Chapter 30: Leave Him

I walked into Harley’s classroom; she was sitting quietly, absent-mindedly drawing something on the white sheets. “What are you doing, baby?”

She looked up, giving me her cute smile. “See.” She raised her book and displayed her wonderful painting.

“Wow!” I quickly took a seat beside her desk and grabbed her book. “You are super great at painting,” I said and studied her drawing carefully. She drew her family. She was in the middle of a woman and man and the old lady at the corner with a dog.

“You’ve drawn your family?” I eyed every detail of her drawing. At such a small age, she was pretty good at drawing.

She nodded and set a book on the table. “I’ve drawn you, dad, my nanny, and my dog.”

“Me?” I asked and once again glanced at the picture. The woman that she had drawn it was me, not her mother. I thought she had drawn her parents, her mother, and her father, but she’d drawn me instead. I quickly embraced her. “This drawing is amazing. Can I keep it?”

“Of course you can keep it. I have plenty, and if you want more, I will draw more for you,” she said, smiling.

I kissed her forehead; she was so cute. I wished she would be my daughter so that I could keep her with me all the time.

“What are you two doing?” Pearl stepped into the room. She often visited Harley so that she could impress her. After all, she had a crush on Harley’s father. She had tried hard to impress Vivian. But he didn’t seem to glance at her once. Sometimes I felt pity for her. I wished she would get another man who would respect her feelings.

“Just little talk,” I replied.

She dug her hand into the purse and dragged out a box of chocolates. Obviously for Harley. “Harley, you love chocolate, this is for you.”

Harley eyed the chocolate box but something changed in her and she shook her head. “No! My dad will scold me if I take your chocolates. He hates when I eat chocolates so I can’t accept it.”

Pearl’s eyes fell into disappointment. She sat on her knees. “No one will tell him,” she whispered.

Before Harley could reply to her, someone cleared the throat behind us and I turned around to find Vivian standing there in the doorway. He wore all black. Black leather jacket, black t-shirt, and black jeans looking like a black devil. His shoulder-length brown hair pulled into a small ponytail. Why does he always look like a model?

“Viv, you are five minutes late,” Harley said coldly.

“I know, sorry, sweetheart. I have been in an important meeting.” His eyes fell on me. “Hey, Alice. How are you?” He asked, completely ignoring Pearl, who stood just beside me. Why did he always behave like an asshole? How could he ignore such a beautiful woman?

But I didn’t like his attitude towards her, so I had to change it. “Hey, Vivian. I’m good as always.” I glanced at Pearl briefly. “You know her, right?” I asked him when he approached us.

He frowned.

“Ok, let me introduce her first. She is Pearl and…” I looked at Pearl. “He is Harley’s father, Vivian Miller,” I said, feeling weird because they had already known each other.

“Nice to meet you,” Pearl said and pushed her hand towards him with a blush crept on her face.

“Nice to meet you too,” he said and gave her a soft handshake.

“You two talk. I have some things to handle with Harley,” I said, and Vivian's eyes snapped at me. He glared at me coldly.

“I’ll talk to you later, Pearl. I just have some work,” he said, refusing to stay with her. He didn’t appreciate my guts, but for the sake of Harley and Pearl, I had to do this.

Pearl quickly grabbed his hand. “I’ll take only a few minutes.”

Vivian eyed her hand and quickly shook it away. “Ok.”

Harley and I hurried out of the room, giving them some privacy. I giggled. “Harley, what do you think about Pearl?”

“Um, she is pretty, but I don’t like her.”

“Have you eaten the cookies I have sent you?” I had delivered her cookies. She liked my handmade cookies, so I prepared them especially for her. I loved her smile, happiness, everything. I felt joy in my heart whenever I made her happy.

“I loved it.” She licked her lips. “It was delicious. Can you send me more because Dad ate all my cookies? He said he loves your cookies too.”

“I will make you thousands of cookies.” I pinched her nose lovingly.

“Harley, let’s go.” Suddenly, Vivian appeared and grasped Harley's hand, dragging her towards the car. He didn’t even acknowledge my presence and the next thing I noticed was Pearl was coming out of the room, she was wiping her tears.

What was wrong?

I quickly approached her and called her out, but she was walking like someone was going to kidnap her. “A-Alice, I will talk to you later,” she said when she noticed me and her voice was shaky.

Surely Vivian would have threatened her. I jogged towards him. “What did you do with her?” I growled.

He sat the Harley in the car and slammed the door shut. “Who the fuck you are?!” He reached out to me and grabbed my forearm, dragging me away from his car.

“Vivian, what are you doing? Leave me.” I tried to snatch my hand from his harsh grip.

“Who the fuck do you think you are?!” He narrowed his eyes, still gripping my hand.

“What happened? Why are you behaving like that?”

“You meant nothing to me, Alice. Don't interrupt my personal life. You have no right to decide who should I fuck and who should I date!” I winced at his words. “You are nothing more than a girl who my daughter likes. That’s it,” he said through clenched teeth.

“And I don’t want to be anything for you. I just want Harley to have a mother’s love when she is little…”

He didn’t give me a chance to complete myself. “But I don’t need a wife!”

I fell silent.

“Do you get that? Next time never use your fucking brain to trick me!”

*****

I felt something heavy shift on my body. I groaned and opened my eyes, finding dark all around me. The room was completely dark and quiet. Then why did I feel something on my bed? I went to the corner of the bed, looking for the switch of the light. But I paused when someone grabbed my hand and stopped me. Panic hit me hard in my chest when I realized someone was in my room and on my bed. Whoever was in my room, it was not Henry. It was not him. Then who the hell was this?

“W-who are you?!” I swallowed a lump in my throat as my heartbeat pounded under my chest. I couldn’t see anything except a dark figure sat on the bed looking like a ghost.

Immediately I climbed off the bed, but he was faster than me and quickly grabbed my waist and pulled me into him. “Let me go,” I said, breathing hard. “Let me go!”

The next moment, he pressed a knife against my throat. “You know how sexy you were looking in your peaceful sleep.” The hair stood up on the back of my neck when I heard his dangerous voice.

“Don’t touch me.” I snatched my hand, trying to release myself from his grip. “How could you enter the house?” My breathing was rapid and dark was suffocating me.

He leaned over me, giving me his full look as the moonlight gleamed over his face. And the first thing I noticed about him, his green eyes. “Just knot one thing in your mind if you love your life then stay the fuck out of his life. Leave him alone,” he whispered in my ear, and I cringed away from his disgusting touch. “And if not then.” He pressed his knife right against my throat. “Get ready to die, baby.”

I felt sick. I snatched my hand and sprinted to the door and tried to open it. But damn it! It was locked. God no! I banged my fist into it, calling for help. “Help! Help!” I didn’t know if someone was there in the house or not! I swallowed hard and kept banging on the door. I didn’t look back at him because I knew he was behind me. I heard his footsteps coming towards me. He was behind me. “Please open the door!” I cried out.

I didn’t know if Henry had returned from his work or not? “Please open the door.” I slammed my fist harder and harder.

“Alice.” Finally, I heard Henry’s voice from the other side, and relief washed over me.

“Henry,” I called out.

“Alice,” he said, and opened the door. “What the fuck happened in this damn door? Damn it!” He knocked on the door.

“Henry, please be quick. Please save me,” I pleaded with him.

“Alice, what happened to you?” he asked worriedly, pushing the door harder.

“Someone is in my room.”

“Who the fuck?” He didn’t waste time and hit the door. “I’m going to break it down. Keep your distance from it,” he said and knocked it. In the third attempt, he finally broke it down.

I rushed to him and hugged his body tightly. He didn’t take a second to hug me back, wrapping his strong arms around my body. “Someone is there,” I gasped.

“I think you’ve got nightmares.” He pulled himself back. “There is no one in your room.”

“No.” I turned back and looked around the room. It was empty as if that man had not been there five minutes ago. “He was here on my bed.”

He turned me around and cupped my face. “Are you alright?” It was the first time I saw concern in his eyes. He had never shown his affection to me.

I lowered my gaze, refusing to look into his eyes. “I don’t know.”

He grabbed my hand and dragged me out of the room. “Let’s go.”

“Where?”

“In my room.” He glanced at me. “You’re going to sleep with me in my room.”

I didn’t protest because it terrified me and it was a better option to sleep in his room.

I sat down on the couch, and my mind was still wandering around that guy. Who was he? Why did he come into my room? Who was he talking about?

“Alice.” Henry’s voice buzzed out in my ear.

“W-what.” I shifted my weight on the couch.

“Come to bed. You will not sleep on that damn couch.”

I frowned. “On your bed? I am fine Henry.”

Without wasting a second, he carried me in his arms and laid me down on his bed. “Henry, what are you doing?”

He ignored my question and pulled out his t-shirt over his head, leaving himself half-naked. “Don’t worry, I won’t touch you. Feel free,” he said and lay down on the bed beside me.

“It doesn’t matter if you touch me or not, but—”

He didn’t give me a chance to complete my sentence and cut me off. “So, do you want me to touch you? I don’t have any problem.” He let his eyes run down my body, smirking.

“Of course not, but you didn’t allow anyone in your room and on your bed, then why…”

He quickly sat back and put his finger on my lips. “Shh! Baby. You’re asking so many questions at the same time. I won’t answer any of these damn questions especially to you.”

I stared into his eyes. “Especially to me, why?”

He sighed, annoyingly. “Shut the hell up and lay your ass on the bed. Otherwise, I’ll lay you down.”