CHIARA
He opened the door for me once we reached the entrance. I took in the interior design, and even though I would never voice it, this house looked like it belonged to some royale. The gold and black contrasted too much. The furniture, window seals, long curtains, the walls and paintings, the royal staircase that almost made me lose my front teeth, the big eye-catching chandelier that hangs from the ceiling. Just perfect. And to think that he might've done all of this because of me had my head spinning and my heart in denial. These were my two favorite colors for fuck's sake!
A brown-skinned woman dressed in a black body-fit suit stood against the wall with a face that said 'Don't talk to me. Don't even look at me if you can'. I knew that look very well. As if noticing our staring exchange, he said, "That's Storm. My bodyguard." And the woman did nothing to acknowledge me and just looked at me nonchalantly, her hand playing with her long braids. Her jaws were sharp, like her thin almond-brown eyes that took me in deeply as though she was assessing my soul. Her jealous-worthy, full lips were sealed shut, but I could tell that she had a lot to say about me. I hated her. I just knew. I held my ground and stared right back at her.
"Um…let's head back to the room first." Carmelo broke our intense competition and gestured for me to the stairs. "She is following us," I uttered when we were halfway up. "She is everywhere I go, love." He replied. "Like your shadow?" I asked while walking beside him in the long corridor. "Yes." I didn't turn back, but I could sense her right behind us. Her aura was too strong. Just like in the past, nothing had changed about her. "Are you two fucking?" We reached the end of the corridor. "What?" he chuckled, shaking his head, and opened the door for me. "No. No, we don't. Our relationship is more like… a family." He explained. Did she think the same as you? Because I could sense something. Call it a woman's hunch.
The door it clicked shut behind us. "Ask me whatever you want. I'll tell you everything as I promised you." He said, standing with his hands crossed behind him. I walked around the room, tracing the pictures on the walls. He could make an entire journal out of these pictures. "Wait, are those my graduation pictures? How did you even take those? I was in Harvard for God's sake." I turned to him to find him smiling from ear to ear, and let me tell you, my heart flipped from its beauty. I'd seen him smile before, but it was nothing like that. This one was…warm, soft and genuine.
"Harvard is where everything has begun, love." He touched my face in the picture so lovingly. "I was there the same year as you. The only difference was that I was a senior, and you were a freshman. And Storm took most of these pictures." I still couldn't understand. "How did you…you know, get interested in me?" He treated me differently from what he was showing and speaking right now.
His smile widened. God, was he always this good-looking or had I gone bonkers? "It's funny. That night, I was coming from a club with friends. I was drunk and looking for someone to sleep with, and I stumbled on you." He said. "Me?" My eyebrows drew together. "Yes, you. And you rejected me." He chuckled, rubbing his chin. "And when I tried to put a bill on you, you slapped me hard and walked away. I was drunk, but I couldn't stop thinking of you ever since." I remembered no such thing. "I know, you might think I'm crazy." I wordlessly looked at him.
"I don't think you're crazy. You are crazy." I moved to the other wall, trying to ignore the fact that my heart was racing at his words. I smiled seeing a picture of me and my university friends at some diner. I'd cut them all off for their protection. "This—" I swallowed, reminded of that night. "The cruise party." He finished it for me.
In the picture, I was asleep, my brown hair pooled over my head, and I was tucked in.
"Here," he placed a familiar throwing knife in my hand. Wait a goddamn minute! I turned to him wide-eyed, and a gasp left my parted lips. "It was you. You killed Alex." He nodded. "And I would do it all over again. Each time, crueler than before." He deepened his hands in his pockets, his dark eyes not faltering or showing even a slight remorse. "You stabbed him on different parts of his body and threw his corpse in the lake, for me?" I hid my shaking hand behind me. This man risked his life, business, and everything for me? I was scared of the answer more than the question itself.
He looked down. "You just don't know how shocked and scared I was when you drowned. I felt like my heart was ripped out of my chest and crushed." He chuckled. "I think I did lose my mind at some point. I heard your cries as I neared your door. It was so painful to listen—Oh God," He breathed deeply. "I kicked the door and found him on top of you, and you were unconcious, and he was about to—" His hand fisted against the wall, veins popped on his neck and forehead. My lips trembled "Rape me." I stated for him, watching his eyes darkening.
"I was going to choke him to death, but then I remembered you liked your throwing knives so much." A smile replaced the dark cloud that was shadowing his face. "I left Storm to take care of you. I dragged him to my room. When I asked why he attempted what he was about to do, he said because you were arrogant, and you thought the world revolved around you. He would never get to know this, but there is an entire world that revolves around you. Mine." He said with so much venom in his voice.
I just stared at him in awe. "That filthy thing thought he could touch you and get away with it. Nobody harms my woman and lives to see another day." My woman. I didn't know what to feel. Should I have been thankful? Happy? Scared? I didn't know what to think of him, and the more he revealed to me, the more my heart tightened with fear.
I'd never felt this fear when Antonio did countless unspeakable things to me.
This was a new type of fear. And it was threatening everything that I had built so hard. I was so scared that I wished I could disappear before he opened his mouth again. Nobody has ever done such a thing for me. I always killed for Antonio or my reasons, but hearing someone had killed for me? Having someone protecting me? That was too much to take in. I always protected myself.
Tears filled my eyes. I sealed my mouth from letting the cry out loud, so it came out like a painful groan. I felt suffocated all over again and started to hyperventilate. "What is happening? What's wrong? Are you alright?" he moved closer to me. "I can't—I can't breathe! I can't breathe!" I fell in his arms.
"Calm down and try breathing slowly. Breathe with me slowly, baby. Don't worry, I'm here." He said, holding me closer to himself, his panic was tightening my chest even further. Why did he care so much about me? "Call the doctor, Storm. Now!" he barked. "Yes, boss!" I saw the woman leaving the room while being on the phone before my eyes shut.