Bound By Hate

The First Warning

Melanie’s POV

I could hardly sleep. The rain never stopped pouring. I paced back and forth in my living room. I had so many questions.

“You’re asking questions your parents died asking,” I said to myself “What did he mean by that?”

I clenched my fists as I kept replaying those words. What right did he have to speak about my parents that way? Typical billionaire ways. I noticed the damage on the lock of my door. Why was this happening to me? I tried not to cry.

The security that Philip sent already took care of the mess before leaving, but there were still traces of the incident. Drawers were yanked open. The cabinet was disorganized and papers were scattered around the floor. The intruder was definitely looking for something.

But what terrified me the most was that; Nothing too obvious had been stolen. It meant they either found what they were looking for or knew exactly what they needed but still didn’t find it yet.

My phone vibrated on the kitchen counter. Unknown number again.

I stared at the phone for a moment before picking up.

“Hello?”

“Open the door.”

It was him. I cautiously approached the window and looked at the street below.

A black jeep was parked beneath the building and leaning casually behind it, one hand tucked into the pocket of his dark coat was Philip Harrington.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” I said while looking through my window.

Even with the distance between him and I, he somehow still looked intimidating. I hated that.

“I’m not letting you in.” I said

“You have twenty seconds before my security team comes up there anyway, so it's really up to you.”

I let out a bitter laugh “you amaze me Philip Harrington, I admit.”

“Trust me, you haven’t seen anything yet. Now let me in.” he said with a straight expression.

I scoffed.

“You're unbelievable.”

“Fifteen”

I hung up angrily.

“Who does he actually think he is?”

Three minutes later, I pulled my apartment door open aggressively. ”20 seconds later and you still didn’t do shit.”

Philip stood there looking completely unfazed, with his black gloves. Behind him were two security guards.

I folded my arms.

“Do you enjoy threatening people, that’s what you rich folks are into,right?”

“So that’s how you see me?”

“You really think I’m stupid enough to believe you suddenly care about me?”

He briefly looked through my apartment ignoring what I said before focusing back at me. “I think you’re letting your anger get the best of you and you’re too ignorant to see the danger when it’s directly in front of you.” He said firmly.

I couldn’t hide my irritation so I just stepped aside.

“Five minutes, so you can leave me alone.”

Philip entered, observing my place. He assessed areas I did not notice initially. Definitely not his first time doing this. One of his men stood outside while the other went to check the hallway.

I closed the doors. “What do you really want?” Instead of answering immediately, Philip walks to my broken drawer.

His expression darkened slightly.

“What was here?” He asked.

“What do you mean?” I replied.

“Before they searched this place.”

“I don’t know, do you expect to know every single detail about my place.”

Philip grabbed my shoulders “Think carefully.”

“I said I don’t know.”

Silence stretched between us. Then he sighed quietly and removed his gloves. I immediately noticed the bruising across his knuckles. It was fresh I couldn’t resist the urge to ask “You got into a fight?”

He looked at his hands for a moment.

“Something like that.”

“Again, with the vague answers.” I walked towards my kitchen “you still haven’t explained why you’re really here.”

“I already did.”

“No, you haven’t.”

“You came into my life after so many years of chaos caused by your family. I have been tagged as crazy by the public and now you suddenly expect me to marry you because an unknown individual broke into my apartment and people are after me? That doesn’t sound like an explanation.”

Philip stayed quiet. I wondered what he was thinking about. He smiled softly and said “You look and sound like your mother you know.”

Those words hit so deep, it made my eyes teary. His expression remained unexplained,but his voice had slightly changed. It was softer. More sympathetic.

“She hated when people lied to her too.”

My anger returned,

“You have no right to talk about her like you knew her.”

“But I did know her.”

I stared in disbelief. How could he possibly have known my mum? For a second, I was unsure of what to say.

“You’re lying.”

“No, I am not but it’s not like you even trust me.”

“Tr..trust you? The last 24hrs of my life have been so overwhelming and you’re talking about trust!”

Philip turned and walked towards the window to collect his thoughts. Rain fell faintly. “She worked with my father a long time ago before the fire.”

I didn’t say a word because mother never mentioned the Harrington family, especially having any business with them, it didn’t sit right with me.

“So, why are you telling me this now?”

“Because people are moving against you Melanie, I don’t know how else to explain and if I tell you everything too early, you will run.”

“Run?” I laughed bitterly.

“ Trust me, I’m way ahead of you.”

Philip blinked in amusement.

“Trust me, you won’t get far.”

His tone agitated me, I wanted to just punch him. He definitely knew things I didn’t. The feeling like I was clueless, I hated it so much.

I grabbed the marriage contract from the counter where I had thrown it earlier.

“You really think I would sign this?” I yanked the paper up to him.

“No.” He responded immediately.

“But I know eventually you’ll realize you need to.”

Before I could clap back, a sudden loud bang echoed from outside my apartment building. Philip reacted instantly, Meanwhile I froze in shock.

He moved first grabbing my wrist and pulled me away from the windows just as red lights flashed across the apartment.

A black SUV sped outside below. These people didn’t look like regular intruders, before I could finish the words in my head, gunshots exploded. I watched the glass shatter instantly. I heard people scream, running for cover.

My heart nearly stopped. I’ve never been in this situation before. He maintained his grip

around my arm, he held me more tightly now pulling me closer to him.

“Stay down.”

I nodded, I could not stop shaking but his voice sounded so assuring.

The screaming increased which brought me out of thought once again, I squeezed my fists trying to comfort myself. My door swung open as one of Philip’s men burst inside.

“Sir, we need to get you guys to safety now!”

He didn’t argue. His silence scared me more than the gunshots because if someone like Philip Harrington looked truly terrified. Then whatever was going on was far worse than I imagined.

“Wait, I have to go get something.” I quickly pulled away.

“No! It’s too dangerous Mel.”

“I can’t leave it behind. Fine, come with me!”

He nodded and we quickly crawled towards my desk and I checked for my book and it was gone.

“W- what, how?” My voice started break

“What’s wrong?

“My book. The one my dad gave me, it’s gone!”

Gunshots kept raining and it was becoming louder and more chaotic.

“Mel, we have to leave, now.”

I shed a tear but knew I couldn’t stay any longer, we ran out behind his security. We got to a safe spot, waiting for his car.

He finally looked down at me. His expression moved from worry to complete emptiness.

“Do you understand me yet?”

I wanted to respond but I couldn’t process properly. I kept thinking about the book, was that what they came looking for?

Something unsettling had finally fallen into place. I started to think about what he had said earlier.

Maybe he was not the danger I feared.