Chained Princess

Chapter 14 : Losing Her

K I A R A ' S P. O. V

"Kiara, f*****g help me!" My hand slipped, causing lipstick to smear across my cheek.

"Shit." I murmured, grabbing a wipe a furiously rubbing at my skin.

"Kiara!" Tessa screeched again, her voice raised about ten octaves high. I winced, chucking the wipe in the bin and then dashed into the other room.

A mass of blonde curls, each expertly curled and pinned to her head, blocked my view of the mirror, but I knew what that it had to be bad for all that screaming.

"What? What is it?" Slowly she turned around, and cringed, excepting to see a chipped tooth or angry rash or one of her eyebrows to have been scorched off.

Instead...there was a single red pimple on her jaw. Her f*****g jaw!

I c****d my hips and settled my hands there. "Seriously Tess? That's nothing."

"Are you f*****g kidding me?" She sniped. "It's my wedding day and I'm gonna look like a dot to dot puzzle. f**k, everything is going wrong. My wedding is cursed."

Sighing, I grabbed some concealer and gently started patting it onto her so called "disaster". "Tess, yes the flowers got screwed up but my dad and Kieron are fixing that right now. The car might not be the one you envisioned but you know Kalen will find a better one, and this spot is nothing because you're getting married for love and Kale loves you no matter what...he even loves the spot."

A small chuckle escaped her lips and when she looked in the mirror to see her covered spot, a smile grew on her face. "You're right. Kalen would have said that exact same thing. I just want everything to be perfect."

I hugged my soon to be sister, my best friend and my guiding light. She was one I came for, for everything, she was my person. You know, the one person you know will always be there for you, no matter what, and I was hers.

"It will be, I promise." A rough knock sounded on the door, which was weird since we the only people still at the house.

My mum had taken Stasia to the church, alongside Alessi, and my brothers and dad were sorting out the flowers and the cars. We were due to leave in twenty minutes, so who the f**k was...

"Kiara, it's me." My heart stilled in my chest, and unquenched pain burst inside of me again.

Tessa gave me a pointed look. "Sure my wedding ain't cursed?" I walked over to the door and slowly opened it.

Yep, it was him. Tuxedo on and everything. f**k, he knew that was my weakness. He smiled at my lingering stare, obvious arousal hazing around us. I almost felt naked under his primal gaze. Strange since I was wearing a baby pink taffeta bridesmaid gown.

"What are you doing here?" I hoped he wouldn't show up at the wedding. My heart couldn't take it anymore. No more of his lies, his false promises, his inability to love.

Because despite my past, despite my present, I did want love. I wanted to give love and receive it. I couldn't play games anymore.

"I need to talk to you." He gaze drifted off to Tessa, who undoubtedly giving him the death stare. "Alone, please."

"Kiara you don't have to..."

"It's okay." I told Tessa. Glancing over my shoulder, I flashed her a reassuring smile that I didn't even believe myself. "I'm good." She nodded, warily, but kept quiet as I stepped out and shut the door behind me.

We were alone in a darkened hallway, the lights all switched off, giving the place an ominous glow. I crossed over my chest, as if that would protect my heart from him.

He sighed at the heavy distance I placed between us, but whenever I was close to Aaron, there was something charged between us. Something magical that lured me in, and made me forget about everything other than him.

"Why are you here?"

"I told you I want to talk." He reiterated. I sighed heavily.

"I know but why? To torture me some more, make me hurt, is that what you want? Do you like hurting me Aaron? Seeing me in pain?"

"Of course not Princess."

"Don't call me that." He flinched visibly, as if lashed by my words.

It ripped my heart in two just to say them, but in order to get closure, I needed to sever the chain irrecoverably linking us forever.

"Kiara...I f****d up. I was lost in the moment, in the bliss of us. Our family. Seeing you and my bunny and Caity, it was like living out a dream that was only ever a fantasy. I became immersed in it and I forgot about everything."

"Like the fact that you're getting married? You have a fiancé? Because I told you about Alessi, I told you that I had boyfriend and I was willing to break up with him because of you but you lied. You lied, got my hopes up and then broke my heart in the matter of minutes. That is evil."

"I know what I did was f****d up but just listen me, okay? It's over. I ended it, it's over. The whole thing was just a deal, a business deal. She meant nothing to me, that's why it was so easy to just to end things. I'm free, we're free to be together."

It was a deal. Just a deal. That soothed the pain, a little, but I couldn't forget everything else. He was still engaged, willing to marry, and lied to me about it. Marriage was marriage. I thought Aaron couldn't marry, not that he just wasn't willing with me.

He rushed towards me and grabbed my hands. I noticed the faint scars marring them, the strange contours of the embedded lines, and the rough feel of them against my skin.

"I got into some trouble, six guys on me. They jumped in the alley and then cut up my hands. Barely got to save the left." He recalled, noticing me staring at them.

My blood began to boil, searing rage flooding into my veins. I wanted to kill the animals who did this to him, make them pay, and inflict the same pain onto them. They deserved worse than death, they deserved facing me.

"It's okay, Princess." He pressed his palm to my cheek, causing me to look up into his eyes. A faint smile brushed over his face. "I killed them all, painfully, slowly. They pain for it."

"I don't care." I snapped, shoving him away from me. Even though I did care. Even though i was practically forcing myself to stand still and not fling myself into his arms and kiss him. "Even if you left her Aaron, you still didn't tell me. You still agreed to marry another woman, even though you told me you never would. It's part of the reason we broke up, because you said you would never want what I did. Now you want to be a father, which I'm grateful for, but you never wanted kids, or to be a husband or love somebody. You will never love me. I deserve someone who will love me.

"Kiara please, I'll...I'll be better." I needed those words.

Even if it was pathetic of me, I had grown up watching my parents say them everyday, watched them love from afar and love up close, watched fight but always make up. They would do anything for each other, and even though I know Aaron would do a lot of things for me, he would never say those words.

He knew it and now I did.

"I don't care Aaron because you'll never be ready for a real relationship. When I told you that I love you, I wasn't expecting it back, a part of me hope for it but I didn't need to hear it back. Not right then. However what you said broke me in every way possible because it didn't just prove what everyone had already been telling me about you, but proved my inner doubts. It proved that you could never be the man for me, nor I the woman for you. Maybe Sasha was the one? Maybe you should get her back? Maybe she could handle your dark side but I can't. Not anymore."

"What about our family? What about Anastasia?"

"I'm not going to give you three months." His face turned ashen, and molten anger filled his eyes. Still, I kept my gaze steady.

"What?" He seethed.

"I'm giving a lifetime instead, a lifetime with your daughter because for her to spend it without you is a crime, and for you to spend it without her is hell. So I'll stay or you can try and move, I know that'll be tricky because of Caitlin so for the meantime we'll stay. That means you continue to have a relationship with our daughter but us...that's over."

"Please don't do this. I'm so happy you're staying but please don't end us."

Tears streamed down my cheeks, and I gasped when I noticed his eyes beginning to water. "I have to. One of us has to break the chain between us Aaron. It's consuming us, trapping us, suffocating. I can't do this with someone who isn't all in."

"Kiara I..."

"Leave." I breathed out, not having the energy to say anymore. When he didn't, I snapped.

"Leave!" I screamed. Tears blurred my vision, and yet still I could see the dejected and sorrowful look on his face. It broke me. Again.

As his footsteps got more and more distant, I let myself finally collapse.

***

"Are you okay?" My father asked warily. I knew he was aware of what had happened, well not exactly, but that Aaron had visited me and it ended with me in tears.

Tessa wanted to cancel the wedding, just so we could have a girls night in. I berated her on how it was both a caring and stupid idea. My best friend was getting married today, no matter what. Aaron wasn't ruining that, and neither was I.

"Dad, I'm fine." Anastasia squirmed whisky I tried to pin a flower into her hair. The dress had thankfully survived her many tantrums but her sparky shoes were missing. I guess my baby was walking down the aisle barefoot. "I'm not the one getting married, you know?"

Throwing his head back, he laughed. "I'm thankful for that everyday. I want you to continue being my baby for a little while."

He pulled my into a side hug, and Anastasia wiggled her way between us, not to be ignored. "I'll always be your baby dad, just like this little heathen will be mine." I smothered her face with kisses, causing giggles to bubble out of her.

"It's time." My mum, who had taken charge of wedding duties, announced. Everyone got into position, and I stayed at the back with Tessa, her father and Stasia.

I would be walking down with my baby, since she moved in a slow waddle. A small flower basket hung from my fingers for her to pluck at

"Ready Tess," She smiled at me nervously.

"He's gonna be there right."

"There's no doubt in my mind, and if he isn't I'll kick his ass." She laughed, my mission complete.

"Kiara go," My mum hissed and I grabbed my little girl's hand as we began our descent down the long white aisle. f**k, this was terrifying.

I didn't even know why, sure there were a hundred pairs of eyes on us, but that was to be expected and I didn't mind attention. It wa a knowing that there was one particular person watching me, one person whose gaze who enough to penetrate my soul.

Aaron sat in the ten row, Tristan besides him smiling brightly at me. It shouldn't have bothered me, we ended everything f****d up between us and yet it did. Because I felt naked, vulnerable and scared. He couldn't hurt me though, not like this.

"Mama!" My baby squealed. I glanced down to find her trying to grasp at the basket in my hands. The basket I had been holding way too high. I lowered it and carefully crouched down in my dress. Helping her throw a handful of petals, I rose and shuffled down the aisle, then we did it again. And again.

Eventually Aaron melted away and I became captivated by my baby and her joy in watching the petals float gracefully down to the floor. When we got to the front, I sent Kalen a sly wink and bundled Stasia into my arms, passing her over to my dad.

The doors opened wide again, and slowly Tessa entered on her fathers arm. She looked stunning, and had that aura surrounding her that only brides ever had.

My heart warmed as I caught Kalen discreetly wiping away his tears. His eyes shone with the kind of love you knew would forever be true. That's what I wanted. This right here was what I needed. A man crying for me at the end of the alter because he was so overwhelming in love with me.

My eyes darted into the crowd. Alessi caught them first, and he blew me a quick kiss, seated besides my mother who just crept in. Then they drifted towards the back and I caught his stare, that became intensely smouldering. I was trapped, pinned by the lethal stare. It was intoxicating, dangerous, the kind of look that should be made illegal.

No. I broke our stare, and smiled as Tessa passed me her bouquet. I couldn't get lured in again. I was done with him.

I focused on my best friend and my brother, and watched them say their vows and become one for love. Instead of fixating once past, I dreamt of the future. One that no longer contained Aaron Black.

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A/N: Aw!! Okay, thoughts??

And the next few chapters are gonna be focused on the wedding and a whirlwind of crazy emotions!!

What do you think will happen next?

Is this the end of Aaria?? ??