Chapter 4

Michael

We walk towards the front door of the bar and Kayden opens the door for me, Kayden Donovan is a best friend and a potential investor in my next project. At 25 years old, Kayden has made his own fortune, he gave up his family money and started his own empire. That is why I respect him both as a friend and as a business associate. I place my hand on the inside of my jacket to retrieve my phone but when my hand comes out empty, I curse.

“What is it?” Kayden asks with a frown on his face, I shake my head and say “it’s nothing, you should go ahead, I’ll meet you tomorrow” turning around I make my way back to the bar, “My phone’s in there” I say as a way of explaining and push the door to get inside. I take the stairs two at a time to the V.I.P section and rush to the table that we occupied; I don’t feel like spending even a single minute in this place but if the data on my phone is tampered with, I might just end up losing billions.

I hear a light bang to my right side but choose ignore it, assuming Nash would still be in there. When I don’t see my phone right away, my irritation grows, I am about to check the seats when a muffled cry rips from the door to my right, and my back stiffens. I straighten myself and listen carefully, “NO! NO! NO!”, “Don’t touch me! Please, no!” a familiar voice wails and my eyes widen when realization hits me.

I move closer to the door, just to confirm if I’m reading the situation right when another bang resonates from inside and then she screams “You’re rapping me, please let me leave, I won’t tell anyone. Please! No!” my vision goes red and I kick open the door, not waiting for a second longer. I take in the scene and a growl rips out from my chest, “Motherfucker!” I yell and charge myself towards him in one swift move.

My fist makes contact with his face and he stumbles back from the impact, I straddle his body and throw punches on his ugly face. His face turns from pale to purple but I don’t stop, rage like I’ve never felt overcomes my body and right at this moment a thought crosses my mind ‘I could kill him’, I could kill him for even thinking about touching her, he doesn’t even fight back just lies there limply like the worthless piece of shit that he is.

A soft whimper catches my attention and my head snaps in her direction, ‘Aurora Sinclair’, my beauty, I had successfully ignored her for the entirety of the night. But right now, as she sits there hugging her knees close to her chest with soft bruises on her face and wrists and a torn shirt hanging limply around her waist. I can’t help the new wave of fury that overcomes me, anger towards myself, for not being there on time and preventing this from happening, she looks at me with tear-stained eyes and my heart breaks.

Just this once, I remind myself, just this one time I’ll let my guard down for her. I stand up and walk in her direction, slowly lowering myself I try to soften my hard features, I shrug out of my suit jacket and place it around her shoulder’s. She sniffles softly and I can’t help but pull her into me and hug her close to my chest, she presses even closer, as if to hide herself in the cocoon of my arms. I let her in, she looks up at me and the intensity of her green emerald globes hits me with such force, I am momentarily transfixed by her beauty, those fiery red soft locks, her button nose, luscious, bee-stung, baby pink lips and the dusting of brown freckles on the bridge of her nose. She looks like the most innocent angel on the face of earth. But that’s the thing about beauty, it’s an illusion, a façade that covers your true nature, a weapon to trap and exploit whenever one see’s fit. Aurora, looks like the sweetest fruit from the outside, but from the inside, she is that much lethal.

I close my eyes to get rid of the fog she just created and pull her up from the sitting position, that is when I see her unbuttoned jeans, with a shaky breath, I pull the zipper and button up her jeans while she stays as still as a statue and lets me work. Then I place a gentle hand around her shoulder and push her towards the door, we make our way back to the front doors and walk towards the parking lot in silence, “do you have a car?” I ask her as we make our way towards my Audi. She shakes her head and I frown, ‘was she planning on walking back this late?’ I open the back door of my car and motion for her to get inside, she does it without hesitation and I give ‘Gilbert’ the directions to her place. He nods at me before starting the engine. I might look like an ignorant bastard but when it comes to her, I know everything.

Aurora is pressed up against the window on the other side, clutching my jacket in a dead grip as if to draw strength from the fabric. Her gaze is fixed on the darkened roads, not wavering even for a second as if nothing interests her anymore. There’s a defeated look on her face, like this whole situation somehow left her powerless and weak. I don’t want her to feel that way. ‘She fucking cheated on you Michael, get it in your head!’ I lost the right to help her or take away her pain when she chose another man over me. Now, I feel absolutely nothing for her, she left me nine years ago, and took away the last of my warmth with her, I haven’t been same since then. All the money, women, popularity and success could not fill the void she left behind. ‘Aurora Sinclair’ broke me in the worst possible way, and I’ll never be the same again. I ‘don’t’ want to be the same guy, again.