Prologue II

Regan

A few months later;

"If you are still unwilling to tell me who she is to you, I will make sure you won't ever get out of this place."

There is nothing about him I don't know about, but still, his deep-set eyes look unrecognizable now that he looks unfamiliar to me. And I know I am the reason for the monster he turns himself into. 

I didn't expect to come across something unexpected when I decided to leave him seven years ago. All of them believed they had figured out what happened that day to her, his sister, and that's where they were wrong. Everything I confessed before was just a glimpse of that night. Even after remembering everything, I couldn't share that with anyone. I couldn't, and now, I can't still. Or even in the future. 

This man before me blames me for that still. The old me would have accepted all the torments without any protest, but today, I won't. I am no longer the girl I used to be. I no longer live in the past. 

And I have to get out of this place, but I don't know where I am currently.

This morning, I was supposed to be in court, but on my way there, Lincoln kidnaped me from the police van! Wasn't he the one who sent me to jail on the charge of industrial espionage and trafficking? Then what the hell am I doing here in this forest in the middle of nowhere? 

"It has nothing to do with you, Lincoln." I swallowed my sobs, glaring at the man who was never there for me, or ever tried to understand me. Now, he has no right to barge into my life and make his claims about something he has never had that right on, "Let me go. You can't keep me like this against my will." 

Why did I believe that man like that? I thought he was different, not someone I was chosen to expose. Who would have thought he would make me a scapegoat in the end? Now. . .what should I do now? My daughter would hate me. My team would be disappointed. And this would put my brother in a very compromising position, and Lincoln. . .he made it clear he had no good intention with me.

To get his help, I have to bow to him. Lord, no! I don't want to make a deal with this devil again!

"But you know me." He says softly, making me glare hard at the man sitting on the bed like some king. He puffed out a smock, disarming me with his cold gray eyes gazing at me emotionless. "Besides, did you ever see me give a fuck about the law?" 

I choose not to comment on anything on this question. 

I know his ways better than others as I saw how badly he treated his victims.

But why me again? I left him to give him the peace he wanted without me around. After all these years, just why can't he let me live peacefully? Anger surges in me again, and I sneer, "Leave!"

"Kicking me out of my own house?" He chuckles, but his smile doesn't reach his eyes. "That's cute! But Sweetheart, have you decided yet?"

My face burns in embarrassment. I revert my gaze with my jaw clenched.

Pressing his cigar on the astray, he stands up and makes his way to me with steady steps that give me a bad vibe. I swallow at the sight of his muscles bulging through his military short sleeve shirt. No matter how angry I am with him now, I can never deny this attraction and desire I feel at just the very sight of him.

How I wish he hadn't chosen this field, this deadly occupation.

He is still a few steps away from me, yet I feel cornered. "I don't want this. You have no right to me!"

His hands hold mine firmly over my head, soft lips grazing my cheek, making me breathless, and it leaves me bothered. He is dangerous. Corrupted. I don't feel safe around him, but I weirdly feel at home.

Lord, what's wrong with me?

"Don't fight me, Wells." My heart trembles at a growl rumbling in his chest. "It makes me think that you- " He brings his lips to the corner of my mouth and sputters, " -desperately want me to have my way with you." I suck in a deep breath under his taunting gaze. I feel bare even with my baggy dress and woolen jacket I still have on. "What? Did I say anything wrong?"

My lips quiver, knees turn to jello.

He makes it clear. He knows me way more than I know myself, but I wouldn't give in and all his demands.

Never.

Turning my face away from Lincoln, I glowered at him, "Get your hands off me!"

It's a lie.

I know what I have always wanted. Him. Even when I knew that was wrong. I want him, all of him.

His hands, mouth, tongue; I want them all for myself, every inch of my body that is still untouched.

I never hid that fact from him. I didn't see that need to, as I loved him, still do, and keep loving him till my last breath.

I won't mind if he takes me against the wall, on that couch, or on the edge of that bed. Or ever on this hard concrete floor.

But my pride won't allow me to blurt it out to him now. He should not know how twisted my mind is. I am fighting him only because I am annoyed with myself very much. The only emotion I could feel for him was anger. And there I am. I can't help but drown him.

I feel him taking a step back. His breath fans over my face, helping me to recover the disappointment that surges in me after losing his touch. Then he says it. Something I always crave from him, but somehow that sounds shameful when it comes out of his mouth.

"I won't tell you to strip. You stand by that window naked, and that will do."

My head snaps at him, and I look at him with wide eyes.

That is the window from where I attempted to escape under his nose just a while ago, and now, he wants to take me from that!

No, he can't do this to me.

It was his fault. He makes me do that. How dare he decide things for me and then give his word without discussing that with me?

"I have promised her something," The man, who has a smile on his face, isn't for me. It is for her. It has to be. He reverts his gaze to me, and glaring down, he says firmly, "And everything she asks, she gets." The only thing he has always shown me is his arrogance and mercenary love for me. I can only accept everything he says, give in to his demands, no matter how unethical it sounds.

A whimper escapes from my lips as he pushes me into the wall, and his hand slowly disappears under my skirt.

Trailing his fingers on my thigh, I hear him swearing, breathing so harshly that I am afraid of what is coming next from him. My breathing takes a halt as his finger slowly reaches my soaked thong. I flushed crimson, and I could no longer hold his gaze with mine.

Bringing his lips closer, he licks the tips of my ears and whispers, "I can't wait to put another one on you,"

The color drains from my face. Astonished, I pushed back my desire and gave him a look of disbelief.

He can't possibly think of something like that! I looked into his eyes, trying to see a glint of playfulness in them, but I saw nothing.

"You~ "

I am out of words.

With his warm body pressing against mine, and his spicy cologne mixed with his scent invading my nostrils, it clouds my mind and prevents me from thinking straight. But I need to say something or an appropriate cursing word to make him feel small.

Then he beats me to it. "It's breathtaking, isn't it?" Following his gaze, I look at the hill from the window to my side and choke when the next thing he says, "You can enjoy the view when I take you from behind. Grip the railing tight. You know that, don't you?"

My cheeks flame up, making me glare hard at him. I regret the day I accidentally left my diary in his study room years ago when we were in high school. My backpack felt so stuffed and heavy that I had to take out all the copies, and then that happened.

He; teases me with every chance he gets, and I; threaten to beat him to the racing track by every ill means.

"You like the idea, don't you?" His tone is deep and husky, eyes devouring me shamelessly. I blush crimson under his gaze when I shouldn't. "How about on that hill on the rock, Or do you have any other place in your mind? Tell me. I may consider it."

This shameless bastard!

I shudder and close my eyes tightly.

He caresses my cheek, and my eyes turn darker with lust and wanton. It's wrong, but I am losing control.

Only he has that power, that undeniably strong attraction, over me, and I don't know how to handle myself around him anymore.

"Be a good girl and do as I say,"

His tone is rough and authoritative.

The lingering threat in his voice makes my throat dry with dread.

I lower my head and obey him when I shouldn't. Maybe I pray to get punished. If it helps to lessen his anger, I will bow to him.

That is not his fault but mine from the beginning. I am the reason behind this, with him becoming a person everyone fears now.

He bends me against the window and caresses my bottom from behind after ripping my clothes off. His tongue trails on my skin, devouring me, and I let out a muffled moan and bite my lips as I feel him press his hardness into my entrance.

I sucked in a deep breath.

His callous hands grip my waist tight, teeth gazing on my neck as he nibbles my skin, thrusting restlessly inside me from behind.

"She is outside playing with them in the garden, by the way. We should keep it low. Don't want to scare her away, now do we?"

That's how he drops the bomb on me in my high.

My heart drops in the pit of my stomach. "W-what?"