Chapter 4

"What the hell did you do to me?!"

My voice shrilled, shattering the quiet of his study as I slammed the door hard enough to rattle against the wall.

I stood in the doorway, bracing myself against the teak frame. I gripped the wood with everything I had. My head throbbed violently, as if hit by a blunt object. My vision blurred slightly, and the residual nausea from last night still lingered at the back of my throat. This morning, when I woke up in my own bed, my heart nearly stopped. An unfamiliar, oversized t-shirt was draped over my body, replacing the party dress from the night before. Fragmented memories of Alexander carrying me into the house replayed in my mind, triggering a wave of disgust and a burning rage in my chest. This was too much. This was assault.

Alexander, who was putting away some documents into his leather briefcase, stopped what he was doing immediately. He straightened up, turned around, and looked at me with a completely blank, innocent expression.

"You're awake," he said evenly, before shutting the lid of his black laptop in one smooth motion.

"Don't change the subject!" I stepped forward, grabbing the hem of the loose shirt and shaking it right in front of him with trembling hands. "Why was I in my own room? And who had the nerve to change my clothes?!"

Alexander reached for the silver watch on the desk, strapping it onto his wrist with total calm. "A maid changed your clothes after the doctor left. Don't go imagining things."

"Then why did you have to interfere?!" I stepped even closer, until my thighs hit the edge of his desk. "Who asked you to come to that club? You've been stalking me, haven't you?"

"You were drunk last night, and someone was trying to assault you," Alexander cut in sharply.

"I didn't need you to save me!" I slammed both palms onto the surface of his desk, making a loud thud. I leaned forward, staring hard into his eyes. "You're always doing this! Controlling my entire life, deciding where I can go, as if you have total authority over me!"

Alexander didn't flinch. He simply slipped his phone into his trousers pocket, then returned my gaze directly. His dark eyes locked onto mine, cold and entirely devoid of guilt.

"You blew past the curfew I set for you, Selena," Alexander said, his voice remaining low and steady.

"Whether I want to come home or not is none of your business! So stop pretending to care about me!" My breath hitched, my chest heaving rapidly as I fought back the overwhelming emotion. "Let me remind you again. You are nobody to me! So stop ruining my fun. Got it?"

Alexander let out a short breath through his nose. He lifted his briefcase from the desk, acting as if all the vitriol I had just spat out was nothing more than a passing breeze that didn't bother him in the slightest.

"Are you finished? I need to get to the office."

"No, I am not! I hate your fake, hypocritical kindness! You might have my mother fooled, but you can't fool me."

I quickly shifted my weight to block his path, standing right in his way toward the door with both hands balled into tight fists at my sides.

Alexander stopped his stride just two inches away from me. He set his briefcase back down on the desk without once breaking eye contact, then leaned his upper body forward. The distance between us vanished completely, until I could smell the heavy scent of his cologne. I instinctively wanted to step back, but my shoulder blades immediately hit the massive wall of bookshelves behind me.

"Listen to me carefully, Selena. Starting today, there are new rules," Alexander said, his voice dropping into a low register, putting a sharp emphasis on every single syllable.

"I don't care about your rules!" I snapped my face to the side, refusing to look at his sharp, intimidating eyes.

"You will care." Alexander reached out, clamping his fingers around my chin, forcing my face back around to look straight at him. "First, you are strictly forbidden from going to parties or nightclubs without my permission. Second, I don't want to see you associating with men whose backgrounds are questionable."

I yanked my face away hard to break his grip, letting out a short, cynical laugh. "You're completely insane. You want to imprison me here?"

"I'm only protecting you from your own stupidity." Alexander crossed his arms over his chest, standing tall as he looked down at me.

"From now on, I am not giving you permission to hang around with random guys."

I instantly straightened up, throwing my shoulders back and defying his gaze with wide eyes.

"You have no right to run my life!"

"It's my responsibility, to ensure that what happened last night never happens again."

Alexander lowered his arms. His fingers moved slowly toward his neck, pinching the knot of his grey tie and pulling it loose. Then, with an intentionally slowed, deliberate movement, he unbuttoned the top two buttons of his white shirt and pulled the collar open to the side.

There, against the pale skin of his neck, was a row of faint red marks that stood out in sharp contrast. He wasn't done yet. Alexander turned his right palm over, showing me several fresh scratch marks on the back of his hand.

My heart stopped beating for a second. My mind went completely blank, leaving my mouth half-open without a single word coming out. The blurry patches of last night's memories suddenly rushed back into my head in a vivid loop. This masculine scent, the suffocating heat that had driven me mad, and my own lips frantically kissing this man's neck while my nails clawed at his shoulders. The realization hit me like a physical blow. I had actually kissed my stepfather last night.

"You took advantage of my condition. There's no way I did that," I whispered, my voice stammering. The words shook violently, and I could feel the blood rushing straight to my face, making it burn hot.

Alexander pulled his shirt collar back together, straightening it with a quick flick of his finger. The corner of his mouth twitched upward into a very faint, mocking smirk.

"Do I really need to remind you of everything you did last night?"

"Bullshit!" I shrieked, doing everything in my power to hide the panic and sheer embarrassment that was suddenly choking me.