It wasn't late when Alexander came back to the house. At least, not as late as he usually did Annie noted. It had been a few hours since Chris left, Annie often wondered where he went. Why was she trusted alone in the house for any amount of time let alone a few hours or more? She assumed there were people outside, she's ashamed to admit she never checked the door, never even tried. The thought hadn't even occurred to her. "Your home early." Annie mused, she was watching some show on the TV, it was nothing she was overly focused on, just something that had become a part of her routine. "It's nearly midnight." Alexander smiled sleepily at the girl, covered in a blanket on his sofa who teased him about something as silly as the time. "Earlier than usual." Annie kept her voice light but kept a distance. Alexander was dangerous and Annie knew that now, even if she refused to truly accept it. "Right." Alexander smiled, amused by how this bright, attractive female he had imprisoned in h
Alexander was furious. There was too much going on. His father. The rat. The Black Heart Gang. Losing money from the casinos. It seems everyone thought he was nothing but a joke. On top of that he couldn't have a single interaction with Annie without it completely falling apart. Everything was frustrating him, pushing him to his limits. A knock came at Alexander's door. Alexander groaned, he assumed there would now be a new issue for him to deal with. There was always something else, even when he thought he was done for the day, something else would happen. Something would always need his attention. "Come in." Alexander called his voice hard and authoritative. He knew whatever had happened was not the fault of whoever was knocking on his door. Adam opened the door, his gaze anywhere but Alexander. There was an understanding that someone of lower rank could not look Alexander in the eyes, and some took that to mean they could not gaze at him at all. It frustrated Alexander as this sic
Alexander didn’t get home until late again. It had been a long day. He was tired, exhausted. Following his routine he went to the kitchen and found the food Annie had prepared for him hours earlier. He was grateful for her, before she had moved in he couldn’t remember the last time he had a proper meal. However, she didn’t just move in. She wasn’t just some guest from out of town coming to visit, wasn’t a girlfriend he was taking a big step with, she wasn’t here by choice Alexander reminded himself. He was holding her captive. She was his victim. Alexander frowned, Annie was still feeding him, reminding him to eat in such a small way that meant so much to him. Alexander decided he would do something nice for her for once. Something that would make a statement. Something that would hopefully make her like him. Alexander ate while thinking over his options. He had just finished eating when he heard Annie’s soft footsteps coming down the stairs. Alexander smiled to himself, he would mak
Annie was on edge from the second she woke up the next day. The early morning coffee she had did nothing to ease her nerves. She didn’t have long to wait until Cindy and Bailey showed up, both looking absolutely stunning. Annie felt inadequate next to her friends. Annie smiled brightly at her friends, offering them some of the pancakes she had made that morning. Both girls accepted and the three sat, laughed and chatted. It was another two hours before they ended up leaving.“I need coffee!” Bailey groaned, everyone knew Bailey had more than a small caffeine addiction. “We’ll drop by a starbucks.” Cindy giggled at her friend. Cindy was the one who drove since she had the biggest car. Apparently, Cindy didn’t feel comfortable in other people’s cars, Annie didn’t know why and despite her curiosity she didn’t feel right asking. They may have been best friends as children, but they weren’t children. Cindy didn’t owe Annie anything in Annie’s mind. Even if Cindy felt much differently, in
Alexander had a very different day. Jason had stormed into his office in the early hours of the morning. There was an emergency according to him. “Alex, mate, seriously this is getting ridiculous. We need more men.” Jason complained, trying to erase the idea that there could be a rat within their ranks. Instead he wanted to play the ‘we don’t have enough men’ card. Alexander wasn’t buying it. No matter how hard Jason pushed it, Alexander just knew that there was something off. Something smelt too fishy for it to be an innocent case of not enough numbers. Alexander was confident in his numbers. He was sure there were enough men at each site. “Jase, I have enough men.” Alexander groaned. There was a mole. There was a rat. There was a leak. It was the only option. Alexander had recruited men, quite half haphazardly in retrospect. He knew there was no possible way for it to be anything other than someone talking to an enemy. Unfortunately he didn’t know which enemy. Within his line of w
Cindy received a text from Alexander telling her he would be home soon. Cindy hoped the girls would have enough time to put on Annie’s stunning new dress and do the finishing touches of Annie’s make up. Annie looked at the girls with pure excitement as they placed her delicately in her dress. Cindy hoped tonight would be the night the two finally connected and started to become friends. Cindy felt a spark between them, but knowing the situation knew that a relationship wouldn’t bloom overnight, even if it did she knew it wouldn’t be healthy. So she was hoping, praying, that instead they could be friends. Eventually they would be lovers and Cindy could make a speech at the wedding. Bailey helped, smiling at the bazarness of the situation. Bailey was never a believer in fate, but she couldn’t help but think there were some high powers involved in this entire situation. Bailey watched as Annie, Cindy’s childhood best friend, dressed into a magnificent red dress that hugged her curves. S
The drive to the restraunt was awkward. Neither Annie nor Alexander knew entirely what to say to each other. Alexander had said this was a chance for he and Annie to talk and for her to ask any questions she had on her mind. However, Annie wasn't sure where to start. There were obvious questions she could ask, but she honestly didn't know where to start. It took them around 15 minutes to get to the restraunt. 15 minutes of awkward silence. The car radio had stayed silent throughtout the whole drive. Annie had longed for some music, something to fill the air with sound, but Alexander had shown no sign of wanting the radio on so she left them in silence. When Alexander finally cut off the engine after parking in an empty space. Annie was surpised to find that the car park was largely empty, she was expecting a busy, lavish place. The restraunt looked so fancy, Annie wondered why there weren't more people. "I booked the entire restraunt. I wanted to give us privacy," Alexander said, al
Alexander keeps his eyes on the road. When he sees the turning he indicates and pulls over to the side. His mind is running on overdrive and he can't help but worrry about what comes next. Years he spent controlling his emotions only to be brought down by an innocent woman he remembers as a girl he fell in love with. Annie made him feel something he had never felt before and has never felt since all those years ago when they met, she also shared apart of herself and so he's decided to do the same tonight. He knew there was no chance she would choose to stay with him, she has no reason to. But he hoped she would stay in contact. Was that too much for him to hope for? Alexander certainly thought so, but he held onto a small hope they could once again share one more magical night together that he could continue to hold and cherish in his memories. "Where are we?" Annie asks sounding slightly worried. Alexander instantly feels guilty. She's scared of him now, he knew that. Again a buildi
Annie woke up alone in her bed, just as she had fallen asleep. Last night as Annie and Alexander went their separate ways Annie couldn’t help but wish they had been going to bed together. She could only imagine how wonderful it would be to wake up next to him, but she knew that would send him the wrong message. Annie wasn’t going to jump into this relationship, she wanted them to last and be a happy couple. She wanted others to look at Annie and Alexander and be jealous, or think that that’s what they aspire to be with their partners. Annie had always dreamed of being apart of an ‘it’ couple and soon she hopefully would be, she knew that would only happen with time. Annie rolled over in her bed and sent a text to all her friends. The time difference meant it was unlikely that anybody would be up, but she hoped they’d reply when they woke up. She did miss her friends from back home, but she would be lying if she said she didn’t like the break this allowed her to have. She liked that i
Alexander stood breathless as a nervous Annie walked down the stairs. Alexander had only been a few minutes before Annie, but he was glad he got to see her like this. Part of him waished he had suggested that they had stayed in tonight rather than go out, another larger part of him was glad he got to show Annie off. He was amazed that he would get such a beautiful woman on his arm. The part of him that wished to keep Annie locked up was ignored as he took Annie's hand. "You look stunning," Alexander almost gasped. Annie's cheeks turned the colour of blood when she blushed at Alexander's comment. "Absolutely georgous." Alexander smiled oh so charmingly at Annie and her heart couldn't help but skip. "Thank you." Annie hestitated, feeling awkward and unsure how to continue. "You look incredible." Alexander ssmiled towards Annie, his eyes seeming to twinkle with the love and joy he felt as he gazed at her. The two stood, silently admiring each other. The two had no idea how their night
Annie and Alexander slowly settled into their seprate rooms at the villa. Alexander had offered to share a room with Annie, he even had hpoped that she would want to, but she of course said no. Annie spent hours unpcking and praying that she would have anything she needed. Annie had never been on a holiday abrord before and felt like no matter what she did, she would always be underprepared. Annie had finally unpacked hours later and decided to call Kaylee back at home before she went to dinner with Alexander. Annie and Alexander decided they would have a real conversation that night at dinner. They both hoped that their conversation would bring them closer together and that it would mean that they could finally begin a relationship together. "Kaylee!" Annie squeeled when Kaylee answered the call. It was just an ordanary call which Kaylee was glad about. She knew it was late back home where Kaylee had been waiting for her call. Kaylee would never admit it to Annie, but she didn't mi
Back at home Kaylee was waiting for Annie’s call to tell her everything about just how terrible the flight was. As Kaylee waited she decided she would need to do some damage control with those around her, especially Mason as he was the only one she believed would ever really be on her side. Luckily, living with him gave her the best opportunity to talk to him. He was still out while Kaylee waited for Annie’s call, but she knew he would be back soon. It was hours before Mason came home, when he came home Kaylee had yet to receive a call from Annie. She was beginning to worry that maybe Annie didn’t consider them as close as she thought. She quickly washed that thought away because there were ways to fix that and Kaylee would do whatever it took. Kaylee didn’t want Annie to have anyone left and it was important to her plan that Annie felt isolated. For now Kaylee would work on her friendship with Mason. “Hey Kay,” Mason smiled at her as he walked into the living rooms where Kaylee was
Annie and Alexander'd car ride was tense and awkward. Annie had barely managed to pack before Alexander appeared telling her it was time to leave. Annie was immediately infuriated, he was always telling her what to do, always the one in control, making plans for her rather than with her. The very fact that he assumed he could order her about frustrated her even more. She hated that everybody else seemed tio be on his side, always backing him up. Annie tried to call Rebecca before she left, she was one of the only ones that would maybe support her rather than blindly following Alexander's lead, but she didn't pick up. Annie was starting to feel pretty helpless. She realised that there was no where she could really go to get away from Alexander if she ever wanted to. Everyone lived in his back pockets. The thoughts depressed her just as much as they scared her. Annie spent the whole drive slowly stewing and thinking of a way that she could confront Alexander with her thoughts and feelin
Annie guided Kaylee towards her room even though the effort was unnecessary. Kaylee had been to Annie’s room before and so the girls quickly found their way there. When the door was safely shut Kaylee let out a sigh of relief. “My god they hate me!” Kaylee cried. Annie shook her head. “They are definitely on edge, I can’t believe they thought that I would do anything!” Kaylee was outraged at their implications. She hated being suspected and if anything that would make it much harder to complete her end goal. It seemed the universe wasn’t on her side. She knew she would need to isolate Annie from her friends but now it was more vital than ever. “I mean I can’t blame them,” Annie defended. With what had happened she couldn’t imagine her friends being laid back about the whole situation. Annie knew that this was a huge problem, it meant somebody knew where Alexander lived. She wasn’t sure it was a targeted attack, but it was certainly cause for concern. Annie assumed that nothing like
Everybody was surprised to see Kaylee arrive at Alexander’s house. They were all on high alert and Kaylee’s unexpected arrival made her instantly a suspect. Kaylee had been expecting this, but the accusation on their faces made her feel hurt. Even though she was the culprit she was hurt to find they really would suspect her if she gave them any small reason to. Only Mason seemed understanding and happy to see her. Their friendship was something she knew she wanted to nurture and she hoped that it would become a real friendship, it already felt like one. She hated lying to him but after their conversation earlier she realised it would be a mistake to tell him the true. “What are you doing here?” Cindy demanded, standing between Kaylee and the stairs. Kaylee frowned, Annie wasn’t downstairs which would have been the most helpful thing right now. Kaylee already had her answers ready but she made sure she looked truly shocked and slightly scared, she hoped she had pulled it off before sh
Annie immediately rushed to her bedroom under the pretence of excitement. Instead she was rushing to call Kaylee and get some answers. Everybody would not look so grave and secretive over some silly holiday, she wondered how Alexander thought it would be an appropriate time to take a holiday. For weeks it had seemed that Alexander could not spare a few minutes of the day, he had barely even slept, and now he was proposing a holiday. Annie wanted some answers but it seemed that nobody was willing to give her any. Annie had hope that Kaylee would be different, so far Kaylee had been open and honest in Annie’s mind. They had started to grow a friendship and Annie hoped that would mean Kaylee would tell her what the hell was going on. Kaylee had less loyalty to Alexander is what Annie assumed, it’s one of the things that made Kaylee so easy to talk to. Kaylee hadn’t been working for him for years and so Annie hoped this would make Kaylee even more likely to spill the beans. As soon as An
Annie woke up to Kaylee’s phone call and was instantly on edge. Kaylee refused to tell her what was going on, it was the second call in under a month that left her feeling uneasy and on edge. The last one had made no sense but at least this time she knew who had been calling her. Annie had never been great at waiting, nor being in the dark. Annie had lived a sheltered life which meant she knew very little about the world around her. Annie knew even less about the darkness of Alexander’s world and so this new feeling of fear was unknown to her. In her head everything was safe until now when it seemed everything fell apart. Annie stormed to Alexander’s office only to see everybody there. Instantly she knew something was wrong. She had yet to go downstairs to discover the artwork that somebody had thought the walls needed to be complete. “What is going on?” Annie demanded, she was sick of being treated like a child who needed to be protected from everything. “Nothing.” Everyone said.