Chapter 106 Temporary Escape

Chapter 106 Temporary Escape
ALYSSA’S POV:

I couldn’t go back to the guest room, or anywhere. 

Instead, I found myself sitting on the bottom step of the grand staircase, my knees pulled up to my chin, staring emptily into nothingness.

The sound of thunder was still rumbling behind me.

The weather Vince loved. The same weather I hated. 

When did I start loving that too?

“The lights won’t go out again. You can go back to the room.” 

Vince descended the stairs, his shadow falling over me long before he reached the landing. 

“I don’t want to.”

“Your hand,” He began quietly before sitting on the step next to me, leaving a two inches of space between our shoulders. 

“Does it hurt?”

“Not as much as everything else,” 

Vince let out a slow breath. 

He rested his elbows on his knees, staring at his own large hands. His mouth remained open, searching for proper words.

“I…” He swallowed hard. 

“I want you to get in a relationship with her. Marry her when I order you to. And cheat on her in the end.”

I paused, turning to him gradually. 

“What?”

“That is what I ordered. Marry and cheat. So it could break your faith in love.”

He locked his eyes intensely with mine.

“All this drama so I can enter your life as a hero. To become your savior and revive your faith in love.” His voice went lower, hands reached to catch the hem of my dress.

My body involuntarily flinched as I shifted to the side, pressing myself against the railing.

His words, his touch, everything-Was it even trustworthy?

“I planned to save you, take you home and help you at a respectable distance. Marrying you was never part of my plan.” He continued nonetheless, curling the hand left rejected in the air in a fist.

“All this to become my hero… huh?” 

A sour laugh escaped my lips, shaking my head. 

“Why? Just to show Arden he is late? Just to ruin him?” 

He nodded, looking down in shame, “... Yes.” 

To say I was shocked would be an understatement. I doubt I had mattered as much as he thought I did. 

“Why?” I asked weakly, “Why use me against him?” 

“He cherished you.” He whispered, the words surprisingly took too much effort for him to speak.

“He loved you.”

Those words brought the stinging memories back, especially the rejection.

The first kiss, I had to beg for it.

I couldn’t help but to release a hollow laugh because the shame of it was graved into my soul.

“Loved me… right.” Tears unwillingly dwell in my eyes, running a hand over my face.

“For that ‘love’, am I going to be punished?” I hissed, only to receive silence in return. 

His lack of proper explanation had taken my disappointment to a peak. How could he use me…? What did I do?

“It was all a script…” I choked out, a sob rising in my throat that I desperately tried to swallow but to no avail. 

“Every coincidence… Every perfect word… You let me drown just so you could get the credit for pulling me out of the water.” 

I glanced and found my hands trembling, “Do you have any realization of how fucked up that is, Vince?”

“Alyssa…”

“And…” I sniffled, roughly wiping the tears with the back of my hand, giving him a broken smile, “And you know what’s the worst part?” I whispered, my voice cracking completely, “is that I still want him.”

His eyes went wide, “What…?”

“With Ken or with Arden. My first thought was leaving, being saved, to be away. But with you, Vince…” 

I glanced, tears stealing my ability to see properly and see his reaction. 

Was he remorseful or unaffected? I couldn’t see.

And honestly, I didn’t have the courage to check either.

“I still want the man who held me when I had nightmares…” I only confessed my feelings.

“The man who made me laugh, who supported me when Sadie degraded me, who pulled me to my feet, who left his own mother for me…”

“Alyssa….”

“I keep looking at you, praying that the monster is the lie and the husband is the truth.” 

Slowly, Vince reached out again. his long fingers hovering just a millimeter above my knee, trembling.

“He was the truth, Alyssa,” Vince began cautiously.

“The man who protected you... he isn't a character I played, Alyssa. He’s the person I became because of you.”

I looked at his hand, so close, yet entirely out of reach. I pulled my legs closer to my chest, deliberately moving away from his touch.

“But you built the stage, Vince,” I whispered back, letting the harsh truth settle.

“You and your love story is a lie.” I slowly rose from my seat, turning towards the guest room.

“I am not sure if I can trust a man as yourself anymore.”

I walked back to the room to grab my purse, phone and car keys.

I didn’t know where I would go. 

What I would do.

All I knew was that the heartache was too much for me to endure. I only had the absolute need to get out of his sight.

Rushing down, I walked past him.

“Wh-Where are you going?” Vince’s voice came panicked.

“To my parents’ house,” I enunciated, hiding the heartbreak and trying to be stone-cold.

“No. You’re not leaving,” he said, taking three long, aggressive strides toward me before stopping himself.

“Alyssa, please. It’s freezing outside. I’ll leave. I’ll stay at a hotel, I swear it. Just don’t leave this house.”

“I can’t breathe in this house, Vince,” I hissed, “Every wall reminds me of what you did. Let me go.”

“Where will you go?”

“To my parent’s.” 

“You think going to them will fix this?” he hissed, a flash of his arrogance breaking through his panic. 

“They don't care about you, Alyssa. They never have.” His gaze hardened, almost making me retreat a step. “If you walk out that door, you’re throwing away the only protection you have.”

I looked at my trembling hands for the last time before shoving them on his chest, pushing him away as far as possible. 

“You are not my protector!” I snapped, staggering him. 

“You are no savior, Vince Lysander. Only a selfish bastard.” 

I glared at his shocked face for the next five seconds before turning around and walking out of his door.

… Having no idea for how long I could escape this darkness.