Prologue

Violets eyes were dull as she looked down at the document, and her face was pale, and her right hand was steady as she signed her name.


One- A Disturbing Discovery

Violet blinked up at the peeling ceiling of her bedroom. She had tried several times to fall asleep but to her annoyance she was wide awake and could hear the faint sounds of her husband, Count Olaf, drinking and talking with his group of friends downstairs.

'Why won't they pass out and shut up already?' she thought turning on her side. A lock of long auburn hair fell into her eyes and she absently pushed it back. At the age of twenty-two, Violet had grown into the lovely young woman everyone had thought she'd be. Of course the unwanted attentions of her husband and his slimy associates made her vainly wish to be ugly and unattractive. It was only by some miracle that Olaf had not yet tired of her and thrown her to his friends for their enjoyment. She just didn't know if that was a good thing or bad thing.

'Sunny, Klaus, I hope you're happy where ever you are,' she prayed, sneaking a hand under the mattress and retrieving the small photo she had been able to take after almost bumping into the two a little over five years ago. She gently stroked the frayed picture, it's edges already bending after continuous handling. Seeing the smile on her siblings face, Violet was suddenly transported eight years ago were she had been forced to make the most hardest decision of her life.

~~~~~~Flashback~~~~~~~~~

Violet watched all the commotion around her with dead eyes, knowing she had sealed her fate with Count Olaf. To be forever tied to him as his wife. To have to call him husband.

"If all of you will excuse me, my bride and I need to go home for our wedding night."

A shudder passed through her body at the thought of having Olaf in bed with her, naked and ...and wanting to do..that...

"Let Sunny go, you promised!" Klaus shouted.

More shouts and accusations filled the room but Violet heard none of it, her mind running in circles about how her siblings would be treated now that Olaf had gotten what he had wanted. Would he kill them? Hurt them? Hand them out to his friends as some reward? She shook her head fiercely, as long as she was the oldest Violet would make sure her brother and sister where taken care of, even if it meant never seeing them again.

One of the powdered face ladies took Violet by the shoulders and led her out of the theater, all the while talking of how lucky she should feel for having Count Olaf for a husband. The voice was drowned out by the shock of what she had done and the protective instinct to get her family out of his clutches. She didn't notice them taking the overly large wedding dress off her and wiping her down with fragrant oils. Nor was she aware of the shimmering nightgown that was placed over her head and how her hair was styled and fluffed to softness about her shoulders. It was only when she heard the door close behind her that she snapped out of the fog and blinked rapidly to fnd herself not in her bedroom but a strange one.

The bed was much larger and comfortable looking than the one she had shared with Sunny and Klaus. She saw the small patterns of yellow eyes on the dark green sheets, the pillows stuffed with soft feathers and covered in fine cotton. It must have just been cleaned too because the floor still had it's sheen of wetness as if a mop had been hastily done over the wooden floor. Barely any light filtered through the one window in the room, the black curtains having seen to that, so Violet only saw a shadow of a large dresser and closet.

Violet swiftly turned when the door creaked open, the long sillouhette of Count Olaf standing in the doorway.

"Sorry to have kept you waiting, those idiotic people kept demanding I give you up," Olaf sneered, looking at her outfit with strange eyes.

"What have you done to them?!!" Violet cried, taking a step towards him.

"Who?" he looked as if he was enjoying himself.

"My brother and sister? Where are they, Olaf!"

"Now now is that any way to speak to your husband?"

"It is only by your lies and deception that I am your wife," Violet spat.

"Hm, yes. But if you act like a good little wife you might just benefit from it."

"I'll never do anything you say."

"Even if it meant sacrificing your siblings lives?"

She stepped back in astonishment. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm saying I have no further use for the two younger Baudelaire's, you on the other hand could come in quite handy for the things I have planned in the future." Olaf slowly walked into the room, the door closing silently behind him. He stood in front of Violet and she cringed at the shiny look in his dark eyes. "Think on it. The two brats are free to go where ever they want and all I'm asking is for your cooperation. Of course if at anytime you decide to run and find them I'll just have to kill you and them."

'If I stay and be his slave, which is what he's practically asking, I'll never get to see Sunny or Klaus again. But at least,' she thought, taking one last look at the closed door, 'they will be safe from him and that is all that matters.' Violet looked Olaf straight in the eyes and gave a sharp nod, not trusting her voice.

"Good, shall we consummate our deal?" Olaf gestured towards the bed.

Closing her eyes in resignation, Violet headed for the large bed wishing she were anywhere else but there.

~~~~End Flashback~~~~~

'It rained the next night,' Violet thought, tracing Klaus' face with a pale finger. 'I slipped some sleeping powder in their dinner and left them drugged at Judge Strauss' doorstep before fleeing with Olaf and his gang to Europe.'

A tear slipped from her eyes, landing on the picture. She quickly brushed it away and wiped her face, not wanting to cry in case Olaf decided to come to bed early. 'They're safe and warm, far away from Olaf and me. The things he made me do, the people I deceived. I don't deserve to be called their sister.'

Violet got out of bed, tired of looking at the ceiling and deciding to sneak down stairs for a glass of milk to ease her into sleep. She avoided the steps that creaked on her way down, the noise in the living room becoming louder as she got closer. She sighed when she realized that she would have to pass the closed living room door to get to the kitchen.

"..think they're dead." A roar of laughter echoed out of the room.

Violet stopped as she was at the edge of the door, was this another plan after someone else?

"A very convincing ruse indeed. What are we going to do with them though? It's been eight years, I'm sure you've got them to tell us the rest of the secrets of VFD?"

VFD? Violet knew that name should be important and filed it away for later.

"No, the stubborn fools cling on to hope that I'll kill them and end their misery. Although the thoughts of their precious daughter in my hands and bed has kept them in place," she heard Olaf say.

'When did Olaf kidnap a girl? Unless...' Violet withheld a gasp and placed her ear as close to the door as she dared, not wanting to be discovered.

"For now we will need to leave them be, we have other business to attend to. Are we any closer to finding those Quagmire brats? We need to get to them before they get to us."

"Sorry Olaf, just as we had them cornered the cops arrived."

"This will not do. I want those twins found and their fortunes in our pockets, only then can we take over and all of it will be mine. I'm getting some sleep, tomorrow morning I want the lot of you trying harder to find those Quagmire's."

The sound of scuffling feet close to the door and Violet was hurrying as fast as she could up the stairs and to her room, getting into bed and feigning sleep as steps on the stairs alerted her to Olaf's assent. She didn't even twitch as Olaf settled in the bed and enfolded her in his arms, nestling his head on her breasts thinking her sleep.

'Are my parents alive? If they are has Olaf been keeping them from us all this time? What plan does he have up his sleeve that involves these Quagmire's? Looks like I'll have to wait until he gets drunk again to get more answers.'

To be continued......

How's that for an opening chapter?