I stared blankly in front of me; watching the white markings on the highway road swiftly disappear under the car. I didn’t dare to look at my left side, fearing that I would breathe out explosions of words at the driver or, even better yet, attack him for tricking my friend like that.

I rubbed at the sore spot on my arm. I pursed my lips, frowning at the remembrance of how the two security guards held me back from making my escape. They really man-handled me those misogynies-assholes. I wanted to give them a piece of my mind, but when I saw the look that Mark gave them, I decided to hold back my tongue and help them out. I really hope that Mark isn’t going to hurt them.

“Not like I don’t enjoy seeing you quiet, because I really do. It allows me to observe you as much as I want.”

“I did not need to know that.” I grumbled just below a whisper with my eyes still aimed at the road.

“However, knowing how your mind isn’t able to stay in one place, let me warn you beforehand that I wouldn’t let you escape like that again.” His voice sounded resolute, and it caused a portentous feeling to settle in my body.

Feeling uncomfortable, I gave him a side glance before looking back at the road, scoffing lightly. “I wasn’t planning anything.” I muttered,

He hummed skeptical still thinking that I’m brooding a new plan, which is not the case at all. I mean, yes, I’m peeved that I fell for his trickery again and I’m scared of where we are headed to. My mind is in chaos, fearing that I am going to be put back in that sunless cage, however when those bulky security guards blocked me from escaping, a newfound realization hit me.

There’s no use in running away from this man. He is a rich mother-fucking killer with unlimited devices to keep me in check. Who also apparently got the police force on his side, well, more like he got people infiltrating the police headquarters. How is an ordinary woman supposed to go up against that!?

So instead of running away like a chicken who had lost its head, I went with the flow for now until I find a hole in his defense and bust out of it.

Even though I said all of that, living together with my stalker is not something that I look forward to.

“You may want to take a nap. It can take a while before we reach the place.” Mark said as he pulled out a blanket from the glove compartment, tossing it at me.

Holding the soft quilt in my hand, I stared at him with a confused expression. ‘How far is it that he tells me to take a nap!?’

Scoffing, I threw the soft material to the back seat before folding my arms in front of my chest. “Why should I take a nap? So that I’ll wake up being tied up?” I asked accusingly. “No, thank you.”

He shrugs. “Suit yourself.” He said petulantly.

Right after my declaration to not sleep, I could feel my eyelids getting heavy as the drowsiness was getting to me. It was a battle just to keep my eyes open, to not deviate my attention from the road to the warm, comfortable feeling of the chair.

Ever since I got away from Mark’s cursed basement, I haven’t been able to have a proper sleep and I guess my body has hit its limit, but why does it have to be now!?

I glanced every so often in Mark’s direction, hoping that he didn’t notice me dozing off, and it looked like he didn’t.

Instead, he turned on the radio. The static sound of the radio and the soothing, mellow voice of the announcer brought me even further back from reality.

Maybe a brief nap wouldn’t be so bad, right? I will sleep for five minutes and wake up fully energized. Deciding that, I let my eyelids do what they wanted to do for a long time, shutting down.

I felt something nudging against my shoulder and as I didn’t respond, the nudging transformed in to shaking that was accompanied by a baritone voice.

“Kitten wake up.”

I groaned displeased and turned away from the direction where the noise was coming from and grumbled, “I don’t wanna.”

I could hear a low chuckle that made my heart feel restless. “I want to let you sleep but we have arrived at the place.” Mark announced and against my body’s will, I slowly opened my eyes. I glanced around me blearily, rubbing my eyes. I glanced at my side to see Mark standing there, staring down at me with fondness in his eyes.

Ignoring his affection, I stretched out my legs and arms, letting out a satisfied moan when I could feel my bones popping. Doing so, I noticed I laid down all the way in the passenger seat and that my body was covered with the quilt that Mark first gave me.

Astonished, my tongue got tied. ‘He really takes care of me.’

I once again glanced at Mark. His smile broadens and his eyes were twinkling in anticipation. I could feel my cheeks warming up as I shyly shifted my eyes downwards; fumbling the soft quilt with my fingers.

“Thank you.” My voice came out soft, just above a whisper.

Mark grins ear to ear and extended his hand to me. “Everything for my little kitten.”

I grinned and rolled my eyes before grabbing his hand, allowing him to hoist me out of the car.

My eyes landed on the place where I would stay at from now on, and I gawked as my eyes almost popped out of my skull. I was looking at a villa. A villa that was even bigger than the one I was held captive in. It looked like that the villa was located somewhere in the middle of the woods, as I didn’t see any other houses or roads in my parameters. The front garden was beautifully decorated with white lilies.

My favorite.

“It’s beautiful.” I breathed out, amazed.

Mark’s arm slithered around my waist, pulling me to his side. Bringing his mouth closer to my ear, I could feel his hot breath tickling my face. “And it’s all yours if you just become mine.”

I snorted and pinched the back of his hand that was clasping at my waist. “Dream on lover boy.”

Flinching, he yanked his hand away, rubbing at it with his other hand as he pushed out his bottom lip. “But I am your lover boy kitten.” He said as his pouty lips reformed back to his cheesy smile.

He attempted again to wrap his arm around me, but I instantly dodged it. His eyes darkened as I could hear a guttural growl coming from him. “Don’t tease me baby.” He warned.

Heat was rushing in me seeing the hungry look in Mark’s eyes. Hunger that was aimed at me. The need to have this man touch me and to push him more to see what he would do if I kept avoiding his touches took my body over.

My mouth felt parched, as if I had drunk no water until now. But it wasn’t the water that I was thirsty for, it was something else.

‘No, April.’ I berated myself for having sexual cravings for my stalker and shook my head vehemently.

“Anyway.” I said, breaking the ice as I cleared my throat. “What happened to your other place?” I queried curiously, wondering why we didn’t go there instead of here.

He shrugged, uninterested. “I used that place mostly for murder or tortures. I never planned to keep you there to begin with, but that place had a tighter security compared to this one so I thought I should keep you there until your feelings had reached up to mine.” He casually explained, not noticing me slowly inching away from him in dread.

“So how many houses do you have?” I asked carefully.

He grins widely. “I stopped counting after buying the fifth one. Anyway, let’s get inside. I am sure that you are hungry.” He draped his arm over my shoulder and propelled me past the fence to the enormous house. My jaw still hung slack after hearing him say that he had at least over five houses lingering around.

I was in such a daze that I didn’t notice Mark opening the door. Mark inhaled a big gulp of air as he stepped inside the house together with me.

“Home sweet home, right kitten?” He exhaled.

‘There’s nothing sweet about this.’

My head snapped around, hearing the closing sound of the door. I could feel my pupils quiver at the amount of locks that were present on the door. Mark casually locked all the locks, ending with a fingerprint.

I gulped down anxiously. Mark, who saw the dreadful look on my face, smiled eerily, but that smile only made me take two steps back as I gave him a weary look.

“It’s for precaution.” Mark stated calmly.

My eyes darted between the steel door and him before giving him an incredulous glare. ‘Precaution against what!? A lion!?’

I walked further in to the house. My head turned around to peek in to the living area. My eyes instantly went to the closed windows, ignoring the room that was adorned with my taste. As I approached one of them, I noticed it was locked with the same fingerprint lock that was on the door.

“What the-?” My voice went an octave higher.

“The windows are made from the same material as the ones in my cars.”

I jolted in surprise as I turned around to gaze into the clear blue eyes. Those same eyes were scrutinizing me, scanning my face for a reaction. Our noses almost touching each other, taking the words that I wanted to usher out of me were taken away from me. His thick arms caging me in between them as I leaned back against the stool of the window.

“I see that we are ready for when world war three comes.” I said sardonically, trying to keep the smirk that was now on full display from flattering as the rhythmic speed of my heart hasn’t decreased yet.

Mark slightly tilted his head as the corners of his lips were pulled in to a smirk of their own. As he leaned in closer, I could hear the beating sound of my red organ becoming irregular, causing me to take in a sharp breath. Feeling my body stiffen up, I tried to breathe normally, but when the icy finger tips of Mark’s hand grazed my heated cheek, I could only let out puffs of hampering gust of air.

“My kitten has been attracting a certain pest and that certain pest made its way in, latching onto my kitten’s precious fur, beguiling her into stupid antics against her owner.” The cadence of his words came out slow and breathy. “So to prevent that from happening ever again, I had no choice but to reinforce the house to keep that pest away.”

As he finished talking, I couldn’t prevent my face from scowling at his annoying habit of referring to me and the people around me as animals. “Okay one,” I started, putting my right index finger in front of his face. “I was the one beguiling James, not him me, and two,” I added another finger. “I had no choice but to do that because James was planning to kill me right in front of a certain someone as revenge,” I eyed at Mark accusingly. “So much for tight security, huh?” I added.

The stillness hit the room and a deep scowl made its way onto Mark’s face as he gritted his teeth. His arms fell limply to his sides, and he balled his hands in to a pair of fists. The gripping tightness of his fists caused his knuckles to turn palely white as their blood supply was cut off.

His eyes became crestfallen, and a strange sensation washed over me. My heart was screaming to take this solemn man in to a tight embrace.

I tilted my head back as I groaned inwardly.

‘Shit, I’m feeling sorry for him.’

“H-hey” I called as I reached my hand hesitantly out to him. “it’s not your fault-”

“Yes, it is!” He boomed. Mark’s seething eyes met mine, and I flinched.

“I should have killed that slovenly pest the moment he attempted to kill you. I should have just told you that I killed him accidentally when I tried to wake him up that day or something I-!” Chocking on his own words Mark fell back in to silence, his shoulders drooping down.

“I…” He said just above whisper and without any warning wrapped his arms around me; pulling me into an embrace. Putting his nose in the crook of my neck, he took a deep breath before exhaling as he continued his muffled words.

“I thought I was going mad when that bastard took you.” His husky voice that was etched with agony as his hold on me tightened, made my heart get lodged in my throat.

I groaned inwardly again.

‘I’m feeling really sorry for him.’