Chapter Three

Daniela’s POV

"W-what are you going to tell everyone?" I asked him.

"That's my business, not yours," he replied coldly. How am I supposed to endure marriage with this monster, my nightmare? "I'll tell Dan to get your stuff into the car. Let's go."

I nodded and followed him out. When we were out of his office, I saw Katherine sitting at the table. I knew he had picked her, but I didn’t think she’d start immediately. Then again, what did I know about Alexander?

She looked up at me and smiled. I smiled back. I knew she was confused but I couldn't say anything, especially with Alexander right by my side.

He motioned for Mark, who was standing in front of the elevator, to come to him.

"I'm leaving for a while. Inform Jason about this and tell him to call me if anything comes up," he ordered when Mark came closer.

"Yes boss. Should I inform your driver?" Mark asked.

"No, I can take care of this myself. And help Ms Green here," he started, referring to Katherine. "With whatever she needs."

"Yes sir."

Alexander then took my hand, surprised me, and we entered the elevator.

As he had ordered, I found my bag in his car. I searched inside and everything was intact.

"What's your aunt's name?" Alexander suddenly asked and I turned to look at him. He had one hand on the steering wheel and his eyes were focused on the road.

"Uh, Bertha?"

"Is she home?" he asked.

"Yes, why?"

"I want to meet her. All you have to do is to act like we're in love."

"Uh...okay?" I agreed uncomfortably. Maybe I'd just imagine that he was Justin.

Oh Justin.

Maybe now I could only love him from afar. I just wished I could tell him about this so he could perhaps, save me from Alexander.

After that, we were just silent and I didn’t even realise he never asked for directions.

It was when we stopped in front of my house that I started to panic. What if everything went wrong? What if I couldn't pretend like Alexander wanted me to? Would he do something even worse to me?

Stop panicking Daniela, you can get this over with.

I took my bag and got out of the car, then led Alexander to the front door of the house. I inhaled deeply, opened the door and entered with Alexander following closely behind me.

"Is that you, Daniela?" my aunt yelled from the kitchen.

"Yes, it's me," I yelled back.

"Uh, erm...please wait here," I said turning to Alexander. Then I went ahead into the kitchen to meet my aunt.

"How was there interview? Are things looking good?" she asked, turning away from the sink as she wiped her hands with a napkin.

"Unfortunately, no but...I brought someone here so you could finally meet him."

"And who's that?" she asked, getting interested.

"My boyfriend." I managed to say.

"Justin?" She looked confused. "You’re still with him?"

"No, not him. I broke up with him like six months ago," I lied.

"Oh, so you mean you're talking about a different person?"

"Yes."

"How come you never told me about him."

"Well, I'll explain that later. Right now, I want you to meet him, and promise me aunt that you'll not freak out."

"Okay, why."

"Let's just go." I grabbed her arm and took her to the living room.

"That's him," I stated, smiling at Alexander. He smiled back.

Ugh, someone should pay me for doing this.

My aunt's eyes widened as she turned to look at me. "But that's Alexander Jackson. What is he doing here?"

"Well aunt, he happens to be my boyfriend."

My aunt remained speechless so Alexander spoke up.

"Nice to meet you Bertha. Daniela's told me so much about you," he started, extending his arm towards her.

She took his hand and shook it gently, still in shock. "Really."

"Yeah."

"But how did you two get together?" she asked, calming down.

"It's a long story," I added.

"Well, I'm interested in listening. And why didn't you let my niece tell me about you?" she inquired.

"You see, I first met Daniela at the park. She was sitting alone in one of the benches. There, I thought that she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen and I immediately developed feelings for her."

Is he that much of a story teller?

Wait, but did he really think I was pretty?

"Then what happened?" aunt Bertha asked.

"Well, I befriended her. We became really close. Then I realised I was in love with her."

My heart skipped a beat. I had to remind myself that he was lying, that he hated me more than I could imagine.

"And I wanted her to love me back. I didn't tell her about my work and financial status, because I was afraid that could get our relationship messy. I was lucky that she didn't know me before we met. I wanted to win her heart before I told her. I succeeded in making her fall for me, fortunately. So, we started dating."

"Go on."

"I want Daniela to continue."

I was like, what the hell?!

And his eyes were like, don't mess up.

So, I opened my mouth and said whatever came to thought. "Well then he had a fight, a really huge one and I broke up with him because I knew he was hiding something from me. I didn't talk to him for a while until we met again. And that was today. I went for a job at Jackson Industries. That was when I found out he was the CEO. We fought a little and then we made up and finally decided to tell you everything."

Okay, so I did pretty well.

"But I still don't get why you kept this a secret."

This time Alexander talked. "Well I knew some of her friends would know me, and I didn't want her funding out about me through them."

"Oh, I understand."

Finally.

"Well Alexander has to go now. He has tons of work to do." I added just so he'll leave.

"Oh, then I'll see you later," aunt said.

"Alright. See you tomorrow love." Then he walked to me and kissed my forehead. Oh God.

"Yeah, I'll see you. Bye."

Then he left.

Thank God.

"I'm so happy for you, Daniela."

"And I'm happier. Alexander loves me more than Justin ever did."

I knew I was lying to myself.

***

"You're going back to work today?" I asked my aunt. I was drinking some milk at the dining table when she came down from the stairs.

"Yes darling, I've missed the restaurant," she answered with a smile on her face.

She was already wearing her apron and that was weird. She never wore her apron to work. She only wore it when she got there.

Before I could ask her why she was in her uniform, the apron vanished. The clothes she was wearing now we're old and torn, like she didn't have other clothes and she was crying.

She looked like a poor street beggar. I was so confused.

"What's wrong?" I asked, putting my milk down and walked towards her.

"Don't come near me!" she yelled. "They closed the restaurant because of you. I cannot afford this house anymore."

And just like that the house vanished and then I was on top of Jackson Tower, Alexander's building.

Now I was really scared.

I looked around to find my aunt and I saw her standing at the edge. Was she going to throw herself down?

"Aunt no!!"

"What more do I have to live for?" She turned to me. "I should've never taken you in. You could've stopped all this Daniela, but you didn't. You didn't because you're so selfish and ungrateful. This...this is all your fault."

Yeah, my fault, again!

Before I could do anything, she jumped.

"No!" I rushed to where she had been standing and saw her falling. Something else was also falling; my tears.

All of a sudden, Alexander appeared beside me.

"I'll marry you," I cried. "Please stop this."

"Too late," he smirked, pointing down.

I looked down and saw that my aunt was nothing but mashed potatoes and ketchup on the ground.

What the hell?!

"No!" I yelled again. I fell to my knees, then I felt someone push me.

I screamed, my arms and legs flailing in the air, trying to reach onto something, but I kept on falling, falling until I fell on something soft. My bed?

I immediately shot up from bed. I was sweating, breathing hard.

I turned on the light on my nightstand and realised I was in my room.

"Daniela." I quickly turned to the voice, and relaxed when I saw my aunt kneeling beside my bed. Then she put a glass of milk on my nightstand. "Are you okay?"

I nodded, not being able to speak.

"You had another nightmare," she whispered, concern lingering in her voice.

"Yes aunt." I moved over to her and hugged her. "I promise, nothing bad will ever happen to you," I wept.

"It's okay, Daniela. It was just a dream."

It wasn't just a dream. It was a reminder my scar sent to my brain. I had to marry Alexander, for mine and my aunt's sake.