I didn’t know which was worse; getting kidnapped on my way home from work by three unidentified men and going unconscious, or waking up in this room with a new man staring down at me. I knew he wasn’t one of the men who took me. None of them had been this tall.
“Who are you?” I asked in a tiny voice, trying to hide the tremble so I didn’t seem weak. Even though I was practically dying inside.There was no response. He just kept staring at me. And I was starting to panic again. A thousand questions ran through my mind with no one to answer them. What did these men want from me? Was this some kind of mafia operation? A switch went off in my head, and my eyes bulged out of their sockets. Had I been sold off to this man? Was the mafia even real? Just how dangerous could he be? Maybe I could fight him off and get help.“Hello Hazel.” He finally answered.His voice was deep and confident, and it did nothing to help ease the tension in my bones.“How do you know my name? Who are you?” I asked again, feeling even more scared now.He let out a chuckle and finally left his position at the foot of the bed and started walking towards me.“Stop! Don’t come any closer or I’ll scream!” I threatened as my eyes darted crazily around the room. I had no idea what I was looking for but I definitely needed a weapon if I was going to fight against this man.He let out a dry laugh, a laugh that sounded like he was mocking me, and I decided in that instant that I hated him. “Oh you can scream as loud as you want honey, but I promise you no one’s coming to get you.”Honey. I frowned as the term of endearment left his lips, and I felt like throwing up. “Who are you? And what do you want from me?” I asked again, patting down my jacket with my hands to try to find my phone but I came up with nothing.“Are you looking for this?” The man asked.I looked up to find him waving my phone in his hand with a triumphant look on his face, and my fear was ignited all over again. My heart thundered in my chest and I could feel the fear like liquid travelling through my veins. I squinted my eyes and looked down at myself, wondering if this sick man had done anything to me while I was unconscious, but my clothes were all intact and except for the obvious fear I was feeling, I felt fine.I heard a scoff and the sound of his footsteps receding as he walked away from me. “You really think I’m that kind of man, don’t you?” He asked.“Well, I wouldn’t put it past you! You did kidnap me, didn’t you?” I spat at him, trying to be brave.I heard him abruptly stop, and there was silence between them for a moment before I heard the sound of the light switch, and the room was flooded with light. “I wouldn’t call it kidnapping. All I did was bring you home Hazel.”My eyes were adjusting to the light now, and I could see the room clearly. The bed was a king sized bed, with covers that looked like they cost a fortune, the ceilings were high and the windows I had noticed earlier were floor to ceiling windows. Everything looked expensive, and I swallowed down a gulp of air. The man was still rooted in the spot he’d been standing at, with his back still turned to me. And now that I could see clearly, I was starting to realize just how much danger I was in. There was no way I would’ve been able to overpower him. I was right, he was definitely over six feet tall, he had broad shoulders and a build that only meant that he worked out regularly, I could tell how strong he was, especially with his confident stance. His presence seemed to make the massive room shrink and appear smaller. I tried to control my breathing. My heart was beating so loud, I was sure the man could hear it.“Please… if it’s money you want, I don’t have any, but I can definitely figure something out, please don’t kill me. My mother, she’s sick, she’s…” my words stopped as a sob caught in my throat. My mother would never be able to survive it if I died. My hands were starting to shake now.The man scoffed again. “I don’t need your money, Hazel. I’m sure you can figure out that much.”He was right, he didn’t look like he was after money, with a house like this, money definitely wasn’t a problem for him. I hated his arrogance but I was grasping at anything to save myself. I needed to get back safely to my mother. “What do you want then?”“You can relax, I’m not going to kill you. Like I said before, I only brought you home.”“Home?” I asked in confusion. “But I don’t even know you, I’ve never seen this house before, what do you mean… who are you?”My question was met with silence yet again, but the man started to turn slowly. I held my breath as he took his time. And when he was finally facing me, I let out a loud gasp. “Christian.”“Hello Hazel.” He said again.It was Christian, it was definitely him. It had been four years since the first and last time I saw him, but I could recognize that face anywhere. He had shown up to the hotel bar four years ago, and our easy conversation had quickly turned into a night of intense passion, and I had left before he woke up the next morning, hoping to never see him again. We had both agreed it would be a one time thing. So why was he here again four years later? And why had he kidnapped me? Had I unknowingly gotten myself entangled in some huge mess by making that decision four years ago? The regret was rapidly kicking in. I had slept with a man I knew nothing about. I was starting to realize just how careless I had been four years ago.“What… what’s going on here?” I asked in a shaky voice. “What are you doing here?”“I live here.”“Christian, you know what I mean. Why am I here? Why did you kidnap me? What kind of sick plans do you have?”“I’m glad you still remember me. And I’d really like it if you stopped calling it kidnapping.” He walked back to me. “Let’s get down to business now, shall we?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.I swallowed the lump in my throat and waited for him to continue. I had a feeling that whatever he was about to say wasn’t going to be good.He looked down at me menacingly, the way a predator looked down at his prey before he pounced on it, with his face as serious as ever. “The reason you’re here Hazel, is because this is going to be your new home. We’re getting married.”“What!?” I asked, looking at him like he had just sprouted horns.“We’re getting married.” He repeated.“I heard you clearly the first time. But this doesn’t make any sense. Christian we had a one night stand, you were the one who even brought up the fact that it should be a one time thing. It happened four years ago, so why am I here?” I was trying to be in control of the situation. But the truth was that I was frightened to my bones. Yes, I slept with this guy four years ago, but I knew nothing about him except for his first name. I didn’t even know his last name, I didn’t know just how dangerous he was. How did he find me? It only meant that he had been stalking me for the last four years, and that made my bones rattle in fear. “You’re mine, Hazel. What is it that you don’t understand?”“Christian…” I said slowly, talking to him like he was five years old. I had read somewhere that raising your voice in a dangerous situation wasn’t the right way to go. “Christian we can’t be marri
I held the white bouquet with shaky hands and willed myself to breathe. Any moment now, the big doors would open and I’d be walking down the aisle to my husband— a husband I was being forced to marry. I felt tears threatening to spill but I took a deep breath and pushed them back. The last thing I wanted to do was breakdown in front of Christian and everyone. I was being forced to do this, and the least I could do for myself was do it with my pride intact. I took one last look at myself as I heard the orchestra start playing from inside the hall. I was dressed in a strapless designer wedding dress, one that definitely cost thousands of dollars. I had real diamonds on my neck, and a thin veil covered my face and flowed down my back, creating a train. The heels on my feet were painful and uncomfortable but I couldn’t take them off. I would just have to deal with it. The large doors opened in front of me, and I looked up with a soft gasp. I saw the entire hall stand up and face me and I
My heart sank.The bathroom door was wide open, and Christian had a woman pinned against the wall; his large hands locking hers in place as they kissed. I felt an overwhelming sense of shame at the sight in front of me, and something else I couldn’t understand. Pain, it was pain. There was a sudden surge of pain in my chest, and it didn’t make any sense. There was no reason for me to feel hurt by Christian’s actions. Sure, he had just become my husband five minutes ago, but it wasn’t like I loved him or anything, so the feeling was confusing. I gathered my wedding dress in my arms and turned to silently walk away. It was one thing for me to witness this, but the last thing I wanted was for Christian to see the mortified look on my face. But before I could walk back in the direction that I came from, Christian grabbed my wrist, turning me to face him.“Where do you think you’re going?” He growled.“Let me go!” I said as I freed my arm from his hold, rubbing the skin to numb the pain.
It was 8 in the morning the following day. Christian and I had spent the night in a hotel suite, not saying a word to each other till he woke me up to tell me to go get ready. Thirty minutes later, we were getting into his private plane to head to our honeymoon.“Why even bother with a honeymoon?” I asked him a few minutes into the flight.He shot me an irritated look. “Getting married was one of the criteria I had to fulfill in order to get the company passed down to me by my grandfather. You met him at the wedding, I’m sure you could tell he’s hawk-eyed. If he gets even the slightest bit suspicious about us, I’ll lose everything.”“Hmm, but our marriage is legal, isn’t it?” “Doesn’t mean we still don’t have some convincing to do.”“Right,” I said, feeling defeated. I turned to the window and stared down at the sight, it was all trees and water down there. I found myself thinking about my mother, I wondered if she was okay. It had been at least two days since I last saw her, she mu
One week later One week had passed and Mark had made it a habit to call and send me threatening messages every day. It started pretty tamely until he began to threaten me about killing me. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t scared. Fear rattled my entire being whenever I heard a door slam shut or when Valerie dropped something. It felt like he would come for me at any moment, and even though I knew he wouldn’t be able to find me out here, it still didn’t make the fear go away. Mark had been the love of my life once upon a time when we met three years ago, he was the perfect gentleman until he drastically changed and became abusive. Leaving him was never an option because he would find me every time and hurt me even more than he did before, he would flip out if he saw me talking to any other man, including my coworkers. But now, it was a whole different board game. I was married, and I couldn’t begin to imagine how he would react to that information. So on the fourth night, I sent h
His voice reverberated through the walls of the room, causing the entire space to vibrate.“I… I just…” I stumbled over my words, trying to provide him with an explanation. Before I knew it, his hand clamped down on my shoulder, causing my heart to trip over its own rhythm. The icy bite of his touch mirrored the storm brewing in his eyes and I jumped.“Get out.” His voice was a low growl that caused a tremor to vibrate through my bones. My brain was screaming at me to leave. I had never had someone look at me with such hatred, not even Mark, but I figured he wouldn’t hurt me, and if I wanted answers, I wouldn’t get them by constantly running away from him. One of us needed to speak up, so I stood my ground, glaring back at him.“Why?” I spat. “Tell me why Christian, why won’t you tell me anything?” I asked in frustration.“Get out!” He growled again, his voice slightly higher than before.“No Christian. We’ve been here for a week now and you’ve barely said two words to me. Is this yo
CHRISTIANI glared at the wall long after she was gone, like I could still see the stranger who was my wife in front of me. She looked fragile, like the slightest touch could break her. And oh how I wanted to break her. Pure hatred crawled up my skin as I pictured her face. That innocent looking woman had once destroyed my life and made me lose almost everything, and now she looked me straight in the eye and pretended she had no idea why I was consumed with so much rage.The barely contained violence I felt toward her had been festering for years, and I quite cheerfully could’ve strangled her in her sleep if it wasn’t for the fact that I couldn’t bring myself to do it. It was something in those golden green eyes of hers that made me think back to when everything was perfect. The sound of her laughter in the wind and how thoughtful she had once been. How her perfect frame once fitted into mine like we were made specifically for each other. We were perfect. But no, she had gone and mess
HAZELWhen I walked down to the kitchen the next morning, Christian was already there. He was dressed in a simple black tee and free blue jeans and was dutifully whisking some eggs in a bowl. He had a slight frown on his face and his eyes were focused intently on the bowl in front of him. His attention was momentarily broken as I stepped into full view, he turned to glance at me with the small frown still etched on his eyebrows.“I hope you’re hungry. You might want to grab a bite before we head out.” He said, gesturing to the feast spread out in front of him on the counter. It was the last day of our honeymoon and also our last day at the beach house. I hated to leave, already feeling the imminent sadness lurking just behind my eyes. I had come to love the beach house and the calmness and serenity it provided. But I knew we had to go back to our real life… whatever that meant for me. And I was excited to finally see my mother again.“Thanks, I’m famished.” I answered, quickly runnin