CHAPTER 1

^20 years Later^

Marietta P.O.V

My feet were hurting but I ignored the shards of pain and continued running. I was fooling myself because you couldn't escape the darkness. But I had to try even though I had no idea where I was or where I was going.

I was just running.

There was an unknown fear in my mind and my heart was pounding so hard, I feared it would jump out of my chest. Something was not right to me neither that place had any sense.

My heartbeat was fast as if not faster than my steps. I ran, ran, ran, ran and ran but it was all in vain. It didn't matter how fast I ran because I was reaching nowhere. I was still standing in pitch-black darkness. I couldn't see anything. There was nothing to observe that gave you a description of that place except darkness.

I was scared, God damn scared. This place was full of darkness. I hate darkness. But still, I was just running. I took more fast steps, rapidly, quickly, and fastest, as quickly as I could.

I couldn't see a single thing over here and I was just running. Why the hell was I even running? I didn't know. Why was this place horrifying me? I didn't know. The only thing I knew was that I had to run and got out of the darkness as soon as possible. Again why? No one knew. That darkness was hunting me. My whole appearance was trembling due to these haunted feelings. Sweat drops as thick as liquor was falling on the sides of my head. Then, here it came again...

The sound, which always froze me in my spot rendering me immobile. Its rhythm was as same as always and had the same effect as ever. I stopped in my spot, unable to move.

My heart was ticking like a bomb as it would explode anytime. My breath was harsh because of adrenaline. I tried to move, I tried to run again but all in vain. I felt entirely under the control of the rhythm of the music. Unable to move, with heavy heart, uneven breath, and too much frustration...

"Ahhhhh!" I SCREAMED!

My body was covered in sweat drops as if, I just had a shower and my breath was overwhelming as if, I was really running a marathon. In a quick movement, I shifted in a sitting position and peeked at my surroundings suspiciously.

From Murano glass chandelier that was hanging down the ceiling to the wool Berber carpets including all the other expensive things of my room that my mind couldn't register yet, was at the right spot. I looked at the thing I was sitting on; my king-sized bed.

"Again..." I gasped. I wiped the sweat off my face as I hopped out of bed and stretched my body. After checking my phone for any messages, I trudged towards the washroom for a long relaxing shower to calm my nerves but it did very little to help.

It doesn't matter I was just awake because that nightmare felt like a reality to me. It always scared the hell out of me. Every time it was just pitch-black darkness, me running like a mad person and then, waking up screaming and panting like I was indeed stuck in between never-ending darkness.

The worst part was the music. As I was a music lover who could play all musical instruments all day long without getting tired. But that music felt like something else...

Something I couldn't explain in words...

I wrapped a white fluffy bathrobe around my body and walked towards my closet. I hate that part of picking a dress especially when there were tons of dresses staring at you to be chosen today, it was damn tough. I grinned at my childish thought. But on a serious note, when your Mom owned the world's best designer boutiques it was pretty normal to have different collections of designer outfits.

I heard a knock on the door followed by Anna's voice. "Princess, are you awake?"

Ahh! My savior, Anna.

"Yes, please come in!" I said, leaving the closet door wide open as I walked towards the door.

"Good Morning!" She greeted me as she walked inside and glanced at my room and then back at me. She was wearing a white pencil skirt with a black blouse. Her brown hairs were tied up in a tight bun and her brown eyes were looking fresh. She had an iPad in her hand.

"Morning!" I said and gestured my hand towards the closet door with a wincing face. She shook her head at me and smiled. She was in her late thirties but trust me, she looked fresher than me. As usual, she walked towards my walk-in closet and after a while came out with a grey dress in her hand.

"Here!" She said, extending the dress towards me.

"Thank you!" I exclaimed smilingly and grabbed the dress.

"You're always welcome." She smiled back. Anna was the manager of our house. She looked after everything, which meant every little thing in this house very responsibly. My parents trust her loyalty as she was working for us for more than twenty years. However, I especially liked her, she was like a close friend to me.

I looked at my reflection in the mirror. That grey dress just ended on my knees, its upper part was lightly designed with some embroidery. I looked like a beautiful young girl with milky white flawless skin, bright blue eyes, shoulder-length brown hair. My facial features were somehow naive and that made me appeared like an innocent doll among my elder siblings, another disadvantage of being the youngest child. No matter how old you would grow, you would always be the younger one in everyone's eyes.

As I stared more in my eyes, out of blue, it came again, black, that dark place with no sense. In an instant, it again appeared in front of my eyes. My room disappeared and I again found myself somewhere in between darkness. What was the connection of that senseless place with me? I felt a shiver ran down my spine as a feeling of nausea hit me.

"Are you okay?" Anna jerked my shoulder and I came back to reality.

"Y...yeah." I gulped as my voice trembled.

"It doesn't look like it." She said with knitted eyebrows and I looked back in the mirror. My face looked pale with fear, my eyes were wide open. I immediately changed my expression into a calm one.

"I'm okay." I faked a smile.

"Sure?" She emphasized the word 'sure' but I assured her with a smile.

"Where is everyone?" I asked to change the subject. She checked her iPad probably looking for the schedules.

"Sir Max has some meetings today while Ma'am Emily and Ma'am Mia are working on a new design. Ma'am Caro is coming back today from noon flight." She told me with her eyes fixed on the screen then she looked at me and said, "While you don't have any class today."

"No class! Great!" I was about to smile widely when she interrupted. "Hold on. You are not allowed to leave the mansion. It's Sir Max's order." She said with a pitiful smile.

I sighed in annoyance. I hate Daddy for such rules but I was not going to get trap in them. He wanted me to take interest in business but he had to understand, I am not business material. I am a good daughter and the younger heir, you know the attention seeker and when you were a major shareholder it messed up everything. My father had always fulfilled my all wishes except for that business thing.

"Plus, do you remember? "Anna asked, cutting the chain of my thoughts.

"Remember what?" I said almost immediately.

She looked shocked which she immediately covered up and smiled, "Tonight is the golden jubilee anniversary of Amino's industries and you still haven't decided what are you going to wear."

"Anything will go." I said, passing my not-so-interested smile as I looked in the mirror one last time and moved out of the room.

The whole day passed in a blur, doing nothing useful. It was time to get ready and I was rushing towards my room if someone didn't stop me in my track by placing his muscular arm in front of my way.

"Hey, beautiful!" He said in a flirty tone, adding his pearly white smile with a wink.

"Why are you here?" I asked sternly, glaring at him.

"I wanted to meet you. Actually, I was missing you." He rubbed his temple and said in a flirty tone that irritated me more.

"Yeah, right." I rolled my eyes at him.

"Oh-oh! Look like you don't know yet." He said, dramatically placing his hand on his lips. His green eyes were full of mischief.

"Liam! Move aside." I said, pushing him aside when he laughed and loudly said, "Caro is coming back. Good news, huh?" he smirked, raising his brows.

"Yeah, not for you." I said, ignoring him, and climbed the stairs.

Jerk!

Anna had selected some dresses for me. She was asking me this one or that one and I wasn't giving any attention to what she was saying, because I was thinking about something else. And that something was none other than Caro.

Caroline Amino was my big sister and she absolutely despised me. She spent most of her time out of the country on business tours and whenever she was here, she does her best to avoid me. But I loved her and wanted her to love me as much as I do. I have hope that one day, she will love me as a sister.

I passed Anna a bright smile and said, "Anna, now I will again try to spend some time with her." Despite the fact, Caro didn't like to spend her time with me.

"What?" She asked, totally confused. I shook my head and grinned like a fool.

"Go and change it." She said, giving me a dress. It was a white silk long skirt with a black halter neck beaded top. I slipped inside it as it looked perfect on me, hugging my curves flawlessly. After styling my hair in a curly bun at the left downside of my neck, I applied some makeup, then I slid on the black heels. Giving one last looked in the mirror, I left the room.

Today was a big event night for our business, years ago my grandpa had settled the base of Amino's and now it was on top of all companies. It wasn't a lie if I said that no one could compete with Amino.

Our industries were working on national as well as international level and now, finally celebrating its golden jubilee. Our 60 years of hard work had completed with great success. Despite my lack of interest, it was still a big thing.

Almost at 7 pm, I hopped inside my car, a silver Lamborghini. John revived the engine and started the drive towards our destination. John was my driver with a normal height and a normal built.

We were heading towards one of the Amino five-star hotels, with two more cars of my bodyguards following us. These guards always follow me due to security reasons. Daddy had given strict orders to them to always keep an eye on me. That was pretty reasonable when we were talking about me, the one who always got caught up in trouble.

I smiled as I looked outside the window. It was a normal September night, the weather wasn't so warm neither cold. My eyes traveled to the sky, it was covered in darker shades of blue and purple, with fewer little stars. They seemed like shining at me but from a far distance. The road was also dark and silent as we were passing through the highway.

The silence and darkness were peaceful but frightening at the same time. It always reminded me of my nightmare.

'Should I tell someone about it?'

'Is it normal to have a nightmare?'

But I had been having the same nightmare for as long as I could remember.

'Is it normal?'

'Am I normal?'

I was busy with my thoughts when........

BAAM!