aisle. She was a part of that life, and remembering those times hurt more than the whips and chains that sliced my flesh.

This was my life now.

This was my fate.

This cage.

This hell.

Chapter One

(Few weeks earlier)

It should be the happiest day of any girl’s life—a day she gets to wear a designer label wedding gown and Jimmy Choo heels. Instead, the soft layers of white lace and exquisite embroidery that embellished the delicate bodice and sleeves of the dress handmade by one of the world’s most famous designers made me feel like a sacrificial lamb adorned with wealth so the gods would accept my family’s offering.

Not a day went by in the past eleven years that I didn’t think of this day. Wondered how it would be, how it would all play out. The day that marked the beginning of a future destined for me because of the name I carried. It was yet to be determined whether the Moretti name would be a blessing or a curse. The warning at the back of my skull said the latter.

For years I prayed this day would never come. That I’d be spared the burden which laid upon my shoulders—the duty of the firstborn Moretti daughter. I dreaded it, feared it, even rebelled against it. But my father had made the decision without deliberation, and my fight against it only rewarded me with my father’s scorn.

I still remembered the day my father informed me of my duty to our family. The day I went from beloved daughter to prized possession to be kept in a gilded cage until