Page 44 of Vow to Corrupt You (Gods of Corruption #1)

Serena

Pain drags me awake. My head is throbbing.

Each beat of my pulse feels like a hammer striking my skull as I slowly regain consciousness.

The smell of rust, oil, and something metallic hits my nose.

Blood. Blinking against the harsh light, I try to make sense of where I am.

The last thing I remember is Dimitris driving me to meet Valeria at my parents’ house, then nothing—just a black void in my head.

I try to move, but the bite of cold metal around my wrists halts me.

Chains. I’m hanging by chains. My pulse quickens, panic surging as I yank at the chains.

They won’t budge. I’m hanging here like a carcass in a slaughterhouse.

Desperately, I scan the room, blinking hard, trying to steady my vision.

I’m in a warehouse, abandoned and empty, with no escape.

I’m doomed.

The metallic crack of a heavy door cuts through the silence, sending a jolt of terror through me. Footsteps echo in my ears, intensifying the pulsing pain in my head. I freeze, my breath hitching in my throat as she steps into view.

“Valeria?” My voice cracks, hoarse and trembling.

It’s her—my stepsister. She walks toward me, her heels clicking against the concrete like a countdown to my end. Then I see her clearly. Her face seems familiar yet cold, contorting into a sneer that turns my stomach.

“Valeria, what’s going on?”

She stops a few feet away, crossing her arms. “You’re finally awake, sister dearest. Good.”

The sarcasm in her voice chills me more than all the scenarios running through my head. “What’s going on?” I demand.

Her laugh is cruel. “You really don’t know, do you? God, you’ve always been so na?ve.” She steps closer, the sinister smile never leaving her face. “I’ve been waiting for this since the day you married Nikos.”

Shivers sweep down my spine as I look at her, feeling betrayed, numb, empty. I can’t believe her words. Is it all because of my forced marriage to Nikos? Is it all because of him?

“Valeria, please, we’re family,” I barely whisper as if all my strength has left me, along with everything I ever believed in. Family bonds. Any values. Hope in humanity.

“Family?” her brow raises. “You really believe that, don’t you?” she scoffs, “You’ve always been so blind.”

“Why are you doing this?”

“Why?” she scoffs once more, this time more cynically. “You’ve always been the golden child, the favorite. Everything I ever wanted, you had. And then, as if that wasn’t enough, you had to take him too. Ruin our plans.”

Ruin our plans? What is she talking about?

I stare at her numbly, still struggling to believe this is happening and that she is behind everything. My own family. She might be my stepsister, but we grew up together, and I’ve always treated her as if she were my actual sibling.

“You say I had it all, but I didn’t,” I say, pain in my voice. “You had a mother who loved you more than life itself. She would do anything for you. Anything.” I feel a tear forming in the corner of my eye. “I didn’t have that. My mother left me and my twin as if we were nothing.”

“Ugh, stop playing the victim,” she shrieks with frustration. “You had a father who loved you, spoiled you, treated you as if you were a fucking golden child.”

Golden child. Pedestal princess… just to name a few.

I’ve heard those way too many times from her mouth.

From Caterina’s mouth. Only because, as surrealistic as it sounds, my stepmother was jealous of my connection with my father.

She was jealous he would talk to me or worry about me, his own daughter.

She hated it when he would ask for my opinion or defend me in an argument, so I became the golden child.

Untouchable and worshipped, though it wasn’t like that.

My father treated me as he treated all of his children, but Caterina didn’t see it.

Perhaps she did not want to see it. She’d love it if I disappeared, just so she could have him completely under her control.

Isolate him from anything and anyone, all to herself.

But I never said anything. Despite how deeply it hurt me, I didn’t have balls big enough to speak up.

It hurt like hell, watching my father become Caterina’s puppet.

He treated her like a queen, always paying no heed to her wrongdoings, and always taking the blame on himself.

Whenever I achieved something, Caterina would always say it was just luck—anything to diminish me.

But when Valeria or Gianna achieved something, my father would talk about it endlessly, just so they’d feel proud of themselves.

My father has given Caterina and her daughters anything they could ever want, yet it was never enough. Nothing could ever be enough for them.

So when Nikos chose me, it must’ve felt like such a failure for Valeria and her mother, who desperately wanted her to marry him.

But is it really reason enough to do something like this?

To go against her own family? Besides, how did she orchestrate all that?

She couldn’t have worked on her own; she must’ve had someone helping her.

“Dimitris…” the word leaves my mouth involuntarily.

It hits me. It must’ve been him. He wanted to help me escape Nikos. Right after I refused, he claimed Valeria needed to meet me. He offered to take me to her.

Oh my God… when Nikos finds out… he will be devastated. And then he’ll want revenge.

“Yes, Dimitris,” she chuckles menacingly, snapping me from the shocking realizations spiraling in my mind. “Nikos’s beloved uncle has been planning to take him down for years.”

“And what do you have to do with this?”

“Dimitris and I are together.”

“What?” A gasp escapes my mouth, and my eyes flicker between hers with as much disbelief as confusion.

My sister lets out an evil, mocking laugh. “We had a plan. Nikos was supposed to marry me , and after I would give birth to his heir, Dimitris and I would get rid of the infamous Nikos Romano.”

Shock roots me in place, my head spinning. “Why go to all these lengths? Why not simply get rid of Nikos and save all the steps in between?”

Valeria looks at me as if I’m stupid. “We needed an heir. His heir. You think Nikos’ soldiers, the Italians, would follow Dimitris?

An outsider?” She steps closer, her face twisting with spite.

“But then you came along and ruined everything. Nikos chose you, and Dimitris had to change the plan. Now, he’ll force Nikos to sign over everything.

His empire, his power, all for your miserable life, and then we’ll kill you both. ”

“Good luck,” I mock. “You’ll never manage to win a war with someone like Nikolaos Romano, a man with power you’ll never have.

A man in love who’d reduce the world to ruins for the woman he can’t live without.

And you know the woman?” I stare at her with a deviant smirk on my face, with the most diabolical, deranged kind of gleam in my gaze.

“I am that woman. He loves me with the kind of devotion that destroys, and you will both learn it the hard way. You shouldn’t have messed with me, for he is the God, and I am his Goddess. ”

I’m not sure if it’s the dark, corrupt side Nikos has been trying to awaken in me finally stirring to life, or if it’s the acceptance of my fate.

My end. Or both, for that matter, but I’m not letting Valeria feel the satisfaction of my fear.

Not in the last minutes of my life. At least in the end, I’ll be a bad bitch who, for once, will make others fear her.

I will not let her threaten or diminish me, even if I’m the one hanging by the chains.

“Shut up!” Valeria’s hand lashes out, striking my cheek with a force that makes my head snap to the side. Pain flares, but it’s nothing compared to the satisfaction I feel inside.

I chuckle darkly, looking at her eyes blazing with anger. “You’re jealous because you thought you could have any man in this town, but the man who owns the entire town and the people in it only wants me.”

“Shut up, you stupid cow!” Valeria shrieks with frustration, which feels oddly satisfying.

“Do you think he’ll save you? Everything is already in motion.

As we speak, Dimitris is luring him into this trap.

Soon, you both will end up six feet under the ground and nothing, absolutely nothing but your dead corpses that will turn into bones and ash will be left in this world. ”

Before I can reply, the door creaks open again, and another person steps inside. Heavy boots echo with each step; this time, it must be a man. I expect to see Dimitris, but my stomach drops when I see which man it is.

Rodrigo Castro. The man who swore revenge on Nikos because of me. The man at war with my husband. His worst enemy.

Rodrigo’s Cheshire-like grin widens as he sees the recognition in my eyes. “Ah, the wicked one finally awoke.”

The nickname—one that Nikos uses with his particular kind of affection, one that would normally drive me crazy but I’ve come to love—in his mouth it sounds like poison.

“You’re working together?” An icy shiver sweeps over my back as he stares at me like I’m a toy he’s deciding how best to play with before deciding my end.

“Didn’t expect that, did you?” he smiles menacingly, angling my head with a rough press of his fingers digging into my skin. “I couldn’t miss out on an opportunity like this. You are the perfect bait, wicked one. Nikos’s little obsession.”

I glare at him, anger flaring despite the fear gripping me. “You’re pathetic.”

He laughs, dark and humorless. “You’ve got spirit. I can see why he likes you. But that spirit won’t save you now, wicked one. I’ll make Nikos watch as I destroy everything he loves, starting with you.”

He leans closer, biting my lower lip. With every ounce of disgust, I spit at him. My saliva lands on his mouth, and the room falls deadly silent.

“You little bitch,” he growls, wiping the saliva with his other hand while gripping my jaw with brutal force. His nails dig into my skin, and I cry out despite myself.“When Nikos gets here, I’ll make him watch as I fuck you right in front of him…right before I kill you.”

Revulsion floods through me, twisting my stomach so violently that I almost throw up, but anger burns hotter in my chest. “Just so you know, my husband has a habit of butchering the cocks of the men who so much as look at me.”

His gaze darkens and his jaw clenches with such force that I can hear his teeth grinding. “Valeria, bring the tape,” he shrieks. “We have to silence the bitch.”

I hear Valeria’s footsteps, then the heavy metallic door creaks. Rodrigo pulls a gun, pressing the icy barrel under my chin. My pulse hurls itself forward, every part of me screaming for escape, but I do not show any trace of emotion.

Nikos once told me he wasn’t born a villain; he was made one. Now, his words make much more sense. Only those who have suffered immense pain, experienced unimaginable betrayal, and had their worlds crash down like a house of cards will ever understand that.

I used to believe Nikos had daddy issues, but now I know what he experienced—the cruelty, the trauma—goes far beyond.

Now I know this is how villains are born.

Perhaps I’m doomed. Perhaps, this moment is my end. But at least I’ll die as the dark queen Nikos has always wanted me to become. His wicked one.

And if I survive, the world will be richer with one more villain in it.