It's a day after I ended my deal with Mr Lee. Permanently.

If you don't follow through the deal then I'll be the one to end it, and I get what I want. But when I pulled the trigger in between his eyes, I saw someone looking through the crack in the door and I immediately went to see but I was met with an empty hallway.

I knew it had to be her. Right?

Everyone here wouldn't take interest in these type of things besides her, so I ran to our bedroom to make sure.

I swear that I would catch her but when I got there, she was sound asleep, and even when I listened to her heartbeat it was a consistent pace.

It was bad that I was acting like this with her, but I knew that sooner or later she would try to escape, and that's why I've been gone all day today.

I had been organising the ball that would be held in honour of Valentina, and she would be named my gang's Queen, she would be my Queen.

Coming back from the grand hall for reservations, I asked Quinn where she was and she said in my room but as I arrived, there was only a mess of sheets on my bed.

As I was about to jump to conclusions, I heard barking outside the balcony's backyard, and to my surprise, Valentina was playing with some of the best guard and tracking dogs that had been set outside for the guarding the surroundings.

They were playing with her and licking her face as she laughed at them and lets them lay in her lap as if it's nothing but if I did the same to her then that would be a different story.

Flying down to the girl and dogs, I smirked as she laughed without a care in the world as the dogs wagged their tails as they sat beside her. She smiled but it seemed to differ as I loomed over her, blocking the sun from hitting her face.

"What do you think you're doing?" I ask lightly, not trying to scare her but as she locked eyes with me, she's shadowed with an emotion, and I knew the emotion they showed better than ever. Fear.

She shot up from laying on the ground and got up quickly, alarming the dogs but as soon as they saw me, they cowered back just like her.

"What is it?" I ask, stepping forward slowly but she stepped back as I did.

I furrowed my eyebrows as the dogs seemed to be standing in front of her. "And what are these mutts doing here?" I say, becoming more irritated at my love fearing me. But as I say this she seems to differ in fear, and she bend down to pat each of the three.

"They're not 'mutts', they're dogs and they have names." she uttered, and I knew she was trying to change the subjects desperately, so I went along with it.

"And their names are?" I say and I felt my heat skip a beat as she looked up at me smiling for a second before looking away. Introducing each of them I learnt that she had seen Daisy, Duke, and Tammy around and she thought they seemed lonely.

I found it ridiculous that she was being this soft to a lowly animal like them, but I knew that she was an animal lover and didn't want to ruin her love for them.

She continued to play with them and talk to them as I stood around and watched her. Valentina must've seen my confusion as to why she was doing this and got up to talk to me as the 'guards' continued to run around.

"Animals like them may not seem intelligent but they are in their own way." Angel explains, and I side eye her and raise my eyebrow. "They are one of the best animals to listen, better than people. They can't judge you but just sit there and comfort you." she sighs.

I stare at her as she looks so admiringly at the balls of fur. There were glints of yellow in her blue eyes like mine, but instead of making hers completely yellow, they seemed green for the colours and all they did was make me want to make her mine. She was playing with my heart, and she didn't know it. This girl was right next to me, yet I felt as if I couldn't touch her.

"You will be crowned Queen soon." I blurt out and Valentina's head snaps to face me.

"Queen?" she asks, and I sigh, knowing that she had gotten the wrong idea.

"You will be crowned as the second ruler of the gang, ruling beside me." I say in a daze only being able to fantasise what would happen after that. "And there will be a ball held in honour of you." I demand making her cheeks instantly flush.

"D-do we really need a ball though?" she asks sheepishly, and I nod sternly making her sigh. "When will it be?"

"In a few days"

"Do I have to do something until them." the girl asks, and I think for a moment. She could go and pick out a dress?

"You may pick you a dress with Quinn." I finalise and she nods eagerly and looked at me to see that I was lighting a cigarette in hand.

Her face expression stiffened, and she plucked it out of my hand making me glare at her, but she just pointed in my face.

"Don't smoke. It's bad for your health and its addicting." she scolds but I just chuckle knowing that it was a different story when she was under the influence by alcohol.

"Whatever you say, Angel." my tone teasing to which she scoffs at before passing by to me and the dogs to go find Quinn.

And as she did so, I pulled out my spare and lit it in my mouth.

She was probably the most addicting thing I've ever experienced.

I was now in a dressing room that had dozens of elegant ball gowns with Quinn running around excitedly as I sat absentmindedly in the middle of it all.

There was a war between my head and heart. My head said that it would be ridiculous to stay here, that it would be the death of me if I do. But my heart says that this was the change in life I needed. To find myself and this might be what I need to do that, even if it would be dangerous.

"Here's the first batch of dresses I chose for you!" Quinn boomed, snapping me out of my daydreams and making me look in front of myself to see at least 20 dresses, and she said this was only first round?

All the dresses were long bold dresses with dark colours, consisting of red black and deep red, a reoccurring theme. I could see that Quinn was admiring the selection dearly and I nudged her to snap her out of awe.

"Which one are you wearing?" I ask cheerily but this only brought laughs sadly, taking me by surprise. "What is it?"

"These are all for you Val, I'm just here to give you advice and accompany you, I'm not actually allowed to take anything, let alone wear it." she says gloomy, and I furrow my eyebrows, looking from the pile of dresses to her.

Picking out the deep blood dress with black embellishments, I saw that she was looking at it and threw it to her, catching Quinn by surprise but she holds it carefully none the less.

"What are you doing?" she asks as I ask one of the maids to put the rest of the dresses away and another to assist my friend.

"Since I am the soon to be Queen, I declare that she gets her dream dress to wear to this ball." I demand in a demanding tone, making Quinn laugh happily, and pulled me into a hug.

"Thank you so much Val." she whispers, and I pat her back, before shooing her to go put it on as I tried to find my own dress.

I wandered to the dresses without so many layers and found my eyes set on a beautiful gown, with a flowered corset and thin layer of fabric that dropped to the bottom and puffed out floral fabric all in a light blue colour.

It was laid it in my hands and instantly knew that this is the dress that I would want to wear when crowned

I asked the clothes worker if this dress could be fitted, and she accepted but asked me to step into a private room so that she could get my measurements. I did as ask and unclothed myself when she asked.

Nearly all my top body sizes were done and when she was about to let me leave, there was a knock on the door that surprised both the lady and me.

Our heads turned to a flustered maid that was shielding her eyes.

"Apologies ladies, but Ms Valentina, Boss has requested to see you outside the fitting rooms." she utters out, and I nod to myself and hurriedly put on a silk robe as I go to the exit of the dress filled room.

As I peeked my head out of the door, I was greeted with his cold stare.

"What took you so long?" he huffed, and I smile nervously I opened the door wider, showing my full body.

"They were getting my measurements." I said calmly but as I look up at his face, I see there are sparks in his eyes and blush creeping across his face, making me smile at his nervousness.

"Ju-uh-just meet me back at our room." he says before pulling the door shut and I allow myself to fully laugh now.

It was funny to see him this flustered. Walking back into the fitting room, there was a new maid and to my surprise it was Stella, the maid that helped me to get ready for the masquerade.

When I saw her my smile widened, as I waved at her, and she returned the gesture as I sat next to her.

"It's so good to see you again!" I say and after our greetings, I let her take the rest of the measurements as we chat casually.

Walking down the now empty hallway, all the workers were in their own space as the sunset was shining through the hall's windows. It was like eye candy as I saw the autumn trees and the sun on the horizon, but that was wiped of my mind when I walked into Francis's room, and he was resting on the sheets with the sun glazing his abs. That was true eye candy.

I tried to think of something, but it drew blank as I slammed the door shut in surprise.

What was I doing? Why am I so flustered now! I leaned my head on the door and took a deep breath in to recollect myself. Time to take 2.

Reopening the door, a smirk was plastered against his smug face, and I practically ran to the bathroom to save myself the embarrassment. As I was silently having a mental freak out there was a knock on the door.

"Is everything alright in there, Angel?" his husky voice says, and I could feel my heart beating faster by the second.

"Absolutely fine. " I say quickly, and he laughs quietly but still walks away.

Why did he have to have this effect of me? He was just making it harder to leave.