Chapter 3

I smirked inside my head. Should I thank him for stopping him or not for he would just delay my death? Now or later, it was the same. They would kill me anyway.

“Oh, is it?” Dominique mumbled as he grinned at my face. “Lucky little angel,” he gasped, then pushed me hard against the wall as he threw the gun at one of his comrades.

“Be sure not to let her escape from here,” he ordered before he stepped out of the mansion with a pack of armed men.

I crumpled in fear. As I clutched my face and I breathed heavily, I felt a sudden relief.

“Everyone, get back to your stations!” Thalem commanded once more and everyone went off. 

It was not long before I noticed that my nose and mouth had blood in which gave me reason to sob in frustration. I could feel my temples throbbed and my body felt really tired.

I was the only one left behind with Thalem in the living room, and before I could be able to notice that he was in front of me, black dots came covering my vision. How I wished these were just only a dream.

I hugged myself as I felt the coldness inside the room. I didn’t know how long I had been drifting in and out of consciousness. I moved slowly and sat on the bed. I rubbed my eyes and nose, and was frantic for a moment because of darkness until I accidentally thrashed around the sofa and heard someone moved.

“You’re awake.”

I startled a little, not until the lights turned on and saw Thalem, the most beautiful man around the mansion. His towering height made me lift my head as he walked near the edge of the bed after he switched on the lights.

“Where are we?” I managed to ask.

With his plain face, he answered, “My room. You collapsed.”

And I easily remembered what happened to me as Dominique and his men welcomed me.

***

As a guest of this unknown men, I received a really warm welcome. His big rough hand suddenly cracked across my face as soon as he drew near me, snapping it back with the force of his blow, causing my head to reel sickly as it slammed into the wall behind me. All I could do was to moan in pain.

A second after as I felt he wasn’t satisfied at all, he forcibly removed the tape from my mouth and he pulled my hair. The slap I got from this man was as loud as clap which for sure had left a welt on my face. I was badly hurt, but I managed to stand again. I staggered backwards, eyes watering.

“You’re beautiful than I thought,” he said, smirking. “Welcome to my territory.”

He was in a terrible reak of alcohol and I could clearly smell the stinky cigarette from him. As he slackened the grip from my hair, he grabbed the gun and pointed it on my forehead. 

***

I held my face and I could feel that it was still swelling. I breathed as I gritted my teeth. “Why don’t you just kill me?”

I sounded so brave and ready to die, but it was all fake. I had never imagined to die at young age in a situation like this.

But instead of getting mad or anything, Thalem remained calm. “Go get cleaned up,” he said softly and yawned.

I held back my tears and breathed. I somehow felt unbothered. I still couldn’t understand what was really happening. Did he stay on the sofa earlier to look after me? Besides, why he seemed so warm to me all of a sudden?

He was different from earlier. It was as if he was changed from really a bad guy into an angel-like creature for being soft.

“Hey!” That made me jumped at my feet. “Stop looking at me. Go to the bathroom and wash yourself. Tss,” he wheezed out as he caught me looking at him again.

To my surprise, I immediately moved out from bed while he rested on the sofa again. Perhaps, I should be thankful that he was in his mood right now; in his mood not to put a bullet inside my body. Or maybe I was just imagining things? He didn’t change a bit at all. He still kidnapped me.

“I’m sorry,” I apologized.

“Just go,” he said with his husky voice, then closed his eyes.

“Yes.”

It was really weird. I expected that he or someone would escort me even inside the bathroom just to make sure I wouldn’t escape, but he just let me all by myself. How I wished I could really escape from those armed men, especially with Thalem.

I roamed my eyes around before heading to the bathroom. The room was really likely Thalem’s bedroom because it’s definitely lacked of woman’s touch. The room was huge and looked like a guest suite in an Italian palace. He had his own thirty-six-inch television with DVD, a king-sized bed with an expensive silk sheet, and in the side of the floor-to-ceiling window was his private balcony. When I finally made my way into the bathroom, I gaped at the size of it. There was big tub and a Jacuzzi.

“They’re pretty rich,” I whispered under my breath as I turned on the shower.

I quickly stripped down as I noticed that everything was made in marble and handcrafted tiles. I walked cautiously over the full-length mirror, and I saw my face a little swollen as well as the small cut under my eye.

“I wonder what I’ve done to be in trouble like this,” I mumbled as I stayed under the shower. I felt so frustrated!

At that moment, I remembered what had happened before I was kidnapped—Rygel.

I was heartbroken. All the pain started to gather in my heart and it was killing me. It was suffocating!

Helplessly, I punched the wall and cried, “I still couldn’t believe that you broke up with me, Rygel. You said you were going to protect me. You even promised me that you’ll never let anyone to hurt me, but what?” I heaved a deep sigh before I swooped my hair. “Fuck!”

But we were over and I was kidnapped. Myself first before anyone.

After a few minutes, I finished washing everything with men’s products. What could I do? They were all men here. I wrapped myself with the towel I found inside the bathroom, then stepped out. To my surprise, I saw Thalem sitting on his bed with a pile of clothes on his lap.

Hi stormy eyes started looking at me, sweeping over my body, so my hold on the towel tightened. He immediately looked away after he saw how uncomfortable I became.

“Sorry,” he mumbled. I just bit my lower lip because words just couldn’t come out from my mouth.

“Wear this. I’ll wait you outside. Late dinner’s ready,” he added as he put the clothes down, and marched outside the room. He didn’t even bother to look at me again before he left.

It was past 11 at the clock hanging on the wall.

“They bothered making me a dinner?” I shrugged.

I dressed in a gray over-sized hoodie, boxers, and sweatpants. I had no choice, so I just wore it. When I pulled the door open, I saw Thalem standing, leaning against the wall.

He looked cool, but he was a kidnapper. He was a handsome human being, but he was a bad guy. For a few seconds that our eyes met, I noticed his little scar on his right eyebrow.

“I’m done,” I uttered.

“Comfy clothes,” he mumbled.

“Ah. Do I look weird wearing big clothes?”

He grinned and answered, “You still have the guts to ask a kidnapper like me with that kind of question, huh?”

My mouth parted open when I heard it. He’s right. What kind of stupid question was that anyway?

“You’re still fine. Still beautiful,” he said in which made me a little surprise. Before he turned his back at me, he added, “Follow me.”

“Ah, okay.”

Did I hear it right? How could he gave me such a compliment like that?