His

His hot breath fanned my ears, making it tingle, but what he said caused it to tingle more. I've just moved from the oven to a ravaging inferno, and there's no way out.

He pulled back and stared into my eyes, his orbs reflecting the fact that he meant every word he said.

My face grew hot, and I could feel a blush bloom on my face. The worst part was that I was sure he'd see how red I was right now, too, but he didn't tease me over it. I tried to avert my eyes, but he grabbed my chin and made me look at him again.

A moment of silence reigned while we stared at each other, none uttering a single word; then, I watched his mouth move.

"You're..." he began saying, but paused and looked away. He let go of my wrists slightly, but I held on to him, causing him to look at me.

This isn't the first time I noticed that he pauses when he wants to say something. I remember he did the same thing when we met again a few days ago. Why does he do that?

"What did you want to say?" I queried, my eyes slightly squinted.

He remained quiet for a while, but as he parted his lips to give me a reply, one of his men walked in.

"Boss, someone needs to speak to you. He hacked into the television, and he says it's urgent," the man said formally.

Riev stared at him for a while, his eyes squinted, then afterward, a small smile blossomed on his lips, and he looked at me.

"Let's go see who this person might be, shall we?" he told me, grabbed my wrists, and pulled me along with him. Confused about why he reacted that way to the news, I followed closely beside him into his living room to find out.

The living room almost knocked me out of my concentration; it was magnificent, but as I looked across the room, my eyes caught sight of of the television screen and guess whose face was shining brightly from it. Lord Ruslan.

Riev led me to stand directly in front of the television to have a full view of Ruslan. Ruslan didn't hide the fact that he was angry, beyond angry, in fact.

"Return Alina to me, now," Ruslan said, dripping with a lot of venom.

Stephan only smiled loopedly and raised his chin in defiance.

"And what if I don't, Russy? What would you do?" he said, a tease playing on his tone. Lord Ruslan began breathing heavily.

"I swear if you don't return her to me intact, I’ll burn everything you've worked for to ashes, and you'll not be able to do a single thing about it," he shouted, banging his fist on his armrest.

I blinked upon seeing him. His reaction to my kidnap is expected, but for some reason, I'm amazed to see him react this way...because of me. Is it the money that he spent purchasing me that has him behaving this way, or because he's yet to have his way with me?

Stephanie only chuckled at his statement. Then he wrapped his hand around my waist and pulled me closer.

"Alina here is no longer yours. I've sent double the amount you used to purchase her to you, and I need you to—”

"I don't want your sickening money. I've sent it back; take it and return what's mine, or else, I'll—”

"You'll what?" Stephan interjected, "Burn all I've worked for to ashes," he mimicked in a funny tone, causing his men to chuckle. Lord Ruslan’s expression indicated that Stephan’s action ticked him off badly.

"Look! Alina’s mine now; you'll never be able to see her up close, ever again. She's mine to touch," he said and ran his finger along my exposed curves.

"Mine to kiss," he said and leaned in to softly kiss my lips. Something told me to fight him, but another part of me thought against it. I would just have to play the fool for a little while.

"And mine to f**k whichever way I want. So I propose you forget about her and live with it.

Goodnight, Russy", Stephan said and stretched out his hand towards one of his men, who placed a remote control in his hands.

His last words irked me, but my rational part told me to keep calm, and I chose to obey it. Obviously, he's only trying to get Lord Ruslan angrier than he already is, but why exactly? I am still trying to figure it out.

I looked at Lord Ruslan’s expression on the screen, and I almost felt bad for him; he looked like a child whose candy had been taken from him and was about to throw a tantrum.

Stephan held the remote control towards the television.

"Any last words?" he said to a fuming Ruslan.

"This isn't the last you'll hear from me. I'll destroy you, even if it's the last thing I do," he stated, and the television went blank.

He returned the remote control to his men and turned his gaze to me, his face refusing to betray whatever might be going on in his mind.

The teasing and playful side of him that was on display earlier was gone.

"I meant what I said, Alina. You're mine now.

Everything about you, from your head to your feet, is mine. Don't you ever forget that... understood?" he said with a raised brow.

I contemplated what to reply for a bit and eventually decided to play stubbornly.

"No, I don't. You can never have me and—”I couldn't complete my statement; his lips locked with mine in one swift movement.

All my resistance was melted by his sudden action, but before I could get to feel the kiss, he pulled away.

"I had you now, and I know with time, l'd have much more," he said, his eyes glistening with many unspoken words.

My face grew hot again as I continued staring at him; I was definitely red again. The tip of his lips went up ever so slightly; I could have missed it if I wasn’t so close. He then began stroking my cheeks, an indecipherable look in his eyes.

I've noticed that ever since I got here, he's been... cool. His sudden tenderness towards me scares me a lot, to be honest. I'd be more comfortable with him being an asshole than him being so... cringy. Why is he this way all of a sudden? Is he bipolar or something?

"Why're you being so nice to me...gentle?" I voiced out, unable to hold my questions anymore.

He blinked, like he was surprised, and pulled back a little, which was an unusual sight to see.

"The maids are here to escort you to your room.

Rest and prepare yourself. We're leaving here early tomorrow morning," he said, letting go of me.

" Which maids...and what?" I exclaimed, having fully comprehended what he said.

"Just do as you are told," he said, and walked out of the room. When he did, two young ladies walked to my front and introduced themselves to me.

They led me to the room where I was to spend the night. It was just as beautiful as my room back with Lord Ruslan, but this looked way bigger. It had a dining set where food was already prepared for me. I dismissed the maids, ate to my fill, picked a nightgown to wear, and prepared to sleep.

After a while, I drifted off into slumber.

*****************************

A knock on the door awoke me from my sleep. I grudgingly stood up from the bed to check who it was. It was the maids. They informed me that Stephan wasn't around, but they were told to take care of me.

Hearing he wasn't around saddened me a bit.

He's the only familiar face I know around here. I went about the day quite bored, even with all the television shows.

When I was tired of perusing the channels, I decided to retire to my room, but just as I stood to go, some oddly dressed men barged into the living room.

They scanned the room, searching for something, and they paused when they saw me. One of them was holding something like a note in his hand, and when he saw me, he looked at the note and back at me again. Then he nodded curtly, and the men with him rushed towards

me.

I tried to run away, but they caught up with me without much effort. I fought with all my strength, but they outnumbered me, so I was overpowered.

This reminds me of what happened when I was a child and what happened a few days ago as well. It's as though I'm always the center of one kind of trauma, inflicting drama or the other.

Tears began streaming down my face before I could process anything else.

"Get your filthy hands off her, now," Stephan’s voice echoed, directing our gaze to him. He walked into the room, his men behind him.

"No one can do it. Order from the tsartsovo,” the

man who looked to be the intruders' leader said.

Stephan paused and squinted his eyes.

"The tsartsovo? What warranted this?" he queried.

There was no reply, but one of the intruders stepped forward and handed him a letter. When he finished reading the letter, he raised his head and looked at me.

"I'll come for you, Alina," was all he said, and the men began pulling me out of the house.

Fear and confusion almost paralyzed me as I looked at Stephan; he couldn't do anything to stop these people. What's going on?

He remained still and continued looking at me with his usual expressionless mask. Before long, I found myself in a van, following strangers to GOD knows where.