7: Warnings

Carla

Before I could do that, Zade was taking the phone from my hand and answering it, putting it on loud speaker, then he lowered it so it was leveled with my height.

I didn’t know why, but that made me feel flustered.

“Carla?” Dave’s voice echoed from the phone, and he sounded unsure. At the sound of his voice, the way he ruined my entire life and the way he betrayed me more than once, all came over me in sharp waves, replacing the flustered feeling within me with anger at once.

“You bastard, what do you want?” I snapped into the phone, anger making my hands shook by my side.

“So you’re really out of jail?” He echoed, sounding surprised and I bristled, wishing I was speaking to him presently so that I could stab him right in the eye with a shard of glass.

“Well, what do you think? I can just imagine how unhappy you were to hear that news.” I shot at him and he chuckled through the phone.

“I’m just surprised is all. So, who is the person that bailed you? Cause I know you had no money to do that yourself,” he continued and I felt myself get angrier because he was the reason I had no money since he refused to give me anything after I left prison.

When I glanced up at Zade, I felt my cheeks grow hot because I had kind of forgotten that he was listening in on the call. This is beyond humiliating, seeing as my ex husband and I were speaking like this and someone else was listening in, and that person was Zade of all people.

I tried to take the phone from his hand but he refused to loosen his hold and I shot him an irritated glare.

“Carla? You still there?” Dave’s voice pulled me back to the present and I focused my glare on the phone even though he couldn’t see me right now.

“Please don’t call me anymore, Dave. Go fuck your self!” I gritted out this time.

“Just tell me who the fuck bailed you out.” He demanded sharply, anger and frustration clear in his voice, which made me scoff as I rolled my eyes.

“You don’t need to know that, Dave. Goodbye.” I said this time before Zade ended the call.

He was staring down at me, but I was too embarrassed to meet his gaze.

He ended up letting a hum as he handed me my phone and I coughed awkwardly as I pocketed it again.

“So, you’re really no longer in love with your ex? Or was that still an act?” He drawled and I bristled in irritation as I looked up at him.

“Why would I still be in love with him?” I demanded, voice filled with disbelief.

“I told you he roped me. He set me up. Why would I still be in love with someone like that?”

He shrugged as he kept staring down at me, then the side of his lips twitched.

“How would I know anyway? A love sick person still stays with their abuser till it gets to them almost losing their life. And, you’re pretty dumb, plus, for all I know, you might still chose to go with him when he comes for you. Which leaves me with our next rule… you’ll never meet up with your ex, without me knowing. Is that understood?”

Anger whirled around within me and I felt beyond insulted by all what he just said about me being dumb. And I hated to agree with him, but he was right. I was dumb for loving Dave, for trusting him, and for letting my life gets ruined because of him.

I have no intention of meeting up with Dave anyway, so I nodded at the rule he just listed.

“Okay.”

He continued to list rules after rules, and by the time he was done, he had listed about a hundred rules and I was certain I wouldn’t be able to remember most of the rules he had listed.

“That’s more than enough rules at this point.” I cried out but he ignored me and kept on listing rules after rules.

“You must follow every rule I’ve listed, else you’ll have to answer to me.” He said before turning away.

“If I forget a rule, what would you do? Punish me like a kid?” I blurted out before I could stop myself.

As soon as he stiffened and slowly turned around, I silently cursed myself out

He stepped forward and I pressed against the wall as he bent till he was level with my face.

“Yes, I’ll punish you. However, I’ll not punish you like a child. I’ll punish you like you deserve.”

“Like I deserve?” I whispered and he hummed while pulling away.

“Oh, yes. And that’s for you to find out.”

When he turned away to leave this time, I didn’t try to stop him.

I let out a long breath once I was finally alone, and then I slumped against the wall behind me while trying to slow down my racing heartbeat.

~~~

Zade didn’t have a chef.

A freaking tycoon like him.

As I looked through the empty pots while my stomach growled relentlessly, I silently wondered how I’m supposed to survive on moving forward, especially seeing as I couldn’t cook to save my life.

“What are you doing?”

Zade’s voice filled the kitchen in that moment and I instantly stiffened before turning around to stare at him. He was standing in the doorway, claded in a suit and buttoning a jacket over his outfit.

“There’s no food.” I cried out and he rolled his eyes.

“Of course there isn’t. Cook whatever you want to eat.” He pointed out the obvious, making me suppress a whine and the urge to stomp my feet.

“Well, that’s the thing! I don’t know how to cook!” My voice definitely sounded like a whine this time.

“That’s your cross to carry.” He informed me before turning away.

“Wait.” I called out and he stopped without turning around.

“How do you eat… with no chef around? You always order in?”

He leveled me with an unimpressed look from above his shoulder. “If you must know, I can cook.”

“Oh.” I mumbled, unsure of what to say next. As I struggled to come up with something, he spoke again.

“Go get ready now.”

“Huh?” I echoed, staring at him with utter confusion.

“We’re shopping for rings today, remember?” He pointed out and I nodded slowly.

“Oh. I forgot about that.”

“Of course you did.” He scoffed and I felt myself bristle a little.

“We leave in five minutes.”

After that, he walked away before I could say a word and I slumped against the counter, feeling a lot of things at the same time. I was extremely famished, and annoyed, and frustrated as well.

I’ll have liked to order take out right now but I had no money. I couldn’t even cook noodles.

The only option I have left is cereal, and I wasn’t a fan of that.

With a reluctant sigh leaving my lips, I ended up drinking a lot of water before returning to my bedroom to get ready.

Once I was in there, it hit me that I didn’t have anything to wear right now.

Ah, fuck.

How did I forget about that? This morning after i showered, I dressed in the clothes I had on yesterday.

I left my room and went down the hallway, but I couldn’t find Zade’s bedroom. I want to inform him of my current predicament, which is why I’m searching for him.

“Looking for something?”

Zade’s voice echoed from behind me, causing me to whirl around fast to gape at him. He was holding some files and had a bored expression on.

“I- uh, I don’t have any clothes.” I blurted, feeling extremely embarrassed.

Not wanting him to feel like I want him to get me clothes with his own money, I hurriedly added. “I have clothes back at Dave’s house. If I could go get them today—”

I was still speaking when he sharply cut me off, a look of disapproval across his face.

“Absolutely not.” He barked.

“But I—”

“No.” He echoed again before adding. “Since you’re lacking clothes right now, we’ll shop for some today. So, is that all?”

I folded my arms as I spoke, my voice lowered and my gaze averted due to how embarrassed I felt. “I don’t want more of your money. I feel indebted enough.”

“If you’re expecting me to assure you and urge you to stop feeling indebted to me, then you’ve got the wrong guy. You should definitely feel indebted to me, especially seeing as you’ll never be able to repay me.” He drawled and embarrassment washed over me even more.

“D- don’t say that, no one knows tomorrow, and I’d still like to pay you back…”

“Hm. And how do you intend to do that? By stealing before that can be possible? Or wait, you plan to… offer me your body as payment?”