“Oh…” I murmured, my heart aching for him.
“They never seemed to last long, and that only confirmed my theory that love was a myth, something people chose to believe in, to justify their stupid decisions in life,” he added.
“Do you still feel the same?” I asked, my heart thundering in my chest.
He scoffed. “You think? All I thought I knew crumbled at your feet,” he assured me as he closed the distance between us and knelt at my feet. He rested his hands on my knees. “One look at you, and I was lost,” he laughed mockingly. “You shook the floor under my feet so hard, the foundations my life was built on, cracked. It scared me so much, I tried to throw you out in the middle of a snowstorm.”
My chin almost hit the floor. This had to a dream, right? It was too good to be true, too good to be real… but I would die if it wasn’t.
Gently, he closed my mouth. “Why are you so surprised? Didn’t you know?” he asked, in a soft tone, as if he was a bit embarrassed. “Everyone else knew…” he scowled. “After all, I broke my golden rule: I took a stranger home.”
“You had little choice,” I pointed out.
“The first night… perhaps. You do know my foundation runs most of the homeless people shelters in town, don’t you?” he reminded me. “I could have sent you to one of those. They would never say no to me.”
“Why didn’t you?” I asked, amazed I hadn't thought of it before.
“I couldn’t. You had me from the first moment,” he assured me. “I even forced poor Susan to go on vacations, when she had just come back from them.”
“What?” he lost me at that. “But… her daughter…”
“Her daughter gave birth two months ago, and Susan was there,” he explained. “I needed a good reason to keep you with me, and I knew it had to be a good one, so I lied,” he continued, showing no remorse at all.
33
I was astounded he had gone so far, just to make sure I stayed with him.
“Do you know why I live here? On the top floor of the company building?”
“Because of the view?” I mumbled, confused with the sudden change of subject.
He chuckled. “It is a great view, yes… but the main reason is, so I didn’t have to drive to work. This way, I only had to take my private elevator to my office. No hellos, no greetings, no meeting random people in the elevator… no socializing,” he scowled again. “I always felt out of place around people.”
I frowned. “You could have fooled me,” I admitted.
The man he was describing was not the man I met.
“I did fool you. I changed for you. After a week of trying to deny my feelings and stay away from you, I finally surrendered and decided to give you the world,” he confessed. “You didn’t want the world, so I tried to give you what I thought would get me faster into your heart.”
“It worked,” I murmured, in awe, but I don’t think he heard me.
“The first time we made love was overwhelming. I still had doubts, but finally, everything seemed to be working… until I saw you with Daniel, and he told me he was your husband.”
“You felt it proved all your theories right,” I concluded.
“Exactly… I was hurting so much I refused to listen to you, and we all know how that ended,” he said bitterly.
“None of what happened was your fault,” I assured him.
“You don’t know that,” he grumbled.
“Of course, I do. It was Daniel’s fault. He’s the only one to blame here, not you and not me,” I insisted.
“Perhaps…,” he sighed. “Before I could make things right, you were taken away, and I was sent to the pits of hell. Not knowing where you were or what was happening was the most terrifying experience of my life,” he rubbed his eyes. “Seeing what he had done to you… I could have killed the bastard with my own hands. I’m sure I would have if the police weren’t there with me.”
“Why would you ruin your life for someone like him? A cowardly sadist that relished hurting those weaker than him,” I asked him. “He’s not worth your time, much less, your life.”
“I know you once loved him…”
