Alessio
My heart raced as I made my way to the piano room. Sweat broke on my forehead and the back of my neck. Stopping in front of the room, I laid my hand on the knob. I sucked in a shaky breath, feeling my throat constrict.
I felt so uncertain. Worried. Scared. Panic rose like bile in my body, and my nerves were tingling.
Every minute spent without Ayla, it felt like I was going insane. My heart ached without her. I needed her. My Angel.
I wished she’d give me a chance to explain. From how it ended this morning, I wasn’t even sure she would be in the piano room. But I still hoped.
Blood rushed in my ears, and my pulse skyrocketed as I opened the door. A sea of anxiety curled in my stomach when I found the room dark and empty.
My Angel wasn’t here.
A wave of pain went through me as I stumbled back outside. How did I mess up so bad? I should have just accepted my feelings instead of trying to fight it.
Now…now I may have lost my Angel.
My heart stuttered, my eyes going wide. No. She was mine. My everything. I would have her listen to me, even if I had to fucking tie her to the bed. But she would listen to me.
At the thought of tying her to the bed, Ayla’s words resonated in my ears.
He used to beat me. He would chain me to our bed and then whip me if I did something wrong or what he perceived wrong.
I went still, my chest growing tight. Closing my eyes, a fresh wave of pain hit me with a ferocious intensity. Each of Ayla’s words felt like a serrated edge over my heart.
I never thought that Ayla had been through all of this. The thought of her going through so much pain made my blood boil, until the monster inside of me was raging to spill blood. His blood.
When I get my hands on the bastard, he is going down.
Opening my eyes again, I stared at the empty hall. Ayla needed to know what she meant to me, how important she was to me.
Stalking to our bedroom with a newfound confidence, I opened the door but frowned when I found the room empty.
She must be in her room. Last night was pure torture. I found that I couldn’t sleep without her. But tonight, that was going to change. Moving to her bedroom, I knocked on the door, but got no response. My fist moved over the door a few times, but there was only silence.
Confused, I opened the door but found this room empty and dark too.
What the fuck? Where was she?
Walking out, panic welled inside of me. My heart thumped harder as my stomach rolled with tension. I quickly walked down the hall, my hands going up to my hair in frustration, my fingers digging in my scalp.
“Ayla?” I called out.
I saw Viktor coming out of his room, and he looked at me confused. “Where’s Ayla?” I asked.
“She was in her room the last time I saw her,” he replied, alarm flashing in his eyes.
“She’s not there!”
My feet quickly took me down the stairs as I looked around the house in panic. My body trembled at the thought of losing Ayla.
Stopping at the last step, I saw Maddie coming toward me. Her stares were hard, and she scowled before turning her face away, ignoring me.
“Where’s Ayla?” I growled low, glaring at the stubborn woman in front of me. If there was someone who could answer this question, then it was Maddie.
Her chin went down in a defiant movement, and she huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. Fuck! Anger coursed through my body, and I roared, not caring that I would be waking everyone up.
“Where is she?”
Maddie’s eyes turned cold, and she stared at me blankly before stepping forward. Looking up at me, she hissed, “Fuck you.”
With that, she walked around me and went up the stairs. My whole body was vibrating with fury. And dread. Raking my fingers through my hair, I clenched them tightly as the muscle in my jaw ticked from the way I was gritting my teeth.
“I saw her going into Maddie’s room.”
Nikolay’s voice snapped me out of my dreadful thoughts, and I swiveled around to see him standing beside Viktor on the top of the stairs. He nodded, and I released a shaky breath, relief filling my body.
Without sparing them a glance, I quickly walked back upstairs and knocked on Maddie’s door. I heard quiet footsteps approaching from the opposite side, and my shoulder sagged in relief. She was in there. I could feel it.
The door opened a few seconds later, and there she stood, wearing her light pink nightdress. My heart squeezed at the sight of Ayla, and I just wanted to wrap my arms around her. I just wanted to hold her, feel her.
Her eyes widened at the sight of me, and she made a move to close the door, but I stopped her movement with my foot. “Ayla. Stop,” I growled.
Her lips twisted ruefully, and fire sparkled in her angry eyes. “Alessio, I told you—”
“I know what you said, but this time you are going to listen to me,” I continued, talking over her.
“No,” she snapped, her shoulders pushed back stubbornly.
“Why are you doing this?” I said with a sigh, a sense of defeat taking over me.
Ayla stared at me for a few seconds. I saw the hurt in there. Pain, guilt, anger, sadness. My Angel was hurting, and she wouldn’t even let me comfort her.
“You taught me how to be strong,” she started, her voice soft.
I blinked up at her, confused. But her next words were like a knife stabbing at my heart.
“This is me being strong.”
With that, she shut the door in my face. I didn’t have a chance to stop her. I was overwhelmed with shock as I stared at the door.
Placing my forehead on the door, I closed my eyes.
How am I going to fix this?