Chapter 3 The Ride

The ride to his home was the worse ride she ever had. Two cars followed our car closely. She thought it was for security.

He placed his right hand on her left thigh and at that moment she wished nothing but to have a chance to break his hand with which was placed on her thigh.

Yeah! You will surely have a chance but in your dreams. Her subconscious mind chided in. She mentally scoffed.

The hand placed on her thigh was the same hand with which he slapped her just a few minutes ago. 

Abusive jerk! Why was he behaving like this?

"What are you thinking so hard Tulip?" His voice was deep and husky. His lips touched the shell of her ear and his fingers caressed her thigh making her shudder in fear and nervousness. She felt that her heart would explode in her chest as her stomach knotted up.

Oh God!

"Nothing."  Her voice was low and heavy due to crying. It was not that she was some pathetic drama queen who would make an issue out of every little thing and start crying but anyone would have been bawling their eyes out after getting a hard slap by the love of their life.

I was not even at fault.

"You know I don't like it when you lie to me. Come on baby tell me now." He ordered but his voice was playful.

The bastard must be enjoying hurting me. She kept her mouth shut though; she knew it would irritate him.

I'm never gonna talk to this abusive jerk. She promised to herself.

"Tulip." He warned. He did not raise his voice but she was smart enough to understand the warning masked in it.

And here goes my promise! Damn!

"I'm telling the truth Archer." She answered a bit loudly but instead of looking in his eyes she moved them away from his face towards the front of the car.

"Let’s do it in the way you want then. Aye?" He chuckled darkly and before she knew he had his hand wrapped around her neck in a vice-like grip.

Her eyes widened and snapped towards him. Her hands clawed at his hands but it was all useless.

That’s it. I'm going to die today in the hands of this monster.

His hand tightened against her sensitive skin, a noise gurgled from her throat but it was muffled since her air passageways were being squeezed badly. She could feel the pressure building up. His grip was unrelenting.

"If it would have been someone else I would have cut his tongue with my knife." He declared viciously as his grip loosened a bit, allowing small amount of air to enter her lungs.

"But guess what you are my Tulip. My little flower. I'm not going to do that with you. But that does not mean that I would not be teaching you a fucking lesson." His grip tightened again and her eyes watered.

When she was sure that it was her last day of living he left her throat. She began to breathe in large amounts of air. She was quivering with fear. When she looked at him his face was blank. His green eyes were void of any emotion. But his lips bore that sinister smirk.

He brought his hand closer to her face to which she flinched. His face had the look of satisfaction after seeing it. He caressed her cheek lightly, which was flushed and wet due to the tears flowing down her eyes, with the back of his fingers. His touch was feather like and if

he would not have behaved like a savage few minutes ago she would have leaned in to his touch. But now she would be stupid to do that.

His eyes were trailed on her face. He kept brushing his fingers lightly against her flushed cheeks. As much as she wanted to move away from him she could not. She felt weak and drained. She could not bear any more assaults for today.

"Will you tell me now?" He asked.

She wanted to say no but she could not so she ended up nodding my head.

You gotta bend sometimes.

She was not like those strong girls portrayed in movies or stories who would bear anything but would not change their mind under any circumstances. The real life was so much different and hard. And she knew about it already but her beliefs became much stronger after meeting him within the few hours.

She ended up asking him something which was bugging her since the she met him in the dean's office.

"Why d-did you cha-change so much? W-why are you behav-behaving l-like this with me?" She chocked, trying to control her tears.

He did not look surprised. As if he was expecting this question.

"Everyone changes with time." His face was stoic but his eyes had that distant look in them.

"And I think you should not complain about my behavior as I'm being very nice to you because I love you." He said.

He loved her in his own twisted way. She was about to die just few minutes ago because of him.

“But I'm not sure if I will be showing any mercy to that motherfucker whom you call father." He spat harshly. His tone was menacing.

His eyes flashed lethally and his face hardened. He looked scary. He removed his hand from her face to which she was thankful.

"B_but why?" She asked, dumbfounded. Her heart rate escalated even more due to panic, fear, and anxiety.

It seemed as if she had developed a tachycardia.

His features darkened and anger flashed in his eyes.

"Enough!" His loud voice boomed in the moving car causing her to flinch in her seat. She could not help but feel afraid for her dad.

"He..." She was about to plead but he placed his finger on her lips and his other hand gripped the back of her neck. His grip was firm and possessive.

"Shh...Do ya want me to make ya watch him die?" He asked, as his face turned blank again.

She was quick to shake her head.

"So don't talk about him. Aye?" He said through clenched teeth and removed his finger from her lips.

"Yes" She chocked on her own tears. Her heart was breaking with each passing second.

Where is that boy who loved me and cared for me?

He gave her a sinister smile, his eyes were twinkling sadistically. He felt the excitement rush in his vessels on thinking about the future of his would be father in law. His hand left her neck and he cupped her face gently with both of his hands, the pads of his thumbs wiped her tears

away.

"Good girl!" He praised.

Soon their car came to a halt and her eyes widened on seeing the private jet in front of her, too caught up in her misery she did not notice the car moving towards an airport.  

“Archer what is this?”  She could feel the dead gripping at her heart.

“Stop asking these stupid questions. Are you that much dumb that you can’t even notice that it’s a fucking jet?” he looked bored.

“You didn’t tell me that your house was that far away that we have to go there by plane.”  She looked at him with accusing eyes.

“Because I thought that it was not necessary.”

 “Please I want to say good bye to my parents.” Her voice held desperation.

“You don’t need to bid them any farewell.” He said in his no nonsense voice. When he saw her opening her mouth to argue with him he gripped her throat and pulled her towards him. “And I swear if you will not stop asking me these stupid questions I will slap the

shit out of you. Ta?” (ta: ok) She nodded and wiped her tears.

Before leaving the car he asked her to behave and she knew better then to try something silly. Their flight was of only 4 and half hours. On asking where they were going he answered that his private island.

 When jet landed on another airport he wasted no time in getting in his SUV and just like that after fifteen minutes or so she found herself sitting in a luxurious cruise.

It was 2 pm, when the mouth watering lunch was served to them. Archer wasted no time in picking up his fork and knife but when he saw that Olivia had not touched her food he put his fork and spoon back. When her eyes met his she wasted no time in picking up her knife and fork and eating the food. The delicious food felt tasteless to her.

“How is the lunch?” he asked after a

while.

“It’s nice. Thank you.” She gave the answer which he wanted to hear to avoid any trouble. 

After lunch he ordered one of the maids to escort her to the bedroom so she could have some rest as he had some work to do and she was more than thankful to be away from the monster.

On sitting down in front of the dressing table she could not help but wince on seeing the red hand prints covering her cheeks and ugly bruises covering her neck. She felt her eyes burning with the salty tears and in no time these tears adorned her cheeks.

Only if she knew the real him she would have ran miles away from him when she first saw him that day near the lake seventeen

years

ago