Entrapped

Chapter 9.

His announcement knocked the breath out of her body. Her mind slowed down and her body went completely numb upon hearing him.

"W-What?" She refused to believe that he had said that because that was not possible, at least not anymore.

Xavier smirked at her bewildered expression; he had intended to show mercy, but after the ridiculous action she had pulled off by trying to kill him angered him to no bounds. He just couldn't digest that the innocent Tiara he had loved all these years, the one who had never even hurt a bee and was always against violence, had now changed completely. She was the innocence he needed in his dark life that could prevent him from becoming a complete monster, but he now found her standing under the light of deception and he felt like he had already lost her to the world of deception.

Xavier had planned to be mad at her for a while but he was aware that the moment she would apologize, he would gulp down every bit of pain she had caused him and would forgive her, but the event had taken a dirty turn and had aroused the demon he seemed to carry within him.

"Yes, Tiara," he confirmed, clearing away her confusion as he clicked his tongue, making that menacing sound that terrified her even more as she failed to understand what twisted game he was trying to play with her now.

"I will marry you."

"w-wh..." She was left speechless, his decision didn't make any sense to her, "w-why?" She shuttered away her confusion.

"I reckon a perfect punishment for you is to be crumbled down by the very same fate you tried to get rid of," Xavier exclaimed, looking at her with furious eyes as he enlisted her wrong doings and announced her punishment, "wouldn't it be suffocating to marry the man whose trust you have once exploit to the extent that he would rather die than to trust you again?" Tiara instantly looked down as the realization dawned upon her entire body that how she had used him back then and she now thought about what consequences he must have faced due to her sudden disappearance.

She knew the world they lived in was dark and, as a successor of the mafia lord, people had always been keen to notice Xavier's every action and she could guess that he had been criticized and looked down upon. His ability as a successor to the throne must have been questioned and the fact that he had to put up with all the criticism for something that he did not even do must have infuriated him to no bounds. She realized that she hadn't only betrayed him but tainted his reputation as well.

"It would be torturous to live with the very people you have betrayed, to bear the hatred and disgust they have for you till the time you die." Xavier kept talking, making her realize that he had planned to punish her slowly but severely for an eternity. "I think it would be for you to witness the loathe in very same eyes where you have once witnessed love and respect." though he meant the last sentence for himself but was completely oblivious that she had never tried to read his eyes.

She shuddered involuntarily at his threat, she wanted to live a peaceful life and be loved, but now Xavier had decided to deprive her of being loved and she didn't want that. She didn't want to be his wife and she didn't want to live like that.

"I won't marry you." She whispered; a slight determination reeked in her body as she showed her defiance against him.

Xavier let out a chuckle, a humourless one that sent chills down her spine, "Do you really think you would get to decide?" The mocking amusement in his tone made her realize that she no longer was a free person who would get to decide, but a prisoner who would be sentenced to any punishment he found fit for her but then again she had never felt like a free person from the moment she was betrothed to Xavier and that was the only reason she took such a drastic step to free herself.

"Xavier. please!" She suddenly fell on her knees right before him and joined her hands together to plead, "You can just kill me, please!" living a life of a puppet was not worth living in her eyes. "Please, you can put a rest on all this by just killing me."

Xavier tilted his head as the tigress who had dared to betray him without a worry suddenly seemed to crumble like a dead leaf and he wondered what brought such a transition to her. Was it really him? If she was this scared of him, then why didn't she fear him while plotting the perfect plan of deception against him.

He took a deep breath and let out a deliberate sigh and bent his knees and sat before her, her green eyes staring right back at his steel grey eyes.

"I told you, Tiara, I won't show any mercy.” The truth was that he cannot kill the woman he loved with his own hands and nor could he let anyone else harm her in any way.

He knew what hell he had burned in when he couldn't find her anywhere in the last six months. Those months were the toughest for him so far, despite being in worse situations, such as being on the edge of death. But he did not fear death as much as he feared living a life that would not contain her.

"I want you alive so I can punish you," that was a lie, an utter lie. He wanted her alive so that he could live. He was surely heartbroken and hurt by her betrayal, yet he couldn't think about punishing her. He just didn't have the guts to admit it.

Tiara's eyes glinted with certain emotions, her lips twitched upwards, throwing a smile that was hard to decipher for him, and she started to laugh suddenly. The sound of her laughter echoed through the entire room and the obvious hollowness of it bothered Xavier.

"Xavier Alejandro Black," venom dripped from her voice as she spoke, "this is why I ran away from here, from these pathetic people who follow you like a fool and, unfortunately, my father was one of them." Her demeanour changed completely, from vulnerable to fierce.

"The world has changed and yet they feared you like a king and, unfortunately for you, I was one of them." She used to fear him in the past, till the time Mason was alive, but not anymore, because she had nothing else to lose.

"I gave you a chance to kill me, to put a rest on all of this but-" she stopped giving a dramatic pause to him as she gripped the piece of broken glass that was on the floor near his feet and stabbed his leg furiously as she completed her words, "you are too arrogant and passed it." She smirked at him.

He felt a sudden tug on his right leg, the sharp object seemed to prick not only his leg but his heart. He didn't even flinch and hissed, much to her dismay. His eyes visibly hardened because he just couldn't stand against the woman he loved as an enemy.

She was about to attack him again but he caught her hand, and applied a little pressure to make her let out a whimper and caused the glass to fall from her grip.

He swiftly pushed her pack and pressed her back against the wall, his hand now around her neck. She was trapped between him and the wall with his knees on both sides of her.

He leaned closer to her, she tried to get away, but that only made him tighten his hold on her neck to convey a warning.

"That was a wrong move, Tiara." He whispered when his lips were just a few inches away from her ear, "though your dainty hands have no strength to hurt me, but your reckless moves still made me angry."

"As if I-"

"Shhh, sweetheart," He didn't let her speak, her words were useless and he wanted to show her just that, "you have said enough and now listen to me very carefully because, unlike you, I don't bluff." His tone was dangerous and at this very moment all the courage decided to abandon Tiara to fend for herself.

"I have no intention of forcing you into a marriage. If you don't want to marry me now, then it's alright." He said, making her confused with his bipolar act, "but you will only marry me, however long you take to make up your mind about that, I don't care." There was determination in his voice and the intensity of it scared her because it held power to hold her captive.

"W-Why are you obsessed with me as your wife? Why would you wait for me, Xavier? Why?" She raised her voice slightly, asking all the questions she had about the conflicted man, "why would you take a serpent as your wife?" That's what they call a traitor here, a serpent; a vicious snake who exploits a person's trust only to betray him afterwards. She had always hated this term but now had become one.

"You still don't understand, do you?" He closed his eyes, taking a shaky breath. He decided that it was time to unburden his heart, "How long will you be ignorant, Tiara?"

"W-What are you talking about?" She sensed the heaviness in his tone, as if he was in pain, but she failed to comprehend why he would be like that suddenly.

That was it, he could no longer hold himself back anymore. He needed to uplift the silence and make a confession, a confession of love, because she had lived long enough in oblivion and his heart wanted to make his presence known and this time Xavier lost control over his mind and let his heart guide the path.

"I love you, Tiara." He whispered each word with perfect intensity to let her know that he meant it, "I have always loved you with all my heart." His words were laced with sincerity, "I am in love with you." He confessed at last, although there were many things he wanted to say to her but he suddenly felt out of words.

Her green eyes widened, a sheer layer of shock covered her green orbs, her face turned a little pale hearing his confession. She waited for a moment for him to laugh out loud and admit that he was just mocking her, but at the same time a part of her knew that he wasn't lying. His every word was as true as the existence of the sun and moon in this enormous universe.

"W-What?" She stammered, still in complete shock; her mind seemed to faze with the newly found information.

"Yes, Tiara, I love you."

An eerie silence surrounded them as if the entire world stopped revolving to give them a moment. Both of their hearts were throbbing, beating with the speed of light. He waited for her reaction while she needed a minute to grasp the situation.

"How?" She knew that was ridiculous, but her mind seemed not to be working properly to come up with some rational thoughts in this senseless situation that she found herself trapped in suddenly.

His eyebrows knitted with a frown on his face as he had no answer to that question. Xavier knew he loved her, but falling in love was a process that one is completely oblivious to and it was the same for Xavier. He didn't know how he started to love her, but he had this moment where he first realized his love himself; a moment of self-realization.

"Since when?" she wondered, it all sounded so strange to her and she had no idea how to react anymore.

"Since the moment you played Juliet in a drama in school."

"I never played Juliet?" she frowned at him.

Xavier chuckled at her unreliable memory and pulled himself away a little, now looking deep into her eyes, "You did it for a day as a standby", he claimed, but it didn't ring any bells in her mind and he knew he needed to remind her further, "the girl who played the Juliet was absent and you were asked to take her place so that others could practice."

Her eyes widened in realization, it was long ago, maybe when she was in seventh grade while he was in tenth grade, "How do you know?"

"I was there, I watched you act and all the dialogue you said to that boy who was playing Romeo burned something in me and that's when I realized what I feel for you is far more than the mere friendship." he confessed his long awaited confession, "I just couldn't tolerate you letting out those affectionate words to that boy even though I knew you were acting but I just couldn't stand it." He unveiled his true emotions, those he had always tried to keep at bay as he believed that she was too innocent and young to be caught up with him in a passionate love story.