Chained Princess

Chapter 16: Demons

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

Holy s**t. I stood there, staring bug eyed and gaping at Alessi. My boyfriend for less than a year that was currently on his knees holding a gorgeous ring in his hands.

His large grin softened. "Well, what do you say? Ready to make an honest man out of me."

I glanced around nervously, seeking for help. All I gained was sympathetic glances from my family and friends, and looks of adoration from the many strangers that surrounded me.

Because of course, when someone proposes, everyone expects the answer to be yes. If you say no, you're instantly the biggest b***h on the planet, no matter the reasoning behind it.

Shit, I really was a b***h.

Whilst busy getting my heart broken, I didn't even realise that I was slowly crushing Alessi's in the process. I was planning to break up with him after the wedding, knowing it would be extremely uncomfortable for all of us if he had to still stay at the house even after I dumped him.

I couldn't even fault the man. He was perfect in every way, and any girl would kill to be this man's wife but...it wouldn't be right. It wouldn't feel right to say yes to anyone except Aaron.

Oh f**k, Aaron. I frantically searched the crowd until my eyes met his. Locked in our gaze, my nervousness broke a little, softening at the familiar blue of his alluring eyes.

Then, I saw the pain, anguish, the fear. He was afraid of losing me, and I could see the regret inside of him. I could see the sorry.

Turning back to Alessi, I smiled and gently reached for his hand. "Can we talk somewhere private?" The crowd burst into rumoured gasps and he nodded, confused. Taking my hand, I led him off the dance floor and into the house.

The subtle melody of the violins could be heard as I shut my bedroom door, and I sighed, hoping everyone would quickly forget the proposal.

"What's wrong?" There was a light smile in his voice but one look at my face at it disappeared. "You're saying no, aren't you?"

"Of course I'm saying no Alessi, we've not even been together for a year." He crossed the room and grabbed onto my hands in a plea of desperation.

"But when you know, you know right? And I know, I feel it in my bones. I know that you're the woman I'm supposed to spend the rest of my life with."

"But what if I'm not?" Sighing, I slowly detached my hands from his. "Alessi, why didn't you ask for my father's permission? You're one of the most traditional men I know and if you were sure about this, if you knew that it was the right thing, then you would have asked me."

"I was afraid." He whispered dejectedly, causing my gaze to soften.

"Because you knew what he would say, you knew he would tell you that it was a mistake, that it was too soon and you would have agreed with him." Taking a step forward, I cupped his face, staring into his deep brown eyes. The same eyes I once fell for, the same eyes I sought as a comfort.

Maybe our entire relationship was built on our friendship? Maybe we were only ever meant to be friends?

"Alessi, I really did fall for you. You helped me when I was trapped in such a dark place. You gave me comfort, and friendship and patience. You gifted me with a kindness I don't think I can ever repay. I will always love you for that, for being my friend when I was all alone and becoming a father figure to my daughter. You were the person who made me feel alive again, you gave me hope that I could more than a mother. Thank you for that, thank you so much but I can't marry you because there's a girl out there who deserves more than me and win you find her I know that she'll love with every fibre of her being. Please, find her, love her and when you're planning to propose ask her father..." We both chuckled. "Then marry the hell out of her and give her the life she deserves."

I brushed away a tear that fell down his cheek. "I love you bella, even if you never loved me in that sense...I want you to know I really did. If I'm capable of falling head of heels for you, then that man is too. He's your one, I could see it when I watched you dance together."

I turned my head and blinked back my tears. "He made his choice, I can't be with him after what he did."

"Forgiveness if hard bella, it wouldn't be true forgiveness if it was easy but...if you love him, your heart will find a way to be soothed, it will find a way to forgive. When it does, let it in. Because we all make mistakes Kiara, some just make more than others."

Leaning up on my tiptoes, I wrapped my arms around his large frame and hugged him. "What if I can't forgive him? What if he's just a monster?" The question haunted me. The numerous warning I received from my friends, Tristan, even Aaron himself.

All of them warning me away from getting my heart broken by Aaron Black, and yet he had done it already. Multiple times, but I was still here, I was still living, standing...and I still loved him.

"No one is born a monster bella, the past influences the change, bad people do. These "monsters' are plagued by darkness, their own painful thoughts, their own demons that twist them into someone deemed unworthy of love. Therefore, they don't believe they can reciprocate the feeling when it's given to them."

"What? Are you my therapist now?" I quipped and we both smiled.

"Be careful, but don't guard that heart too much. Otherwise you'll be left with nothing." Pressing a lingering kiss to my forehead, he slowly walked out of the room.

***

"Where's Aaron?" I had searched the bathrooms, the car park, the dance floor and still I couldn't find him.

Tristan glanced around in confusion. "Uh...he was getting us drinks but that was like twenty minutes ago." I noticed his empty arms.

"And Anastasia?" The worst scenario was running through my mind. Aaron had taken her and ran, thinking I was about to say yes to Alessi's proposal.

"With your father. They're slow dancing over there." I followed his nod to find my dad slowly rocking side to side with my baby girl in his arms. My mum watched on in adoration and even my heart swelled.

"Honestly, he might have left. Watching the proposal...it took a lot out of him. f**k, it was hard for me to watch too."

"I said no." I mumbled, sinking down onto Aaron's abandoned chair. Tristan's lips tilted up into a smile.

"I know that. He isn't the one for you, but Aaron doesn't know that. He looked heartbroken Kiara, more broken than I've ever seen him."

I couldn't let him go again, not without gaining closure, not without trying. Snatching a champagne glass off the waiter, I nursed it down and slammed it onto the table.

"I'm gonna try." I said to myself, before a huge f*****g smile grew on my face.

Running over to Tessa, I pulled her into a tight hug. "Do you have the keys to the Audi?"

She eyed me suspiciously. "Where are you going?" I smiled in response. "Holy s**t! You're going to him, aren't you?"

"I have to try Tess, I love him."

"And Alessi?"

I shook my head. "He actually convinced me that forgiveness is possible, and I should give Aaron another chance."

"Damn, that man...if I wasn't married..."

"If you weren't married what?" Kalen wrapped his arm around his wife and drew her in for a sappy kiss. She grinned him up at him, pure love glimmering in her eyes.

"Nothing Mr Romano."

"I'm glad...Mrs Romano," When he leaned down to kiss her again, I gagged.

"Keys? And guys seriously not in-front of me." Turning around, Tessa dumbs for her keys whilst Kalen glared sharp daggers at me.

"Seriously? It's my wedding day Kiwi."

"She's my best friend Kale, and you f****d her." He rolled his eyes and I smirked. One point, moi.

"Here, keys." Tessa held up the silver metal.

"Why do you need keys for? Are you leaving?"

"She's getting her man." I smiled sheepishly at Tessa's comment.

"Wait Aaron? Or Alessi?" Narrowing my eyes, I punched his arm.

"Aaron dipshit. Can I leave now?" I reached forward to snatch the key.

"He's on the balcony." I froze mid snatch.

"What?"

"Yeah, I saw him go up there like ten minutes ago." My heart began racing, believing I had at least thirty minutes to prepare my big speech.

"You're sure."

"Pretty su...and she's gone."

I sprinted for the house, well as fast as I could in heels, and climbed up every stair until I finally reached the top floor. My hand hovered over the door handle, nervous anxiety fleeing inside my chest.

I said I was done taking risks and yet, this felt like the biggest of them. Come on, Kiara. You've never been afraid before, don't turn into a p***y now.

Taking a deep breath, I grabbed the handle and swung the heavy wood open. He was leaning against the wall, his side portrait facing me, and I watched in morbid fascination as he took a long slow drag of his cigarette and exhaled the deadly toxins.

I always hated when he smoked. He knew that.

Stepping outside, the loud clacking of my heels echoed around us. He was aware of my presence, aware as I slowly approached him like a hesitant prey.

"I thought you were going to quit." When he doesn't reply, I step closer but then he moves, striding so fast to the railing that I'm almost afraid he's going to walk straight off.

He doesn't, of course. Instead he rests his elbows on top of it and peers over the edge. "I said no by the way."

For the first one, his head snaps to me and our meet. I see the wounded pained predator lurking in the deep shadows of his soul. I see a damaged soul I want to comfort, soothe.

I shrug and a mirthless laugh leaves my lips. "Guess we're both just as screwed up as each other."

Releasing a deep sigh, he turns away from me and takes a large inhale of his death stick, before flinging it over the edge. I watch as the ashes float mindlessly in the air, swirling and dancing, the tiny fire embers free of being trapped.

That's what I wanted. To be free, to love freely and be loved freely. No restriction, no chains.

"I'm smoking because the thought of you with anyone else is so painful and anguishing that I would rather be dead. Dead and left to suffer in hell than watch you play happy families with another man."

"But I'm not." I stepped forward and he flinched. Slowly, I took another step forward and watched closely as his knuckles grasped onto the railing like his life depended on it.

I placed my hand on his jacket, then slowly slipped it inside, feeling his taut chest through his thin shirt. My hands traveled his chest, stopping when I felt the rapid pounding of his heart. I settled my palm flat over it, and tilted my head up.

His nostrils flared hardly and his grip grew tighter. The lack of space between us was intoxicating, intensifying every single f****d up emotion and bond there was between us.

Alessi's words came to mind, and then I thought of Aaron. How he seems tortured and pained, yet so sure of himself and calculated. He didn't want to hurt me, he never wanted to be ruthless and cruel, yet sometimes he was. I needed to know why, I needed to help him.

"Do you have demons?" His lips parted in sudden shock.

"What?"

"Do you have demons?" I reiterated. His startled nature seemed to dim and was slowly replaced by haunting agony.

Letting out a shuddered breath, he whispered. "Every damn day."

"Tell me why can't love me. Tell me why can say it and tell me why you hurt me."

He gulped, knowing that was there was no more room for bullshit. If the truth was ever going to come out, it was now.

"You know what happened to my mother...how my father virtually killed her with his actions, false proclamations of love. Hell, she was the first woman I ever loved, the only person who ever loved me back then and...in the end that love killed her. I quickly realised that love never came without strings, pain and sacrifice. I don't think I was willing to go through that again, to watch someone destroy themselves slowly in the name of love. I couldn't."

"That wasn't your fault." Sliding my hand across the railing, I placed it on his, slowly entrapping them as one. "You were just a little boy, your love didn't kill her."

"But it did, Princess. Then and there I made a vow to never marry, because I saw what my father did to my mother. I made a vow never to have children, because my mother's unconditional love for me killed her, and I made a vow never to love again."

It was heart breaking to watch the man you loved most in this world confess his deepest secrets, his inner turmoil. He was suffering through so much pain and anger and guilt. I left him when he needed me most.

"Then..." Suddenly a ghost of a smile appeared on his lips. "Caitlin came into my life and everything changed. I had never experienced a sibling kind of love before and it was different. There wasn't the expectation of love like one you would get from a parent, and there wasn't the romantic love you saw in movies it was just...having someone there for you. Looking out for each other and I guess Caitlin's always known that I've cared for her, I've shown in the way I've looked after her all these years. She didn't need to hear it and I was fine but then you..."

I felt my heart still inside my chest. Is the part where he blames me? Where he wishes that we had never met? Is this how our story ends?

"You came crashing into my life and changed everything Princess. Do you know the moment I first saw you?

I frowned. "Wasn't it that time we met at the club? Tristan introduced us." He chuckled.

"No, no Princess, I first laid eyes on you well before that. You were at ghost, had snuck in with a fake ID and was busy dancing like a mad woman in the middle of the dance floor. I was called down to deal with some business when suddenly this spitfire barrels straight into me and we fall onto the floor."

"What I don't..." Flashes of my first proper night of getting drunk came to mind. Blurs, and loud music and lots and lots of drinks, but amiss that haze was a stranger.

A tall, dark, handsome stranger that I had crashed into, the two of us toppled to the ground and then when I lifted my head up...I saw his eyes. That's all I remembered, his eyes.

Tranquil, darkening blue that mirrored a raging storm. I had fantasies about this dark eyes, f****d myself to the thought of his piercing gaze.

I looked up Aaron, at those same eyes, and released a startled gasp. "You're him. You're the...the stranger I fell on top of...oh my god. I can't believe. I never recognised you or remembered..." I broke off into a laughter of disbelief. "I met you first."

His sad smile invoked the semblance of tragic loss. "I did, and that night I felt my heart beat again. Beat because of a beautiful drunk girl who tried to flatten me, my heart was yours from the moment we met Kiara. When I assigned Tristan to seduce the daughter of Ryder Romano, I had no idea she was you. When you showed up at my club again, I felt something inside of me blossom. I saw you standing at the bar in your sexy skin tight red dress and for the first time in forever, I felt hope. Then I saw Tristan kiss you, I saw his arm hovering over your ass and the look of love shimmering in your eyes. I felt a pain like nothing before and I knew that I had suffered my first heart break, all because of you."

Too much. It was all just too much. The realisation of how we truly met, the weight of Aaron's heart in my hands, the sadness that followed knowing that he had wanted me from the very start.

"Watching you with Tristan every day was hell, watching you love him was even worse. When he left and you showed up at my place, dripping wet from the rain and mascara streamed down your face, I willed myself not to." His hands cupped my face, thumbs brushing away my tears.

"Yet, I couldn't. I wish I could back that night, I wish I could have given you more on our first night together. However, I can't rewrite my past, but I can plan for the future. If I know anything, it's that I want you in it. I want you and Anastasia and Caitlin. I want my family. I need you Princess, and because of that I'm willing to give you anything."

"You don't have to say it...I understand why it hurts, why you can't and I can live with this, I can live with everything bad as long as we're together."

"That's just it, you shouldn't have to live with it." He pressed his forehead against mine, his breathing heavy and ragged. "I love you Kiara Romano, I f*****g love you Princess. More than the gang, more than my own life, more than anything in world I love you."

There it was. The collision of the stars and fate as our worlds finally came crashing on top of each other's. My soul felt like it was being torn into two, one half smashing into Aaron's, as we became unite into one.

"You were never the monster in my story Aaron, you were never the villain. You're my dark knight, the man who battles his demons and mind to us both. The man who would go to the deepest depths of hell for our family, and I love you because of that, because you're the man I want to spend the rest of my life with. I you love Aaron."

In the end, I would always irrecoverably love him and forgiveness was a hard thing to come to terms with...but with Aaron it was easy. That love made it so, the love helped us and broke us and we needed it. Forever.

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A/N: Okay, so I'm emotionally numb right now! ??

Holy f**k that was so hard to write and I'm over my three thousand word limit for the chapter so unfortunately the next chapter will contain the supposed to be second half of this one!!

What did you think?

Are you happy with the love confession? Only took like sixty chapters to get here! ?❤️