Chapter 2

The closer he got, the more memories I tried to bury forced their way back into my mind.

Alex stopped in front of me, his eyes fixed on mine.

“She belongs to me,” he said, his voice cold and certain. “And I don’t like anyone else touching her.”

My breath trembled. Not because I believed him. Because those words reminded me of the same thing I had feared for years. That no matter how far I ran…

he would always find me.

The other man stared between us, confused.

“Aren’t you married?” he asked, disbelief clear in his voice.

A cold smirk stretched Alex’s lips before he responded.

“Marriage doesn’t change who I am or what brings me joy.”

My heart pounded after hearing those words.

I could still remember how he had looked at me when I told him I was in love with another man.

That was also the last time we saw each other.

After six years of hiding… he had found me.

“Are you really claiming you're finding joy with this woman while still married?” the man shot back.

“Seriously? It's Alexander Stone we're talking about. He gets away with whatever he wants—”

“Get the hell out!” Alex growled.

I turned toward the door immediately.

Leaving was the only thing my instincts told me to do.

I almost reached it when his hand caught me and pulled me back toward him.

My breath caught as I stumbled closer, my body tensing from the sudden movement.

“Not you,” he said. “Don't think I’ll ever let you go.”

I blinked hard.

My mind had already prepared itself to run, to disappear before he could stop me, but his words left me confused.

I slowly looked up at him, searching his face for an explanation.

After six years of hiding from him, after building a life where I thought I was finally safe, I still found myself standing in his arms unable to move, and that scared me more than anything.

The men grumbled their dissatisfaction before they hurried from the VIP room.

My heart was already racing at the thought of what was to come now that we were finally alone.

I shivered as he breathed in my perfume.

It was the only thing I hadn't changed about myself.

At this moment, I knew why.

A cold rage loaded in his gaze but beneath it was the intoxicating desire he once felt for me.

The moment he unhanded me, I thought I could bolt, but his following words utterly paralyzed me.

“Strip.”

“Alex—”

“Right now.” He urged coldly.

“Alex, please let me go,”

His jaw pulled taut. “If those aren't off in five seconds, I'm ripping them.”

A moment of hesitation was all it took before his hand moved to rip the apron off me.

I shifted my gaze toward him, feeling a mix of guilt and excitement.

My entire body shook as I anticipated his next move.

When he looked at me, his eyes were filled with love but also brimmed with hatred.

“Don’t make me rip everything off. You know I'll do it.”

I felt regretful for everything I had made him go through and was still hiding from him.

He was a good man and he didn't deserve it.

If this was my punishment then I would accept it.

I nodded as my breath shuddered.

I started to unbutton my shirt, not breaking eye contact.

My shirt came off first, then everything else except my panties.

His cold gray eyes dropped. To the middle of my thigh.

The longer he looked at it, the wetter I got.

“I want to see all of you.”

My heart raced as my teeth tugged at my lower lip.

Slowly, I bent and pulled my panties off my legs.

Alex snatched them before I could blink. He brought them closer to his nose and sniffed hard before he dropped them inside the pocket of his long coat. He removed that same coat and wrapped my bareness with a gentleness I was expecting.

I initially believed that was all he intended, but then he firmly placed his hand between my thighs.

He discovered how soaked I was before I could stop him.

“I’m at work—”

Alex cut off my words with a thrust.

“You don't belong here, Nadia,” he whispered close to my mouth and pushed another finger inside me. “This place and those filthy clothes don't suit you.”

Memories from the past surged through me.

I swallowed down the guilt as Alex stared at me with an icy expression, and continued to finger me.

He maintained eye contact as his rhythm became rougher and merciless.

My hands fought against his grasp, yet he didn't yield. His fingers went in and out of me until I couldn't help but moan aloud.

“Alex… Alex.” I chanted his name when I had actually opened my mouth to tell him to stop.

My body wasn't even listening to me.

“You missed this, didn't you?” He snarled as his fingers slipped out of my wetness and then pushed back abruptly. “Or do you wish it were my cock instead? Tell me honestly, and I’ll make your wish come true.”

“Let go of me,” I said through clenched teeth.

He ignored my request and went on driving me to heights of pleasure that I missed greatly but couldn't afford to enjoy.

“Who can stop me?” He smiled wickedly as he added another digit.

I sobbed. “I don't want this. Alex… please stop. We shouldn't be doing this.”

His thumb rubbed my clit in circles and I nearly lost control. I would have if I hadn’t pushed him away in time.

His jaw tightened, a muscle flickering near his cheek.

“You say you don't want this but your body remembers me.”

I couldn't deny it. I was shaking from arousal.

I could still feel the rush of desire that overpowered my senses when he was fingering me.

It was so obvious that I wanted him and I hated it.

Six years should have changed everything between us.

That was what I kept telling myself while I lived a different life, with a different name and a different identity.

I had rebuilt myself from nothing. I convinced myself that the person I used to be was gone and that the past could no longer reach me.

Meeting Alex again proved how wrong I was.

Throughout these six years, I often wondered if he had forgotten me. I wondered if he had moved on while I continued carrying the weight of what happened between us.

Getting fingered by him right after we came across again proved that nothing had changed.

He didn't forget. His love and hatred for me only grew with time..

When I ended things six years ago, he promised I would regret my decision.

I thought those words were spoken out of anger.

Now I wasn’t so sure.

“You can never be Alex’s future partner. You don’t have a place in our world.”

I could still hear his father’s voice clearly.

Those words were the reason I disappeared.

The reason I changed everything about myself.

The reason I started over.