My chest rises and falls rapidly with each short breath. Instead of a response, all I get is a neutral expression and his green eyes boring into mine as he silently studies my face.
"You're not leaving, princess." He bluntly replies with a gentle shake of his head after what feels like an eternity. He stands up and starts to walk out of the room.
"This is bullshit!" I yell, slamming my hands against the wooden table.
He chuckles in response, turning back around to me and studying me.
"You know, you really aren't what I expected, princess." Cole smirks.
"I want to go home!" I protest.
"I expected a timid, little crack baby." He ignores me with that stupid smirk. "Not an ungrateful bitch."
"Ungrateful?" I scoff, my anger practically seething out of me as I stand up. "You fucking kidnapped me!"
"From an abusive crackhead." He retorts as he comes closer to me again, towering over me. I scowl up at him angrily, us now practically toe-to-toe.
"Yeah." He taunts me. "My men told me all about how they had to intervene when collecting you, so don't try pulling the 'I miss my home and daddy' card on me, princess. I'm not stupid."
Tears sting in my eyes as I scowl up at him, my teeth clenched tightly together. How fucking dare he? First, he kidnaps me. Then he calls me ungrateful. After all that, he then has the nerve to talk about my family? Bullshit.
"Take me home." I hiss through gritted teeth. He simply rolls his eyes at me, stepping away.
"You're wasting your breath, princess." He calls out as he leaves the room. "Don't try to run again either."
I'm left stood there, breathing heavily as my nails dig into my palms.
"Aurora?" Maggie's familiar voice calls out.
I turn to her at the doorway, tears still brimming my eyes. She gives me a sympathetic look and comes into the study, holding my shoulders as she guides me out back to my room.
"I'll give you a minute." She smiles at me sympathetically before walking out of my room and closing the door behind her.
"Fuck!" I yell as I throw a vase from my desk across the room, the glass shattering against the wall.
I take deep breaths as I attempt to calm myself down, pacing the room angrily. I refuse to sit and be prisoner or maid to the Gravano's of all people. I scan the room, heading back for the window to make another run for it. I try to lift it but it doesn't budge. What the fuck? I pull harder and harder, refusing to give up.
"It's sealed, princess." That arrogant voice teases.
I spin around, seeing Cole leant against my doorframe amused.
"Get out." I growl as he comes further in, sitting on my bed and watching me. "Get out!"
"What did I tell you five minutes ago?" He raises an eyebrow at me, that smug smirk still on his face as if he's had plastic surgery to make it permanent. "Don't try to run. Can't you follow simple instructions or is your brain fried just like your addict father's?"
"You don't know anything about me." I growl.
"Don't I?" He taunts, his smirk growing into a full on grin as he leans back on his elbows, as if tormenting me is amusing to him.
I have to physically bite my tongue to stop myself from having a fit. Instead, I just scoff and storm past him, out of my room. I'm yanked back in by his grip on my wrist, spinning me around to face him. I look up at him with an angry scowl as I feel my rage erupting inside of me.
"Let go of me." I manage to hiss out.
"You'll run." He retorts calmly.
"I won't!"
"Don't lie."
"I'm not!"
"Princess.." He sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. "This is getting exhausting."
"So let me go home!"
"You know I can't do that!" He snaps, scowling down at me as his grip on my wrist tightens painfully.
"Why not?!" I snap back.
He looks me up and down for a moment before pulling me closer, leaning down so I can feel his hot breath on my cheek. His voice drops dangerously low as I'm flooded by his scent.
"You're not going anywhere. You can either stay in your room and listen to me like a good girl or try run again..." He pauses, pulling his face back until we're just inches away and smirking at me. "But I'll find you. I don't care how many times I have to drag your ass back here, princess. You'll never be able to escape while I'm alive." He traces his hand along my jaw as he moves back to my ear, his hot breath lingering on my skin.
"I will always find you, princess."
I stay frozen, my hands squeezed into tight fists at my sides. I feel my heart pounding against my ribcage brutally, my breath shaky as I try desperately to keep composure.
"Get your fucking hands off me." I growl, my body trembling slightly from the adrenaline.
His hands move to my chin, gripping it tightly and forcing my head up to look at him.
"What did I say about how you speak to me, princess?"
"I couldn't give a shit who you are." I snap, staring up at him angrily. "If you don't take your fucking hands off of me and let me go home I swear to god I'll-"
"You'll what?" He cuts me off, releasing my chin roughly and getting back in my face with that shit-eating grin. "Please, entertain me, princess. You'll hit me? Or worse, call that junkie of a father on me? I'm sure he'd lunge at you before me.."
I try to stop myself, but I can't. It all happens so fast. He doesn't know me. He doesn't know shit. My brain screams at me to stop, knowing that he's trying to provoke me. But damn it, he knows how to get under people's skin. My palm connects with his cheek as if it were a reflex action, the slap echoing in the room as his head snaps to the side at the force.
"Fuck you." I hiss at him, tears brimming in my eyes. I bite them back, this fucker doesn't deserve to see me cry. He doesn't deserve to win. I try to reassure myself that he doesn't know shit, but he's spot on. That's the worst part.
He turns his head back to me, eyebrow raised.
"Seriously, princess?" He chuckles.
Correction, the worst part is his reaction. I want to slap him all over again. I can't spend another second in the vicinity of this piece of shit. I bite my tongue to hold back my tears as I drag him out of my room.
"Out. Get out!" I growl as I push him out and slam the door in his face.
His chuckle and footsteps grow quieter as he walks away and I slide down my door into a ball on the floor, burying my face in my knees and sobbing into them.
He's right. If my father came in a room full of people, the first person he'd gun for is me. I couldn't tell you why. Maybe it's because of mom, he always said I reminded him of her. When they were still in love, of course. Now, I think our resemblance has made him grow to hate me. He can't be in the same room as me unless he's out of his mind on drugs or alcohol or both.
Christian Blake, the man you are.
I couldn't tell you why I want to go home so badly either, but it is, for certain, not to see my father. Not to get abuse hurled at me, or face another of his drunken rages. Definitely not to hide in my room from the sleazy men who end up in my house.
It doesn't matter anyway though. The awful realisation has finally set in and I can't help but sob harder:
I'm not going home anytime soon.