19. "He's not just your culprit, but also mine."
The car swerved, abruptly stopping at the side of the road as Aiden hit the brakes.
I sat panting in shock and fear, unable to process what was happening.
My vision blurred as Aiden unbuckled my seatbelt.
I felt dissociated and disoriented until I felt him pull me to his chest and wrap one of his arms around me.
As my vision readjusted, I noticed him holding a gun in his other hand.
"What's happening?" I asked him weakly.
His hold on my waist tightened as he pulled me closer to his firm chest. "Shhh," he whispered in my ear. I glanced up to see a murderous look in his eyes as he stared out of the window. "I'm not who I was fifteen years ago."
I frowned in confusion. Why did he speak in riddles sometimes? I wanted to ask him what he meant, but that was obviously not the time and place for it.
I gasped as he lifted me and proceeded to shift me beneath the backseats. "What are you doing?!"
"Hide." He commanded.
I stared at him eyes-wide. "Are you going out?"
He opened the door to his side and stepped out.
"No! Aiden! Come back!" I shouted, but he slammed the door shut. I remained beneath the seats, paralysed by terror. Tears flowed down my eyes. I wanted to move. I wanted Aiden to come back. I wanted for it all to be a bad dream.
A couple gunshots echoed through the silence, making me jump and whimper. I couldn't bring myself to move no matter how hard I tried. Covering my face with my hands, I cried loudly, my body shaking as I did.
The next minute, the door to the backseat flew open, and I screamed.
"Shhh. It's me. Relax." I heard Aiden's voice. Blinking the tears from my eyes that partially obstructed my vision, I met his familiar dark brown eyes.
"Y-you're alive." I murmured, surprised to see him unharmed.
"Yet again." He mumbled, reaching out to grab hold of me.
He lifted me out of the car and closed the door behind us. I took in the scene around us. A bleeding man being dragged away by two men. A BMW standing a few feet away with a man standing next to it.
Aiden carried me to the BMW, and the man who had been standing next to it opened the door to the backseat for us. He slipped inside with me still in his arms, and the man closed the door before quickly climbing into the driver's seat.
I clutched onto Aiden's torso like my life depended on him. It probably did.
"Who the fuck was that?" Aiden demanded.
"Sir, he's..." the man seemed reluctant to speak.
"Who?!"
"I did some digging. He works for... Liam..." he replied. I blinked in confusion. Who was Liam?
Aiden's hold on me grew tighter. I glanced up to find his jaw clenched and his nostrils flaring. "Who's Liam?" I whispered.
His eyes met mine, his chest rising up and down abruptly. "Quiet, Aysel."
I wanted to know. I wanted to ask again. But his demeanour told me that he would lose his temper if I did.
We made it back to his place. He carried me out of his car and up the stairs before placing me on my feet in front of my room. "Are you okay?" He asked.
"No." I whispered.
He stroked my face with his knuckles. "Go and lay down. I'll be with you in a minute, okay?"
I nodded, although I didn't want to be alone ever again. I watched him disappear into his room, before entering my own. I removed my white coat and threw it on the couch, before stumbling to the bathroom to wash my tear-stained, panic stricken face.
But what I saw once I entered the bathroom made me scream at the top of my lungs, my hands flying to my mouth.
I dropped to the floor, my heart beating abnormally fast.
"Aysel, for God's sake, if this is because of another cockro—" I heard Aiden calling out agitatedly, but he stopped mid-sentence once he stood in the doorway of the bathroom and saw what I saw.
"You can't run from me, Aysel" written in red paint all over the mirror.
His lips thinned, before he offered me his hand. "Get up."
I couldn't move. "I'm... I'm not safe anywhere."
He grabbed my hand and pulled me onto my feet, but I stumbled forwards, making him wrap his other arm around me. "You're safe as long as you're with me." He said soothingly in my ear, before leading me out of the bathroom.
I scoured my surroundings as I walked behind him. "Why don't you have security? That person broke into your house as well!"
He sighed frustratedly, taking me to his room and locking it. He made me sit on his bed, before calling someone. "Someone broke in. Check the house. Afterwards, send security." He said over the phone and then hung up.
"What are we going to do?" I asked him.
He paced in front of me. "Wait. Let it be certain first that the intruder isn't in here anymore."
"How will we find out who it is?" I inquired.
"CCTV." He replied.
"But... I haven't ever seen any cameras in your house."
"I have hidden cameras." He explained.
My eyes widened. "Are there any in my room?" I asked, alarmed.
He huffed. "No, Aysel. Are you fucking serious right now?"
"I had to be sure!" I argued defensively.
He ran his fingers through his hair, continuing to pace around. His phone rang and he picked it up immediately. He listened to the person on the other end for a few minutes. "Okay." He said at the end and disconnected the call.
"Whoever was here is gone," He told me. "Security is here too. So don't worry now." I sighed in relief.
He walked towards his desk, pulling a drawer open and took a laptop out. I watched him press some buttons on it, and decided to go see what he was doing.
"You're checking the camera footage?" I asked once I stood behind him. He nodded, playing the footage from after when we left.
I watched it with him. The footage showed a man entering the house by simply walking in, just minutes after we had left. It was beyond me how he got in just like that. The simplest and most reasonable explanation seemed to be that he had a duplicate key.
His face wasn't covered, but still was not clear in the footage. Barging into Aiden Knight's house like that, not even bothering to hide his identity, he was either way too brave or extremely stupid.
And then he turned his face in the direction of the camera. Aiden paused it instantly, zooming in on his face. It was crystal clear.
His face morphed into one of pure rage as he punched his fists on table, fury emanating from his body.
I felt dizzy as I stared at the face, horrible memories resurfacing to my mind. I covered my mouth with my hands, struggling to breathe. "H-him..." I uttered, stepping back from the screen as if he would jump out of it.
"It's him..."
A look of perplexity flashed over Aiden's face as he looked at me. "You know him?"
A tear fell out of my eye, followed by another as I took a few more steps backwards. "He's... he's back. He'll do it again."
"Aysel, how do you know him?!" He demanded.
I covered my face. "Help me. Help me, please. He's going to do it again. Help." I cried.
I felt his hands on my shoulders as he firmly held me, shaking me a little. "Aysel! Come to your senses. It's okay!"
"Aiden," I whimpered. His gaze softened. "Please save me from him. He's going to do something a lot worse than killing me."
"Aysel, how do you know him?" He asked again, saying each word slowly.
I whimpered, fisting his shirt. "He... he tried... sexually assaulting me."
His mouth hung open, incredulity coating his features as he struggled to find words. "What?" He finally uttered, his voice coming out as a broken whisper.
I sniffled, burying my face in his chest. He wrapped his arms around me instantly, sitting with me on his bed, placing me on his lap as he cuddled me against his chest.
"He's going to do it again." I muttered, my body shaking as the flashbacks hit me like canons.
His hold on me tightened, his body growing tense. "What happened?" He asked quietly after a short pause.
I sniffled, tears blurring my vision.
"You can tell me." He assured softly.
I took in a shaky breath. "It was years ago.
When I was seventeen... I went to an event with a friend.
Everything was going well until he showed up and started flirting with me.
... I kept ignoring him but then he... groped me.
.." His hold on me tightened even more as I told him the story.
The first time I was letting it off my chest. "So I got mad and slapped him.
.. it obviously hurt his ego. I made it out of there safe and sound but then.
.. the next day..." I squeezed his bicep, swallowing the lump in my throat.
"When I was walking home from the grocery store, he.
.. he emerged before me... and dragged me to an alley.
.." I started shaking, struggling to breathe.
Aiden's hand gently stroked my head as he sat stiffly in silence.
"He tore my clothes," tears started falling down my cheeks.
"And he... he... touched me..." I broke down.
He sucked in a staggered breath, holding me even tighter against him. "Shhh," he cooed in my ear.
"He touched me." I repeated, soaking his shirt with my tears.
"Shhh, Aysel." He said a bit more firmly.
"I wasn't raped," I told him, sniffling. "I was saved by a couple who had wandered into the alley. I owe them..."
He swiped his thumb on my cheek, zero emotion on his face. His eyes, however, brewed a storm within them.
"But he snatched away my sense of security, my dignity, my pride. I've lived with the fear and trauma for so long. I had just forgotten it and now..."
He took a deep breath, wiping all my tears away. I was surprised when he pulled my face closer and placed a gentle kiss on my forehead, before putting his cheek over my head.
"He touched me." I muttered, beginning to dissociate from reality.
"Shhh," he said softly, fixating his gaze on his laptop screen, his eyes becoming alight with rage and revenge. "I promise you, I will destroy him. I'll torture him until he begs for death, but I'll keep him alive. He'll die every. Single. Day."
My vision started to become hazy as the flashbacks kept hitting me. But before I passed out, I heard him say, "he's not just your culprit, but also mine."