Chapter 7

A L E J A N D R O

I craved her touch for years, waiting for the right moment to take her for myself. She was the one person who had naively befriended me all those years ago, her first mistake. She refused to fall under the first impression everyone else had given me and wanted to understand the real me. The innocence and smile that she wore, which I treasured, has been violently ripped away from her. She looks completely lost without it.

I'm seeing her after so long—too long, that seeing her even in such simple silk nightwear has left me in a trance. Even though she's trying her best to push me away, I'm much stronger. I can overpower her as easily as I can press a trigger. My heart aches to see her in so much pain but it no longer matters because I've changed, I'm no longer who I used to be.

I'm no longer the man who was weakened by such complex emotions. I'm no longer the man who cares for the comfort of others. I'm no longer the man who will hold back from something that's mine.

"Look at me," I command her.

I couldn't help but drink in her appearance. She looks so beautiful against the illumination of the city lights against her skin. She smells of sweet lavender, making me want to stay here, holding her. She's in pajamas and a towel, her eyes are red and puffy from crying, and she looks so sad yet so breathtaking.

Of course, I love her smile, the way it lights up her whole face, making her glow but no one ever compares to her whether she looks sad or happy. Throughout the years away from her, I've been offered many women and men to take in as whores and as spouses but the only woman on my mind was my Zara. No one can compare to her beauty, her big blue eyes so full of light and hope, and her bright smile that can light up a whole city. No one has ever been able to reach my standard. Seeing her again, she's captured me all over again.

"Please let go of me," she whispers.

An unexplained rage burns through my very core. I can feel her shaking under me as I bend down to rest my lips against her ear.

"Never," I state. "Never again will I let you go," and I mean every word that I just said.

"You've really lost it... you're insane..." she whispers against my chest. She stopped trying to push me away because she wasn't able to make me move an inch. I pulled her even closer as she rests her hands on my torso. My previous anger has completely vanished as I chuckle darkly, "You think so? I would never guess." I rest my chin against the crook of her neck, which is quickly becoming my favorite part.

She's melting in my grasp, I can tell from the way her legs are giving away. The trembling of her body sends pleasure through me. I prefer her this way, a fragile, broken bird, just for me. I hated how she treated everyone back in school. She looked at everyone with such kindness and affection and I couldn't stand to watch her act this kindly to complete strangers. Insecurity filled our relationship because I was always afraid of losing her. I'm unworthy of her, there's no doubt about that but she's the greatest thing that had ever happened to me.

But I've changed our dynamic because now it's different, she's wholly mine. She's entirely in my possession, where she has nowhere to run except into my arms, she has nowhere to go except to be held by me.

"I thought about you frequently while we were apart," I whisper. I lean down to nibble at her ear to tease her,

"Did you miss me, Zara?"

• • •

Z A R A

Of course, I missed him, I missed him immensely. He was staying in my mind rent-free, for God's sake! Taking up too much valuable space that I could've used for something else. He's asking me if I missed him... but it's not out of affection, it's out of the need to see how much control he has over me.

He isn't holding me because he wants to provide me with comfort and warmth. The way his hands are gliding down my sides is not to make me feel butterflies. His sole purpose—his sole motivation is to have me as his woman in a lustful hunger, the way a man wants a woman.

"Please stop," my voice comes out weaker than I'd like it to. "Stop what?" He knows exactly what. He knows exactly how I feel, he's just trying to make me feel pathetic.

"Stop making me feel like a fool! It feels humiliating!" My words came out with a harsh bite. His grip on my waist tightens at first, I can feel his muscles tensing. He brings his hands upon the sides of my head, slamming his palms against the wall, trapping me.

I flinch at his aggressive action, I ruined his bliss. The glare in his eyes was enough to make me freeze and not utter another word. "Zara," my name no longer sounds soft on his tongue, it's dripping with venomous poison. What makes this worst is that it's just us two, no one else in this large apartment. I could scream and yell all I want but no one would come to help me, regardless of my situation. It doesn't help that we're all the way up in a penthouse, God knows how many floors above the ground.

"Disobeying me comes with consequences. Since you're adjusting, I will do you the privilege of letting it go this time," he says through greeted teeth. I can tell he doesn't take orders from anyone; one inch out of line and he'll put you six feet under in no time.

"You cannot give me orders, understood?" His voice demands submission. "You will respect me as it would be a wiser decision. My punishments are no less than unsparing," there isn't a single hint of remorse in his tone.

The fire of rage dancing in his steel, grey eyes have me nothing less than mortified. A swift death would bring me more peace than the piercing gaze of his eyes on me.

"I would appreciate it if you didn't lie to yourself, Zara," a devilish smile appears on his face. "You still love me, don't you?" My eyes widen and I whip my head away from him, "No, I don't."

He chuckles darkly, "You've never been a good liar. You couldn't even lie about the smallest things back in school. For example," his expression turns into one where he looks as if he's thinking back, "the one time I asked you about your biology homework, you were a nervous wreck trying to lie to me." He remembers—He remembers the small things. This makes my heart clench.

"Besides, I think this is proof enough about how you feel about me," he glides his hand around my neck, grabbing the necklace with the ring on it. Oh, God no... the makeshift ring necklace had become a part of me that it's a habit to always have it on. I've used it as an object that used to make me calm whenever I looked at it. Even when Alejandro pulled it off of me earlier, I instinctively put it back on, without a second thought.

"It still surprises me that you have it with you after all these years," he smiles. "It brings me immense pleasure that you didn't only keep it, you've kept it with you all this time."

"What do you plan to do with me?" I ask abruptly.

"Oh, love, I have many things planned for you—for us," he pulls the necklace off of my neck, making me shrink back in pain. He pulls my left hand towards him after taking the ring off of the necklace. He slides the ring onto my ring finger, then clasps his hand with mine.

"It fits like a glove-like it's meant for you," he gazes at the ring with approval. "Just as you're meant to be mine and mine only." My feels pale at his words as realization dawned upon me. He wants to make me his forever—as in becoming his wife.

_ _ _ _

Alejandro will only get worst from here. Good luck readers! 😳