Chapter 4

“Mumma, where are we going?” Esme heard her kid asking her, who was on her lap. Both the mother-daughter were sitting on the bus station, waiting for the bus to come, so that they could leave this city as soon as possible.

“We are going to a different place, sweetie,” Esme answered her kid. She herself didn't know what to say to her child. They were running away from that man, her brutal past, her child's father.

They needed to run away from him because that man was everything but a human. He was ruthless. He was a criminal, a murderer, and she could never let herself or her child live under his presence, especially when she was hiding something so dangerous from him.

“But, why mumma? I liked that home. I want to stay there,” the kid's face fell because she wanted to stay in that home which looked like some kind of a princess castle to her.

Esme sighed. Only she knew how deadly it had been for her and her kid to escape from that place, especially with all those guards, but she still managed to run away from that mansion with Elea while being able to take just their necessary belongings and money. She could not take their other things with them as it had been impossible for her to do under so many eyes.

“We will go to a better place, baby,” Esme tried to lighten up her kid's mood. 

“Mumma, I….” The growling sound of the clouds startled the kid. Elea badly flinched and immediately hugged her mumma tightly, which made Esme sigh.

She caged back her child in her embrace. Elea had always been terrified of this kind of weather. Her kid could not endure this at all.

“Baby, calm down. Mumma is here,” Esme uttered to her child, feeling her kid's grip tightening around her as the clouds started bursting out loudly now. 

Esme caressed her child’s back and looked here and there. The rain had already started pouring down. No one could be seen around them. The bus station seemed completely empty. The dread inside her somehow intensified because she knew what kind of a man he was and how powerful his reach might be.

She could not take legal help because she knew she would never be able to defeat him. Instead, this was going to bring more harm to her and her kid, so the only thing she could do was to keep herself and Elea hidden from that menacing man.

For almost half an hour, Esme waited for the bus to come but it didn't come. The weather turned more bad, so she couldn't dare taking her child out in the rain. 

Trailing her eyes down, she looked at Elea, who had fallen asleep against her chest due to all the fear of the thunderstorm and exhaustion. Her gaze caught those tears shimmering in the corner of her child's closed eyes, which told her how scared her child had turned because of this weather.

Tears stung her eyes. What kind of a mother she was? She could not even provide a shed above her child's head. She could do nothing to shield her child from her fear.

She was the worst and it was just because of her, her child always had to suffer so much. 

Esme covered her kid with her scarf as the weather turned chilly. Holding Elea in her embrace, she slowly stood up on her feet and took out her phone. 

She was so unfortunate that she didn't even have someone whom she could call at this moment to take some help.

Her loneliness had always been her biggest enemy and now it had started harming her child's life too. 

Securely holding her kid in her arms, Esme walked forward. She didn't go out of the station but roamed her eyes everywhere in search of any kind of help.

“Ms. Hadley…..” that familiar voice froze her blood.

Esme slowly turned around and the land beneath her feet slipped away, seeing his men standing right in front of her. She immediately recognised one among those men whom she had seen with him this morning.

It was Calix.

Esme hugged Elea more firmly. She took her steps back, ready to run away but the second she turned around, she found more men around her. She was surrounded by dozens of men, who were armed.

Her tears turned aggressive.

“We are ordered to take you with us safely, so come with us. We won't harm, either you or the kid,” Calix said to her and shoved his gun inside his coat's pocket. All the other men followed his action.

Esme stared at him, horrified.

“Come with us or else….you know the consequences,” 

Tears fell from her eyes. 

“Please…let us go. I am begging you,” she pleaded. Calix sighed.

“It's not in my hand and the only person who could decide for your and your daughter's freedom is waiting for you, so don't make him wait anymore. It will be good for both of you,” Calix uttered to her and they all knew about whom he was talking about, which shivered her very being.

How would she be able to face that monster again? Especially after she dared to go against him?

“No, I will not go. I….” Suddenly Esme witnessed someone placing a cloth on her mouth from behind. She smelt something harsh and her vision immediately started blurring. 

Her head started spinning.

“Get her and the kid. Place them in the car,” she heard those words but couldn't say or do anything.

Her whole body started numbing and the last thing she remembered before completely losing her senses was someone taking Elea away from her arms.

………..

When Esme regained her consciousness, she found herself laying on a bed, inside a completely unfamiliar room. Her heartbeat paced up in horror. The very first thought that came to her mind was her child.

She hurriedly got up but an aching pain hitted her head.

“Aaah….” She grasped her throbbing head and squeezed her eyes shut until she felt that familiar presence again.

She slowly opened her eyes only to find her destruction sitting right in front of her, holding a glass of liquor in one hand and a gun in the other.

Her fists clenched, witnessing his infuriated grey eyes on her, which told her she was not going to get any mercy from this soulless man tonight.

“You kept me waiting for you for so long, Ms. Hadley,” his words shuddered her very existence, especially when she saw him taking a sip from his glass of wine while wandering his gaze all over her body.

“But I guess…..” he stood up from the sofa. All the buttons of his shirt were undone, revealing his perfectly built-in hard and muscular body, which scared her even more.

“The wait is finally over,” saying that he gulped down all the liquid in the glass in one go, and then started taking his predatory steps closer to her direction.

Her eyes watered.

What worse was going to happen to her tonight?