4. The Installed Fear!

Marona's POV 

I blinked open my eyes and found myself in bed, after blinking for a moment and looking around I realised what happened with me. 

I sat up and rubbed my face embarrassed. God! I made a fool of myself in front of Mikhail. Now he knows that I am still terrified of him and he will do anything to use it against me. Why couldn't I just control my feelings for a few minutes?

I need to do something about anxiety attacks when I see him but what?

Whenever he comes in front of me, I feel blank. Nothing works, my mind feels trapped. 

The maid entered inside with food and I looked at her blankly. Damn, I am missing Della. I need someone to hear me out.

I hate this loneliness. 

"Where is he?"

I asked her as she was about to leave. 

"He went for a meeting!"

She informed me while standing in front of me. 

"And Laurence?"

I asked again. 

She looked at me confused and flabbergasted.

"I thought you asked about Mr. Laurence first... He went for a meeting."

She mumbled confused.

"About whom you were asking?"

I closed my eyes in regret.

"No one, thanks!"

She left when I dismissed her. 

Why does this man engulf my mind like this? Why Mikhail?

I hugged the pillow to distract from the loneliness. Why Laurence left me alone, I need him now. Especially when Mikhail is under the same roof. 

I still remember how brutally he played with me. 

Flashback...

It was early morning and I had already reached the college, I used to stay nearby so I was often the first one to reach for a class. 

"Good morning, Uncle"

I smiled at the security guard. We had become friends as he always saw me coming first.

That day when I was crossing hallways, something caught my attention. There were slight movements in the lab. It was morning and it was weird for someone to be in the lab that early. 

I shouldn't have done it when no one was around but I curiously opened the door and froze in my place. 

There was a dead body of a girl laying on the floor, covered in blood and wounds. The whole classroom was covered in blood. 

I wasn't naive to not understand what had happened to her. Lack of clothes on her body tell the horror story of her last night. 

"Jenna?"

I gasped as books fell from my hands. She was our senior and was so intelligent, why would someone do this to her. 

There was a young man who was kneeling beside her, carefully watching her dead body. His eyes slowly travelled towards me from the body and he frowned. 

"Run if you don't want to end up like her."

Mikhail warned. 

I turned on heels and ran as fast as I could, I had no idea where I was running but somehow I reached the security guard. 

"Uncle, he killed Jenna..."

I panicked as I trembled in shock and fear. 

"I saw him... Lab, blood, Jenna..."

I couldn't understand how to explain him.

"What?"

He quickly got up and rushed towards the lab, I followed him. 

He was equally shocked as me when he saw her dead body but Mikhail was gone.

"Jesus! I need to inform everyone."

After that the news got spread and I was called by the campus authorities and police officers. 

"Sir, I saw Mikhail Delgado in the lab with Jenna's dead body... He even threatened me to run away."

I gave my statement to them.

I thought after that he would be arrested but I was never so wrong in my entire life. Suddenly everyone was trying to prove that there was no dead body, Jenna isn't murdered but has escaped from there because she was involved in drugs. 

I wasn't ready to believe it because I had seen that with my own eyes. They all tried to hide it. 

For many days, I tried to prove that Mikhail killed her. I tried to take the students union in my support but no one was ready to stand against him. 

Mikhail threatened me many times to keep my mouth shut but I didn't listen, Jenna's dead body wasn't letting me sleep at night. 

I wanted everyone to know that he killed her and he isn't innocent like he was showing people. Mikhail blocked my way everywhere, classrooms, hallways, labs and even the ladies washroom. He even tried to bribe me but I didn't listen. 

"Marona!"

The voice principal tried to talk to me in all the chaos. 

"I understand that the pressure of studies can be disturbing and we see things which are not there..."

"Ma'am, I have seen him with my own eyes... The guard uncle also saw that."

I pleaded. 

"He has denied."

She declared and I frowned. They had purchased the guard too.

They called the guard.

"Ma'am, I didn't see any dead bodies... This girl called me to see something but there was nothing."

He replied and I looked at him shocked. 

"Why are you lying? You saw that"

I screamed at him. 

"Marona!"

The Vice principal scolded me and asked the guard to leave. 

"Do you have any idea what you are doing? You are trying to accuse Mikhail Delgado, do you know that this collage belongs to his father. He is a rich kid... You can get into problems, stop it... You should be thankful that you are not dead yet. You have a good relationship with Laurence Delgado, why don't you reach out to him?"

I tried to talk to Laurence too but he was also not ready to believe me. He said that I should stop giving so much attention to Mikhail, he is just a problematic child. 

No one believed me but I was telling the truth. I decided to collect proofs against Mikhail and finally found the footage where he was entering the campus in the same morning, whereas everyone was trying to prove that he was out of town that morning. 

When I was going to the police with that footage, the black SUV kidnapped me. 

I was held captive for the whole day by Mikhail in an abandoned warehouse. 

"Why did you kill her?"

I cried as he splashed another mug of cold water on my face and I couldn't do anything but just gasp because I was tied to the chair. 

The black cloth fell on my face and water started running, my breath stopped for a few seconds but it felt like hours. 

He removed the wet cloth from my face and gasped for breath like I almost died. My chest burned due to lack of air. 

I sobbed and struggled, the wet cloth was still in his hands and my soul shivered at the thought that he would waterboard me again. 

He was standing in front of me with his arrogant smirk along with his best friend Jeh, they both were together in it. 

"It's none of your business, Beautiful... Why are you even bothering yourself?"

He knelt in front of me just like he had knelt beside Jenna's dead body. 

"You deserve to be punished."

I cried as cold water he used on me started freezing my bones. 

"She was innocent!"

Fear in my voice was filling his eyes with amusement.

He laughed at me like I was making some joke. 

"See, I can kill you the same way Jenna died but..."

His eyes travelled on my wet curve which were visible due to wet clothes. I swear, I saw his eyes darken visibly. 

The look in his eyes screamed nothing but darkness. 

"But it will be so unfair to waste a beauty like you..."

His knife travelled threateningly on my neck bone and warm tears escaped my eyes. 

"How many times have I warned you to keep your pretty mouth shut? I have heard that you are intelligent then why don't you understand this one simple thing?"

"Please, let me go!"

I pleaded. I didn't know that he could kidnap me. He was a bloody criminal. 

He smirked when I begged. 

"Your voice is so soothing, especially when you beg..."

I gasped when he placed his hand on my thick thigh. 

"Beg one more time, I am loving it." 

I just stared at him with wobbly lips and watery eyes. 

"I said beg!"

He growled at me and I flinched back with a scream. 

I tried to free my hands while crying on top of my lungs. He was going to kill me there and I was sure of it. 

Mikhail looked at me amused. 

"I don't like when people disobey me and you have amazing quality of pissing me off..."

He tapped on my thigh like he is playing some instruments while acting like he is trying to think about something. 

"We need to break that habit of you... Let's play the game"

He smirked and I looked at him confused, sweat was dripping down from my forehead. 

He looked at Jeh and his friend brought some boxes. I was looking at it confused until he opened it. 

"Ahhh!"

A glass shattering scream escaped my mouth while burning my throat when I saw a big lizard in the box. Fear crawled in each tissue of my body. I fear reptiles more than anything, I don't know how he found out. 

I struggled to set free and finally ripped open the rope from the chair, that time I realised how fear can make you do impossible things. But the rope wasn't tied tight, it was loose for me to open.

A painful groan escaped my mouth when I fell from the chair and tried to crawl away from him and the lizard which he was holding in his hand. 

My frozen body hardly managed to get away from him before he grabbed my ankle and dragged me towards him. 

"No!"

I closed my eyes and screamed on top of my lungs when the lizard nail scratched my hands. 

He placed it on the ground and I scooted back in horror when the reptile started coming towards me. 

"Ahh!" 

There was nothing to hide behind, except Mikhail. I screamed and clutched on him tightly while trying to seek the protection from him which was a myth. 

I heard him chuckle as he gathered me in his lap as we both were sitting on the ground now. My hands were clutching on his shirt tightly and I froze as his one hand snaked around my waist and the other rested on my thigh like he was enjoying it. 

I cried historically and hugged him tightly as the Lizard climbed on my back. 

"Please, remove it."

I begged. 

"Now we are talking."

He praised while playing with my wet hair as I begged him just like he wanted.

"You are doing good, continue!"

I cried on his shoulder and begged as my hands scratched his shirt like Lizard scratched mine. 

"Please, stop this... I am sorry, I am so sorry... Please let me go, Please. I won't try to prove anything, I promise... Mikhail, please, please."

I felt him lifting up the reptile from my back and I quickly turned my head to make sure of that. He was still holding it in his hands. I tried to crawl out of his lap but he held me back firmly, not letting me move. 

"I should have recorded it, it was really musical."

He chuckled at me like my begging really satisfied him.

I was still crying hard because the reptile was still close to me. 

"Stop crying!" 

He ordered but it wasn't easy for me.

He groaned while shaking his head. 

"Stop crying before I make him kiss you."

I clasped my mouth to muffle my cries and cried silently. My wet body was frozen in his lap, lips were wobbling furiously while I was struggling to get away from him. 

"Please, let me go."

"How do I believe that you won't do the same over smartness that you did in the last few days?"

He raised his eyebrows amused. 

"I won't, I promise!"

I promised while shaking in fear. It was of no use either, everyone was trying to prove him innocent because he was a Delgado. 

He hummed and nodded.

"What is that thing which is most powerful in the world?" 

I have no idea why he asked me that question but if I wouldn't have answered then he would have punished me again. 

"Love!"

I answered weakly as I trembled pathetically in his lap.

He looked at me for a second and burst out laughing. He took his time to laugh until I cried silently in his hold. 

"Amore?" (Love?)

He looked at me when he was done mocking me.

"Okay, Amore... Prove it to me that love is the strongest thing in this world."

He challenged. 

"Kiss this Lizard."

I shook my head furiously. 

"Please, don't do this... Please, Mikhail."

He grabbed my neck and held me still as he brought a reptile to my lips. 

"Common, show me that love can change everything."

He mocked. 

I cried when he forced me to kiss the lizard's head and I covered my face while crying hard. He had given me the trauma which I couldn't forget till now. 

"Ouch, it didn't turn into a prince... Your love failed, Amore."

He mocked me. 

I cried until my breathing turned uneven and vision fluctuated, he noticed it. 

He gently fixed my messy hair from my sweaty face but I knew that he was mocking me with that too. 

"I told you to run away but you didn't listen..."

His voice was gentle but filled with warning. 

"Why would you force me to do this?"

He placed the reptile away but I was already in shock, it didn't help.

"I warned! Marona, please stay away from the case but Marona went to the student council and created a big issue."

His knife ran smoothly on my thigh which was covered in jeans, he wasn't applying the pressure to tear it open but he succeeded in playing with my fear. 

"I tried to stop you many times but still Marona wanted to become a knight in the shining armour to protect dead bodies..."

He stabbed the knight near my toe which was resting on the ground and I screamed while struggling to get out of his hold but he grabbed my jaw roughly in his hand and held me back. 

"Think about yourself, save your life before you care about others... You are going to be a doctor not God!"

He glared at me madly.

"Sorry!"

I pleaded and he let go of my jaw but I was still on his lap.

"I'll give you one more chance, run as fast as you can and hide somewhere, Amore. Run and hide somewhere safe because if I find you then you will cry for the rest of your life."

There were weird feelings in his eyes when he said that. 

"I won't do anything, please let me go."

I pleaded. 

"Okay but at one condition. You will go and tell everyone that you did it to get attention."

My eyes widened when he said that. It ruined my image in front of everyone but I had to do it to save my life. 

He released his hold on me slowly like he was struggling to let me go and I quickly crawled away from him. 

He got up but I struggled. My vision had turned weak. 

"Mikhail!" 

I heard a mad voice from the entrance which belonged to Laurence. 

He came to me and grabbed my arm to help me stand. 

By that time I knew that Laurence is also a Delgado but different from everyone. He wasn't a monster. 

Mikhail smirked.

"We were just talking, isn't it? Marona!"

He gave me that warning look and I nodded furiously. 

"Yes, we were just talking."

I agreed in fear. 

"Enough of this craziness... Stop it now!"

Laurence scolded both of us. 

"I am taking her."

I stumbled on my cold legs and at the same time the vision blackened out. 

Strong hands held me up in the air before I could fall on my face. I heard a mumble. 

"She believes in love!"

The voice chuckled mockingly and I sensed my body getting transferred from one to another.

"She is not for you"

"I'll handle her, you do the thing which you are asked to take care of... Close the fucking case."

The mad voice snapped at him and I finally blacked out. 

Flashback Ended....