Forbidden

7. I play dirty

CAELIAN’S POV

I spared a glance at Diane who had gone unsurprisingly still beside me inside the car after she had watched her house disappear before her eyes. if I was a better man, like the ones good girls like Diane fantasized about being with, I should let her go, tell her that she could pay me three to four years from now even though I didn’t want the cash. Just to have something to look forward to but I couldn’t be that patient anymore. I couldn’t live with letting her just go and then spend years after now stalking her and seeing her with a goofy lucky bastard who can kiss her whenever he liked because he happened to be her boyfriend.

So while she sat there trying to process that she was following a stranger back home, I sat beside her fantasizing fisting my hand around her white hair because I am no better man and this man wanted her by hook or by crook. I play dirty, I don’t know how not to and as I stare at her lick her bottom lip nervously, and wring her hand together, I looked away.

I wanted her so I couldn’t afford to scare her and that’s exactly what I would achieve if I kept staring at her nip those lips of hers. I spared her another glance after minutes because I can’t control myself remembering the shock on the faces of my men when I had insisted she rode with me and my second in command remained with them.

Like the f**k I will let them anywhere near her. The carnal need I felt for the woman next to me was borderline crazy and scared me. But in a way, I will be protecting them because I can’t tell if I might end wreaking havoc on them if they as much as misstep around her by emptying the content of my gun into their skull alone.

She rested on the other side of the window while I admire the length of her hair that was out of the messy bun it always was in and now rested at the curve of her hips. What I wanted to do with her, to her, in her was depraved, sick, and twisted just like me.

And I suspected in the end, I might be turning her into something that looked very akin to me but that didn’t deter me, even, I looked forward to it because perhaps then I won’t feel such churning guilt when I looked at her unsuspecting face that can’t tell that I was about to possess and own her in every way possible. There is no escaping me now I thought with a smirk. ‘So run Princess, run… but I would end up catching you every single time.’

DIANE’S POV

I was still beside myself when we pulled up in front of what looked like an electronic community gate and I watched the hostile red hair that I could tell have been dying to punch me squarely in the face leave the car and jogged towards it.

I stared in awe as the gate slid open as he jogged back glancing at the car with a dreamy expression that made me feel slightly bad because even though I had not cared a bit about what they had been discussing, I had heard enough to know that he was supposed to be in here with Caelian. And honestly, I would have preferred it because being in such proximity to a man I have spent almost all my time obsessing over was overwhelming.

But all that was forgotten as the car advanced into what I will like to call another world. I have never seen anything like it with its pish posh shopping malls and dining and perhaps the mansions of the richest motherfuckers in New York because just setting eyes on the sprawling mansions and mowed lawn made me feel like I just stepped into a reality TV show that had no place for people like me.

It even had a f*****g gate that obviously was there to keep people like me from getting in. I have always known my place and I had always stuck there like a good girl but this man next to me with his expensive suit and the face of a god seem to have no issue with dragging me into a world that I shouldn’t be in.

I was still deep in my thought when Caelian leaned forward, I jolted in shock and although he smirked, I knew that my jumpiness had hurt him but he didn’t exactly expect me to be all snickers offering with a man that had made my father so white with shock.

“Home sweet home,” he announced regardless as we pulled up in front of a fifteen thousand square feet monstrosity of a house that I would have recognized anywhere. It had been big news when it had been bought a few years ago by an anonymous buyer. At the time, it was the most expensive piece of residential real estate in New York hence its popularity and why it had made the news.

Even though I didn’t want to be a freeloader or anything from what I can see the man beside me had a lot of money to burn and I think he would have slept with no difficulty at all if he had let me pay father’s debt two years from now or three so why was I here? I thought even as the red-hair giant who doesn’t seem to be a fan entered the mansion on his heels while the men with us all scattered in various directions in the wide mansion.

I had a feeling that even though they were out of sight, we were not out of sight. Curiosity made me look behind me at the man that had brought me here and for the first time, I saw past his face that looked like that of the Devil with its infamous tale of remarkable beauty as I couldn’t help but wonder who he truly was that he had more escorts than a Senator even in his home that is supposed to be safe and so much money than I had thought possible even while I had spent long nights stalking him on the internet.

I turned to grab my trolley bag but one of the men who remained in the car beat me to it and when he looked up to meet my gaze smiling I realized how wrong I had been. He was a boy perhaps my age mate or a few years older.

“Hey, I am Conrad,” he smiled at me and I couldn’t help but feel a little bit relieved.

“Diane,”

“I__”

Someone coughed behind us and we both turned at the same time staring at a pissed-looking Caelian who thankfully although selfishly was not directing his deadly glare towards me but at poor Conrad who although looked frazzled I had to give credit when due didn’t shudder but stared back at him.

“I want to assume you have somewhere to be,” Caelian said pointedly.

“Hmmm?” Conrad asked in confusion and Caelian arched his brow at the bag he was still holding.

Conrad gulped audibly. “Yes sir… that… I’m sorry,” he stuttered and before we could say a word he quickly moved with my bag putting a couple of distance between us and himself.

“Where are you going,” Caelian called after him stopping him in his tracks. He turned slowly.

“I am taking her bag to the room,” he fearfully replied.

Caelian rolled his eyes. “Obviously.” He huffed. “but that’s not the way to the house.’

He blinked in confusion. “She is staying__” he widened his eyes. “I thought she will be staying in the housekeeper’s quarters.”

“Yeah,” Caelian scoffed. “The one that is across your room right? Very convenient for you to pick up your conversation.”

“I am sorry, Boss,” he apologized his head down while I wonder why Caelian was scaring the bejesus out of the first person I thought might help me settle in this strange mansion of sprawling buildings and stern-looking men in black suits.

“Take her bag to the guest room.” He commanded and I looked at him from the corner of my eyes wondering why I was staying in there.

“But sir…” he eyed me. “You don’t like sharing your personal space with…”

“Don’t make me repeat myself, Conrad.”

Conrad was already sweating profusely and looked agitated as he bent his head.

“I am sorry sir,” he managed to mutter before scurrying away without a backward glance.

Well, there goes my potential first friend.

“You shouldn’t be speaking to the help,” Caelian chastised immediately after Conrad was out of sight.

I am the help. I wanted to remind him but wisely kept my thought to myself which might be one of the wisest decisions I have made since I saw ten men in my house. I turned towards the towering mansion in front of me and without thinking I moved. It was almost like an out-of-body experience and like I had no control of my body I stepped into the sprawling green lawn and without looking back I could tell that Caelian was behind me. It was the intensity of his stare burning against my back, the heat I could feel even though he kept his distance, it was his cologne that I now seem to have committed to memory that gave him away.

And I couldn’t help but notice that this house, this life, those doors that might reveal a lot more than I had any business learning about the man behind me seemed a bit more intimidating up close.

I shook my head slightly and turned, tears burning against my eyes. he stood looking at me, his hand tucked into his slack and a cold indescribable look on his face.

“I don’t want to do this,” I turned back to stare at the massive doors. “There are some doors people like me are not supposed to cross, this is one of them.”

The hair on my back stood and my body stiffened as I heard his footstep advance more and more. He was stepping close to me with each passing minute and I was aware yet when I heard his voice so close to me, against my neck in a position that couldn’t exactly be an embrace since the only part of his body that was making a contact with mine was his lips against my ears, it still felt intimate.

“Agree to be mine, Princess and I will conquer every door you as much as glance at and give you the keys,” he gruffly mumbled under his breath, and when I turned to look at him in outright shock. He straightened.