He's An Imposter!

This couldn’t be happening. Oh no, this definitely couldn’t be happening. 

Just this morning, I was wishing for the chance to see the stranger again so I could give him a piece of my mind, but now I wish for nothing more than for him to disappear and for this not to be my reality. 

“What are you doing here?” I asked, unable to stop myself. 

He let go of my hand and straightened to his full height, so he was towering over me, and I fought the urge not to cower. 

“I’m sure your father must have briefed you,” he said, his voice calm and cool, just like I remembered. And I also remembered he didn’t sound so cool when he was inside me. As soon as that thought entered my head, my cheeks burned so hot that I feared my face was going to melt off. He noticed, and somehow he knew what I was thinking, because his jaw clenched and his eyes grew dark. 

“I would like some privacy with my wife to be,” he said without taking his eyes off me, and the room cleared without a single word, including my father. That shocked me. 

As soon as the room was clear, I took a step closer to him, my teeth bared. 

“You knew,” I hissed, pointing up at him. “At the bar, you knew who I was.”

“I did,” he answered calmly. “And that was why I approached you.”

Looking at him up close, without any alcohol clouding my senses, I could see his features, and it wasn't fair how handsome he was. His midnight black hair was styled to perfection, not a single strand out of place; his nose and lips sat perfectly on his face, a long, straight nose, and well-defined lips, the bottom one fuller than the upper, and his jaw looked sharp enough to cut glass. 

And there were his eyes. Those eyes… They looked like the forest in early summer, radiant and blinding, with a hint of darkness in them. A darkness that was all him. 

“Why?” I asked finally. I shook my head. “No. No, how did you know I would be there?”

“I was already there before you came in. I watched you come in, looking miserable and all grim.”

I took a step back, my jaw clenched. 

“Who are you?”

Something flickers in his eyes. There and gone before I could make any sense of it. 

He took a step closer to me, and I took one back. He kept coming, and I kept stepping back until my back hit the wall. He kept walking until there was barely any space between us. He rested his hand beside my head, leaning in until he was all I could smell, all I could see. 

“Do you remember these words, Isabella Carter?” he asked in a low voice. “‘Keep dreaming if you ever think I’ll agree to be yours. I’d rather jump off a bridge than let you near me.’ Do you remember those words? Do you remember the humiliation you subjected that boy to? The mockery he had to face?”

“W-what are you talking about?” I asked, trying not to shake. The look in his eyes was dark, so dark that it scared me. 

And that darkness grew once those words left my mouth. 

“You don’t remember?” he growled, taking another step and closing the space between our bodies. His body was glued to mine, and I could feel the hard muscles beneath his clothes, the warmth of his body, and he was burning hot. Hotter than normal. Does he have a fever?

“I don’t,” I answered, still looking into his eyes even though I wanted to look away, but I wouldn't look weak in front of this man. 

He scoffed, grabbing both my hands and pinning them above my head. “Of course. Of course, she doesn’t remember. You used to be so perfect then, popular, so of course you don’t remember.” He leaned, digging his nose into my neck and inhaling deeply. I shuddered as I felt his breath on his skin, and I couldn't move, couldn’t push him away. “But that doesn’t matter now. This is your reality now, Isabella.”

He pulled back, looking into my eyes, and I shivered–unpleasantly–when I saw the darkness in his eyes had spread.

“You asked who I was,” he said, then pulled away, releasing my hands. He adjusted his suit, looking normal, like there wasn’t an unsettling darkness in his eyes a moment ago. “Hello, Isabella Carter, Alexander Hayes at your service.”

I stared at him. He stared back. 

A laugh burst out of me before I could stop it, loud and ugly, unladylike. I laughed so hard my eyes watered, and my stomach hurt. 

He just stood and stared at me with a blank look on his face. 

“Alexander Hayes?” I asked between chuckles, wiping my eyes with one hand and holding my stomach with the other. “You mean Alexander Hayes, the CEO of Hayes Energy Corporation? So you're an imposter on top of being a jerk? That’s really something.”

He kept staring at me until I sobered up, his face blank. When my laughter died down, he stared at me for a moment longer before he bowed his head like some gentleman that he wasn’t. 

“We’ll meet again soon, Isabella,” he said softly. “I hope you’ll be well prepared for your new reality, but even still…” He turned to leave, throwing his last words over his shoulder. “No amount of preparation will get you ready for what’s coming.”

He walked away, leaving me staring at his broad back. As soon as he was gone, my father stepped into the room, walking to me with hurried steps. 

“What was that?” he asked in a harsh whisper, even though we were alone. 

“He said he’s Alexander Hayes,” I said, still staring at the door like I could see him walking away. 

“Yes, and?”

My head whipped my father so fast, I heard a crack. “What do you mean? He just claimed to be someone he’s not! He’s an imposter. A fraud!”

My father stared at me like I had grown a second head. “Did you hit your head somewhere, Isabella? He IS Alexander Hayes!”

I stared at my father, my mouth opening and opening, but no proper word came out.

“T-that’s impossible,” I managed, gaping like a fish forced out of water. “That’s not possible. The country-no, the whole world knows the Hayes are not the type of people to mingle with the rest of the world. And marriage?! We’ve never heard of them getting married.”

“I was shocked too when I received the proposal," my father said as he moved to the minibar in the room and picked out a bottle of liquor, pouring a drink for two. “The mysterious, most powerful family and company interested in someone from my house, and someone with a husband, no less. I couldn’t believe it.”

“Then why did you?” I asked as he walked to me with the drinks. 

He held out the glass to me. “Because they made me an offer that made me believe.”