chap:-4
1026 Words
Night Love
Chapter 4: The Price of Protection
The dinner table was a battlefield of silence. Arura sat across from Zayan in the grand dining hall of the North Wing, the clinking of silverware against fine china the only sound in the room. Zayan hadn't spoken a word since the incident in the garden with Sayor. His presence was like a heavy storm cloud, suffocating and electric.
"Eat," Zayan commanded, his voice low and devoid of emotion.
Arura looked down at her plate. The food looked delicious, but she felt like her throat was constricted. "I'm not hungry, Zayan. I want to see my mother. You promised I could visit her today."
Zayan laid his fork down with a slow, deliberate movement that made Arura shiver. He leaned back in his leather chair, his charcoal eyes narrowing. "I promised you would be taken care of. Your mother is in the best hands. Going there now, when your uncle is prowling the hospital corridors like a hungry dog, is not an option."
"He’s my uncle, Zayan! Not a murderer!" Arura snapped, her frustration finally bubbling over.
Zayan’s smirk was cold. "In this family, Arura, the line between an uncle and a murderer is very thin. Kamal doesn't want to visit your mother; he wants to find out who paid the bills so he can sink his claws into them. He’s looking for leverage. And right now, that leverage is you."
Arura felt a lump in her throat. She knew Kamal Kaka was greedy, but Zayan made it sound like a life-and-death struggle. "And what are you doing, Zayan? You’ve locked me in this wing, you’ve cut me off from my friends, and you treat me like a possession. How are you any different?"
In a heartbeat, Zayan was out of his chair. Before Arura could even gasp, he was standing behind her, his large hands resting on her shoulders. His grip was firm, grounding her to the spot.
"The difference, Arura," he whispered against her ear, his breath hot against her skin, "is that I am the only one who is keeping you alive. Your uncle wants your inheritance. Sayor wants to use you to get to me. But I... I just want you."
"Why?" she breathed out, her heart hammering. "Why me? We’re supposed to be family."
"We were never family, Arura. Not really," Zayan growled. He turned her chair around so she was forced to look up at him. He knelt down, bringing his face level with hers. "I’ve watched you grow up from the shadows. I’ve waited for the moment when you would have nowhere else to turn. And now that you’re here, under my roof, I’m never letting you go."
Arura saw a flash of something terrifying in his eyes—an obsession so deep it bordered on madness. She realized then that Zayan hadn't just paid her mother's bills out of kindness. He had been waiting for an excuse to own her.
Suddenly, her phone buzzed on the table. It was an unknown number. Arura reached for it, but Zayan’s hand was faster. He snatched the phone and looked at the screen. A message appeared: 'The roses aren't the only things with thorns in that garden. Meet me tonight at the old gate if you want to know the truth about your father.'
It was from Sayor.
Zayan’s jaw tightened until it looked like it might snap. His eyes turned a deadly shade of black. Without a word, he crushed the phone in his hand. The screen shattered, and the device bent under his raw strength.
"Zayan! My phone!" Arura cried out, horrified.
"He’s trying to lure you out," Zayan said, his voice dangerously calm. He tossed the ruined phone onto the table like it was trash. "I told you to stay away from him. He’s using your father's memory to manipulate you."
"Maybe he knows something you're hiding!" Arura stood up, her eyes flashing with defiance. "Everyone keeps talking about an inheritance, about a mansion, about secrets. If my father left something for me, I have a right to know!"
Zayan stepped closer, his aura completely overwhelming her. He trapped her between his body and the dining table. "You have a right to be safe. And you are safe only with me. From now on, you don't leave this wing without my permission. Your doors will be monitored. Your every move will be mine to know."
"You can't do this! This is kidnapping!"
"No, Arura," Zayan whispered, his hand coming up to stroke her cheek with a tenderness that felt more frightening than his anger. "This is protection. One day, you’ll thank me for this. But until then... get used to the cage."
He turned and walked out of the dining hall, locking the double doors from the outside. Arura ran to the door, pounding her fists against the heavy oak, but there was no response. She was alone.
She walked over to the window, looking out at the dark gardens. Somewhere out there, Sayor was waiting with the truth. And inside these walls, Zayan was guarding her like a dark king guarding his most precious treasure.
As she stared into the night, she remembered the photo Sayor had been looking at in his car. She realized that her father’s death might not have been an accident after all. And the man who was 'protecting' her might be the very person she should be running from.
Deep in the shadows of the North Wing, a hidden camera flickered. In his private study, Zayan sat in front of a wall of monitors, watching Arura cry by the window. He took a sip of his whiskey, his eyes fixed on her image.
"Cry all you want, Arura," he murmured to the empty room. "But you’re finally where you belong. In my world. Under my shadow."
The price of her mother’s life had been Arura’s soul. And Zayan was ready to collect every bit of it.
- Writer
