Chapter 5 Confusion
Aiyana's P.O.V
“You.” He began, taking a slow step forward, his voice low enough to make my stomach twist. “Did I ask you to stand?” He asked and I almost.
Almost lost my temper but I held back, knowing that although I was ready to dsmn the consequences, I shouldn't dare
The sound of his voice alone made the chains feel tighter.
My mouth opened only because fear forced it open. “I…I heard someone… I thought…”
“You thought.” He echoed, voice flattening. “So you decided to stand? With injuries you can barely breathe through? With chains you can barely lift?” He asked and I felt like sinking into the ground.
I looked horrible, felt horrible, and to top it all, I was kidnapped and being questioned like a five year old for moving.
Heat crawled up my neck. Shame. Embarrassment. But also some pathetic little spark of defiance that hadn’t died yet.
“I didn’t think.” I admitted.
He stopped directly in front of me. Close enough that I felt the warmth radiating through his tailored shirt. Close enough that I could smell the faint scent of something dark and sweet on him, but mostly, close enough that I could feel the danger rolling off him like heat from a wildfire.
“You don’t need to think.” He said. “You only need to stay alive, and you do that by obeying me.”
Obey.
The word lodged itself somewhere between my ribs.
I didn’t know what had kept me alive this long. Maybe curiosity? Possessiveness? A whim? I didn’t know which reason terrified me more.
“Standing was not obeying.” He added, eyes narrowing, and although that would usually put fear through my body, I feel deep anger but didn't dare express it.
Before I could open my mouth and dig my grave, the weird man came in and uttered the words I would never have guessed he would say, especially considering the atmosphere.
“She’s gorgeous.” He said, like it was the most normal thing in the world to say in front of the country’s most feared man.
Jerome’s head turned fully now. A warning. A slow, icy warning.
“Leave this room right now, Gerald.”
The dim light illuminated Jerome’s face just enough for me to see something subtle, something I still couldn’t name. Annoyance? Possessiveness? Something darker?
Except… he wasn’t threatening Gerald. Not the way he threatened everyone else. Not the way he’d threatened the guard whose ribs were probably broken now. And Gerald on the other hand, didn’t look scared. At all.
He grinned.
“Oh? Jealous much?”
I nearly choked on my own breath.
Jealous? Jerome Black? Of what? Me? That made no sense. None. Zero.
My entire body froze, my eyes darting between the two men, trying to understand, trying to keep up, trying not to faint from the pressure of existing in the same room as them.
Jerome didn’t acknowledge the jab. Instead, he turned back to me like Gerald hadn’t spoken at all.
Then calmly, without breaking eye contact with me, he spoke over his shoulder.
“Bring breakfast”. He ordered no one in particular, but 8 heard people scramble to acknowledge his order.
Gerald apparently thought he lost his mind, because his entire body snapped toward Jerome so fast I thought his neck cracked.
“There’s no way you just did that.” Gerald pointed at Jerome, then at me, then back at Jerome. “No. No. Absolutely not. You only gave me an apple ten years after we became friends!”
Jerome’s eyelid twitched.
Which, considering how unreadable he normally was… meant the emotional equivalent of an earthquake.
“Get lost.” Jerome said.
“No, because what do you mean breakfast?” Gerald demanded, scandalized. “Since when do you feed people? Since when do you feed hostages? Since when. Hey, look at me, don’t walk away when I’m asking…”
Jerome was already walking past him toward the door.
Gerald threw his hands up. “You fed her before feeding me. I’m not letting this go!”
Jerome paused at the doorway. Just a second. Just long enough to turn his head and pin Gerald with a stare cold enough to freeze fire.
“Out.”
Gerald snorted.
“You’re only saying that because I’m right.”
But he left anyway.
Jerome gave one last look at me, unreadable, unnervingly calm and then stepped out as well. The door shut behind him with a soft click that felt much louder in the silence that followed.
I finally exhaled.
~=•=~
The silence stretched after they left.
Heavy.
Too heavy.
Like the room was trying to digest what just happened before I could.
I sank back onto the bed, chains clinking. The movement tugged at my wrists, but I didn’t care. My brain was too busy spinning.
He called for breakfast for me but he had always done so since I've been here.
No one. No one in their right mind would think that meant anything, but Gerald’s reaction, Jerome’s annoyance and the fact that I was still alive…
Something was wrong.
Or no, something was off.
Something about the way Jerome looked at me, the way he stood in front of me, the way he didn’t let Gerald’s comments faze him, it all crawled into my head and wouldn’t leave.
Why?
Why was I still here?
Why was I still alive?
Why was he feeding me?
None of it added up. None of it made sense. I was nobody. Just a woman left for dead at his forbidden gates. He could’ve ordered one of his men to drag me into the street and that would’ve been the end.
People disappeared near his territory all the time, and no one dared question it. No one dared intervene.
So why me?
A cold feeling seeped into my bones.
Maybe it wasn’t mercy.
Maybe it wasn’t humanity.
Maybe keeping me alive was worse than killing me.
My mind wouldn’t stop spiraling. Chains rattled as I shifted on the bed, hugging my knees even though the movement tugged painfully at my restraints.
I closed my eyes, trying to breathe through the panic rising again.
What did he want with me? What was he planning? Why keep me in this darkness, guarded, chained, fed?
I replayed his words.
“You belong to me
now.”
My stomach twisted so hard I thought I’d be sick.
Belong.
The word tasted like iron and fear.
“What have I gotten myself into?”