I gulped.
Didn’t Kyle say he’d pick me up? What was this psycho doing here? He shouldn’t be here.
I swallowed again, but my mouth was dry, so it didn’t soothe the itchiness lodged in my throat. I did not reply. I just couldn’t. Eyes were staring at me. People around me were gasping, some even pulled out their phones and I heard the haunting sounds of cameras clicking.
“What is she doing with him?”
“Why is she with him?”
Of course, people would question when their beloved bachelor would be found hugging a girl in front of the university. Some unknown, good-for-nothing girl. A desperate girl who sold her soul to the devil just for money. They would gossip. Make me the guilty one. No one would believe me.
Breath caught in my lungs. No escape. Trapped in his arms. It was a vortex of despair.
The cold hands were strangely warm as the hold tightened and I flinched as his fingers dug into my waist and I was abruptly turned around. Eyes bore into my soul, stripping away the facade. Judging. Condemning. His eyes though shielded by the shades, I could feel him piercing through my soul. Another reality check. He was not blind. And that scared me more than anything should.
“I don’t like repeating myself, ptichka. Either you open your mouth or I’ll do it for you.” Whispers like serpents slithered around me. Venomous. And it took all my self-restraint to not shudder. People were watching, words would soon spread. I’d become the topic of their conversations. Murderer. That’s what I’d be known as.
My pulse raced, pounding in my ears like a war drum. A noose tightened around my neck. I swallowed hard, my mouth dry, thoughts spiralling.
His eyes pierced me, stripping away my defences. I felt their burn, their mark. And I knew, at this moment, there was no escape.
“I-I…” Speak, I urged myself. But my lips stayed sealed. Fear held them shut.
His hair gelled back, a suggestive strand curled and fell on his left brow, over the shades. High cheekbones and chiselled face. Cold. Lips set in a straight line, brows furrowed and the muscle under his jaw twitched the same moment his fingers dug into me.
“Very well, if that’s how you want it to roll,” He pulled away. Shadows flickered behind him, that’s when I noticed Kyle standing behind him wearing a cold expression. He didn’t look amused at all. “Kyle.”
Kyle nodded, his eyes locking onto mine. Disoriented, I swayed as he grabbed me by the upper arm. I stammered, “What are you doing?”
“Orders, Ms. Rosewood.” He muttered in a heavily accented voice.
I wanted to run but one look at Judas, and I realised if I ran, he’d truly ruin me for good. While Kyle dragged me towards the car, Judas followed closely behind, tapping the cane on the ground, pretending to be blind.
Though he looked anything but amused-he looked murderous. I swallowed hard as I was pushed into the back seat. My knee struck with the metal but I just swallowed the pain as I scrambled to the window clutching my bag tightly.
My heart pounded in my chest, a wild drumbeat of fear. The car door slammed shut, sealing my fate. Judas slid in beside me, and I forgot how to breathe. I had been forgetting a lot of things lately.
What I felt at that moment couldn’t explain the slightest of sensations I was feeling. A puppet on strings. Dangled for his amusement between his fingers. A spectacle of dust under his shoes. A toy.
Trapped. Helpless. I sank into the seat feeling his heavy gaze on me. “Why… are you here?” I muttered with the courage I gathered in the past two days and still, it wasn’t enough to keep my voice firm. It wavered and so did my body as he let out a humourless chuckle.
“Why shouldn’t I be here?”
“But you said you’d give me four days…”
“Four days to get accustomed to the idea of taking my dick into your virginal cunt, Fenochka, not whoring around,” He distastefully scoffed almost mumbling to himself. “You’re making me regret giving you time if anything, what would you do if I decided to take you right here, right now?”
My eyes widened and I yelped shaking my head, ready to get on my knees and beg him. “No, please!”
He let out a sigh and took off his shades. The action that flexed his arms and the grey blazer around his biceps stretched making me feel pathetically small in front of him. “You see… I’m so very angry right now.” His voice was a low growl, simmering with unkempt rage. A squeal left my mouth as his arm shot out and his hand tightened around my arm, fingers digging into my flesh as I looked wide-eyed at this unpredictable man. “Who was that fucker?” he demanded.
My mind raced, panic flooding my veins. As much as Ivan scared me, he was no comparison to Judas. If I say he was my friend or just an acquaintance of mine, would he sue him over me? Like he threatened my family?
No, no, no.
If he started to look into my university life, then Alina would also be on his radar. However, I wasn’t aware how far he could go to prove his point, and I didn’t want to know. This man belonged in an asylum and should not be allowed to roam in the open.
“No one, I swear…” I took another breath. Hoping he didn’t catch the flickering of my eyes or the shaking of my limbs.
He tilted his head, a mockingly benevolent smile playing on his lips. “No one? Do you think I’m that guileless?” His tone was strangely calm, but the storm in his eyes was impossible to miss. “Do you really think you can lie to me and get away with it?”
Lies caught in my throat, choking me. My eyes flickered, betraying my fear. His gaze, sharp and unforgiving, pierced through my defences. I was trapped. Cornered.
Silent screams echoed in my mind and desperation clawed at my chest.
I shuddered. This man was my living doom. Every breath felt like shards of glass.
I felt like a prisoner in my own body.
His fingers dug deeper into my arm, his nails biting into my skin. I winced, the pain sharp and immediately coursing through my arm and settling into my bones “Please, I’m not lying…”
I didn’t know what I was expecting in response but a chuckle certainly wasn’t. “Oh, Fenochka, you’re such a terrible liar.” He leaned in closer, his breath hot against my cheek. “I saw the way you looked at him. Do you know what that does to me?”
And the change in the name. He was not calling me ptichka or Little Bird. That should’ve relieved me but the new nickname seemed more dangerous. I didn’t know what that meant but I hated it. I didn’t want him to call me by it. Or by any name. I wanted to disappear and never face this monster again.
I shook my head, tears brimming in my eyes. “I wasn’t looking at anyone; I swear…”
“Liar,” he hissed and my spine arched as he pulled me close. “You think I can’t see through your pathetic attempts to deceive me? You think I can’t see the fear in your eyes, the way your body trembles?”
The memories of what happened a few nights ago toppled over, his hands on me, the harder I thought of that nightmare. The way he violated me and ripped an orgasm out of me and I couldn’t even fight. Would he repeat that? Would he go back on his words and do what he promised he would?
The frustration and anger were so deep that I wanted to make up for that in my own way, to inflict the same pain on him that he inflicted on me, but even I knew that if I attempted to hurt him, I’d pay the price.
His other hand moved to my throat, a possessive grip that made my breath hitch. “You belong to me, Fenochka. No one else. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” I whispered, the word barely audible past the lump of fear in my throat. I didn’t mean it. But some situations required us to stay timid rather than talk back.
He chuckled humourlessly and my breath hitched as his hand on my wrist loosened its grip to travel to my hip. “Good. Because if I ever see you with another man again, I will make sure he regrets ever laying eyes on you. I will make him suffer in ways you can’t even imagine.”
I nodded frantically, too terrified to speak.
“This, right here is,” His hand roughly cupped my core through the jeans and I shuddered letting the tears fall. “is my property. My claim. I’m the one who’ll take the first bite.”
“Anyone, anyone breathes six feet near you, I’ll bury them six feet under the ground you walk on.”
His gaze bore into me waiting for me to speak, but I couldn’t, so I just bobbed my head in a nod. “Whoever that fucker was, pray I never find out his name. Because if I do, I will make an example out of him. I will show you just how far I’m willing to go.”
I swallowed hard, the fear choking me. There was no reasoning with him, no escaping his madness. His fingers around my throat slowly traced the line of my jaw, his touch terrifying.
“Understand?”
I nodded shaking my head violently as my hair flowed all over my face. He stared at me for a long second, and then leaned down and placed a kiss on the corner of my mouth as if sealing my fate. “Good girl.”