Chapter 4 Let The Games Begin

• KILLIAN
• She stirred. Her lashes fluttered as though she was trying to blink away a nightmare, but the real one was sitting in a chair across the room, watching her.
• Alexa.
• It would take a while getting used to not calling her Seraphina, her original name.
• She looked small in my bed, wrapped in the pristine sheets, her body bandaged and bruised. She was not broken. Not yet.
• That part comes later.
• Her breathing suddenly quickened. Pain must've caught up with her, because the moment she tried to move, she gasped, reaching instinctively for her shoulder, wincing hard.
• Good. Let her feel it.
• She needed to remember that pain.
• Her eyes snapped open and found me.
• I was still dressed in my black shirt which was stained with blood from shielding her. The bleeding wound soaking the fabric near my side had dried, but it throbbed relentlessly. I hadn't treated it.
• Not because I couldn't.
• But because I'd been too caught up with the view before me.
• She stared. "You're bleeding."
• "So are you," I said calmly, sipping wine from the glass I'd poured just before she woke up. "I’m aware that I could've handled it more gracefully."
• Her gaze darted to the nightstand. The contract still lay there, untouched.
• "What is this?" she asked hoarsely, nodding to the papers.
• "A choice," I said. "Something most people don't get with me."
• She narrowed her eyes at me. "You think this is a choice? Marry you or die?"
• I raised an eyebrow. "Are those not the stakes you're used to, Tesora?"
• Her lips parted. She wasn't used to being seen, cornered and caged without the illusion of control.
• And yet she still moved toward me, limping carefully. She reached out, her fingers ghosting toward my shirt.
• "Let me see it," she mumbled.
• I didn't flinch. I let her unbutton my shirt, one snap at a time. Her hands shook. She was trying not to show it, but I felt every tremor.
• She pulled the shirt open and froze when she saw the gash beneath. It was jagged and raw.
• "A little messy," I murmured, watching her face. "They caught me off guard.“
• Her brows furrowed. "Why would you put yourself in danger like that?"
• "Oh sweetheart," I drawled. "I told you. No one touches what's mine."
• "I'm not—"
• "Yet," I cut in. "But you will be."
• She looked up at me, and for a second, I thought I saw it...a flicker of the girl I used to know. But she didn't remember. She didn't even know the depth of what she owed me.
• Not yet.
• "Why me?" she whispered.
• I smiled seductively. "Because you fascinate me."
• Because you ruined me.
• Because your betrayal is still the scar I wake up with.
• Because making you need me before I destroy you is the only form of justice I believe in.
• "Drink," I said, handing her the glass of wine I hadn't touched. "You'll need it before you read the contract."
• She hesitated. Then she took it.
• Good girl.
• She didn't ask again why I saved her. Or what the ledger was.
• She would sign.
• She would submit.
• And then, she would pay.
• All without ever seeing the knife until it was already at her throat.
• "You're lucky this didn't kill you," she murmured, dabbing at the blood with a cloth.
• I smirked, letting her tend to me as if she hadn't once left me for dead. "Death doesn't come for me so easily, Tesora. It's smarter than that."
• She flinched slightly at the nickname, but I watched her expression soften, just a little.
• I leaned back, my eyes locked on her as she worked. So careful. So gentle. As if she hadn't already carved my heart out once.
• "I don't get it," she whispered after a while. "Why would someone risk everything to attack me over some... ledger?"
• I shrugged, "You're a valuable piece, even if you don't know why yet."
• She stared at me. "Piece?"
• "In a game," I said softly. "And trust me, darling... you're on the board now."
• She swallowed hard, but I saw the flicker of defiance in her eyes. That same fire. That same fight.
• God, I hated how much I missed it.
• "You're insane," she whispered.
• "Probably," I said. "But let's not pretend you didn't just agree to marry me."
• "That was me chasing after my own survival."
• "Oh?" I leaned forward, catching her wrist before she could pull away. "Then why do you look at me like you're still deciding whether to run... or beg me to kiss you?"
• My thumb brushed the inside of her wrist and I felt her pulse jump.
• "Let go of me," she whispered.
• I leaned in, my lips grazing her earlobe. "Say please."
• She pulled back as if she'd just been burned. Good. I wanted her shaken.
• I wanted her exactly where I had once been...confused, furious... addicted.
• "You don't even know me," she said, standing on trembling legs.
• I rose too, towering over her. "Oh, Tesora. I know exactly who you are."
• Just not in the way you think.
• I walked past her, grabbing the contract from the table and tossing it onto the bed.
• "You have three hours to sign this. After that, the next attack won't end with a rescue. It'll end with a coffin."
• I paused in the doorway, glancing at her. "And Alexa?"
• She looked up.
• "When I make you mine, I won't need a signature to stake my claim.”
• Then I walked out, leaving her to wonder if the real danger was the enemies who'd tried to kill her...
• ...or the man who'd just saved her life.
• And was planning to ruin it in return.
• ....
• I'd just stepped out of the shower when I heard the knock on the door. I lowered the fresh bandage I'd grabbed, intrigued.
• "Come in," I said, and the door creaked open. Alexa stood there awkwardly, the contract in her hand. Now this was interesting, was this what people called muscle memory?
• I was so sure I'd never given her the direction to my room. Yet, there she was.
• She strode in, shutting the door behind her. She looked confused and frustrated. And a little drunk.
• "What is this? Why does it state that you own my body too?" She demanded, waving the file at me.
• "It is exactly as it says," I responded, and she stormed towards me, slapping me across the face, hard.
• I scoffed in amusement, redirecting my gaze at her.
• "You're becoming my wife both privately and publicly, Tesora. Surely, you're not going to deny me that, are you?"
• "I'm not a whore!" She thundered, and I grabbed her by the waist, pulling her flush against me. She gasped, her nipples brushing against my chest through the light fabric of her dress.
• "But you're my whore," I said, the corners of my lips lifting smugly.
• "I'd rather die," she spat. And my smirk dropped, my expression hardening.
• "You know what? Playtime is over."
• I shoved her backwards, letting her stumble onto the bed with a gasp. Then I reached under the pillow.
• Her eyes widened when she saw me pull out a gun.
• I tossed the contract beside her, the pen resting atop it.
• "Sign it."
• "Killian—"
• I pointed the gun at her head.
• "I said... sign it."
• Her hands trembled as she took the pen, her eyes locked on mine. Her fear warred with her fury, but neither would save her now.
• She bent forward and scribbled her name with shaking fingers.
• Alexa.
• My future wife.
• I moved behind her, then I leaned down and pressed a kiss just behind her ear where her pulse throbbed frantically.
• "See?" I murmured. "That wasn't so hard. We didn't have to go this far, Tesora."
• She whipped around, aiming to knock her elbow into my side, but I caught her wrist midair and twisted her down onto the bed, beneath me.
• "Still such a bad girl," I growled, straddling her hips, holding both her wrists in one hand above her head.
• I brought the gun to her jawline, tracing its cold metal along the delicate angle, down the curve of her throat.
• She whimpered.
• Her nipples peaked against her dress as I continued, dragging it lower, between the valley of her breasts, resting it there.
• Her chest rose and fell rapidly. Lust clouded her wide eyes now, mixing with panic. A dangerous cocktail.
• "You're mine now," I said darkly. "Legally. Privately. Publicly."
• She panted.
• "You'll be a good girl," I whispered, tilting her chin up with the barrel. "And you'll wait until our private wedding tomorrow. Hmm?"
• She didn't answer.
• I lowered my lips to her ear. "Say yes."
• "...Yes."
• I released her, rolled off, and stepped back. "Run along now, wife."
• She scrambled off the bed and bolted out of the room.
• ...
• The next morning, I was standing in front of the mirror, buttoning my crisp black shirt when my phone buzzed. I grabbed it off the nightstand and saw a message from Ethan, my right-hand man.
• 'She's gone.'
• A slow smirk curled across my face. I adjusted my cufflinks and met my own gaze in the mirror, amusement dancing in my eyes.
• "I do love a good chase," I uttered, my smirk widening.
• Let the games begin.