Chapter 2: Sleep with him?

The next morning, Soraya woke up with a pounding headache. She groaned softly and pressed a hand against her temple before slowly opening her eyes.

The unfamiliar ceiling immediately caught her attention.

She frowned and looked around.

The room was spacious and elegantly furnished, but none of it looked familiar.

"Where am I?"

The question escaped her lips as she pushed herself upright.

Then fragments of the previous night began coming back to her.

She had been standing at the altar, waiting for Emilio, who never came. Instead, she had discovered that he had been cheating on her and had only planned to marry her for her money.

Soraya’s chest tightened at the memory.

She quickly looked away, refusing to let herself cry again.

"I was in a bar..." she murmured, trying to piece everything together. "Then how did I get here?"

She threw the blanket aside and climbed out of bed.

That was when she noticed something strange.

She wasn’t wearing the clothes she had been wearing the night before.

Soraya looked down at herself, her eyes widening.

"Who changed my clothes?"

A sudden uneasiness settled over her.

She desperately tried to remember what had happened after she started drinking, but her memories were nothing more than scattered fragments.

She remembered talking to the bartender about Emilio, but everything after that was completely blank.

"What did I do last night?"

She pressed her fingers against her aching forehead, trying to force herself to remember.

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t recall how she had left the bar, who had brought her here, or whose room she had spent the night in.

And that frightened her more than the headache.

Soraya quickly stepped out of the room, still trying to understand where she was. The moment she entered the hallway, she was stunned by its size.

The corridor stretched in both directions, lined with tall pillars, expensive decorations, and large paintings that meant nothing to her.

She didn’t stop to look around.

She ran barefoot down the polished floor, desperate to find an exit. Her heart was already racing, and the unfamiliar surroundings only made her more anxious.

Then a gunshot suddenly echoed through the mansion.

Bang!

Soraya froze in place.

Her entire body stiffened, and for a moment, it felt as though her heart had stopped beating. She slowly turned toward the sound and saw that the hallway opened onto a large space below.

A group of men stood there.

"I swear, Santino, I didn’t tell anyone about your whereabouts last night!" one of them pleaded, his voice trembling with fear. "I have no idea why he wasn’t there."

Soraya cautiously moved closer and looked down.

A man stood in the center of the room with his back toward her. She couldn’t see his face, but there was a gun in his hand.

Her eyes widened.

’What is going on here? Who are these people?’

Before she could retreat, the man holding the gun spoke.

"Lock him up and tear off his nails until he tells the truth."

Soraya’s blood ran cold. She stared at him in disbelief, wondering if she had heard him correctly.

’Did he just order them to torture that man?’

Fear took over her body. She instinctively stepped backward, but her movement knocked into a vase placed on a small table beside one of the pillars. It hit the floor and shattered into countless pieces.

Soraya screamed in fear.

Every man in the room immediately turned toward the sound.

Her breath caught as she realized she had just drawn their attention.

Then Santino spoke, "Keep your eyes down."

To Soraya’s shock, every man immediately lowered his gaze.

Soraya stood frozen, staring at them. ’Why did they obey him so quickly?’

She barely had time to process it before the man in the center slowly turned around.

And her eyes met his. Soraya’s breath caught in that moment. Those eyes looked familiar.

Then a memory from the previous night suddenly surfaced.

She remembered stumbling through the

"Oh my God!"

She remembered looking at him through her drunken haze and telling him about Emilio. She remembered asking him if he wanted to sleep with her.

And then...

She had kissed him.

Soraya covered her mouth in horror as everything she had forgotten came rushing back.

"Did I really sleep with him?" she mumbled to herself.