Chapter 5: Be Mine
1156 Words
It was him!
She screamed.
He’d somehow found her and kidnapped her. He was going to kill her. She needed to escape.
“You—let me go!” Cried Alessa, as his powerful arms constricted her.
She raked her nails across his face and he hissed. Regardless, he lifted her in his arms and dropped her into the bed.
“Don’t -” He warned, pointing a finger at her.
She froze, like a deer in headlights.
He slowly sat down on the sofa in the corner of the bedroom, cross-legged: “Judy.”
“Yes, sir.” Said the maid, Judy checked Alessa’s feet. Luckily, there were only cuts to her feet. Judy hurriedly disinfected the cuts and bandaged them. Then she left the room.
The atmosphere of the room cooled down. But for Alessa, it didn’t feel like the storm had passed, more that she was in the eye of it. “I…Why am I here?”
She had figured this was his house already, or at least one of his houses. This guy was rich. Mega rich. That somehow explained why Jose gave her to him, she guessed.
“I saw you faint outside Jose’s apartment,” Brian said, drily.
The memory flashed across her mind and she involuntarily recoiled, scrunching up her face. Was it loss? Sadness…? No, humiliation. “And my clothes?”
“Judy undressed you.”
She sighed with relief.
He grinned but to her, it looked as if he were sneering: “Still shy? I’ve already seen…” His eyes wandered to the tops of her thighs “everything.”
Biting her lower lip, Alessa turned away from him and this place.
But he questioned her closely: “Why haven’t you broken up with Jose yet? And why on earth did you go back to him?”
How did he know? Unless… he’d followed her. Of course. What worried her more, however, was what he wanted with her now. She doubted it was his kindness that brought her here. Maybe for another round of s*x. He might treat her like his s*x toy again, f**k her, and then dump her afterward.
She bit her lip, “Look, any deal you made with Jose involving me – well, it is off. I’m out, okay? You and that sick f**k can just go f**k each other.”
She got out of bed and limped slowly towards the door.
“Wait a minute.” His tone was cool and calm.
Alessa stopped and looked at him warily: “Anything else?”
“Without Jose, your uncle’s workshop will close. You don’t want that. So how about you find another partner?” He lit up a cigarette.
His impassiveness chilled Alessa: “What do you mean?”
“Your uncle forced you to make up with Jose, right?”
She bit her lower lip tightly.
“After everything that has happened, are you really willing to go back to Jose?” She could see that Brian had planned his little speech and, she supposed, much more besides. Confidence bled from him.
Brian breathed the cigarette deeply, his eyes flashing dark and dangerous: “I can help you to break off your engagement, and aid you in keeping your uncle’s business.”
Alessa turned to face him.
“But I have conditions,” Brian added.
She held her breath.
“Be mine.” The cigarette head flickered between his fingers. His eyes were stormy and shocking.
Alessa stood dumbfounded. She had never seen a man talking about ownership of a woman so casually.
“You are crazy.” She eventually said, staring daggers at him. “I’m leaving and don’t you dare follow me.” She asked for her clothes from Judy, got changed, and left the villa.
Brian watched her leave. A smile touched his lips.
****
Seven o’clock in the morning.
When Alessa got back home it was morning and a slant of lemon-coloured sunlight lit up the kitchen. The radio was on and the kitchen was full of the smelt of burnt toast. Patrick was at the dining table reading a newspaper and drinking a black coffee. “Was Jose angry?” He asked, “Have you made up with him?”
Alessa looked over at Mandy: she was eating breakfast in a yellow dress, gentle and quiet and oh so pretty. It was as if nothing had happened. She felt her heart clenched by an invisible hand, finding it hard to breath.
Exhausted, Alessa went to her room without saying anything. As the fever swept over her again, Alessa snuggled deeper into her bed, thought about all the hate she now felt towards her family, and slept.
She awoke in the evening to a knock on the door.
Patrick called her outside: “Alessa, Jose is here! Come out!”
Alessa dragged herself up and opened the door.
Patrick took her aside and said in a low voice: “What’s wrong with you? Your aunt and I finally convinced Jose home for dinner. Now grow up and apologize to him,” he said, leaning in close to her face.
“Uncle…”
“Please, Alessa.”
Alessa forced down the bitterness in her throat, changed clothes, combed her hair, and walked down to the living room.
Jose was slouched on the couch, between Betty and Mandy. Betty smiled at him: “It’s all Alessa’s fault. Her uncle and I told her, fights between lovers are common. Just forget it!”
Mandy had rested her hand on his thigh, and said “She can be such a drama queen sometimes.”
“Alessa, come and talk to Jose.” Betty winked at her.
Alessa stared at Jose silently.
A long moment passed and Jose began to feel a bit uneasy under her gaze. He could sense the anger, humiliation, and hate in her eyes.
“Alessa!” Betty shouted.
She suddenly snapped out of it. “Can you come with me?” Said Alessa, a calmness overtaking her. “I want to talk to you.” She left for the garden.
Betty sounded relieved and smiled apologetically to Jose: “Alessa’s just shy. Why don’t you both talk in private?”
Jose left and Mandy glared after them, a storm passing over her face. Envy stabbed at her heart. She longed for him to take her and marry her. She’d given herself to him and he’d accepted, filling her and completing her in ways she didn’t know were possible. It wasn’t enough, she decided, to be hidden away. Why couldn’t he acknowledge their love? Because of Alessa? What a joke. And deep inside, a plan started to form.
It was warm out. The sun was on the horizon and the sky was orange. Birds sang loudly overhead and a light breeze stirred the long grass. Alessa blurted it out: “Set me free, Jose. Just, let me go.”
- Writer
