Locked Up

"Lock her downstairs for the next three days with no food or water. Seize her phone and that bag she's holding."

As the men dragged her away, Celeste gave Edward Jr. one final look before saying,

"Prepare yourself because I'll make sure you regret doing this sooner than you think."

Edward Jr. simply snorted before ordering, "What a pretentious little bitch. Knock her out."

*****************

When Celeste woke up, her body was uncomfortably sore, and her head was throbbing. The disgusting-smelling liquid that had been thrown on her had dried as well, causing her body to feel sticky and a foul smell to emanate from her body. She had been thrown into the usual dark room the Valentine family used to punish her when she did something that displeased them.

The small room was six by eight feet, had absolutely no light, and was bare of any furniture except for a toilet. The flooring was cold tile, and the only thing Celeste could do was sit on the floor and stare into the darkness. If she told others, they would not believe that the illustrious Valentine family had a place worse than most prisons inside their mansion.

This wasn't her first time in this room. When she was younger, before she had moved away from the main house to live with her grandfather, this was where she was regularly punished. For any minor infraction, after beating her, they would send her down here for days at a time.

When the family was in a good mood, they would send down slop for her to eat; leftover food jumbled together in a slimy mess that was salty and made her nauseous just by smelling it. When they really wanted to teach her a lesson, they would starve her for two to three days before releasing her.

Although she had expected some form of reaction from Edward Jr. and the rest of the siblings, she hadn't expected him to confront her so soon. Seeing his fearful reaction, Celeste decided to goad him until he became angry enough to hit her. Although she could have avoided the hits, she took each of them and marked the pain down in her heart, and promised herself to pay him back tenfold.

When she had hugged Richard Carrington goodbye, she had whispered for him to come and collect her for a date in three days. She definitely believed that he would come and wouldn't take no for an answer if the Valentine family tried to turn him away. That way she would definitely be released before the family could cover anything up. With how pale and sensitive her skin was, he would definitely see bruises and swelling caused by the slaps Edward Jr. gave her. She needed him to see the abuse she faced and be more empathetic to her situation. That way she could thoroughly use him to escape her situation.

Although she felt bad for selfishly using him, she wasn't in a position to be picky and concerned about the feelings of others. She would just have to pay him back by being diligent about her part of the contract.

As she patted the contract that was folded into tiny pieces and stuffed into her bra, she thought about how different Richard Carrington was from the rumors that circulated.

She had heard he was a cruel devil on the battlefield and had a temper to match with an arrogance that reached the sky and hated women. But the man she had met today didn't seem to fit that description. He was cold and arrogant yes, and nitpicky about the little things but she couldn't say he seemed cruel. He had been nothing but polite, had silently resigned himself to her antics while she teased him, and had even joked along with her at some point. Even the fact that he had accepted the contract with her was very surprising to her even though she had been the one to propose it in the first place. If anything, he was almost too kind for someone with so much power which made her suspicious.

Maybe the rumors were spread by somebody else?

Shaking her head, Celeste settled down to wait. She would be down here for a while and needed to save her strength and organize her thoughts. It would be a long 3 days.

POV Richard Carrington

Once Richard dropped Celeste at the Valentine mansion, he returned back to his penthouse downtown. Once there, he accessed the full background investigation report that had been collected by his troops.

Reading through the information, there did not seem to be anything out of place or overtly suspicious. Celeste was the random result of a one-night stand between Edward Valentine Sr. and a poor woman who worked as a bartender in a high-class bar. Her birth mother died when she was young, and she grew up away from the capital and was raised by the elder Mr. Valentine. Her academics were top notch and she had frequently competed in different martial arts and sports competitions, winning national-level competitions. At 24, she had completed both her bachelor's and master's at Stanford and was an angel investor in multiple startup companies.

Reading the statistics about her past, he wondered why she would bother even competing to be her family heir. Although the Valentine family was a well-known name, their company had been failing since Edward Sr. inherited it. They mainly focused on commercial real estate and development, but they had repeatedly made bad investments over the years that were slowly killing the company. Though they seemed to be partnering with other families like Cross, Koch, and even Girardi, it remained to be seen if those families were just helping or if they planned to swallow the Valentine family business. She on the other hand had been making a name for herself abroad in the investment space in Silicon Valley. If she continued along that path, she would have built an impressive resume and company for herself.

Additionally, the family clearly had no interest in supporting or even cultivating her the same way they did for her other four siblings.

Although he was not very active in the social circle, he had met the four Valentine siblings once or twice. During that time, he had never heard them mention an additional sibling. And in the year that she had been in the capital, numerous rumors had been spread from her being hideous, to her being incompetent, to her whoring herself out to raise her status at home.

Richard Carrington thought of the white-haired girl who seemed to always be smiling after teasing him. He thought that she had to have strong mental strength to deal with such a situation and still remain cheerful and smiling.

Thinking about how he somehow gotten entangled with her, he looked forward to the type of ruckus she would cause the next time he saw her. Her reactions were fresh and even if she was calculative, there seemed to be no malicious intent behind it, and she treated him with respect. Something he rarely got from the women in his circle.

The next two days passed slowly, and it finally reached the third day, the day of their date. Richard had thought Celeste would at least contact at him during that time but there had been no response even when he reached out by text.

Once it was 5 pm he headed to the private parking garage of his office building.

One of his adjutants, Lieutenant Marshall was waiting at the bottom.

"Is everything ready to go?"

"Yes sir. The convoy is ready, and we'll be taking two vehicles. I will be driving you in the center vehicle while Lieutenant Adler will take the front. Other vehicles will be incognito and will wait a distance away from the Valentine mansion."

"Excellent."

The drive to the Valentine mansion was quick and Lieutenant Marshall quickly knocked on the door while other soldiers arranged themselves a

A man dressed as a butler quickly opened the door. Seeing the men in military uniforms holding weapons and standing outside he quickly stood straight and asked politely.

"Excuse me, esteemed soldiers, how may I help you today?"

"Commander Carrington is here to see Miss Celeste Valentine as they have a previous appointment. Will you be letting him in?" Lieutenant Marshall calmly spoke out.

"Miss Celeste?" the Butler hesitantly asked.

"Yes, Miss Celeste Valentine." Lieutenant Marshall repeated.

"Oh of course. If you give me a moment, I'll head inside and notify her before coming back to get you."

"You expect our commander to wait outside? Lead the way inside." Lieutenant Marshall calmly ordered with his hands reaching for his weapon.

"No of course not, my apologies. Please come in. I'll take you to meet Mr. Valentine and bring the young miss to you immediately." The butler peeked at Richard and seeing the battle-hardened soldiers with weapons surrounding a tall cold cold-looking man, he bowed respectfully before opening the door wide. He was someone who knew the truth of Celeste's current situation. He wanted to go in and somehow warn the Master, but the Commander and his soldiers didn't look like they would let him do so.

Richard followed the butler at a leisurely pace, his measured steps echoing on the floor as he was led into what looked like a formal dining room. Seated at the table was an older man who looked to be around 50 years old at the head of the table, with an older woman to his right. Two men and two women were seated as well. It seemed to be a family dinner except one head of white hair was missing.

"Commander Carrington has just arrived Master Valentine and is here to see Miss Celeste." the butler announced in a loud voice hoping that somebody would get the hint.

Richard slowly observed the reactions of everyone at the table. They all looked pleasantly surprised except for one of the men, Edward Valentine Jr. who flinched and had a ghastly expression before he managed to conceal it.

"Commander Carrington, thank you for blessing our family with your presence. Would you like us to set a plate for you at the table or I can take you to my office if it's something more private?" Edward Valentine Sr. quickly stood up and approached the great god that had just arrived on his doorstep. He tried to reach out and shake Richard's hands but was quickly stopped by two soldiers.

"I won't be here long. Just tell Celeste to come here." Richard slowly ran his gaze over each and every person before settling it on Edward Jr.

"Oh Commander Carrington, I don't know what that silly girl told you, but she's not here right now. However, you can meet with my sisters if you need anything. Whatever Celeste can do they can do as well" Edward Jr. interjected while stepping forward as well.

"I have it on excellent authority that she's here. Go and get her." Richard coldly responded.

"Commander, she's really not here."

"So, you're calling me a liar?" Richard raised one eyebrow while staring as Edwards Jr. face paled.

"There's only one person who can get me to wait on them and it's not you. Are you going to go get her or am I going to have to send soldiers to ransack your house? I'll give you three seconds to decide."

"Commander, she's really not here."

"One." Richard directly ignored his words.

"Commander this is an abuse of power! We haven't done anything wrong!" Edward Jr. protested.

"Two."

"Commander please!"

"Three."