Another day passed.
Yet that was the last time I saw him when he put me in a spiral of perplexity from where I could find no path, no hint even to make even the slightest of sense.
'Everything. Everything that ruined me.'
His last words haunted me the past nights, raking my head for even a sliver of memory to confirm I had indeed done something horrible that dismantled someone's life.
But no.
There was none.
Even if I had a memory efface like I had before, I would at least remember tidbits from here and there. I'd at least remember his face.
That face...
So pulchritudinous, yet so minacious.
Not a face one could forget just with the passage of time.
Though not just his face, it were his eyes, his voice, his whole personality that held this regal, sporadic aura that one could hardly manage to obliterate from even the cavernous depths of their minds.
At least, I couldn't.
But then why...
Could he mean something from my past life? Maybe I was a judge, and he was the criminal I put behind jail for lifetime. Or I was the mob boss who put a hole through his heart. Or even a drunk driver who ran him over.
However, I didn't believe in past lives to begin with. It had to be entirely something else.
I let out a long exhale. What was it? What was going on in here?
Wait... I sat upright in the bed. Could it be that he got the wrong girl?
This could be!
A sliver of hope fluttered my heart.
Running to the door, I banged on it. "Anybody there? I need to talk. Please, let me out."
A minute passed.
Two passed.
I banged and banged. I wasn't gonna give up, and there was no way in hell I was suffering someone else's karma.
I was so focused on pounding the door that I didn't even realize the lock had clicked. Before I knew, the door swung open, sending me flying across the room to the bed with the impact.
The angry face of the man appeared above me.
"Do you have a fucking death wish?" he snarled, his massive figure threateningly hovering over my much smaller one.
"No, no, no. Wait. I have something to tell you." I put up my hands in defense.
His lips pursed in annoyance. "What?"
I gulped, staring at him. "I-I think you made a mistake."
The skin in-between his brows furrowed deeper in a deadly manner.
"I-I-I mean to say you have got the wrong girl," I quickly added. "I don't know you. Therefore, I have never harmed you in anyway."
He watched me, not moving, neither confirming my supposition. Rather a dark amusement took over the destructive silvers of his eyes. Almost as if he found it funny.
"C-Could you please recheck whatever information you got about me, p-please?" I stuttered, the proximity sending chills down my spine.
"Gisella Odette," he spoke.
"Yes!" I jerked to attention.
"Daughter of Vicente Allard and Esra Odette."
I nodded. Then my eyes widened realizing what he did.
I was indeed the right girl.
But...
Straightening up, he proceeded to walk away, but before he could, I got up and ran past him. Stopping right before him, I streched my arms in a mere act of barricade.
He tilted his head to the side in the most atrocious way.
I gulped.
Wrong move. But for all the right reasons.
"Tell me what have I done to you. Remind me. Because I can't seem to remember, and it's eating me alive. Please," I begged, my leg muscles were literally shaking from the fake mettle I was manifesting.
Without warning, his long, lean fingers wrapped around my wrist, and I felt the soul leaving my body.
I was dead.
"Very well," he said and strode outside the room, tugging me along.
The incident from a day ago surfaced in my mind. Oh shit. He was gonna push me off the roof again.
But surprisingly, we descended the stairs instead and headed across the foyer to the front door. Yanking it open, he pulled me out, and I gasped. This was the first time since I had been here that he let me out of the house, and the view was everything to die for.
A valley of town streched ahead in between two sky-punching mountains. Night-lights gleaming like stars in the houses transformed it into the most breathtaking sight to behold.
However, I couldn't behold longer than a few seconds or even register the idea of calling for help as he pushed me into a dark sedan and pulled out of the driveway.
"Where are we going? Where are you taking me?"
He didn't say a thing, just stared ahead at the road through the forest.
The drive wasn't long either, and we were back to the dragging session without any answer. But the place we were heading towards was as marky as coal, deep into the heart of the forest.
To say, my heart was pounding would be an understatement, because it was pounding like never before. Like every beat left a imprint on my ribcage. My conscience screamed at me to get away, to save myself before a bad omen descended upon me.
With this man and his past threats, I could only expect the worst.
Bringing my foot up, I sent the heel digging onto the top of his shoe.
He stopped still, his eyes closing as a muscle in his jaw ticked.
"The fuck," he drawled in the laziest manner.
Oh shit.
"No." I pulled at my hand, causing his to tighten around it. "No, no. I'm not going there. No!" I pulled harder. "Let me-Let me go!"
But even that faltered to move him an inch. It was as though he was a statue, and I was stuck in solid concrete.
Then the hotness of his hold disappeared suddenly, and I flew back on my butt on the ground.
Pain shot through the flesh beneath, and I groaned, closing my eyes. I was sure the spot was going to get bruised if it already wasn't from the accident or the fall.
Realizing he let go, my eyes snapped back open. They widened when he strode towards me, making me push the heel of my feet on the hard ground to move back, until my back hit a tree trunk.
Before I could react, he bent down, one of his hands snaking around the back of my thighs and lifting me up. He threw me over his broad, hard shoulder like I was a sack of feathers passed to him as an insult to his might and proceeded forward into the darkness.
"No, please don't. I'm sorry! Don't hurt me, please!" My cries went futile as did my pounding on his hard back.
Thinking about all the things that could be done to me in this deep, and no one would even hear my screams, sent a tremor down my back. I could feel my eyes stinging.
"I'm sorry, please. I'll behave from no-" my words got cut when my body came in a sudden contact with the ground.
He let me down.
My eyes ran over the surrounding frantically. Trees, trees and only more trees caught my vision. There was no escape. Even if I ran, he'd catch me.
My hands fisted beside me as I looked down.
"Please, don't rape me. I'm a virgin. Please."
His large body bent into a squat before me, his silver eyes glowing in the moonlight peeking through the leaves. He extended his hand, and I whimpered.
"Plea-"
My words got cut when he grabbed my face in-between his thumb and index finger.
My eyes shut tight.
Please, God, save me.
His fingers tightened on my cheeks, turning my face to the side until it couldn't move anymore.
"Look," he hissed into my ear. "Take a good look at what had been taken from me."
My brows drew together as I blinked my eyes open. Darkness was all that met me. I squinted in the dark, the dim moonlight being the only light shining over us.
It wasn't until I looked closer that two marble stones, built side by side caught my eyes. There were words scribbled on them. Before them laid two coffin-like structures, made from the same marble.
A gasp left me.
Those were graves.
"They were my parents. I only got to see them for a short time before they were taken from me. Brutally murdered."
There was grief hidden behind the anger in his tone, and that squeezed at my heartstrings. Living without one parent was hard, but living without both knowing they were killed, I couldn't even imagine what he must have went through.
But he was wrong.
I turned to look at him. "I-I didn't kill them. I swear I didn't."
His irises moved, landing on me. "I know."
I frowned. "Wh-What?"
"Your father did."
I blinked. Once. Twice. Thrice. Yet the expression on his face remained the same. Cold, angry, detached. Not a hint of humor crossed his features.
"What are you talking about? You have lost your mind."
I wasn't afraid. No. I was angry. How could he say that about my papa? How dare he?
His stare transformed into a glare, but I didn't care.
"No!" I shot up to my feet, taking a couple steps away from him. "Do you even hear yourself? My papa is the most humble man to live. Killing your parents? He never even lay a finger on a darn bug for God's sake!"
In an arrogant manner, he stood up, like my words didn't effect him a bit.
"He murdered them, cold-bloodedly," he said calmly.
"I don't believe you. You're lyin-"
In a flash, he was right before me, his fingers draping around my throat as he pinned me against a tree.
"Believe it or not, he DID, and that's the fucking truth!" he barked on my face, his irises turning darker. "Now," he breathed, "someone needs to pay the price, and who could do it better than his beloved little daughter?"
The lingering threat behind his voice sent a chill through my heart.
"H-How?" I found myself asking.
"From today on, you, Gisella Odette, will be my fucking slave for the rest of your pathetic life."
Eight years later~ "Elizah?" I stared at the empty room, my brows furrowing. He was supposed to be in his table studying. "Elizah," I called again in a low voice afraid the twins might wake back up.I and Nola spent three hours trying to get them to sleep, and then I dozed off, completely forgetting that I had promised my elder son to help with his homework. Walking down the hall, I checked in the other rooms, even the twins' just in case he decided to visit them like he did sometimes, yet no sign of him. My stomach knotted with unease. Normally, he'd come running to me on my first call, occasionally the second no matter where he was in the house. He was such a sweet kid. But today as I ran around looking for him, I knew something wasn't right. Not working myself up as the doc suggested because of the heart problems I developed over the years as heirloom, I decided to check his hiding spots. There were several throughout the house, the most used one being behind his bookshelves in
One month later~ I sat before the huge mirror like a mannequin princess being coddled by a dozen women. A soft, warm air blew on my hair as someone blow-dried it. Two painted my nails, and another ran several brushes on my face applying make-up. This was the big day. My wedding. Yet as I looked up searching for familiar faces among the people surrounding me I missed the ones I called family. Some more than the others. Some I hated that I ever loved. They took things from me. Significant things. Parts of my heart that I can never get back. But it was a relief knowing the ominous time was over. The evil lurking in the dark waiting to pounce and feed on our happiness was gone forever. And if someone new decided to test their luck, I knew Hades would be right there, protecting his family, and his pack like the feared blood alpha he was. And with him beside me, I too could tackle any storm, swallow any pain and vanquish any enemy that dared to wedge their evil ploys between us. "The d
"No!" I screamed, my chest constricting so painfully I could be sure I was having a heart attack. But it turned out to be fruitful because Gordon's head shot my way, and Hades took that opportunity to slam his forearm on his elbow pit, making a crack echo through the trees. He didn't stop there because the next moment he headbutted the elder sending him flying across. Hades was bloody all over, but he was okay. However, there was no relief as I knelt beside Tera, my head spinning, and a strange pressure building in my belly. Shaking my head, I glanced at the huge broken branch sticking out of her torso. "Tera," I cried out. "Why did you do it?""Don't... get your knickers... in a twist, woman. I'm not... dying for you," she spoke between coughs, her eyes squeezing shut as she clutched the wood and tugged at it. But it didn't budge. She tried again, a gritting scream leaving her lips, but once again, the wood piece refused to come out. It was stuck to something inside. Falling b
The blood in my veins went still as I stared at the man before me. Silver rooted hair and grey eyes. He had the proudest smile plastered on his face as he closed the gap between him and Iris into a loud, sloppy kiss. "Mhm, I missed you, babe," Iris cooed. "I'm here now, my love," he cooed back, and they both turned to me with matching looks of pure mockery. The nerves!Those two? Together? All this time? Shock and disgust combined with each other struck me frozen for a moment. My gut feelings had always been right. Of course it had to be him. Every single of those evidences denoted so. I should've known. I should've fought harder with Hades to prove my reasonings. But then the shock got buried under the weight of the brazen revelation of his dirty game.Every ounce of blood in my veins started to downright scorch. "The fuck you just said?" I snarled. "Manners, girl," uncle Gordon spoke, but then his lips curved into a wicked smirk. "Oh wait, I forgot you didn't have a mother to
Once Garett called off the celebration, the guests started departing with confusion and disappointment washing off the earlier enjoyment from their faces. Some even looked annoyed, but of course they knew better than to complain. I, on the other hand, felt like there was a stress attack swirling deep inside me, but I couldn't freak out now. I had to think about my child. I had to keep it from any kind of harm's way. And when Nola and Iris ran my way, the panic somewhat alleviated from my core. "What happened?" Iris asked. "Are you feeling alright, darling?" Nola followed. "I'm fine," I replied, taking deep breaths to calm my nerves. "I think they caught Alpha Ryan." Nola gasped while Iris sent me a baffled look. "Who's that?" "An alpha who attacked our pack a while back. He even tried to hurt Gisella," Nola explained.Iris' eyes rounded, and she looked around, her gaze alert. "Luna," Wyett and the two other bodyguards stepped closer, "We should go. Alpha asked to take you back
"Why are we here?" I asked, looking around at the fancy shopping mall Hades brought me first thing in the morning. His arms wrapped around my torso and whirled me around. I frowned, staring at the shop before me, but then the name and the long white fluffy gown on display of the shop quenched all my curiosity, and I gasped, my eyes widening. I whipped around too fast, felling a dizziness follow. But I shook it off, my heart pounding in my chest. "Are you going to buy me a wedding dress?" "You're not planning on marrying me in one of your pink sundresses, are you?" I giggled, my insides bubbling with excitement. "No, but a pink bridal gown wouldn't be bad, don't you think?" "Nothing on you looks bad. Drill that into your head, pet." I smiled, feeling a silly swooning moment pass me at the nickname. I missed hearing it from him. It might sound crazy, but I might even prefer this over love, or weird enough, my own name.Hades did as per my wish though. Because the next thing I kne