Love Me In 100 Days

Chapter 4: Shadows in the Glass

​By Day Twenty-Five, the atmosphere inside Blackwood Manor had shifted from cold hostility to a thick, unbearable electric tension.

​Sienna could no longer pretend that Alexander was merely her warden. The truth about her father had shattered her perception of her family's innocence, leaving her feeling utterly isolated. The only person who truly understood the scale of the dark web surrounding them was the man keeping her captive.

​It was midnight on a Tuesday when the manor's backup generators hummed to life, signaling a blackout caused by the coastal storm outside.

​Unable to sleep, Sienna slipped out of the master suite wearing a dark silk robe over her nightgown. She walked down the quiet, shadow-drenched corridors of the east wing—the one section of the house Alexander had strictly forbidden her from entering.

​At the end of the hall, a door was slightly ajar, a soft, bluish light spilling onto the dark hardwood floor.

​Sienna approached quietly and peeked through the gap.

​It was a private command center. Wall-to-wall monitors glowed in the dark, displaying live surveillance feeds of the manor’s perimeter, financial tickers, and archived legal files. But what drew Sienna’s attention was the central screen.

​It displayed a live camera feed of a high-security villa in Tagaytay—where her father was currently hiding. Outside the villa, three sleek black SUVs were parked in the shadows, their occupants watching her father’s house through binoculars.

​Sienna gasped, stepping into the room. "You're watching him?"

​A shadow detached itself from the corner of the room. Alexander stepped into the light of the monitors. He was shirtless, wearing only a pair of dark trousers. His sculpted chest and shoulders were broad and heavily defined, but what caught Sienna’s breath were the long, jagged scars running across his left shoulder and back—souvenirs from his four years in high-security prison.

​"I watch everyone, Sienna," Alexander said, his voice low and dangerous in the dimly lit room.

​"Those men outside my father's house..." Sienna pointed a trembling finger at the screen. "Are those your men? Or Victor's?"

​Alexander walked over to the console, tapping a few keys. "They belong to Victor’s syndicate. My men are stationed two streets over, keeping them from breaking down your father's front door."

​Sienna froze, staring at him in shock. "You're... you're protecting him?"

​"I am keeping him alive," Alexander corrected sharply, turning to face her. The ambient blue light framed his muscular frame, making him look like a dark deity of the night. "If Victor kills your father, the evidence holding Victor’s empire together dies with him. Your father stays alive until I decide his sentence."

​"Why didn't you tell me?" Sienna stepped closer, her anger flaring through her confusion. "You let me believe you were going to let loan sharks tear my family apart!"

​"Would you have believed me if I told you I was saving him?" Alexander countered, stepping toward her until his shadow swallowed her whole. "You spent twenty-five days looking at me like I’m a monster, Sienna."

​"You act like one!" she shouted, her hands coming up to press against his bare chest.

​The moment her soft, warm palms touched his bare skin, both of them froze.

​Alexander’s skin was burning hot against the chill of the room. Beneath her fingers, she could feel the powerful, rapid rhythm of his heart. Alexander looked down at her hands on his chest, then slowly lifted his eyes to meet hers. The coldness in his gaze had vanished, replaced by a scorching, desperate heat.

​"I tried to be a monster to you," Alexander whispered, his voice hoarse. "I wanted to treat you like a line item on a ledger. A tool for revenge."

​He reached up, his large, warm hands wrapping around her wrists. Instead of pushing her away, he held her hands flat against his heart.

​"But every night you lie in my bed, sleeping inches away from me... every time I hear your voice... I realize I'm the one who's trapped," he confessed, his dark eyes searching her face with agonizing intensity.

​Sienna’s breath hitched. "Alexander..."

​"Tell me to stop, Sienna," Alexander growled softly, his fingers tightening around her wrists as he pulled her half an inch closer. "Tell me you hate me. Tell me to step back, and I swear on my life I will."

​Sienna looked at his sharp jawline, at the raw vulnerability breaking through his fierce mask, at his dark, parted lips. She knew she should walk away. She knew that falling for this man was dangerous, foolish, and completely insane.

​Instead, her fingers flexed against his chest, her nails digging gently into his skin.

​"I can't," she whispered.

​Alexander let out a low, ragged breath—a sound of total, willing surrender.

​He pulled her into his arms, his large hand cupping the back of her head as his lips crashed down onto hers.

​The kiss was explosive, born from weeks of suppressed hostility, fear, and undeniable, magnetic desire. Sienna gasped into his mouth, her arms wrapping around his neck as he lifted her slightly off her feet, backing her against the edge of the control desk. Alexander’s hands gripped her waist possessively, his thumb tracing the curve of her hip through the thin silk of her robe as he deepened the kiss, tasting her completely.

​When he finally broke the kiss, both of them were breathless, their foreheads resting together in the dim blue light of the room.

​"Day Twenty-Five," Alexander murmured against her lips, his dark eyes ablaze with passion. "And God help me, Sienna... I'm never letting you go."