3.

"Are you freaking following me now?" I questioned in disbelief as I stared at him, receiving zero response.

Great.

Go fuck yourself.

I turned around to walk away over the manicured grass and search for a quiet place -as far as possible away from him- when the sounds of footsteps reached my ears, realizing that he was truly following me.

"What the fuck are you doing? Stay back!" I warned as soon as I abruptly stopped and turned around to face him again.

"Or what, Carina?" He smirked, boldly taking a step closer towards me.

"Stop calling me like that," I growled under my breath, throwing him a murderous look.

"Why? What are you hiding, Carina?" He tilted his head to the side after another step, seemingly intent on teasing me.

"Listen, I don't know who you are, where the hell you suddenly came from or what you want from me but I'm warning you; leave me alone or you will regret it,"

"Really?"

In less than a moment he was standing right in front of me, my eyelids fluttering with utter surprise as my brain obviously failed to comprehend what just happened.

When did he move so fast?

"What could be so special about you?" He took a rather rough hold of my wrist, bringing it closer to his nose and taking a rather hearthy sniff as I just stood there, entirely baffled.

What the fuck was going on?

I dumbly stared back into his forest eyes as they held my own for a moment.

"Nothing,"

"You are nothing,"

I roughly snatched my hand from his as stared up at him in complete bewilderment and anger.

Why would he say such thing? He did not even know me!

"DeLuca princess. The Encantum heiress," He spat out into a mocking tone, making me wonder if maybe he was on drugs or something.

"As if,"

"You are no Encantum heiress. You are just a pathetic excuse of a human," He growled out with such hate and vengeance, his carefully sculptured features contorting with a nasty look as he dared touch me again. And driven by pure instinct, my hand immediately balled into a fist and fiercely collided with the side of his face, unfortunately only having little to no effect as he barely moved an inch.

And as if enveloped by a dark and ominous shadow, his whole demeanor turned so downright horrifying, my lips breaking out a strangled noise as his fingers wrapped so painfully tight around my throat, even managing to raise me up from from the ground.

My eyes widened, clawing up at his hand whilst futilely struggling to set myself free from his strong hold.

Was he really trying to kill me?

I could not believe what was going on. My brain was literally failing to register what was currently happening to me.

Why? What was going on? Where did he come from and why was he doing this?

I squirmed and even tried to hit him, my blood freezing with fear as soon as I noticed how his green eyes switched to a glowing golden for the fraction of a second, making me remember all about that recurring nightmare.

"What. are you?" I croaked out whilst desperately struggling to breathe.

"From now on, I will be your worst nightmare,"

*

I sat up straight with an air-deprived gasp, eyes wide and my heart pounding so fast within my chest as I desperately looked at my surroundings, mildly relieved to notice that I was actually in my own room, safely tucked under the covers of my own bed.

What the hell? Did I just dream all that?

I wondered as I slowly got up from my bed and walked towards my make-up table, my gaze darting to my neck area as I thoroughly examined myself in the mirror for any signs of bruising or anything at all that could possibly say otherwise.

Huh...

I carefully stared at my own reflection for a little while, noticing that there were actually no signs at all of whatever was that, my mildly-tanned skin still free of any bruising.

However, for some reason I was still wearing that same outfit I wore for school.

What the...

"Finally!" Andrea's voice abruptly startled me back to reality as she entered my room, placing a glass of water and an aspirin on my make-up table.

"What happened?" I asked as I shifted my gaze from the glass and pill to her.

"I was about to ask you the same thing," She crossed her arms over her chest.

"What?"

"Did you freaking day-drink again? I found you in the outside cafeteria laying on a bench like some disgusting hobo! And boy you were so out of it! I had to carry your unconscious ass all the way to the car with Kayla and Jess!" She scolded me, her words however making absolutely no sense.

"What?"

I don't remember drinking anything at all.

"Was there anyone else with me?" I quickly asked as those scary golden eyes flashed in my mind for a second.

"What? No, just your lonely drunk-ass self," She answered with a frown, making me feel even more confused.

What the hell actually happened? Have I hallucinated all that? But how? How could it be possible?

"I-I don't even remember drinking anything at all," I absently muttered as my gaze remained unfocused, still trying to make some sense out of whatever actually happened.

"Well duh, that's how it works actually. Or have you forgotten that too?" She retorted, earning herself a narrowed look from me.

"Don't be a smartass,"

"I know something happened to me. I just can't remember exactly what," I started pacing the room as she watched me.

"And I'm willing to bet that new guy weirdo has something to do with it,"

"Who?"

I abruptly halted mid-step, my eyes quickly widening in utter disbelief as I stared at my sister.

She immediately let out a laugh,

"I was just messing with you,"

I threw her a nasty look,

"Dude I'm being serious in here!"

"Geez, relax, I know! You're talking about that hottie, Nathan Darkhart," She blew out a breath and went to sprawl herself over my bed, throwing herself over her stomach before propping her hands under her chin to look at me.

"Why would he have something to do with you passing out on that bench?" She curiously asked.

"He tried to tease me in class. I told you he even knew my full name for crying out loud! I got kicked out of the classroom because of him!" I tiredly plopped my butt over the small chair sitting in front of my make-up table, planting my face between my hands as I rested my elbows against my knees.

"Yeah Jess told me all about that," She commented with a frown.

At least I haven't hallucinated about that too.

"Kayla told me that he used to be kind of a bully when he was younger and that people are still afraid of him for some reason, and that he's the son of one of the richest assholes in this town, a Lucian or Lucien... whatever," She vaguely said with a scrunched-up face.

"Do you think we should tell mom about this?" She pensively asked after a moment, quickly earning herself a negative answer from me.

"Absolutely not. You know how she feels about this stupid name-hiding thing. Before you know it, she'll start with her usual cursing of dad's name and angry-drinking again," I muttered, receiving a nod from her after an annoyed eye-roll.

To be completely honest now, our mom wasn't the most caring or loving person in the world. Ever since our dad left us when I was just five and Dre four, she fastly succumbed into a vicious circle where she either spent her days drinking, taking all kinds of pills or crazy shopping. And that when she wasn't actually taking another one of her countless vacation trips with her stupid and equally rich bimbo friends, leaving us in the care of various qualified strangers.

I could not help but hate them both for that. Him because he left us for absolutely no reason -he simply disappeared one day from our home and lives- and her because she just gave up on us so easily and basically let us fend for ourselves.

"I'll handle it on my own. I don't care how tall or big he is, I'm not afraid of that asshole," I told her with bravery and determination.

I've dealt with the likes of him before.

"I know," Dre smirked knowingly.

"Speaking about, did mom see you bringing me home like that?" I questioned as soon as I remembered.

"Nope, she wasn't home when we got here," She replied.

Not that she would've cared much if she saw me like that anyway.

"Good," I wasn't in the mood for another stupid argue with her though. It was already enough that we were constantly fighting for the stupidest reasons.

I seriously didn't need another on the list.