CAGED - A Dark Billionaire Captive Romance

8. Daffodils

Erica

I woke up sweaty with filthy words echoing in my mind that made my whole body tremble as if restrained against bounds and fighting to get away. I looked around my room, my eyes searching as if someone would appear from thin air and I would blame him on my breakdown, when I knew well enough that the monsters I fight aren’t visible, they were never visible to begin with, not to be seen. Only to feel and hear. They were just dark forms with offensive words that made my skin crawl. That made me vomit and hurt like needles under my skin.

I wiped my brow on my sleeve and slid off the bed. In a desperate attempt to not think about my nightmares I turned my thoughts to the tempting devil that had dropped me at my dorm without a word and with just a brush of his lips against mine. If he was playing at hard to get then he was the worst arsehole. I didn’t understand what he was trying to do. We spent the evening quite nicely if someone asked me but then out of nowhere he took offense to something and behaved like a total cold hearted jerk.

As I stood up, my eyes went to the boxes by the door. I hadn’t opened them and even Antonio hadn’t asked about them which made me wonder if I was wrong to think that they were clothes and shoes like every other romantic novel. But what if they weren’t. I decided to find out.

A minute later I was sitting on my bed and had the first box open. I should have known, even the size of the box was small to have a dress in it. The first one had a small square shaped velvet box. My mouth fell open in surprise when I opened it. There on a soft cushion nestled a diamond bracelet. It had a thin strap with tiny diamonds that shimmered. It was literally the most expensive thing I had ever touched. It dazzled me, took my breath away with how beautiful it was.

Delicately I picked the bracelet up and laid it around my left wrist, it looked so beautiful. But then sanity came back, I shook my head and replaced it back in the case. I opened the other box and this time I wasn’t shocked as half of my assumption was correct, it had silver Louboutins. I had only a few heels that I wear only on the occasions that I knew I couldn’t get away with wearing shoes or my bunny slippers, and those occasions were related to my sister. And these ones were definitely not something I’d buy on my own, much less wear them, they were at least six inches. The thought of walking in them made me shudder and had my toes curling in apprehension. I didn’t even take them out to try as I closed the lid, making a mental note to tell him that he could take his expensive gifts back as they were no use to me. But I wondered when I’d see him next as the last time I saw him, it took him two weeks to come for me. And I didn’t have any idea how to look for him unless I got myself in a situation where he’d come to help me like the devil from hell.

The next day came too soon and there was no sign of him. Nothing. Another day passed and I started to get frustrated. The third was hard for me, it was one of those days when I fight to stay sane. I didn’t have any thoughts of him as my mind was in survival mode. All I could think about was how to get rid of the loud filthy groans in my mind and how to erase the painful hands from my body. The invisible hands and the voices in my head made it impossible for me to focus in the class so I left halfway, ignoring the professor that called after me.

With my head down I entered my dorm building and made my way toward the stairs. In a daze I climbed the stairs to my floor and it took my trembling fingers a few tries to open the door. Once inside, I didn’t wait as I made my way straight towards the bathroom. The pills and the packets of blades I hid in my drawer were screaming for me and I didn’t want to fight the voice that begged for them. It was too scared, too tiny to resist. My hand fumbled for the handle of the drawer, not having patience I dumped its contents on the floor. And then picked up the transparent packet of pills and the brown packet that had the razor blades.

The need to let out this pain was too much, the cold sweat on my brow demanded more than usual so I popped two pills and fisted the blades as I tugged down the loose joggers I was wearing and stepped in the shower area in my t-shirt. The moment hot water ran down on me I sat down on the tiled floor and started to count. The first cut had me shuddering out a breath. Seconds relieved the tightness around my shoulder and third finally let me breathe a long breath that I hadn’t taken since morning.

When I came out of the bathroom after completing my counting from hundred to one, with a towel wrapped around me I found a single daffodil waiting for me on the bed. I shrugged the thought of changing into clothes, instead made my way straight to the bed. I picked up the flower and laid down on the bed, the slight twinge of pain from the cuts gave me comfort that I had been seeking all day. Picking up my phone I typed the daffodil on goôgle and read what it meant.

Daffodils represent new birth or new beginning.

.

A week later I had received seven daffodils but heard nothing from the man himself. He hasn’t appeared and neither did he send his man to convey his message. Late one such evening when I was bored out of my mind, I opened the matchmaking app that I hadn’t used in a while. There were a lot of requests and quite a few I liked, and just because there was no sign of that arrogant, Italian arsehole who appeared and disappeared like he could play with me however he wanted, I accepted the ones I liked.

Another week passed and I almost put that arsehole out of my mind. Almost. I had to because I was already hung up on a few things from my past that had made my life difficult enough that I couldn’t add another to the list. So to help with that, I accepted a date from Gina’s friend, Dane. It was a blind date. And Gina’s actual words were, “Hey, I have this friend Dane. He has seen you and he really likes you. He wanted to know if you wanna go out with him?”

Maybe in hindsight I would understand that I shouldn’t have accepted a date with a stranger at the suggestion of the girl who supplied me drugs, but I was known for making stupid decisions. Like summer would say, ‘it feels like you intentionally sabotage your life’. If she only knew, but she could never know. My sister loved me too much and it would hurt her to know what I was doing with my life.

Now as I entered the La Lune Bleue, a very expensive French restaurant I thought maybe it wasn’t a bad idea after all. If I knew it correctly, this restaurant had a long waiting time for reservation and also the food here was too delicious to pass up. I gave my name at the reception desk and the hostess took me to the table where a man sat with his back to me. When he became aware of me, he stood up and turned around to face me. He smiled widely, “Erica. Hi, I am Dane.” He held out his hand.

I placed mine in his and he took it to his lips to press a kiss at the back of my hand. I suppressed the urge to wipe my hand on my dress but controlled it as he pulled out a chair for me and I sat down. He was good looking with mussed up hair and chocolaty eyes and a wide set of shoulders. But they weren’t as wide and strong as the one that— I stopped that thought before it could escalate. And decided to give this date a real chance.

Surprisingly, half an hour later into our dinner date and I was actually enjoying myself, not contemplating ways to end this quicker. Dane was interesting. He didn’t have a boring job as a bank manager. He was a freelancer and worked for some billionaire tycoon. His job contained anything his boss demanded, including traveling out of the country. Also, he was way charming and shockingly without saying it he conveyed what he was looking for.

We were discussing the time and place for our next date when I noticed that the patrons in the restaurant had started to stand up and leave. Bewildered, I looked around and saw that the tables near the front of the door had already been cleared out. Then I saw the men in black uniforms entering and taking positions on all the entrances and outside, standing sentry. I clenched my jaw as I waited for the arsehole to show himself and I knew it without a doubt it was him.

I didn’t have to wait long, a minute later he entered like he owned the place. He snapped his fingers on the way to me and the next thing I knew was two uniformed guards were dragging my date away. Seriously!! The nerve of this fucker.

A. Gupta