RYAN’S POV [HIS FIRST POV EVER]
As I stood still while watching Sofia scramble backwards, something akin to satisfaction settled in the middle of my chest. I regarded the tremble that wracked through her small body when her back hit the wall behind her.
As I inched closer to her, she held a small, trembling hand out and frantically shook her head. “D- don’t come closer.” She whispered shakily, and I’d be pretending if I claimed to not have felt a sharp stab in my soul.
I never wanted her to be scared of me. All I wanted was to finally have all to myself, safe and all mine. Her being scared of me was definitely not a part of the plan.
“You don’t have to be scared of me, Sofia. You know I’d never hurt you, right?” I asked, softening my voice the way I knew worked in calming her in most situations. Although right now, it didn’t seem like it was working seeing as she only grew more worked up.
“You killed him.” She whispered, eyes wide from fear and hands trembling against her thighs. I wanted to do nothing more than to pull her in my arms and reassure her that she was safe and did not have to fear for her life. When she had flown into my arms in relief after I loosened her blindfold, minutes ago, it had felt like everything had finally fallen into places for the first time in an extremely long while.
When I had asked one of my men to carry out this particular job, I hadn’t expected him to dare treat her roughly and without care. This was a plan I carefully executed for weeks, with men already situated to control the CCTV cameras into facing a different way when the car Sofia was in, drove past this evening. It had been the perfect plan ever, and I wasn’t supposed to kill anyone yet, at least not tonight. Tonight was supposed to be me celebrating finally getting to own Sofia like I’ve always wanted to since the moment I settled my eyes on her. But that fool just had to treat her roughly like she was an ordinary person, he could definitely tell that she was completely powerless but had only roughened her up to feel on some power trip.
Dumb fool.
“Yeah, I did. I killed him because he hurt you.” I carefully explained to her and I watched as another terrified tremor wracked through her as she flinched.
“But- b- but, you were the one who asked him to get me, r- right?”
“Yes, princess, that’s right. But I never asked him to hurt you, you know that’s something I’d never do, that’s why I killed him in order to teach him a lesson.” I continued while still maintaining that soft voice. When I reached out to brush her hair out of her face, she flinched away sharply as If repulsed. I found myself frozen for a moment before retrieving my hand to myself and reminding myself to give her time to fully process this.
“That’s why you killed Zander too?” She whispered, face pale and wet with tears but somehow, she still managed to look extremely stunning. With lips parted and shiny and eyes blown wide, she embodied the perfect description of the word ‘gorgeousness’.
“Yes, but not really. He wanted you for himself. And because he had the audacity to attempt to kidnap you, like, that’s the stupidest move ever, so I had to end him in order to teach him a lesson.” I explained, mind drifting to the night I ended the fucker’s life, remembering the scene like it happened yesterday. Since the moment he showed up, I did a background check on him, and I knew from that moment that he definitely wanted something from her, which was why I was always more alert whenever she was hanging out with him.
Before killing him, I made sure he regretted ever considering going for Sofia right before I shot him in the eye, and then in the throat and chest.
A sob tore through my thoughts, pulling me back to reality and I felt my chest squeeze tightly as soon as I realized that Sofia was starting to sob again.
“Oh no, don’t cry, princess. I told you you were safe here, didn’t I?” I whispered soothingly as I stroked my thumb across her cheek. She stiffened and stopped breathing as my thumb traced her tear track.
“I wanna go home.” She whispered, voice tinged with desperation and pleas. I regarded her silently for a few moments before slowly shaking my head from side to side, and another sob tore past her throat, almost making me flinch. I hated when she was sad, and clearly I’m the reason she’s crying.
“Please.” She whispered, lips wobbling. I traced her bottom lip with my thumb and something in me swelled in satisfaction because I’ve wanted to do this so much since the moment we met whereby her lip felt like some sort of chew toy to her. Her lip felt full and soft that I remembered it feeling against my lips the time I kissed her for the first time.
“You can’t.” I responded and when she began to sob louder, I inched closer to her and softened my voice, fingers stroking her soft hair. “I’m so sorry, princess, but you can’t. You’re not safe there, but you’re safe here, with me. You might as well refer to me as your new home because I’d always protect you no matter what, how does that sound?”
“S- scary. I just w- wanna go home to Luca.” She whispered shakily as more tears spilled down her cheeks and I almost groaned in frustration while wondering for a moment if this was what Luca normally went through while trying to comfort her whenever she cries.
Luca.
The fucking bastard.
With renewed calmness, I forced the frustrated feeling aside and exhaled slowly after a few seconds, and then I slipped my hands underneath her body, easily lifting her resisting frame in my arms and rising to my full height, because she weighed next to nothing, which is how I liked them.
“You belong with me now, Sofia, and you don’t need Luca any longer. I’ll always protect you, no matter what. That, I promise you.”