chapter 004
1101 Words
MELINA’S POV
For a long moment, neither of us moved.
The city lights spilled across the dark bedroom while our breathing slowly filled the silence between us.
Ken’s body was still partially over mine, heavy and warm, his forehead resting briefly against my shoulder as if he was trying to steady himself.
I stared at the ceiling blankly. This was done now. The deal had been sealed.
Slowly, he pulled away from me, and the sudden emptiness felt strange after the intensity of everything that had just happened.
I immediately sat up, clutching the sheet against my chest while trying to ignore the soreness between my thighs.
Ken remained sitting at the edge of the bed for a few seconds, his broad back facing me while he dragged a hand through his dark hair.
The silence started becoming unbearable. “So?” I finally asked quietly.
He glanced at me over his shoulder. “So what?”
I swallowed once. “Do I have your support now?”
The room became still again. Something unreadable crossed his face before he stood fully from the bed and reached for his trousers.
Instead of answering immediately, he slowly dressed himself while I watched nervously from the sheets.
Then finally, “Are you always like this?” he asked calmly.
I frowned slightly. “Like what?”
His eyes landed on me again. Cold. Sharp. “Offering your body whenever you need help.”
The words hit harder than I expected. For a second, embarrassment burned through me so intensely I almost looked away.
Almost. Instead, I forced myself to hold his gaze. “I already told you,” I said quietly. “I’ll do anything to survive.”
His expression didn’t change. I hated that. Most men reacted emotionally. Angrily. Greedily. Ken simply watched people like he was dissecting them from the inside out.
I tightened my grip on the sheets. “Those men murdered my parents,” I continued, my voice rougher now. “They destroyed everything I had.”
Memories flashed violently through my mind. Blood on marble floors. My mother, screaming. The smell of smoke. I shoved the memories down immediately before they could fully surface.
“I want revenge,” I admitted quietly. “I want every single one of them to feel fear before they die.”
Ken stared at me silently for so long that I started feeling exposed beneath his gaze. Then unexpectedly, he smiled. It wasn’t warm. It was cold enough to freeze the room.
“You changed,” he murmured.
Confusion flickered through me immediately. “What does that mean?”
His smile disappeared just as quickly as it came. “Nothing.”
No. It definitely wasn’t nothing.
There was history in the way he looked at me sometimes. Like he knew pieces of me I couldn’t remember giving him.
But before I could question him further, he walked toward the glass window overlooking the city. “You can have my protection,” he said calmly.
Relief almost hit me instantly until he continued, “But only one way.”
Something in my chest tightened cautiously. “What way?”
He turned toward me slowly. “Marriage.”
The word slammed into me so hard I genuinely thought I misheard him. “What?”
“You’ll take my name,” he continued evenly. “You’ll stand beside me publicly. As my wife.”
I stared at him in complete disbelief. For a second, I actually laughed softly because this had to be some kind of joke. Except Ken wasn’t smiling.
He was completely serious. “You can’t be serious,” I whispered.
“I don’t joke about business.” Anger started creeping slowly into my chest now. I threw the sheets aside and stood from the bed, ignoring the way my legs protested slightly.
“I offered you information,” I snapped. “I offered you myself.”
“And yet here we are.”
I glared at him. “You want more?”
His eyes darkened slightly at my tone. “You said you’d do anything.”
Something humiliating twisted inside my stomach.
Because he was right. I had said that. Still, the anger inside me burned hotter now.
“You already got what you wanted.” “No,” he said quietly. “I didn’t.” The way he said it made my pulse stutter strangely. He walked toward me slowly until he stood directly in front of me again.
Too close. Dangerously close.
“If you’re so willing to give your body away for protection,” he murmured coldly, “then you might as well give it to me permanently.”
The words should have disgusted me. Instead, they hurt. Because deep down, part of me knew he was provoking me intentionally.
Testing me. Seeing how desperate I truly was. I lifted my chin stubbornly. “And if I refuse?”
His expression became unreadable again instantly. “Then there’s no reason for this conversation to continue.”
Silence crashed heavily between us. I looked away first. Damn him. Because the truth was ugly.
Without Ken, I was already dead.
Club Seven wouldn’t stop hunting me now that I’d exposed myself tonight. They would find me eventually.
And unlike before, this time they would make sure there was nothing left of me to bury. I wrapped my arms tightly around myself.
Marriage to Don Ken sounded less like protection and more like willingly stepping into another cage.
But maybe cages were safer than graves. “You’d really marry someone you barely know?” I asked bitterly.
His gaze stayed fixed on me. “I know enough.”
Something about the answer unsettled me deeply. I searched his face again, trying to understand him.
Why me? A man like Ken could have anyone. Wealthy women. Powerful women. Models. Actresses. Why force marriage onto someone hunted by assassins?
None of it made sense. But survival rarely gave people the luxury of understanding everything.
Finally, I exhaled shakily.
“Fine,” I whispered.
Ken didn’t react immediately. Maybe he expected me to argue longer. Maybe part of him expected me to refuse completely. But I was too tired to pretend I still had choices.
“I’ll marry you.”
The room went quiet again after the words left my mouth. Ken stared at me for a long moment before slowly stepping closer. Then his fingers lifted gently beneath my chin.
“You just made the smartest decision of your life,” he said quietly.
I wasn’t sure if that terrified me more or less.
- Writer
