A/N- Sorry that it's been a while for this chapter to come out. But this is IMPORTANT the chapters are going to go back and forth between time periods. This chapter is directly after the first chapter, where Ginny has been undercover for three years and Draco found her out. Then the next chapter will be like the second chapter where Ginny's mission was just beginning. It will go like this for the rest of the story. Hope that makes sense. Lol, this is going to be a real challenge to try and make this work. But I do so love a challenge.

Chapter Three

"You almost had me, Ginny. Three years and you screwed up once."

I flinch at his words and superior expression. His anger and betrayal have turned into a smug sort of power. He has caught me and he is now biding his time until he figures out what to do. How to punish me in a way that will last for what he hopes will be the rest of my life.

And the funny thing is that I don't even really care. A part of me has been expecting him to catch me, waiting for it even. He knows now, he knows that I am on a mission, and that I have never cared for him. His cool attitude about the situation unnerves me because I know that eventually all his hot anger is going to boil over and explode on me.

I have been sitting in a chair as he stalks around me, surveying his prey. He stops and leans down so his lips are close to my ear, "Say something, darling. You've been quite the actress for years it seems, why don't you take the stage now?"

I turn my eyes away from his accusatory stare, "I have nothing to say. And please refrain from calling me 'darling'."

He smiles coldly, "You're mine, I will call you what I please. Get up."

With nothing left to fight for I snap my head toward him, "I don't succumb to your orders anymore."

He places a tight grip on my upper arm and yanks me harshly out of the chair. "You will bend to my will or I will break you to it. Do not dare to defy me again, Ginevra, or you will rue the day you set foot here." The corners of my mouth turn up in irony, I already do rue that day.

With a look of repulsion he carelessly tosses me to the floor as if I am some sort of rag doll. I feel the harsh stone tear my skin but do not make a sound. Bleeding is the only way for me to be sure I am still even alive anymore.

It's hopeless. Any chance of escape flew when Malfoy bore down on me like the wrath of God. The worst part is that I don't even know my mistake. He knows, but I have no clue as to how he found out. I can't very well ask either…So I have to wonder. Not like I have anything else to do anyway.

I'm a realist, I know when I am beat. And right now, I'm beat. He has me, I can admit that. The role that I've told myself that I'm pretending to be—his slave, his whore—I now am. I will be alive only to do his biding…assuming that he keeps me alive at all that is. Life is a lonely existence.

Feeling worse than I have in years I drag myself to the large bed and throw the covers around me. I feel tears stinging my eyes but refuse to allow them to fall. I won't cry. I will accept the situation because there is no other choice. If it takes me three more years, I will get another chance. He will slip up, learn to trust me again…I will wait until then. I will wait because I have to. I will wait because I have no other choice. I will wait because I have nothing else to do.

I feel something sharp poking my shoulder blade. I wince as I wake and open an eye to see Malfoy hovering over me, looking no less forgiving than he had before.

"Get up," he states harshly.

I bite my lower lip and immediately follow his request. Back to complacency and following orders. I feel the tears longing to return, I despise the person that I have become. I am not even pretending anymore…This is me, this pathetic, following creature. I'm not even an individual, not special in any way…just another lost cause.

He sits in the chair that I had occupied earlier looking grim, but pleased with himself all the same. "I've decided on your punishment."

I straighten up and wipe all expression off of my face. I can take whatever he has to dish out. "How wonderful for you," I sneer.

"You're going to marry me."

As prepared as I was for any punishment…I wasn't prepared for that one. "Pardon," I say hoarsely. "I must have heard you wrong."

He smirks, "You did not hear me wrong. You are going to marry me because that is the only way to make you suffer over and over again. You will be mine forever in the eyes of God and man."

He's finally snapped and gone completely mad, I decided. "Why on earth would you want to marry me?"

He looks downright pleased with himself. "I really don't care for marriage. I find it be ceremonious and dull. But I need to establish a legitimate heir to carry on the family legacy and it would be nice for future business reasons to be a family man. It doesn't make the slightest bit of difference to me who my wife is, so long as she is beautiful, pureblood, and can conduct herself in public."

"I'll ask again, why me?"

He sighs impatiently and repeats himself with obvious annoyance, "You are pureblood, beautiful, and can conduct yourself in public. Furthermore, you don't want to marry me. Spending the rest of your life with me would be a fate worse than death in your eyes. I warned you long ago not to cross me, Ginevra."

I can't breath, I feel suddenly trapped. "You would be miserable married to me as well!"

He nearly smiles at this, "I won't be miserable because you will not exist to me beyond the limitations of my bed. You will bare my name as well as my heir, which will be the only difference from what you are to me now. You will not be in my way, you will not bother me. I, however, will be all you have. As your lawful husband I have the power and authority to command you as I please. You will do as I say, see only who I permit you to see, leave only when you are leaving with me."

My head pounding I feel bitter and cynical. "That's my life now."

He shrugs, "Well I'll see what I can do to make it more confined for you."

Marriage in our world is everything, it is forever. I will be with him for all of time, no opportunity for escape. No one will allow me to leave him, no matter what plan of escape I have worked out it won't matter…I am completely and utterly boxed in. "Don't do this," I whisper, "you don't want this."

He smiles and I see my defeat in his eyes. "I beg to differ, I do want this. I have a house in the country with no civilization for as far as the eye can see, I think I'll leave you there."

Leave me in the country. I can see my bleak and horrible future, Malfoy brats clinging to me, controlling me. Freedom will no longer even enter my mind; it will become useless to even think of. And suddenly, my fighting spirit seems broken. All these years I've lived with this hope always present within me, this feeling that no matter how bad things got, no matter what happened, one day I would be away from everything that was hurting me. I've lived my life with the belief that I can sustain anything because nothing bad can last forever. But marriage is lawful. Marriage between a witch and a wizard is magically binding. There are spells that a husband may place on a wife to physically bind her to him. To make sure that she is literally trapped. The spells are not often put into use, as they are outdated even for the wizarding world—but they are there. And I have no doubt that Malfoy will use them. And that can only mean that this is forever. And I am not sure if I can sustain it, because I see no out. I see no moment in the future where I shall be happy. I see no reason why I should fight when there is nothing to fight for, no light at the end of the tunnel, only lingering darkness.

Our marriage took place the very same day that I was informed of it. Informed, not asked. Told that I was getting married, I had no choice in it. I was numb throughout the entire service, dying to scream, dying to run, unable to do either

I wore black as I found it to be fitting—black to my own wedding…how humorous, in a dry sort of manner. I don't even know what he wore; I couldn't even bring myself to look at him.

The traditional ceremony was done. Voldemort came. There's the kiss of death to any marriage if I ever saw one, the Dark Lord attending the ceremony. I heard the closing words and felt Draco's hand on the small of my back, forcing me to him. He sealed my fate with a harsh, punishing kiss on the mouth. He bit the corner of my bottom lip, causing it to bleed. Blood trickled down my chin; he wiped it off with his thumb.

We took a portkey to his house where he intended to imprison me; and standing here now I feel death looming over me already.

His house is beautiful, in a cold sort of way. The kind of beauty that can be appreciated by those who only feel happy when it rains. Darkness and despair pouring from the sky is a fitting description of my new residence.

The entire inside of the mansion screams out wealth. Decorating obviously has no limitations on money for the Malfoys…Not that this necessarily shocks me. Not a lot of things have limitations on money for them, which shows what kind of people they are. Material possessions rank in importance above all other things.

My mother always used to tell me that anyone being loved can never be truly poor. Looking around my dreamlike expensive surroundings I realize that I'm poorer than anyone alive.

A/N- Sorry about the updating delay, I got really busy and lazy for a few weeks…which is a horrid combination. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, as my way of showing thanks to all of you everyone survived this chapter, lol.

Body count: still 1