Viviana’s POV

"I have no choice but to lose my virginity tonight."

The brown-haired girl froze with the bedsheet she had been folding lying limp in her arms, her mouth gaping open, "You're going to do what?" She finally screeched.

I continued to pace up and down my room, biting at my nails as my mind raced, "It's now or never."

Imelda glanced around nervously, as if someone would magically appear in the middle of the room. "When I said we should think this through, I didn't think this was where your mind would go to. Antonio will kill you if you tried it."

Tears welled in my eyes, and I flopped down onto my unmade bed. "What choice do I have? How can I give that monster my life and my purity all at the same time? I can't. I can't marry him."

To my embarrassment, a choked sob slipped out of my mouth, and I hurriedly slapped a palm over my mouth to muffle the pathetic sound.

"Oh, darling," my maid's eyes softened, and she rushed over to where I sat and dropped down to her knees in front of me. "Please don't cry."

I glanced up at her. "Then you will help me?"

"I can't support you to do this, Vivi. It's too dangerous. How would you even get past security? Who do you plan to lose your virginity to? What's your assurance that they won't tell your grandfather? The risks are too much."

I clutched her hands in mine. "Imelda, by this time tomorrow, I will be a property of a man who has buried four wives in the space of eight years. A man old enough to be my father. We both know what fate I'll face as Sergio's wife."

All the blood drained from her face, and a horrified whimper escaped her own mouth. Since my grandfather had informed me two weeks ago that I was to marry the beast of a man, I had done nothing but rage against how unfair it was.

Screaming and keeping myself awake with terrifying thoughts hadn't helped to change my fate. There was nothing anyone could do to change my fate, and so my only choice was to rob my fiancé of what he desired most: my virginity.

Suddenly, the maid leaped to her feet, gaze full of determination. "I know somewhere, but you're going to have to listen to me carefully, Vivi. As much as I want to say Antonio and Sergio can both rot in hell, I also care about your safety. So promise me you will follow all my instructions to the last letter."

I swallowed, suddenly nervous about this plan. But then a mental image of Sergio with his droopy jowls and massive belly flashed through my mind and succeeded in reinforcing my resolve.

Half an hour later, I was at the back of a cab, wearing Imelda's shapeless servant uniform and watching the house I had lived in like a prison for nineteen years disappear in the rearview mirror.

My heart was thudding wildly as the cab stopped me at a decrepit-looking building in a shady side of the city.

"Ma'am, are you sure this is the place?" The driver asked, scanning the dark, empty streets warily.

I had the exact same question, "Y-yeah, I'm sure," I replied and stepped out of the vehicle.

As soon as it pulled away, I began to regret my decision to do something so crazy.

"You must be Imelda," a croaky voice said from the shadows, and I spun around to see a heavyset woman in a dress that barely contained her breasts studying me carefully.

"Y-yes," I lied.

"Follow me," she said, and I trailed after her. Inside the run-down building, we went down a hallway where she led me into a room and pointed at a suitcase. "Get dressed and come out whenever you want. The room number is 302."

Before I could gather myself and ask her more questions, she had disappeared down the hallway, leaving me standing there with my stomach tied up in achy knots.

This was crazy.

I definitely shouldn't do this.

But that same impulsive spirit that had made me dye my hair pink at age twelve, climb up the tallest tree in the compound at age thirteen, drive one of my grandfather's cars at age fourteen, and decide to lose my virginity to a stranger at my current age of twenty gripped me like a desperate lover.

Steeling my spine, I marched forward and unzipped the bag, pulling out a sultry red dress.

"Oh my goodness," I gasped, staring at the outfit that had less material than a scarf. I was definitely going to murder Imelda. That is, if I made it out of this place in one piece.

I had already come this far, though, and I had never been one to back out.

I took off the scarf and brown wig and then whipped off the shapeless grey dress. The red dress fit over my slim curves like a second skin, and the five-inch sandals were the perfect fit. I brushed out my long, dark hair, slapped on a maroon-colored lipstick, and turned to the mirror.

The image that stared back at me was very far from Viviana Materazzi. I looked like a diva, a seductress, a woman.

A smile curved my painted red mouth, my earlier nervousness replaced by a fiery confidence. Flipping my hair over my shoulder, I marched out of the room and walked down the corridor.

My jaw immediately dropped open as I walked into the main area of the building. The exterior had clearly been a facade, because the inside was tasteful, clean, and luxurious. Golden chandeliers hung down from the ceilings, and at the end of the room was a curling staircase with gold railings and a shiny red carpet.

It was only when I had climbed the staircase and come up to a set of doors that my earlier panic returned. But this time around, it was for a different reason. I couldn't remember what number the woman had said.

"302 or 312?" My blue eyes moved between the two doors on either side of me, and I bit my lip in indecision. "Which one? God, please give me a sign."

Suddenly, the bulb over 312 flickered to life, and I laughed in delight, reaching for the doorknob.

It seemed that even God was in full support of me losing my virginity tonight.