Chapter 41 - Deceived From The Beginning

Persephone winced in pain when she felt Santiago's grasp on her arm. The goosebumps she felt when he glanced at her with those dark eyes. She would not show him that she was afraid of him. No, she would not show him. 

"I told you not to break my trust, didn't I?" Santiago said while Persephone struggled to break his grasp. "I knew from the beginning that I will regret trusting you, yet I gave you a chance. But look at you…" 

"You are a monster," Persephone told him. "You are trying with the lives of innocent girls for money. You are not the man I thought you were. I can't even express in words, how much you disgust me?" 

"Aye, I disgust you now? Don't you feel disgusted when you kiss me or let me f.u.c.k you?" Santiago had lost all of his senses when he saw her where she wasn't supposed to be. She said that she was disgusted by him? Very well. She could be disgusted with him for all she cared.

"Oh my God!! You are a monster," Persephone shouted, pushing him away from her. She couldn't believe what she just saw. And he didn't even feel an ounce of guilt? Just what kind of monster was he? "I trusted you too! Dammit! You broke my trust too. Never in my wildest dream had I ever fathomed that this would be the reality of this island! How could you do this to me! You were just playing with my emotions! Don't you feel any shame?!"

Persephone's calm facade crumbled down. Tears were uncontrollably shedding down her cheeks. She was devastated. Another betrayal. Another heartbreak.

"I never played with your emotions, " Santiago said while staring at her crying face. He clenched his hands in a fist to stop himself from wiping those tears. Even vulnerable, she looked as gorgeous as the goddess that she was. He never wished to hurt her emotionally. "Emotions were not part of the deal I made with you. And you say that I broke your trust? When have I broken your trust when I give you no such signals? Did I ever tell you what happens here? No, I didn't. And it was for this reason. As for what you saw inside -- it's business and I will not be ashamed of something which is feeding me and a thousand more people."

"What's the difference between you and my father then? You are just like him. Hurting people for your own advantage," said Persephone, glaring through her tears. 

Santiago gripped her shoulders and forced her to look at him."Why the comparison, Persephone Marino? Why the fucking comparison between me and Alessandro? You knew from the very beginning that there was no difference between us. You blame me for all the bad things I do. For once, why don't you blame your father for making me what I'm today? To beat him at his own game, today I have to become just like him. So, don't you fucking compare us again." 

His icy blue eyes were melting not because of warmth but rage. Taking shallow breaths, he controlled his rage. He didn't want to hurt her in any condition. She was precious to him. Yes, she was precious to him just because she was gonna be exchange for Lorenzo in the future. Plus, he was not the man who would ever hurt any woman physically. 

But it didn't mean he wouldn't punish her for defying his orders. Persephone Marino would learn what it meant to defy or provoke this Villain. 

"Why are you doing this?" She asked him in a whisper. "Why must you be a bad man? If you are not a bad man, why don't you seek redemption, Villain?" 

Santiago stared at her as if she had grown horns. "After calling me names for the unethical business that I do, you wish for me to seek redemption? Are you crazy or what? Do you think I'm the type of man who has lost his way? To clear all your impressions of me which say that I am a 'good man' let me tell you, I chose this life for me and the people following me. I don't care what you call me or what you think of me." 

He didn't just stop there, he made all the doubts running in her heart true. Santiago Vitello was a villain thorough and thorough. There was no redemption for a man like him. 

"Do you know why I'm here talking out with you in this scorching heat?" Santiago contained, oblivious to the storm raging in her heart. "The man inside wants you. He is ready to give anything to have for a brief period." 

And this broke Persephone's heart. However, she didn't cry, she just sadly smiled. 

"You want me to go to him, Villain?" Persephone asked him in a soft voice as if she wasn't the one who was cursing him a moment ago. "Or would you like to play hero this time?" 

"I never claimed to be a hero, Persephone. I told you the first day I saw you that I will break you," Santiago said with an indifferent expression. Only he knew what was the effect of her words on him. 

'Look what I have done to you. I have broken you, Persephone Marino. I did what I told you. I never asked for your trust. You bestowed it on me as a charity.' 

'But why do your crestfallen expressions make me want to destroy this world?'

'Just what have you done to me?'

"Villain!"

Persephone called out his name in a soft voice. He looked up to see her staring blankly behind him. 

"Let's not see each other's faces until the day you decide to send me back to my father." 

"You are forgetting the deal you made with me," Santiago said in a hard voice. 

"Deal? You get to deceive me from the beginning. And I don't get to avenge myself by breaking the damn deal?" Persephone said with a light snicker. "But if you still don't agree, feel free to force yourself on me. After all, it's your territory and I am a weak and frail woman at your mercy." 

"Get out of my sight, woman. I wish never to see your face." 

"Trust me, you won't."