13
Iinstalled cameras in my room and had a guard stationed right outside the door.
I can’t have a repeat of two nights ago, no matter that I’ve seen him outside my window the past two days. My stalker is the first ever person I’ve admitted how much I hate my body. The reason I cover my legs, the reason I wear long sleeves, a jacket, or even black tights.
Going into work the following Monday, I knew I could just ignore everything and focus on my work, on my goal of getting my company back, and stupidly enough, I wanted to face Helia just so I could argue with him and let myself be free. To feel something other than my troubles that I always tuck away before walking outside of my home.
The mansion feels lonely and scary. It’s an empty house that once housed monsters and has turned me into one. Mom has never felt the need to stay home often, I barely see her around.
I hate my father for making me who I am. For wanting me to do so well that I lost myself and destroyed so many lives.
I fired people, insulted them in front of everyone, and humiliated them far more than anyone can handle just to display the power I hold. I held the wrong, weaker people accountable just to show I could do it and manipulated everyone around me. That all resulted in resentment from others, including my sister. Now I didn’t even know who I was anymore.
The day Dad died, it’s like everything shut down and there was finally silence inside my head. It let me think about what I did and the day I made the biggest mistake of my life last year. Aurora’s current state, trauma, and paranoia were heightened because of my mistake. I knew the road from then onwards was going to be rough, but it was one I needed to take.
I needed to make things right.
So I have been trying to locate the families, to ask and beg for forgiveness from them, getting on my knees, offering money in exchange for the losses they suffered. I am far from perfect. I still have a long list to go, but I have to start somewhere.
But still, even after trying to be better, Helia’s words always keep reminding me of who I was. He brings out the past version of me that loved showing people I can do everything. I truly show what I feel for him clearly. I am truthful in what I say, but I know I can be a little harsh.
It’s the way I am, after all.
“Ambrose, get these photocopied, and also, since it’s almost lunch, can you get me a quick meal?”
I get up from my chair and head towards Helia, who is scrolling on his phone while holding a stack of papers. I grab them and wait for him to step aside since he is blocking the whole doorway.
Today, his white dress shirt is accompanied by green dice cufflinks that peak out. His sleeves are rolled to his elbows, showcasing the veins decorating his thick arms that hold enough strength and muscle to put many men to shame. His black slacks fit him perfectly and complement his jet-black hair. He looks every part the CEO today.
Something I realised over the past couple of weeks is that I notice Helia’s arms a lot. Every. Single Time. It’s like some kind of stupid fetish that makes me want to run my hands along his arms, to feel every vein under my fingertips, to know if that buzzing around us would explode into flames or if he will wrap them around me, suffocating me.
His cologne wraps around me like a shadow. I know if I were any closer to him, it would be stronger, and I would be unable to stop myself from wanting to curl around him and placing my face in the crook of his neck to smell him.
He would take the chance to wrap me so tightly, surrounding my body until I am left gasping for air as he sucks the life out of me. His sharp eyes would watch me suffocate. Exactly as a deadly python would.
“Am I supposed to walk through you?” The sarcasm in my voice has him looking up, and I will never fail to feel my heart pound the minute those emerald eyes connect with mine.
They are so deep, swimming with such depth and darkness around the rims that it makes me want to take a picture or a video just so I could watch the colours blend so perfectly on repeat. The few locks of hair falling into his eyes accentuate the scar on his eye, but I rarely ever look at it. Not because it disgusts me but rather because it’s not something that ever puts me off. It makes me curious as to how he got it more than anything.
“Funny,” he muses with a deadpan look. He steps to the side and lets me walk through. Everyone has already gone for their lunch, so the floor is empty. I can feel his eyes on me, the intensity of them a slow torture my body recognises when he looks at me, even if I am not directly facing him.
“Did you run up the stairs today?” I hear him call out, humour in the words.
“Was your coffee to your liking today?” I counter, knowing I made it extra sweet when he prefers it plain with no added sugar. I get the photocopies and his lunch from the canteen, since he didn’t specify where to get it from, and head back up.
I am about to knock on his door when I catch the faint sound of Helio’s voice. I stop and press my ear against the door.
“The new finance team is ready and rolling. Two years will pass easily for me and then I will be out of your hair, Remo. Don’t worry.”
There is a pause.
“She’s working well. Tell Aurora not to worry. I didn’t hurt her sister. I promised, didn’t I?”
I bite my lip, heat expanding in my chest at hearing this.
Aurora asked him to be nice to me? He will leave after two years?
For the first time, happiness expands in my chest and there is a bounce in my step when I knock on the door and walk inside. He puts his phone away but keeps his eyes on me while I place the papers and his lunch on his desk.
“I need to eat, too, so I’ll be heading out.” I turn around, letting a smile stretch on my face once my back is to him and quickening my steps.
“Not so fast.”
I halt right in front of the door.
Does he know I was eavesdropping?
He figured it out already?
Is there a camera stationed outside his office door?
Oh God.
What if he saw me snooping through his office that day?
“You missed one paper in this. You have one job and you cannot even do that properly.”
I turn around and walk over, taking the paper from him.
“At least I am doing it better than anyone else would have done it,” I mutter, shaking my head.
“Repeat that for me.”
I glance over my shoulder. Helia is watching me with narrowed eyes.
“Did you not hear me the first time?”
His jaw tics.
“Here I was thinking you were being a good little obedient girl.” He tilts his head.
I grit my teeth. “Girl,” I drawl, turning around and facing him.
Don’t say anything stupid, Ambrose. Don’t do it.
“I’m a woman, and if I wasn’t aware of your vulgar attitude, I would have thought you had hearing problems.”
He lifts a brow at my comment, his hand fisting at his side on the table.
“Your insults don’t faze me, Ambrose,”
“Sure, of course. With that personality, you probably got used to them.” I don’t realise what has come out of my mouth until I blink and see Helia right in front of me.
His hand snaps out and tightens around my throat, just like before.
So tight I can barely breathe.
I gasp for air in short pants, then I drop everything and claw at his hands, but he stands there unfazed, anger brimming in his eyes.
“I would love to fucking kill you right now,” he grits out, his face so close to mine, his nose bumps against my own.
But I can’t focus, my vision’s blurring, and my ears are stuffed with cotton.
My chest heaves.
“You—”
He tsks, shaking his head, the hold tightening, and I fear if he clasped any harder, I would die right here, right this second, and Helia would feel no fucking remorse. I know it.
“Stay in your place, Ambrose. Remember who is in charge and who owns you right now.”
I can only gasp. My words incoherent.
Tears gather in my eyes, and I blink them back quickly so I can still see him. It’s all a blur. His dark green eyes are the only thing I can focus on.
“Fuck. You,” I rasp out.
He throws me on the floor. I throw my hands out to stop the fall.
I heave and gasp, taking in oxygen after being starved of it for a few minutes, after being hung over my death bed like it was just another day. Helia dances with wrath at his fingertips, happy to destroy the world if something of his is taken from him.
My eyes slide to him, and he crouches in front of me, taking my jaw in his hands, holding me tight.
“I will say this one last time: fix that fucking attitude.” His voice is laced with malice, hate, and rage all combined.
“You took everything from me and still expect me to bend to your will?” I don’t know how I still have any fight left in me after he did all that to me.
He looms over me like an immortal monster, crowding my personal space as if it’s his own and I don’t deserve any. Everything around me darkens, and I can only see him.
“Yes. Yes, I fucking do. As long as I live.”
He raises his hand, and I flinch, not shutting my eyes, instead locking them on his. When I feel his finger trace along my neck, I don’t move a single muscle.
I won’t show any weakness. Won’t let him see that I’m scared of knowing he can end my life. Won’t show him that just the sight of him evokes conflicting emotions, though wishing for his death steals the top spot.
He won’t ever get anything from me.
His eyes, for some reason, show a glint of appreciation. For what? For me standing up for myself and not succumbing to his bullying? For trying to instil fear in me? For the marks he’s left on my neck?
Why?
“Don’t touch me with your disgusting hands.” I slap his hand away before getting off the floor and walking away, slamming the door so loudly behind me that I spot someone at a desk jump at the sound.
How dare he?
How fucking dare he put hands on me after telling my sister he won’t touch me?
That proves to me to never trust anything that comes out of Helia’s mouth.
He’s a monster.
The unapologetic villain in my story.
A fucking nightmare.
One I will not, under any circumstance, let win in my story.