A/N: Hey, WWE fans! Well, I honestly didn't intend on posting this until I'd finished a couple of my other stories, but I just couldn't wait any longer. So, with that being said, I really hope you all like this story, and if you guys have any suggestions or questions please feel free to let me know. I also want to give a shout-out to my good FanFiction friend LittleGee for giving me some amazing ideas for this fic. You're awesome, girl! Also, I highly recommend that you guys want to check out her WWE fic, Speared Through The Heart, as well. Enjoy!
Chapter One- Welcome To My Life
"I settle down a twisted up frown
Disguised as a smile, well, you would have never known
I had it all, but not what I wanted
'Cause hope for me was a place uncharted and overgrown
You'd make your way in
I'd resist you just like this
You can't tell me to feel
The truth never set me free
So I did it myself
You can't be too careful anymore
When all that is waiting for you
Won't come any closer
You've got to reach out a little more
More, more, more, more
Open your eyes like I open mine
It's only the real world, life you will never know
Shifting your weight to throw off the pain
Well, you can ignore it, but only for so long
You look like I did
You resist me just like this
You can't tell me to heal
And it hurts remembering
How it felt to shut down." Careful by Paramore
~Now~
~Payback, May 17th 2015~
My hands gripped the edges of the black granite countertop as I stared at myself in the mirror. To say that I barely recognized myself would be an understatement. I'd always been told that my doe eyes resembled innocence and kindness, but tonight, they resembled the complete opposite. If someone were to look me in the eye right now, all they'd see was malice and hatred… all because of the one man that'd driven me to this.
I'd lost all my sanity, and the only thing I wanted right now was to make said man suffer for putting me through hell for almost a year. Some people thought I was insane for challenging Seth Rollins to a Falls Count Anywhere match, and others thought it was justified. Regardless of what they thought, I still intended on getting retribution. However, I also knew that Seth wasn't gonna hold back on me either. He wanted to destroy me, and the feeling was mutual.
My gaze shifted over to the butterfly emblazoned belt that sat on the counter; my title. It was one of the few things that kept me going these past few months. It was a symbol of me taking my life back and fighting back.
With a smirk, I draped it over my shoulder and exited the locker room, ready to raise hell. After walking down the corridor for about three minutes, I ran into Roman and Dean. Although they'd lost the Fatal Four Way title match against Seth, I could tell that they were more than ecstatic to see me hand him his ass.
"Hey, baby girl," Roman greeted, pulling me into a tight hug. "How are you feeling right now?"
"I feel ready," I replied, wrapping my arms around his neck for a couple seconds before pulling away. "And I swear to both of you that I'm gonna make this right."
"Oh, we're counting on it," Dean drawled, giving me an encouraging pat on the back. "Go out there and make that corporate fuck bleed, Valentina. Show him why he fucked with the wrong family. Show him why he made the biggest mistake of his career by fucking with the Killer Queen. Give him everything you've got and don't hold back. Do what Roman and I couldn't."
"You know I will, Deano," I said, my voice full of determination as I slammed my right fight against my left palm. "I'm just glad Kane allowed you two to be at ringside in case things get out of hand. After I told him that I wanted J&J banned from ringside, I was worried that he was gonna ban you guys too."
Roman snorted. "Well, Seth's been pissing him off these past few weeks, so it only makes sense that he'd allow us at ringside and not the Hobbits."
"Valentina, go to your mark!" a stagehand said, gesturing to me. "You're on in ten! Let's go!"
"It's all up to you now, Monroe," Roman said, giving my shoulder a comforting squeeze. "Kick his ass."
"I intend to," I murmured, before turning on my heel and making my way to the gorilla position. A mixed wave of emotions coursed through my body as I power walked down the hallway until I was standing right behind the curtain. This was it. No turning back now. Everything that had happened for well over a year had led up to this moment. This was me putting the final nail in the coffin of this ongoing war between Seth and I. One of us was gonna be victorious tonight, and I was gonna make damn sure that it was me.
"This is a Falls Count Anywhere Match!" Eden announced. "Introducing first, the challenger: from Brooklyn, New York, she is the Divas Champion; VALENTINA MONROE!"
Hey you know you're lockin' lips with a libertine?
Hey did you know you're knockin' hips with a killer queen?
Another victim of my method of seduction
I made you look but you never saw me comin'
Adrenaline pumped through my veins as I sauntered down the ramp and climbed into the ring. I handed the ref my title and sifted into a fighting stance. I took a brief moment to glance over at Roman and Dean. I couldn't help but smirk once I saw that they were sitting in the front row by the barricade.
"Well, I think it's safe to say that this is about to be the most brutal match of the night," Michael Cole commented. "I mean, when's the last time you saw a man and a woman duke it out in the ring?!"
"It's been a while, that's for sure," Jerry 'The King' Lawler retorted. "Valentina and Seth have a lot of history together, and she's sure got a lot of rage inside of her, and she should!"
"I've said it once and I'll say it again; this is completely unfair!" JBL scoffed. "Seth's already retained his Championship and now he's gotta fight his psychotic ex-girlfriend! Valentina's got some nerve letting it come to this! She could've supported him like a good girlfriend and joined him when he asked her to, but no, she chose to go to war with him! I can't believe Kane would even condone this!"
"Seth's got no one to blame for this but himself," Jerry replied. "Not only has he tormented her, but at one point he even tried to end her career! You can't blame her for wanting to get some payback." Amen to that.
It was then that I heard Seth's music blared throughout the arena. He strolled down the ramp with a devilish grin on his face. Yeah, yeah, you won't be grinning once you see what I've got in store for you, you corporate skunk.
"And her opponent, from Davenport, Iowa, weighing in at two-hundred and seventeen pounds, he is the WWE World Heavyweight Champion; SETH ROLLINS!"
He slid into the ring and mockingly blew me a kiss. Then he gave the ref his belt and inched closer to me, a mischievous glint in his eyes. He really thought this was going to be a cakewalk. Then again, it wouldn't be the first time he'd been blinded by his arrogance. Unfortunately for him, that was about to become a huge factor in his downfall.
On second thought, I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. It'd probably be better if I told you everything that'd led up to this, and how things got so out of control…
My eyes fluttered open as the alarm clock on my phone sounded throughout my apartment. Yawning, I sat up and slid my fingers across the screen, silencing it.
It was six in the morning, which meant I had two hours before I had to get in my car and drive down to Florida for NXT. I'd signed a developmental contract with WWE back in September 2010, and they assigned me to FCW, which was now known as NXT. I'd made my debut about a month later as Valentina Monroe. In my indy days, however, I just went by Valentina. I'd made the decision to add my last name because it sounded more impactful.
I couldn't help but grin as I walked into my living room and saw the view of the Brooklyn Bridge outside my window. Although I lived about ten to fifteen minutes away from it, my apartment was on the top floor, which ensured an impressive view.
I'd been residing in Brooklyn for thirteen years now, having moved back here with my father three months before my tenth birthday. Originally, I was from Brooklyn, but when I turned six my parents decided to move to Las Vegas due to the fact that the company my mother worked for had relocated there. It didn't matter to me because at heart, I was a hardcore Brooklyn girl. That was pretty much confirmed when I'd made the decision to stay in Brooklyn after I graduated high school.
My love for professional wrestling dated all the way back to my elementary school days. Wrestlers like the Rock, Edge, Lita, Chyna, Victoria, Trish Stratus, Shawn Michaels, and the Undertaker inspired me to go after my dream of becoming a pro-wrestler.
Wrestling was also one of the few things that kept me motivated and strong after my mother left me when I was nine, for reasons I'll never know. She was my best friend and I'd loved her to death, but she was also selfish and not exactly a faithful wife. After my father had found out about her numerous affairs, well… he snapped.
Coming home from school to see my mother storming out of the house with her suitcases was the most devastating day of my life. Despite me begging her not to go, she simply replied that she needed to do what was best for her and that when I grew up I'd understand why. And to this day, I still question why I wasn't good enough for her. No amount of counseling my father had scheduled me to go to could fix the hole my mother had left in my heart.
On my fifteenth birthday, my father surprised me by taking me to a wrestling school in the area and signing me up. From there, my wrestling career took off. After three months of training, I was ready to start wrestling at all the indy shows that I could. The most notable company that I'd been signed to was Ring of Honor, or ROH for short, in 2008. After busting my ass there for two years, I was rewarded with something that was gonna change my life forever: a three-year contract for WWE.
From that day forward, I only became more motivated to make history in this industry. Not only that, but I knew deep in my heart that I was gonna be Divas Champion one day. However, I also knew that it wasn't gonna be handed to me on a silver platter. I had to work my ass off and prove why I deserved it.
I whistled the Kill Bill theme as I lazily walked into the parking garage, trailing my suitcase behind me. I couldn't help but smirk once I'd finally located my black Camaro. Tossing my suitcase in the trunk, I hopped into the front seat and shoved my keys into the ignition.
Once I'd finally reached my destination, I crashed at a hotel for the night and woke up the next morning rested and pumped. Tonight, I was scheduled to compete against Alicia Fox and I had no doubt in my mind that I was gonna be victorious. I'd been on a bit of a…. losing streak for the past couple months, but tonight, I was gonna do whatever it took to get back on track.
Frustrated screams escaped my lips as Alicia trapped me in a body scissors hold and ruthlessly pulled my hair, screaming obscenities at me as she did so. The ref kept asking me if I wanted to tap out, to which my response was, "HELL NO!" and I countered by striking her in the face with my elbow four times, enabling her to loosen her grip on my waist and clutch her face.
Flipping my hair out of my face, I seized her by the hair and locked her into an inverted facelock and executed an inverted swinging facebuster.
"Ouch!" I heard Tom Phillips, one of the commentators, say. "A devastating move by Valentina!"
"Yes, but will it be enough to put away Alicia?" Brad Maddox chipped in. "Valentina's certainly become more angry and frustrated after so many devastating losses, but who knows, maybe tonight she'll finally get some redemption."
I slowly stood up and backed away from her to set up for my main finisher; a bicycle kick that I referred to as Sin City.
Alicia screamed as her body slammed into the canvas and she took a moment to roll over onto her side. Dropping to my knees, I wasted no time hooking her leg and going for the pin.
"1!"
"2!"
Alicia suddenly kicked out, and I had the instant urge to tear my hair out as frustration took over me.
Dragging myself up, I backed up and bounced off the ropes to hit her with a headcissor takedown. Although she was still dazed, she took advantage of this by grabbing me and retaliating with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. She wasn't finished there though.
She pulled me up by the hair, and wrapped her leg around the back of my neck. An agonized scream left my lips as she hit me with a Foxy Buster. Laughing, she crawled over, took hold of my leg and held it up.
"1!"
"2!"
"3!"
The ref pulled her in a standing position and raised her arm as Byron Saxton announced, "Here is your winner: Alicia Fox!"
Pissed and defeated didn't even begin to cover how I felt as I heatedly stormed backstage. I was fucking livid. It seemed that no matter how hard I tried, I was always gonna end up getting the short end of the stick. I'd been wrestling for eight years now. I knew that I was talented and I knew that I had what it took to be on the main roster, but at the rate I was going, it'd be a millennium before I got my big break.
Yanking my gloves off, I seized hold of a steel chair lying up against a table and chucked it at the wall. At this point, my outburst was justified. It was then that I spotted two beer bottles sitting on the table. My hand wrapped around the bottleneck of one of them, and with a grunt, I furiously flung it against another wall. Then I did the same thing with the other bottle.
I spotted an office chair nearby and irritably sat down and buried my face in my hands, choking down a sob as tears pooled down my cheeks.
A hand suddenly came down on my shoulder and a familiar rich, raspy voice murmured, "You know, a beautiful woman such as yourself shouldn't be crying over something like this. It's an injustice, sweetheart."
A/N: And there you have it! I really hope you guys like this chapter! Oh, and if you're interested in watching them, links to Valentina's titantron and the trailer for this fic are both on my profile. I also have a Polyvore collection for this fic that I'll be updating as the fic goes on. However, since FanFiction has decided to delete the majority of links (including Polyvore) I've posted, I'll just give you the name of my polyvore profile and you can Goggle it. Once you pull up my profile, the collection is right under the overview tab. The name of my polyvore profile is starfire-tamaran.