Dangerously Mine

Chapter 20

Everyone was gone. Finally I can breathe after that suffocating perfumes of theirs, the cahos in the dining area, everything. I felt like I am myself again, no need to impress anyone, no need to act like a Mikaelson when I am not.

I am back in my room. The silence pressed against my ears so hard it hurt. I stood completely still, my bare feet sinking into the thick carpet, but my eyes were locked onto the dark wood of the closet doors. It was the exact place where I had been forced to hide last night, squeezing my eyes shut while the world outside fell apart.

My gaze drifted down to the floorboards near the edge of the bed. This was the same room where the maid had died. She had been killed while protecting me, a girl she had only just met, a girl she did not even know. She was just a stranger with a life and a name, and she was wiped out in a single heartbeat.

Just because Jacob had put her in a position to guard me.

A sick, cold knot twisted in my stomach. The worst part was the absolute numbness of this house. Jacob did not even look guilty about it. To him, her life was just a transaction, a piece on a board that had been traded away. He had already ordered the floors to be scrubbed and the lights turned back on, moving forward as if her blood had never stained the wood.

I did not know if I could even breathe in this room, let alone sleep. I wanted to move. There were so many empty, beautiful bedrooms in this glass fortress, rooms where no one had ever bled, but my legs felt heavy, like lead. I could not bring myself to leave. The horror of the night before kept replaying behind my eyelids every time I tried to close them.

A sharp, firm rap against the wood broke the quiet, making me jump.

The door swung open before I could even answer, and Jacob walked inside.

He looked tired, the skin beneath his sharp jaw tight and his dark hair slightly messy, but he still looked incredibly hot. His tie was loosened, the top buttons of his shirt undone to reveal the pale skin of his throat. I hated him. I hated his cold family and the terrifying world he had dragged me into, but I could not deny that the people in his bloodline shared the genes of a god. He looked flawless even when he was carrying a bullet wound under his clothes.

As I watched him close the door, a stray thought crossed my mind. I did not even know what his father looked like, or his mother. They had not even belonged to this sudden celebration. And how had all those relatives managed to get here so fast after the news broadcast? It was as if they had just been waiting in the dark, ready to pounce on whatever Jacob brought home.

Jacob stopped a few feet away from me, his grey eyes locking onto mine with a piercing glare.

"Why did you say that earlier?" he asked. His voice was low, cutting through the empty space between us.

"What?" I asked, my voice coming out small and defensive as I stepped back.

"That you are adopted," he said, his jaw tightening as he closed the distance between us. "Did you know that you made me look like an i***t out there?"

The word hit me like a physical blow. Wow. An i***t.

A sudden flash of anger burned right through my fear. I raised my left eyebrow, tilting my head back to look him dead in the eye, refusing to let him see my hands shaking this time.

"Why should I care?" I asked, the words spilling out of me, sharp and bitter. "You did not even bother to care that I looked completely clueless earlier. I looked like I did not even belong to this world when you announced to the media that we got married. You told the entire world that I am your wife, Jacob. When the truth is, you just bought my freedom and treated me like a piece of property. You lied to everyone, you left me completely in the dark, and you brought that humiliation on yourself."

Jacob’s calm face cracked for a split second, a flicker of pure frustration rising to the surface of his eyes. He stepped directly into my space, his chest nearly brushing against my shoulders, forcing me to look up.

"I did that to protect you," he said, his voice dropping into a harsh, fierce whisper.

"Protect me? From What?" I babbled, the nervous energy making me talk faster, my chest heaving beneath the heavy silk of the ivory dress. "By telling a room full of strangers that I belong to you? By dragging me onto a stage and letting those cameras blind me? Your family looked at me like I was a piece of trash they found on the street. That girl, Ninna, she looked at me like she wanted to wipe me out of existence. Nobody defended me. You just stood there like a stone wall while they tore my background apart."

Jacob did not flinch. He did not blink. He stood so close I could smell the faint scent of the red wine and the expensive soap on his skin.

"My family does not need to like you," Jacob said, his tone turning completely flat again, hyper pragmatic. "They only need to know you are mine. The media was a shield. The marriage is a wall. If the world thinks you carry the Mikaelson name, the Santos family cannot touch you to settle their debts."

I shook my head, my mind spinning into a dark, confused fog. None of this made any sense to me. I had spent eight years in a dusty attic, sweeping floors and folding laundry. My world had been tiny, quiet, and simple. Now, people were shooting at each other in the hallways, and my name was scrolling across television screens.

"You keep talking about debts and shields, but you are not telling me anything!" I cried out, my voice cracking as a tear finally slipped down my cheek. I stepped closer to him, gripping the lapels of his suit jacket with my trembling fingers, desperately searching his cold face for any real answer. "Who even were those men who attacked us last night, Jacob? Who are they? Why did they come into this house with guns, and why do they want me? I do not know them. I have never done anything to anyone!"

Jacob looked down at my hands clutching his jacket. His expression did not change, but I felt his posture go completely rigid. What world did I enter to? What kind of life amd I messing up?

"They are people who want to hurt my business," he said simply, his voice dropping an octave, smooth and unyielding. "And they think taking you is the easiest way to do it. That is all you need to know."

"So I am just a target for them, and a shield for you," I whispered, the anger draining out of me, leaving me feeling completely empty and small. My hands slowly slipped from his jacket, falling to my sides. I looked down at my feet, my knuckles white from how hard I had been gripping the fabric. "You do not care about what I feel. You do not care that I am terrified to even close my eyes in this room because a girl died right where we are standing. You just use people. You used her, and now you are using me."

Jacob stayed silent. The absolute quiet of his personality stretched between us, heavy and unbending. He did not offer an apology. He did not tell me a comforting lie to make the guilt go away. He just watched me, his grey eyes dark and unreadable in the dim light of the bedroom.

He reached out, his long fingers wrapping firmly around my upper arm. His grip was not cruel, but it was solid, stopping the frantic trembling of my body.

"She knew the risks of working for this house," Jacob said quietly, his voice steady. "You do not. Sleep in my room tonight."

I blinked up at him, my mind stalling as my throat went dry. "What?"

He stared back on to my eyes.

“Sleep in my room tonight.”