25. Fired up!

Author's POV

Emerald couldn't lift her foot to run as she fell numb when he crossed her and placed the plates on the dining table. 

"Come, Emerald... I am hungry!"

He wiped his hands with a napkin and looked at her while wearing his shirt.

He sounded chill, but she could sense that he wasn't. He was playing with her mind. Once she trusts him, that he is not going to hurt her, then he will hurt her, and she is not ready for that. 

She flinched when he grabbed her arm and pulled her into the chair. She froze and kept staring at the plate, too scared to talk.

"What? You didn't like it?"

He mocked. 

"Let's be honest, it's better than your dry sandwich..."

Emerald was still staring at her plate scared. She has never been so anxious in her entire life. 

"EAT!"

She flinched at his deep, threatening voice. The man was teasing for one minute and threatening in another. 

She grabbed her fork with trembling hands and started stuffing her mouth. It was actually better than the dry bread she was eating but her mouth was out of taste after seeing him. 

She couldn't understand how he found her. She was so careful while escaping. 

Egon leaned back in his chair and watched her like an eagle as she started eating. Her trembling hands and shivering body were making him feel satisfied. 

"Whose house is this?"

Emerald gulped down the food. 

"Mine!"

He raised his eyebrows amused. As much as he knows, her choice was always luxurious, so why would she buy a house which is natural and needs so much maintenance? 

"You never told me about this. It's a beautiful house."

She clutched her fork tightly nervously and didn't look at him, he didn't like it 

"Look at me!"

She flinched when he growled. 

It was enough for her, this suffocation was choking her. 

She finally lost it and placed her fork down and got up while struggling to breathe. She took deep breaths and grabbed her hair. 

"I can't do this..."

Egon was sitting calmly in his chair while she was panicking. She rubbed her chest to calm her breathing but it wasn't helping. 

"I can't do this."

She growled and slid down everything which was kept on the table. Egon watched it as it scattered on the floor. 

She slammed her hands on the table in front of him. 

"This cat & mouse game. This anxiety. This fucking fear... I can't do this anymore... You have to end this, Egon."

Her face was red with frustration. 

"You want to kill all my bloodline, fine!... Kill them. I'll tell you how many remain and where you will find them... End this and spare me!"

Egon crossed his legs and watched her as she took out her frustration. 

She went to the kitchen in panic and came out with the notepad, her hands trembled while writing on it hurriedly. 

She slid down the notepad in front of him. 

"Here, kill them all... Finish it for once and kill me too... I am fucking tired of this..."

Egon grabbed the notepad and she watched as he held it in front of her and ignited it with the lighter. 

"If I needed your help to find your people, then I would have made you confess it a long time back."

He dropped the burning notepad in front of her. 

"What's the fun if they don't run away from me and I can't chase them?"

He got up with a smirk. 

"And you, my love... How can I kill the woman I love with my life?"

He cupped her face as she trembled in his presence. 

Gentle hands around her cheek, snaked around her neck and grabbed her hair in a tight fist. 

"You think you deserve easy death?... You didn't give me that, why do you expect that from me?"

Emerald sobbed as she cupped his face. 

"I couldn't kill you because I fucking love you, Egon... And it's hard to hate you no matter what you do to me."

"Because you know you deserve it. Don't worry, I'll make you hate me."

He removed her hands from his cheeks. 

"No!"

She clutched his shoulders and cried on his chest. 

"Egon, please... Stop this! I know you want to punish me but I can't take this anymore... I can't breathe, my chest___"

"Your chest is not able to take the pain, your body is scared of the anxiety and fear. Your heart is on the verge of bursting out in pain... I know how it feels, my love... You have given me these feelings before."

He placed his hand on her back as she cried on his chest. 

"And you will feel this for the rest of your life."

She looked up at him with red swollen eyes. 

"You are the only man I have loved in my whole life, you know it... You can't make my life hell like this. Don't you feel even the slightest guilt while torturing me?"

"Did you feel it?"

He gritted.

"Yes, I did... But killing your motherfucker family was necessary."

She yelled. 

"Queen!"

He growled and she hissed when his hold on her neck tightened. 

She watched him with crazy red eyes as he glared furiously. His hold was life-threatening on her neck. 

"I loved you like a crazy mad woman and I still love you, but I don't regret killing your family even a bit... What I regret is, you found out that I killed them. Do you hear me?... The only guilt which comes is your pain... I can't see you in pain... But your family? They deserve hell."

Egon took a deep breath and pulled her head to his chest.

"Emerald!"

His voice was deep and raw.

"So naive of you to think that I'll snap your neck if you badmouth my family... You think I don't know how you play mind games, sweetheart?..."

She closed her eyes and silently cursed; she was yet to find out the way to provoke him to kill her. She fails every time. 

She pushed him back.

"Then what? What do I do so you can kill me? Because I am not going to live like this for the rest of my life... I refuse! Do you hear me?"

She cried harder. 

"What do I do so you can stop this madness and let me live or die in peace?"

"Nothing, you just exist and I'll do the rest. You will live but like a dead person."

He grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the house. 

"I'll make sure of that."

"You think, killing my family will hurt me. No! It doesn't hurt me... You should know better... I don't even care if you take all my property... Why don't you understand that there is nothing which can hurt me for a long time? I am not like you.."

She begged as he dragged her away from the house. 

"No, My Love.. You are hurt by something and definitely scared of something, which is why you are trying to escape me... I just need to find out what so I can damage you for life like you have damaged me..."

He smirked as she looked at him stunned. 

"Like I have found out that this house is dear to you..."

Her eyes widened. 

"No, Egon!... No, No!"

She begged. 

"Please don't do it... Please, listen!"

She grabbed his hands and he smirked. 

"I'll do anything you say... Anything you want but don't do it... Please, don't!"

Egon pulled out the lighter from his pocket and she shook her head furiously. 

"Egon, please... Don't!..."

She fell on her knees in front of him but he didn't show any mercy. 

He tossed the lighter in the direction of the house, and it fired up. 

Emerald screamed at the top of her lungs when her house turned into ashes. 

"No!"

She tried to run towards the house but he grabbed her by the waist and held her back. 

She cried harder and started hitting his chest. 

"Why?..."

She grabbed his collar and cried. 

He grabbed her arms and jerked her forward. 

"If a doom of cherished house can hurt you this much then imagine what will happen when I find out the thing you are trying to protect from me."

Emerald froze, she stepped back from him in disbelief. 

"You will find it when you manage to catch me alive."

She turned around and ran into the mountain forest behind her burnt house.