Chapter four

Anna

My hands trembled and my heart raced—a feeling mixed with anger surging from within me as my eyes transfixed between him and the lady in black. 

Who happened to be the lady I met in his office the day I signed the contract. 

Who was she? No, that wasn’t important now. 

“What are you doing in here?!” his stern eyes looked from my face to the file in my hand. 

“You shouldn't be holding that!” he rushed to me, yanking the file from my hands. 

No, I should be asking what she was doing here! I should be saying he shouldn’t be holding her hand! 

He looked down at the papers, resting his hand on his waist with frustrated look on his face. 

He sighed before looking up at the lady. 

“Isabelle. Could you leave, please? I will give you a call,” he said, his voice guttural. 

“But—” she started but Adrian raised his hand, cutting her off. 

“Just leave, Bell. I’ll give you a call soon!” he half-yelled. 

I looked over at ‘Isabelle’ and she shot me a death glare. If looks could kill, I’d be six foot by now but she was the least of my concern right now even though I could feel the hurt surge through me like a tidal wave. 

She rolled her eyes at me before turning around and leaving the room. Adrian walked over to the door and shut it before walking back to me. 

“What are you doing in here? What happened to no intruding?” he gritted his teeth, stiffling the anger in his voice but he was doing a bad job. 

I looked up, fighting the tears and a rush of feelings filled me. 

He lied to me! He deceived me! 

“Why did you do that?” I asked in a very low tone, almost sounding like a whisper which was against how I truly felt inside. 

I was boiling with rage but my voice sounded so peaceful. 

He let out a deep breath before he spoke. 

“Do you have an idea what a contract means? It means it can be altered, it can be modified and it can be revoked!” 

“Without the consent or knowledge of the party to the contract?” 

“But the basis of the contract still stands. You are my wife and this is only lasting for a year,” 

I shook my head in disbelief. 

“You are speaking to me like I am uneducated!” 

“You are not,” it sounded like a question than a statement. 

“My signature is on that, when I didn't even sign that!” my voice betrayed me. The tears were finally here. Why was he lying to me?! 

“Does it matter?!”

“It does matter! I didn't sign that. I would never sign that. I would never consent to have my former life buried at your whim. I would never agree to being bound and controlled by you without…” 

I gasped. 

He suddenly took three steps closer to him and if he moved an inch closer, my face would be pressing against his chest. 

He towered above me, his shielding build blocking the lights from shining on my face. 

I hiccuped. Tension building in the atmosphere and the air stilling, getting hot and intimidating. 

He looked down at me but I couldn’t look up at his face. 

I hiccupped again. 

He brushed his thumb across my chin, earning another hicup from me. He then raised my face to his. 

This was the first time we were this close with no barrier like the veil between us. I could clearly see the colour of his eyes, drawing me close to the iciness of his blue eyes. 

I hicupped again. 

He brushed his thumb across my lips, draining all of my senses till I could have no thoughts in my head. 

I couldn’t look away from him. It felt like I was hypnotized and I was susceptible to his control. 

I could feel the sweat that has formed on my forehead roll down my temple out of the immerse tension I was sinking in. 

I wanted to tell him to move back so I could breathe. I wanted to tell him I needed space. I wanted to ask him about Isabelle. I wanted to tell him how wrong the contract was but I said nothing. I could not when this intimidating, dangerous figure stood before me. 

When he is Adrian Sinclair. 

He lowered his eyes, so slowly like he was calculating his movement. Then, he placed a soft kiss on my lips. It was so gentle, so soft like silk and much more considerate than the kiss at the altar. 

My heartbeat raced faster than usual but my hiccups had stopped. 

“What are you doing to me?” I managed to ask against his lips as I slowly shut my eyes. 

“You are being hypnotized,” he said and as I was about to oppose and push him off me, he immediately wrapped his arms around me without breaking off from the kiss. 

“Don’t move. You’d break the hypnosis,” 

Just like it was true, I listened to him and let myself drain with him, melting in his arms as they pressed against my back like I was the only one that mattered. 

He laced his tongue with my lips, gently parting them to give him way and I voluntarily yielded to his action. 

I wanted him. 

There were a lot of factors against this but what were the odds? 

This was meant to be. This was our world and we’d freely exist in it. 

I moaned agasint his lips, tilting my head to the side and draped my tongue over his mouth. 

But it suddenly felt strange. 

The squelching sound of our lips, the connection of our bodies, the rhythms of our heartbeats all felt strange. The way his arms wrapped around me and mine around him didn't feel real. None of this felt real. 

This wasn’t the right reaction to what had just happened. To the lies I was told and the truth I had just found out. To my ‘husband’ being out with another woman on our wedding day—it didn't feel real. 

I jerked my eyes open but it felt like I was out of a trance. I was alone in the room. I looked around me and saw the papers scattered on the ground. 

I shook my head, moving backward in disbelief, in utmost shock when I stepped on a broken glass with blood gushing out profusely.