“Are you out of your mind?” Aaliyah couldn’t pretend to be calm anymore, and her anger started to take over.
“I can assure you that I am certainly not out of my mind, my love. However, if you get ready to marry me, I can surely blow your mind out with my never-ending love,” Sage smiled before clapping his hands. Soon three ladies walked into the hall from the other side with a mini wardrobe containing wedding gowns.
“Would you like to choose yourself, or do you want to wear something of my choice?” Sage asked, ignoring the disgust on Aaliyah’s face.
“You would be a fool if you think I would get ready to marry you,” Aaliyah clenched her fists, and Sage grinned creepily before smiling.
“I know, sweetheart. I am a fool, but only for you. And whether you like it or not, you are getting married today, and I am your groom. Now let’s not waste any more time. I already asked the priest, and he said this is a good time to get married,” Sage held Aaliyah’s hand in a steel-like grip.
He pulled her out of her chair, and Aaliyah looked at the gowns in disgust.
She would never marry a Maniac monster like him even if she had to die today.
Aaliyah knew that the best option right now was to go with the flow and do what Sage told her, to find the right time and run away, but she couldn’t.
Aaliyah would rather die than pretend to marry Sage. All the humiliation, stress, and anxiety he gave her was like an unhealed wound in her mind.
Aaliyah looked at her hand, which was starting to tremble again because of pent-up emotions, and she bit her lips.
‘My baby, you are not a coward. You are a fighter. That’s why out of my three kids, I love you the most. You are my shadow. Though we are gang members, we live with dignity,’ Aaliyah remembered her father’s words, and her mind went back to all the time she sparred with her father.
What use would her techniques and the years of training be if she can’t even protect her dignity and self-respect? There were easy ways out, but would they keep her self-respect intact?
Would she be able to live after losing one thing that she cherishes more than her life?
A rogue tear fell from her eyes, and Aaliyah looked at everyone who was looking at her with mockery and smirks on their faces.
To her, it looked like they were laughing at her miseries, and she hated the look in their eyes. Aaliyah has lived her life like a queen and princess. How can she be mocked like this?
“No,” Aaliyah whispered to herself.
“I won’t,” she spoke again before she clenched her fists and obstructed her movement by impeding her leg around the tables’ leg.
Seeing her not moving, Sage paused and looked at the girl before his gaze shifted to her leg.
“You! Why are you always acting so mischievous?!” Sage gritted.
He bent to free her leg, but Aaliyah kicked him in the groin.
“Don’t you dare touch me,” Aaliyah said, and Sage rolled on the ground in pain, grabbing his aching balls.
“Mason!” Sage shouted in anguish, and the man rushed to Aaliyah to hold her, but rather than waiting to see what would happen, she started fighting the man coming at her.
The table in the middle was a great prop for her. She jumped on the table before kicking one man, and then jumping on the second one and sliding under the table to hit the third person.
“I am warning you, Sage. Leave me alone. You will marry me over my dead body,” Aaliyah snarled at Sage, and Sage looked at the girl in pure amazement.
The more he saw her struggling and fighting his guards, the more aroused he felt. The desire to get this untamed beauty and tame her in the bed was becoming more prominent.
“Do you love playing around?” Sage’s words distracted Aaliyah, and she couldn’t dodge Mason’s punch in time.
The punch hit her hard across the face, and she stumbled back before falling to the ground, her nose starting to bleed as her lips burst from the left side.
“Mason! Not her face. Do you want my bride to look ugly?” Sage grinned at Aaliyah, and the latter hated this man even more.
“I hate you, Sage,” Aaliyah snapped, and Sage smiled further.
“There is no hate without love, my savior. I am honored by your emotions. It means you care about me. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t feel anything for me,” Sage’s words infuriated Aaliyah. No matter what she tried to say to prove her point of disgust towards him, he had a way around everything.
“Well, since you love playing. I will give you more toys,” Sage grinned before he clapped his hands.
“Boys!” Sage shouted, and more than twenty men entered the room, making Aaliyah look at everyone in shock. She was having trouble fighting these ten, and now there were twenty more.
Aaliyah’s toxic trait wanted her to believe she would be able to fight them all if she tried her best. This thing was related to survival now and not just fun like the ring fights. However, in her heart, she knew if they fought to the very end, she would die a brutal death today.
There is no way she would let Sage touch her inappropriately, and for it to happen, she would have to fight till her last breath.
“They are indeed some toys,” Aaliyah looked at the locket on her neck that was given to her by Dominic.
Closing her eyes, Aaliyah kissed the locket before smiling sadly.
‘I am sorry, Dominic. I promised to go to the movies with you after exams, and we would talk to our parents together. But I don’t think I will be able to make it today. There is so much that is left unspoken and unheard between us, and as much as I hate to believe it, I don’t think I will get to hear your voice again.
Please take care of my parents and yourself for me,’ Aaliyah bit her lips to control the tears threatening to fall.
As she talked to the locket in her hand, Sage felt something weird striking his heart. He doesn’t know why, but for some reason, it looked like Aaliyah was in love, but with someone else. The way she held the locket like it was some priceless possession, Sage knew something or someone was there.
That couldn’t be true, right? She can’t fall in love with someone else. She used to say she would never fall in love with anyone. If that had been the case, the ‘guy’ would’ve told him, no?
Seeing her busy with her moment and completely ignoring him, Sage felt rage taking over, and he looked at Mason before nodding.
“I want to marry her, Mason. I don’t know how you do it, but if you don’t want your family to die, bring her to me alive. No one would be left with a family if I didn’t have any,” Sage walked away to sit at some distance.
He doesn’t know if he would be able to see that look in Aaliyah’s eyes. She looked completely different from the last time. This wasn’t the first time she was fighting him back.
She had done this plenty of times, but for some reason, it looked like she had something, or should he say, someone on her mind, and the thought alone made him want to shoot her heart that was giving a place to some other man.
“Let’s get her,” Mason said to his men, and Aaliyah placed the locket safely inside her shirt before she looked up at all the men who appeared like hungry wolves, ready to devour her.
She was nothing in front of them. They were trained professionals, and there were around thirty of them. Aaliyah closed her eyes before laughing maniacally.
“If this is my fate, let me embrace it,” Aaliyah smiled before she stood and took out her jacket before rolling the sleeves of her crop shirt.
“You can’t do anything until I allow you to, Sage. And guess what? You will never get to marry me,” Aaliyah looked straight into Sage’s eyes, and the resolution in her eyes shocked Sage for a second.
“What are you guys waiting for? I want to marry her. Break her bones. I don’t care. I will arrange the best treatment for her, but no one shall touch her face, and no daggers or knives. They leave marks. Bring her to me,” Sage said, and Aaliyah chuckled at his obsession with her beauty in her mind.
He was indeed a creep.
“Come at me,” Aaliyah sighed, and the men launched themselves at her, making her go into fighting mode.
She hit and threw punches and kicks without actually looking anywhere. Aaliyah didn’t know who or what she was hitting anymore as she tried to fight them all. Since she couldn’t focus on the number, she was taking plenty of hits.
As she turned around to kick the person on her left, she didn’t notice the man ready to strike her from the front.
Aaliyah stumbled back before coughing blood when the man punched her chest, making her kneel on the ground.
Lub! Dub! Lub! Dub!….. Aaliyah’s heart was beating at such a speed that it was starting to ache now.
“Are you done?” Sage asked, but Aaliyah wiped the blood with the back of her hand before scoffing.
“I am not even close,” Aaliyah smiled through bloody teeth before standing again.
She started fighting the men one by one, more focused this time. She knew hitting them all at once didn’t work, so she will have to focus on defense too.
She took the wooden chair and started hitting the men with the chair before breaking a wooden leg and hitting their vital spot.
Since she was fighting and focusing in front, she didn’t realize when one of the men sneaked behind her and kicked her back, making her stumble ahead to another man, who punched her on the head, making her dizzy.
“Not her face or head! What would you do if she went into a coma or her brain cells got distorted?” Sage growled in anger, and the men took a step back when she fell to the ground again.
“Are you done, Aaliyah? Shall we choose the dress now?” Sage asked, and seeing she wasn’t answering, he stood from his place and was about to walk when Aaliyah looked up and smiled, blood dripping from the side of her mouth and dripping on the floor now.
“Not yet. I haven’t given my best,” Aaliyah said before she supported her hand on her knee and stood again.
“Let’s go again,” Aaliyah looked at Mason, and the latter felt bad for the girl who was bleeding and beaten black and blue but was still trying to protect her dignity.
“Stop it,” Mason mouthed to Aaliyah, and Aaliyah, who didn’t expect to see a good man among the crowd of monsters, smiled before shaking her head.
“This is what I chose,” Aaliyah said to no one in particular before she ran and lunged at the man.
Punching their faces, she started hitting their vital spots again, this time more stronger than before, and she was finally able to take down a few guys one by one as she started to hit their heads and noses.
Rendering a few guys unconscious, she smiled at her work before taking a deep breath and was relishing the feeling when one of the guys hit the back of her leg with the wooden leg of the same chair, making her fall on her knee as she turned around and punched the guy.
“Don’t sneak up on me. Be a man and fight from in front,” Aaliyah said before she limped and started hitting them again.
Sage could see she was getting bloody and tired and didn’t know why she wasn’t stopping.
“Come at me, you b*bastard,” Aaliyah said to the man, who sneaked up on her, deliberately provoking them.
She was pretty satisfied with her work when she saw around twenty men on the ground now. However, she knew she was beyond tired now.
As Sage saw her pattern of fighting, he realized one thing he missed since the beginning and widened his eyes in shock.
Aaliyah? Was she- was she trying to kill herself? Sage looked at his man in horror, who looked at Aaliyah in pure anger when she called him a bas*ard and launched himself at Aaliyah.
“No!” Sage shouted, but it was too late as the man hit Aaliyah’s head with the leg, making her turn from the impact as she fell on the ground with a loud thud, blood gushing out from her forehead.
Her vision started to turn black as a ringing sound echoed in her ear from the impact of the hit. Aaliyah smiled at the shocked and defeated face of Sage.
“What did you do!” Sage shouted in rage, and Aaliyah chuckled, her eyes starting to close slowly.
‘Dominic, I love you,’ Aaliyah finally said the words that Dominic always wanted to hear but couldn’t because she wasn’t sure if she was ready to take the responsibility behind these words.
However, now as she knew she was dying, she knew there was nothing to lose. Every inch of her body was aching with more than a few broken bones and so many wounds on her head apart from the major one.
As she was about to close her eyes, she saw a silhouette entering the basement, and she smiled softly.
“Dominic,” she whispered before closing her eyes as her breathing started slowing to dangerous lows.