1 Chapter One

Alexandra

I landed on the floor with a thump, hissing in pain when the training stick hit me on the delicate skin behind my soft thighs. Maybe coming for self-defense training in the middle of the night wasn't the best idea.

"Get up, Alexandra Vega." A strong womanly voice ordered. "Remember. Always get back up."

I panted, staring down at my hands on the dark grey floor. My training stick was a few feet away from me, and I could feel my trainer preparing to attack me again. I felt the movement of her stick against the air, the silent creak of her shoes as she prepared to strike. In a few seconds, she would launch her strike.

One.

Two.

In the split time before the next second, I glanced to the side and saw the opening I was waiting for. She fell for my trick. With a wicked smirk, I rolled out of the way on my hands, raising myself completely upside down with my hair forming a long brown arc in the air. When I landed, I had already grabbed my stick and was pointing it straight at my trainer's exposed throat.

"Got you." I smirked.

My smirk didn't last long, because a stick suddenly hit the weak spot at the back of my knee and I yelped, loosing balance and crashing to the floor on my knees. Shit. That hurt. And it happened so fast that I didn't even see, or feel what had happened until I was already on the floor.

The trainer straightened. "Never let your guard down. You thought you had gotten me where you wanted, but you made the mistake of having my weapon out of your sight."

I sighed, looking back at her. "Okay. Fine. I get it."

She stared at me for a moment before her face lit up with a laugh. Soon I was laughing too. My thighs hurt from all the hits I had taken from her goddamn stick. It was suddenly all so ridiculous that I couldn't stop laughing even as she helped me up to my feet with a strong hand. Her body was strong and firm, even though she was nearly as old as my mother.

"My body hurts so much, thanks to you, Aunt Isla." I groaned between laughs, brushing my long and wavy hair out of my face.

Aunt Isla was probably my favorite relative. She was the only Vega woman that cared for things other than luxury, diamonds and the latest designer brands. I like my luxury, after all, I was born in money, but I have actual passions that are not all about vanity. Just like Aunt Isla. She owned a global self-defense and fitness organization, but after an unfortunate incident that happened some years ago… she became my personal trainer.

So I will never be weak again.

Thinking about it made my mood sour pretty quickly. Aunt Isla plucked my stick from my hands and motioned behind me. "It's time. Go on."

I looked behind me to see three of my beauticians standing by the doorway of the training room, respectfully waiting for me to come with them. It was just 3:00 am, and I knew it was going to take hours for them to get me ready for my big day in the morning. With my head high, I gave Aunt Isla one last smile and walked towards them.

My big day.

The day I become CEO of the billion-dollar Vega Oil and gas conglomerate. The company was the biggest in all of America, partners with the big oil monies of Saudi Arabia, and worth huge billions. My family had raised me in all the ways to be a formidable heir, and I intend to lead without backing down, or bowing down to anyone.

But this day I've always dreamed about was ruined by one new development. Vega Oil had merged with the biggest Tech and Arms organization in the entire world, The Multi-billion dollar Reyes Empire. And that was the moment my dream became a nightmare.

*

Alejandro

"One last chance." I said darkly, giving my victim a smile that scared the shit out of him. He was tied to the chair in front of me, his fingers and toes spread out by a device that made them so easy to pluck out. Three of his toe nails were gone, leaving me with seven more bloodied toenails to play with. Luckily, his fingernails were still intact. I would lavish all of my dark attention on them.

He was sweating buckets, his skin sagged down his body in exhaustion and agony, eyes bloodshot from all the tears. But he was stubborn. He burned down a van that had my men in it, killing all of them, and now he won't fucking tell me why he did it. Or who sent him.

Usually, people that confess, talk after I remove the first toenail… but this fucker was stubborn. And I usually like stubborn people, because they bring out the monster in me… but I just didn't have the time to fuck around this morning. I might just have to make him talk quickly.

I held out my gloved hand covered in blood. "The saw." I said.

The guard hovering in the shadows picked up a shiny, spiny saw and moved closer to me, bowing her head respectfully as she placed it on my hand. The man's eyes widened with terror when he saw the saw shining in my hands. He began to yell, a mixture of anger and hate coloring his desperate eyes. "You fucking son of a bitch! Why don't you just shoot me! I will never talk!"

I only chuckled behind my face mask, standing up from my seat menacingly.

He continued raving, but I was deaf to all of them. After all, they were a dead man's words. "You think you're so fucking powerful?! A CEO who trades guns but can't even take one to shoot his enemy?!"

That got my attention. Running a finger down the edge of the saw to test its sharpness, I answered quietly. "Guns are meant to eliminate a threat quickly and efficiently." I speared him down with my bloodthirsty gaze. "You are not a threat. And I don't want to eliminate you. I only want to slice pieces of your body off, let you heal for some time, then come back to slice you again. You'll wish for death, and I won't give it to you."

The man grew hysterical at my cold words. "You fucking-"