It was the same man.

The same coffee brown eyes and short dark hair.

He was wearing a proper suit and it really did seem like he owned the place.

This wasn't the software tech that she had imagined him to be.

This was a dangerous man.

"I see that you've woken up," he said with a smug smile on his face.

Zara's legs took her towards him and her hands immediately grabbed ahold of the water that was before him, throwing it at his face. He had been expecting that, making no reaction to her outburst. "Where the hell am I? What did you do to me?"

"Good morning to you too." He pointed to the chairs before him at the six-feet table with eight chairs, two facing each other and three each on either side of the table. "Please. Have a seat."

Zara wanted to pull him by the collar of his shirt, slam him against the wall and demand answers, but there was a strange feeling inside her that told her to be careful. The man that she was looking at was dangerous to have been living in such a house with rooms as big as her apartment.

Oh no, she thought. What was her aunt going through? She hadn't made it to her house last night.

Clenching her jaw together, she walked towards the end of the table and sat at the other head chair. She slumped on it and crossed her arms across her chest. "Where. The. Hell. Am. I?" She did not want to be near him again, disgusted at the thought that she had trusted him against the kidnappers when he was one himself.

He smiled as he continued to eat the omelette on his plate. "My house," he said. "But I'm assuming that you've already figured that part out yourself."

She scoffed as she shook her head slightly in disgust. "What did you do to me? Why am I here?" She had to keep her calm. She had seen how he had responded to her back at the bar and knew that she shouldn't get angry.

Because she did not know just how far this man was willing to go.

"I gave you a sleeping drug," he said, continuing to eat, the sounds of the silver cutlery against the china dishes being the only thing filling the silence between them. "And as for why you are here," he set the cutlery down and joined his hands together, leaning forward in his chair like he had back at the bar, his elbows resting on the white sheet of the table. "I'm afraid I can't tell you that."

Zara wanted to scream at him. She wanted to scream for her life. She wanted to punch that sharp jawline in the anger that was boiling in her. She would have loved to create a scene by throwing the food items off the table, but she did not want to waste any of it. After all, she knew the importance and value of it. "This is kidnapping!" She said, leaning forward herself. "You can't just take women off the streets and take them to your gigantic house and then pretend that it is normal!"

"I'm not mentally unstable if that's what you are implying."

She scoffed once again. "And how would you know that? You are the one who is holding an innocent captive against their wishes."

The corner of his mouth twitched into an almost smile, having expected her to question his sanity. "No one said that you were captive here. You can leave any time that you want." He pointed to the door, making her turn around and look at it. She looked back at him in confusion. "Go on." He cocked his head to the door and continued to eat.

Zara stood up, pushing the chair back harder than intended. She stormed out of the room through the double doors that she had walked through and tried to find the exit. It seemed as though she was the only one there. After turning several corners, she came into the main entrance. She looked at the two grand staircases in the main hallway and her mouth fell open. The house was bigger than she had imagined because the two twin staircases that she was staring at were something that she had only seen in movies in royal houses.

She wondered who the man was and considered demanding him for answers. But the thought of being alone with him in a room, and now the entire house, scared the sanity out of her.

She found the double doors that she assumed would lead her to the outside world, but once she pulled them open, she came face to face with two bodyguards dressed in suits, wearing earpieces. And that's when she noticed the guns that they held in their hands.

One of them took a step forward, making Zara stumble back.

This was a ruse.

A trick.

He had wanted to scare her.

She stormed back into the dining room and threw another glass of water at him, drenching him all over again. "Do you think this is funny? Take me back right now!" She was ready to stamp his foot if that's what it took.

His jaw clenched again. "I can't do that." He stood up and the way he did it was so slow that made her take a small step back. She noticed his height for the first time and had to look up at him. She was five feet six herself. He was definitely six feet and taller than her for him to intimidate her with his height.

"Why not?" She got out without her voice shaking.

He inhaled sharply, scaring her at that sudden sound. "Because there are people after you. And it is my duty to keep you safe," he said. "Now. Sit down and eat. You need to get some glucose in you." He sat back down and wiped his face with the napkin again. "I don't need you to faint on my watch."

Zara clenched her hands together. She couldn't run away from the place like her idiot, but smart, kidnapper had suggested. He hadn't hurt her. Maybe he had actually saved her but had trapped her in another cage. She looked back and forth between him and the open double doors.

She needed to get out.

But she needed answers more.

Why was she here? 

What had she done? What had he done? 

And more importantly, who the hell was he?

Her curiosity got the best of her as she sat down a seat away from on his right hand side. She did not want to sit too close to him and chose the middle chair instead in the eight-seater dining table. She was extremely nervous, the weight in her chest refusing to let go. She was twiddling her thumbs round and round in a clockwise direction as she always did when she was anxious.

The man stood up but she kept her focus on the flowers in the vase in front of her, careful not to flinch as he stood beside her. He pulled the chair away so that he could serve her but that only caused her to hold her breath. She did not want to appear scared and vulnerable but she also did not want to smell the attractive cologne that he was wearing.

He placed two toasts on her plate and filled a glass of water and placed it before. "There is tea and coffee." He pointed to the two pots beside each other. "Orange juice in the jug and pancakes in that." He referred to the two plates that closed each other.

But when Zara sat there still and did not reach forward to take the food, he stiffened. He closed the button of his jacket and walked out of the room.

Zara watched him leave and let out her breath, gasping for air once again.

Who the hell was he?

But the food in front of her was tempting no matter how much she tried to resist it.

And so, she gave in and nibbled on one of the toasts that he had placed on her plate.

This was going to be her personal Persephone retelling.