Love Made Me Do It

10. Love is A Fragile Little Flame

Alexander stood in front of his closet mirror, looking at the bulging bags underneath his eyes.

He was up the entire night; cursing and wavering his luck for always, tangling him up in situations that compromised his plans. He had all figured out with Isabella; he was going to soften up to her and maybe ask her to move in. That way he could spend more time with her and maybe get the picture of him being her enemy out of her mind.

But the mere thought of her having a possession of gun, without him being completely unaware of it, wrecked his brain up.

He opened the drawer to his ties and saw the little box with the keys and the key-chains, that had a silver cross attached to it. He was planning on giving her the keys to his penthouse and mansion; as a gesture for her to move in. He knew how much Isabella despised the idea of God, so he wanted to rile her up and annoy her with the key-chain, as he loved her annoyed expressions. But now the whole idea sounded absurd to him.

He dressed up and walked out of the dressing room, only to catch a glimpse of Isabella spread all over her side of the bed, the linens of the bed drawn off her pale skin, exposing her creamy thighs, as she slept like a baby, probably worked off the painkillers.

Giving her face, a revolting look, he walked out; probably thinking about leaving her soon enough. Because he couldn't afford enemies in bed, when every other place of was practically a den of tackling snakes and their schemes for him.

He entered inside his office and decided to finish some work, before leaving to visit his brother. All the files, contracts and numbers in front of him seemed to scribble as he thought about the old days, when he was crazy about the same woman, now he felt disgusted off. 

First day of Senior Year! The day his eyes fell upon the most innocent face he had ever witnessed.

The big shining, baby blue eyes, holding a small smile; as she enthusiastically looked at her locker, her white skin shinning against the sunshine pouring out from the slits on the walls above the lockers. 

Even inside the whole crowd, she stood out in her beauty and charm. The innocence on her face, as appealing as the forbidden fruit. He could sense she was going to be eyed by many boys in their school and he was the devil who would ruin her innocence like he ruins every other thing. He didn't want to hurt her, but he couldn't help himself. 

"Where you lost?" 

Alexander's gazing intrusion was interrupted by none other than McKenzie, The one girl who had been dying for him to take her to the prom. 

"No where!" He ignored her and begin stuffing his books inside the locker. 

"Anyways, best luck for your home game!" She tried putting up a conversation. 

Alex knew why she was sticking around, they had been on an on-again-off-again rendezvous for awhile now. But he never had that warm feeling in his heart, that he knew would be there for the right one. 

He shrugged at her and started walking towards his class, while McKenzie simply rolled her eyes. She liked Alex but she also knew he was too much to handle with his attitude and parental issues, she was never the one to provide any emotional stress-relief.

As he walked down, one of his football mates called at him, making him look into the other direction while his chest butted directly into someone's head. 

"What the..." He felt enraged but once he looked down he saw the same innocent blue eyes he admired from afar, looking up at him nervously. 

"I am sorry." She mumbled nervously, bending down to pick up her scattered books. 

Instead of bending down to help her, Alex stood paralyzed, his heart thumping loudly in his chest. His body lost all of it's reflexes and he couldn't seem to bring himself up to the thought of anything but rather being stuck at the mere celebration of having the same girl speak a single fragment of sentence to her. 

She quickly grabbed her books and walked out of his way, scared of his intimidating aura, while he groaned, feeling stupid about acting out like a limp. He never acted out this way with anyone and especially not a girl. 

____________________________________________________

A week later he found out her name...

Isabella...

He believed she justified the name; Beauty as she indeed was one. 

Most of his free times, during the day went by gawking at her while she absent mindedly focused on her work or talked to her friends. He didn't only find her eyes or features pretty but her little gestures adorable, like chewing the back of her pencil while working on something, sitting inside the library and playing with strands of her hair.

He had never noticed or admired any woman as such as Isabella. There was some natural connection that dired the two together. 

While inside his mind, he died to have a small conversation with her, he doubt if she would have a good picture about his personality. The whole school knew him as the douche quarterback who was full of himself and stepped onto anyone walking his way, while his brother who was the student body president was pictured as the perfect, sweetest person in the entire school.

A month passed by and his luck somehow charmed, when he was waiting for Nicholas to complete some research, while he waited near the history section in the library, reading his favorite, 'Mein Kampf'. He was busy decoding the analogy of Hitler, while he heard someone clear their throat. Keeping his head low; he lifted his eyes up only to be met by his favorite blue ones, covered slightly by the fringes lying over it. 

She slightly smiled at him and he noticed how beautifully curved her lips were and also how no one dared to smile at him in the entire school. So he simple c****d back. 

"Umm..." She seemed confused as she gulped audibly and looked around trying to formulate her words carefully, "Can I borrow that book?" 

He wanted to smile and give that book to her right away but he refrained and wished to extend the conversation. So maintaining his intimidating self he answered;

"There must be other copy laying around the place?"

She shook her head a negative, "That is the only one left and I really need to submit my history assignment by Friday and I can't find the translated version online; so would you mind giving me the book?"

Alexander smirked, shaking his head, "No!"

She gaped a little, taken aback by his rudeness, "I am asking you politely, please! I really need it." She emphasized. 

He nodded his head, "I know you need it really badly. That's why I am not going to give it to you."

She squinted her eyes at him, fuming a little with anger, "I am asking for the book, not an organ. So just give me the damn book will you?" 

His smirked grew stronger as she stood up, holding the book in his hands; enjoying the annoyed look on her face, as her cheeks grew red with anger and her body trembled. He found her angered state adorable. 

"Honestly! I might donate you some blood, sensing you might be in sheer need of it! Since you look too weak."

Listening to her words she gasped out loud. Anger taking over her body as she leaned ahead and jumped over the table, crawling up to him and attacked him, tackling him down on the ground. 

He directly his back while she ended up on top of him, he let loose of the book that fell over his head. Isabella smirked, grabbing the book. 

"Huh! Now who's weak!" She smirked and looked down at him only to realize that their faces were inches apart, while his hands rested on her waist. Her hair fell sideways, shielding the sunlight from falling onto them. 

His eyes looked directly into hers. His heart finally feeling warm, the sensation he knew would seed for someone; 

She gulped again and his eyes followed down to her crystalline shoulder blade, down to her neckline. 

"Woah!" They heard a gasp go around, breaking their stance. Isabella turned around, immediately getting up and straightening herself, while they found Nicholas, Emerald, Kennedy and McKenzie standing ahead of them, throwing daggers at the two. 

"Sorry if we interrupted you in between of getting some." Kennedy retorted. 

"So they provide services in library too?" McKenzie spoke bitterly. 

"Keep it low!" The old incharge yelled at the kids.

"Try telling it to the slut!" McKenzie yelled and moved out of the place, leaving Isabella embarrassed. 

She bent to pick the book up but Alexander beat her to it. She cursed her faith, while he passed her a smirk, throwing the book inside his bag. 

At night, sitting inside her room, Isabella was cursing her luck and Alexander, as she was having a hard time, understanding the concepts of the book, when her phone ringed. Seeing the unknown number she cautiously picked up. 

"Hello?" 

"I wonder if that is how a sour looser sounds like?" 

The male voice on the other side of the phone startled her. 

"Who the hell is it?" She was no one to take crap from someone. 

"The one who possesses the book, you so endearingly desired."

Isabella's eyes went wide, sensing it was the infamously notorious Alex. She had heard about his douche behavior from all around the school and cared less about his reputation. She was more pissed at him for giving her a tough time with a stupid book. 

"First of all; how did you get my number. secondly, I can never desire a stupid racist sociopath's self described journey to mass weaponry h*******t that he describes as his way of cleansing the earth and thirdly; you can take that book and shove it up to you place where the sun doesn't shine."

With said that she cut the call off and huffed, letting out all her anger of the assignment and Alexander out on just Alexander. And surprisingly she didn't even regret it.    

The next day, she cried to herself in the library, trying to complete the assignment when she saw a file and a book slid right up to her. 

She looked up and saw Alexander standing in front of her.

"To answer your first question; I got it from a friend of mine." 

He stated casually and it took Isabella awhile to understand he meant by her number, which she questioned him last night when she was wrecked up.  

"And never call Hitler a racist; perhaps a sociopath and mass murderer but not racist; he was an extremist, a dictator, victim of the English aristocracy. And also, if I would had shoved it up to places; I wouldn't be able to write that summary."

He winked at her and walked away leaving Isabella as confused as ever. She couldn't believe he wrote an analogy of the entire book and gave it to her just so she could use it in her assignment. Her perspective of him as the notorious, egoistic, self-centered playboy was no more printed in the back of her mind. 

As Friday came and Isabella finally submitted her History assignment, she then waited in the parking lot, by Alexander's car. 

He was in his gym clothes, walking out of practice all sweated when he saw her standing right next to her car and his heart started thumping again, doing that idiotic thing it always did whenever he got anywhere near her. 

He cleared his throat, reaching near her and she straightened up as soon as she saw him. 

"Hey!" She smiled out. 

He c****d back, while she lost her smile and enthusiasm and slightly regretted her decision of seeing him, but she shrugged off every other feeling, remembering his little gesture for her.

"Actually, I wanted to give you this." She passed him down the copy of the book he lent her. 

Seeing her and her extended offer, he wanted to grab that opportunity right away and begin a series of conversation with her that would lead up to what he had imagine to be the most beautiful relationship of his life. But he held himself back, he was already stupid enough to warm up for her and stay up all night, writing the summary for her. He couldn't melt down for her.

So he simply, "It wasn't mine. It's the library's."

With that, he got inside his car, slamming the door a little too loud and drove away without sparing another glance at her. She wondered if he had a split personality disorder. 

She went home and kept thinking the entire day and it finally came up to her mind that maybe it was Nicholas who had helped her, she must had confused herself between the twins.

So she decided to call onto the number, that contacted her the other day. Luckily, it got picked on the second call. 

"Hey!" She squeaked. 

"Yes?" There was an awkward indentation on the other side of the line.

"Before, you say anything; is it Alexander or Nicholas? Because I kind of think I made things awkward with the wrong twin." She stated with a tint of hesitation in her voice. 

Alexander on the other hand was surprised to see her name on his phone, after what he had done today. He thought she wouldn't care to call or at least strike an attitude like other girls but she didn't hesitate and called him. But her question and confusion, swindled his mind and he let his insecurities win over him. Sensing he was already a hated entity, she had cared to call, to call to confirm that Nicholas helped her, while Alexander being himself was a complete douche in everyone's opinion and he would never help anyone like he did for her. 

"Yes, This is Nicholas."

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For the next two months, Alexander talked to Isabella over the phone as Nicholas, taking advantage of their schedules, he made sure that Isabella and Nicholas never came face to face.

His feelings for her grew even more stronger, he liked the way he could talk his heart out to her, laugh over everything or nothing and things with her were easy and smooth. So, one night, he decided to meet her at bridge over the Greenlake, which was a serene sight during day as many kids passed by over to Greenwood but it was as silent as an owl by night. 

Isabella parked her bicycle, right next to his silver car, she slightly smiled thinking how she once thought of him Alexander who drove a red one. He was already standing by the edge of the bridge, she went by to stand right next to him. He noticed her presence and moved a little closer, as it was a cold November night.

"It gets almost ugly at night." She whispered softly. 

"A metaphoric representation of our platonic senses, finds beauty within the obvious." Alex; who was Nicholas for Isabella spoke up, making her smile a little. 

"I know... never finding the appreciative beauty in what they have to search for." She sarcastically stated back. "Jeez! You should be an archaeologist, rather than being all political!"

Alex sighed a little, his dreams were somewhat near to that but he hated how his family imposed decisions on him and now he was getting into business school. 

"Look at those stars up there!" He pointed at the beauty milky way, clustered in the sky. She turned her head up and saw the beautiful sight of the natural fairy lights. 

"It's beautiful." She whispered softly, while he looked at her, studying her magnificent beauty. She was the obvious beauty but within the past two months he had reached the beauty within her. 

For him; she was perfect without even try. 

Once she looked at him, their gazed locked and that was the moment, his heart knew she was the only woman who could ever make him feel this happy and warm on the inside. 

He leaned in and so did she. Their lips connected and they felt the stars shooting fireworks, all over the sky as it felt brighter than ever, their hearts glowing inside their chests. The kiss was soft and gentle, just the way Isabella imagined her first kiss to be and just the way Alexander's heart demanded it to. She held her nape, wrapping her arms around his shoulders, while he held onto his waist, breaking the kiss away, she shyly hid her face over his chest, while playing with the small band over his wrist. 

He kept smiling all the way back to home, even when he entered inside and went towards the living room and saw his father, sitting with his mother and brother. They called him to join them, as they saw him smiling goofily, while they sat with frowns structured their faces. 

"Well...? What's gotten into you. Mr. All smiles?" Amy questioned her son, happy to see the spark of joy on his face. 

"You don't choose the best days to be happy!" Brandon interrupted while the smile on Alex's face turned into a frown. 

"What is it again Dad?" Alex asked boredly. 

"You should be getting all the details from your brother, who apparently is keen enough to be there and does not slack behind, like you!" With said that Brandon got off his singlet Wing chair and stormed out of the living room.

"Well... there goes his attempt of trying to spoil my mood." Alex chimed shamelessly and walked into his room, shrugging off his father' s snarling comments which always drowned his joyfulness but not today. For the first time in his life, he felt contented and complete. 

___________________________________

A week later, the school set up a Mathematics competition and being part of the club, Isabella was asked to join the competition that was going to be held in New York, while Nicholas was left in charge of organizing the trip.

The two finally came across and she sighed with happiness, excited to getting to talk to him face to face, as she hadn't seen him after they kissed. Nicholas was collecting school ID and numbers from everyone participating while he finally reached her. He couldn't put an exact term to her smiling expressions and tried ignoring her gaze. 

"Phone Number please?" He asked in monotonous tone. 

She folded her arms around her chest, "Seriously?"

He c****d back with a notorious look on his face, "Excuse me?" 

Before he could've said another word, a pair arms wrapped around his waist and turned around to see Emerald holding him tightly and kissing him. All this happening right in front of Isabella, crushing her heart into billions of tiny pieces. But what intrigued her was the thin band missing from his wrist. 

She excused herself and hurried towards the football field. Reaching over there she saw Alexander practicing. It was hard for her to spot what she was looking for from a far distance but didn't hold herself back as she needed answers and rushed at him, while he was completing his laps. 

He stopped mid-track once he spotted her in front of him, almost dreading her presence so close to him. Once he was close enough she spotted the wrist band and tears escaped her eyes. Sensing her gaze, he understood what had happened and he followed her as she ran off, with tears streaming down her eyes.

"Isabella... please... listen to me!" He called her out but she didn't stop and kept running blindly into the almost empty parking lot. 

He immediately caught up to her and stopped her, getting a hold of her arm.

"Let go off me!" She cried, tried getting herself free. 

"Please... just listen to me!" 

"To what? What do you possibly can explain about how you lied to me about being your twin brother." She yelled out loud with thick tears streaming down her face, "Do you even have any idea how messed up this is?" 

He let out a rough breath, his mind spiraled with thoughts but he couldn't come up with an explanation, so he let go off her arm and took a step back, "You're right! I am sorry. I shouldn't have lied."

She stood by frozen; shocked to see his low menacing response. But she shrugged it off and walked past him when he held her wrist, stopping her. 

"But this is just who I am, I always ruin things. So it's better you got to know; who I really am. This is me, all of me. This is how wrong I am. This is how I mess up everything." He almost yelled, pulling himself away from her when she tried reaching out to him. He ran his fingers through his hair, almost pulling onto his own scalp. 

He started pacing around distressed, his mind losing control; as he couldn't have what he had pictured to be perfect inside his mind. 

Isabella stepped ahead and  stood right in front of him, standing on her tip toes, it was still quite difficult for her to reach his face, so she pulled onto his nape, pulling him down and brushing her lips next to his. 

She felt disappointed as he stood still but he was only shocked, to see her affection even after admitting to her about his reckless behavior. 

But after a moment of hesitation as Isabella was about to pull back, he held onto her waist and pulled her; making her smile softly against his lips as she kissed her life into his and he returned back the passion. 

That was the moment; Alex realized that she was pure and he decided to hid his relationship from everyone. Isabella was never a demanding girlfriend, she didn't want to flaunt her relationship with the school's hottest guy, in fact; she liked her privacy. 

But Alex was too private, asking her to hide it from her best friend Sierra as well. 

What really flaunted her heart and increased her love for Alex was the fact that he didn't go to prom as he couldn't take her. The night at his graduation party; where they consummated their love for the first time, he watched her sleep on his chest, he knew she was tired and he let her rest, removing strands of hair from her cheeks. He knew he couldn't continue hiding their relationship anymore and putting it out in the open would only destroy things between them as Isabella would become a part of his world that he never wanted to happen. So he did what broke his heart every second of his life. 

He dumped her and put up a show with McKenzie on the Mayoral Ball, where he knew Isabella would come. He just wanted her to have a reason to hate him and he did what he was afraid to do the most; ruin her innocence. 

A year later, he came back to Cherwood during summer, before the Sophomore year of his college and he wanted to visit Isabella. He sat inside his room, looking over his phone, wishing to dial her number. He knew there was no chance of his redemption but he just wanted to apologize and let her know how much her tears mattered to him.

It was one of those summer nights, when his door knocked and he turned to see his twin Nicholas standing in the hallway.

"Dad's calling!" He said in a plain dead tone. Alex sighed and followed him down the hallway, towards the living room, where their father's wing-man; Sebestain was waiting for the two. The twins shared a look and knew something deep was going on but they didn't expect it to take a such a dark turn. 

They followed Sabestain towards their father's office. As soon as they entered the dimly lit, room they felt a chill wreck down their nerves. 

Something told them it was the moment; their father had been training them for.

They walked behind the wooden book shelves that lead down towards a separate lounge area. They saw their father standing right in front of the large windows while two guards holding down two men on their knees, with their hands ridden behind their back. 

Sensing the presence of his sons in the room, Brandon moved his gaze from the view outside his mansion towards his sons and walked up to them. 

"They were my most trusted employees. They didn't only handled the finances of our family business but also brought us some valuable information down from the CIA and FBI."

He spoke in a monotonous tone and stood between his sons, facing them squarely. 

Alexander looked at his father, thinking about their risky business and realized that for the first time; his father wasn't acting cold and aloof towards him like he usually does. In fact, there was a sense of warmth in his tone that was almost motivational.

"But they unfortunately betrayed us and leaked our information to the CIA!" Brandon tsked, clasping his hands over his sons's shoulders and stood between them, now facing the two beaten to death rattlers, who had their mouths tied with the blood soaken cloth and their hands behind their backs.

Brandon walked his sons near them as they got a clearer picture of their purple-y squinted eyes, bleeding cheeks and bruised lips, while they barely seemed alive. In front of them was the coffee table that held two 9mm pistols with separate silencers placed along with them. 

"Kill them!" Brandon ordered making Alex turn and look at his father's audacity to proclaim those words out loud. 

While Nicholas stood still, looking ahead at the pistols in front of him. He seemed coldly poisonous and careless of situational awareness as something inside him pricked and he bent forward and held the pistol straight, removing the safety first. He aimed at the one man in front of him that he chose to be his victim, who was too unconscious to even react. He held his arms straight, gun upright, just like they had learned during their training. 

They thought it was a precautionary measure; taken for security purposes but never had it occurred to the twins that it would reach to an extent to killing some unknown threat they were informed about minutes ago. 

Alex stood frozen, dreading his brother's action while he didn't even flinch for a second before pulling the trigger and lashing out the bullets right into the man's brain, splashing his blood all over the place. 

Once he was done he looked up and saw his twin looking at him with nothing but complete perturbation. 

"Why didn't you attach the silencer Nick?" His father questioned. While he simply looked ahead at the dead body. 

"Because; it's better to be loud and let your enemies know that you are not in the dark anymore. Let them know you are onto them. You are out there, for their filth and blood. Let them fear you. Their fear is your victory." He stated coldly. 

Alexander knew his cold behavior had to do with his recent incident but he couldn't blame Nick. His father patted his shoulder. 

"What about you, Alexander? These people hurt your name and your family, what will you do?"

Brandon knew his son wasn't as tough as he sledged to be. He was a weakling on the inside and he just wanted to see how he might squirm out of the situation. But Alex disappointed his expectations and satisfied his desires as he bent down and picked the pistol and attached the silencer to it. 

The victim ahead of him wasn't that unconscious as he looked at the gun pointed at him and begin shaking his life, pathetically begging for forgiveness. 

Alex stood cold and frigid, pressing down on the trigger as the bullet squirmed out of the small hole and went right between the man's eyes impacting his body to limp down lifelessly, next to his partner's.

Alex didn't remove his eyes off the dead body and watched as the maroon fluid seeped out onto the wooden floor. 

"Why did you use the silencer?" Brandon questioned, looking at the two dead bodies that marked his sons's first kill.

He expected him to say; that like every other thing he did in his life to please his father, his decision to use the silencer was just another way to please him but again his actions were only satisfying his void of desired towards his son. 

"Crawl onto your enemies, silently. Don't let them know how dangerous you are. Be stronger but be silent. Let them wrench in their own fears thinking about your next move and then finally when the right time comes, put the bullet straight through their heads."

Brandon smirked with satisfaction that he chose the right time to let his sons know, "Never hold back from killing anyone who hurts you, your name or the ones you love. Don't hesitate from snatching or killing for what belongs to you. Always hold on to your possessions." 

And that was just how he became, throwing the thought of Isabella somewhere back inside his mind.

You become a different person, when you kill someone and so did Alexander, who drowned himself in his work, taking over his father, expanding his empire and business, becoming equally notorious and competitive. 

Until that day, when he saw Isabella again. She still had that impact on him; she still bloomed his heart and she was more desirably admirable than before. He saw the way every other man was looking at her in that hall and he wanted to do what he was always taught. 

He was never taught to love or be gentle. He was always taught to use, get, snatch and hold. So he used Isabella's weaknesses, snatched her company, held it against her to get her into his bed and held onto her. 

The night when they had s*x for the first time, after meeting again; Isabella fainted in the shower and once she woke up, she found herself naked in bed next to a naked Alexander. Her entire body burnt with fever but she didn't care about getting sick, she felt filth all over her body for selling herself off. 

She tried getting out of the bed, thinking it was a one night thing that Alexander wanted. Her movements stirred Alexander out of his sleep and he opened his eyes to see Isabella trying to move out of the bed. 

His instincts worked up as he hawked and grabbed onto her elbow, startling her with fear. 

"I...was jus..." She tried reasoning but he pulled her closer, grabbing a hold of her chin between his finger and thumb.

"And what the hell do you think, you are doing?" He glared with threat filled in his tone. 

She gulped hard, his tone and body language, insurging timidity in her weak body. 

His heart pierced for what he didn't show. The mere thought of her, getting out of the bed after one night of s*x, filled him with agony with the thought that she wanted to get rid of him, while his plans were long term. He didn't expect her to be that cold and try to leave him after one night. There was no way he planned on letting her go off that easily. 

"Just remember one thing, I own your company so I own you and your body. You are mine and at my disposal to do whatever I please to do with you. You try to leave, I burn your entire fortune down."

He pulled her underneath him, straddling her body between his. 

"If you think you can get rid of me so easily; then you are in a dreamland, because there is no f*****g way in hell..." He yelled pouncing on the bed, besides Isabella's head making her squirm underneath him, "...I am ever letting you go!"

He felt her close her legs, while he kept a hold on her knee and pushed her leg open, making them stay still, pushing a knee between her thighs. He smirked, showing his dominance, while his hand snaked around her neck, crawling behind her head and grabbing a hold of her hair, making her gasp and pushing her body forward, while he bent his own down, position his c**k near her entrance. 

He held her chin harshly and brought her face closer to his, "I am not letting you go... Not until I am done with you!" He smirked. 

He thrusted right into her, making her gasp with the sudden rush of pain through her body that jolted her senses, burning with fever and ecstasy. She screamed in moans while Alexander filled her body with burning pleasure and satisfactorily filled her insides with their orgasmic fluids. 

Three years later, standing besides his window inside his office, he wondered if he could had done things differently then Isabella's behavior might had been different but to him, he never thought of any other way. All he knew was to force people into submission and be dominant in every thing he ever did. Be it... Love!

Which he barely doubts he ever felt for her, given to the recent revelation of her gun possession which she may or may not be holding to kill him. 

His butler knocked onto his office's door making him turn and look at him.

Ray was his most entrusted person, that he trusted with every secret of his life. He was the only one who truly knew how he trapped Isabella into his web, while even his brother thought that the two shared a delusional 'random-f**k' relationship.

"Well.. sir, I may have some information on Ms. Grace's gun!" 

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