"I don't want to stay here! ... Please!" Laurel shrieked, her eyes pleading as she stared into the red emotionless eyes of her captor.
"No!" He replied bluntly with a hint of finality in his voice.
"You will stay here and be my woman!" He declared sternly, his rough hands gripping her jaw and raising her chin to meet his gaze.
~~~
A few days earlier,
CEO Matthew Cox swallowed nervously as he stared at Don Guillermo's frigid face across from the desk. Don Guillermo was known in Pearl City for his notorious and ruthless acts. He was the head of the infamous black scorpion gang.
The lights were dim, and the haunting black and gray decorations in the room, with its eerie black interior, made Matthew feel as if something bad was about to happen.
He tried to curb the emotions within him and said in a guilty tone,
"I know my payment date is due, but please can you give me an extension?" He gulped and looked around fearfully, seeing the frightening faces of the guards standing around him and behind Don Guillermo, and added,
"I have gotten into a bit of trouble with my recent shipment that arrived at the port, and it has happened three times in a row. I have sold most of my assets and managed to pull through halfway to make it look like the company is still striving and in the clear, but the truth is I'm fucked... I'm sinking deeper into debt; please have mercy on me, for old times sake," he said as tears began to spill from his eyes.
But the old devil just stared at him with no emotion on his face. Seeing his old friend not show any emotion, he used his last card. Don Guillermo was a father himself, and he had treated Laurel as his daughter at some point, so he would surely sympathize with him, right?
"The house is all I have left, Laurel; my daughter is in her final year; I don't even know if I can even continue to pay her tuition so that she doesn't drop out. If we lose the house, we will end up on the streets. Please, I can do anything to pay back the loan; no matter what difficult work is involved, just tell me; I will do it even if it takes my whole life to pay you back," he begged, letting out a shaky breath.
Don Guillermo stared at Matthew, his face emotionless like a bottomless pit and his fingers drumming on the desk rhythmically, making CEO Matthew feel as if he were sitting on pins and needles. 'How stupid Mat; you shouldn't have told me how vulnerable you are; it makes me want to take advantage of you more,' Guillermo thought, smirking inwardly.
"I would help you; what are friends for, right?" Don Guillermo said, making Matthew's eyes go wide at his words.
"Since your company is already a sinking ship, I don't think anything can be done about it... But you could sell it to me, and since I'm generous, I'll give you more than what it's worth. Let's say half its current price... After I absorb your company and put its broken pieces back together, I'll even give you a position as director, and you will be recognized as a founding member of the company. How does that sound?"
CEO Matthew's eyes bulged as he stared at his friend. 'What the hell was he talking about? He wanted to buy his company at half its price.'
"You... You, what did you just say? You want…"
"Hold it there; I have not finished speaking," Don Guillermo interrupted him.
"There is a condition; I'll do everything I said on one condition. Marry your daughter to my son." He said it as if he were doing Matthew a favor.
"You see, my son needs a wife, and he's always been head over heels for Laurel. I also truly believe she's the perfect match for him. They were such close friends when they were young…such lovebirds and I think it would be wonderful for them to be joined together as man and wife. I think it could work out beautifully and join our families together forever. What do you say?" Don Guillermo asked.
CEO Matthew's fingers clenched tightly as all the hope died in his eyes. His breathing became labored, and he looked up at the man in front of him; it seemed that what he feared was what was happening. Don Guillermo had his eye on both his company and his daughter.
He had realized for some time now that everything that had been happening to his company looked like a carefully orchestrated plan to make him bankrupt. It felt as if someone was intentionally targeting him. And when it came to Laurel, he knew how crazy Franco was about Laurel, but his obsession could forever ruin his daughter.
Mathew's mind went to an incident that happened about 4 years ago. Due to his friendship with Guillermo, their children had naturally been close and they were childhood sweethearts.
One day, Laurel, who had always wanted to be a famous pianist, happily told him she had passed an audition to perform a duet with a young boy from her school at the school's annual concert.
Who would have thought that Franco would be so jealous about the boy spending time with Laurel due to their frequent meetings for rehearsals?
He had hired some thugs to scare her a little and also steal Laurel's music sheet. He wanted to make her give up on the concert; the thugs, however, were so extreme that their "little scare" made his little princess handicapped for life.
Laurel had thought some delinquents in school wanted to mess with her and had wanted to ignore them when they blocked her on her way to the rehearsal room. But one of them pulled on her backpack, making all her items spill out of the bag.
She still ignored them and squatted down to pick up the items scattered on the floor. Her hands had just touched the music sheet when one of the thugs' heavy boots pressed on her fingers and stepped on it so hard that there were some broken bones and torn ligaments.
When his little princess was later admitted to the hospital, the doctor said nothing could be done about it and that she couldn't play piano with her fingers again.
It was during Laurel's 18th birthday party that she overheard Franco and his friend talking about it and realized the man she loved was the culprit who had taken away her happiness.
And as if that wasn't enough, she had also heard some of Franco's friends tease him about his sexual escapades with other girls behind her back.
He had responded by saying it was because Laurel had wanted to wait until they were married before being intimate with him. He couldn't wait for her until then, right, so he was just having a little fun.
Laurel had run out of the venue after hearing all that and when she returned home the next day, she looked like a zombie and wouldn't even talk. His princess had come around a few months later and only began to smile again recently.
With a man like this, how could he give Laurel to him? He would only cause her pain and ruin her. Besides, the Franco he knew wasn't someone who valued commitment and loyalty. He didn't even know how to love. He would force his decisions on his daughter and make her unhappy.
Franco only saw his daughter as a prize he wanted to win due to her rejection. Mr. Mathew knew that Franco's ego couldn't take it and that Laurel didn't love him anymore. He was just going to show her off as his perfect little wife in public but abuse her emotionally and physically within the confines of his home.
"I don't think we should interfere with the children's lives; I think an arranged marriage in this 21st century when both parties are not in agreement would only make the children unhappy," Matthew said tentatively in a low voice.
A deep sound of laughter ripped out of Don Guillermo's throat and bounced off the walls.
"You think my son does not deserve your daughter?" Don Guillermo growled menacingly; his face was stoic and filled with a deathly glare as he locked eyes with Matthew Cox.