Streetlights kept passing before my eyes.

Rhys kept me pressed hard on his neck, on his body. One of my eyes is closed due to it.

My anti-anxiolytic started its calming effect. I might have cried for 8 hours with breaks; my lids were burning in pain. I could not keep my other eye open.

Marco was sitting in front of us, he was resting his forehead on his right arm, which was on his seat handle. His legs were crossed.

The car was going for a long period.

Where was I taken?

I was almost in my somber state when a loud buzz of ringtone woke me up. Marco received the phone and spoke in German.

"Who?"

Rhys hissed at him.

"Aunt Maria and Uncle Royce are on their way..."

So, was Marco Rhys's cousin? Wow. Who would have guessed?

I felt a stab of betrayal in my heart. Every single person played this game with me. Everyone. From the guards to the butlers.

The only person who tried to be honest with me was John. I wished I had heard his words on day one when he told me to keep Maria Volkners' name away from this thing.

I wish I was smart enough to understand.

Rhys slowly started to caress his fingers on my arms, each stroke made my skin shiver with hatred and disgust. But I had to tolerate this, I needed to survive this ordeal anyhow.

At that moment I started to realize how much I was missing Sameer.

How badly I wanted Sameer to come and save me from this.

But who was going to make my foolish heart understand I was literally in Sameer's arms, and Sameer was never there to begin with?

And the worst part is, Volkners will be here, to meet them. Perhaps they might meet me as well.

I wanted to stop thinking and stop worrying about everything.

The speed of the car started to slow down. Then it halted.

Someone opened the door, I had no idea to date how he managed to get up carrying me like that in his arms, but he got up, and I realized that we were not in the hotel compound

We were standing in front of a tall building, at least 20 stories. It had a similar look to the Hotel, but it was different.

My brain assumed this might be Volkner's Paris HQ, and I was right. It was Paris HQ.

"Should I bring a wheelchair?" Guiseppe asked Rhys, indicating me. Rhys kept looking at him for exactly 10 seconds,

"Did I ask?"

Who was talking? Who was this man? Who was he?

I had never seen in my life that someone shift their personality like this. Was he suffering from multiple personality disorder? No. If he had that he would not have control over his behaviors. But he was very well controlled, well poised.

There was fear in everyone's eyes, fear of his presence.

He carried me inside, my brain was too tired to register where I was, but the interiors were very similar to Paris Hotel- Dark and golden designs. He carried me to a lift, his Security was with him, escorting us.

At that moment I realized Marco was right, I was trembling- with fear, and cold.

Rhys carried me like this to a large room, I tilted my head up a little and saw there were large, cushiony sofas in front of us.

He sat down on the sofa, carrying me as if I were a child and I had no idea how to walk. Marco rushed to the room the moment he sat down,

"Why are you carrying her like that?"
Rhys purred like a lion.

"Why it is your headache, big brother?"

Marco was livid, he screamed at us,

"Just fucking look at her! She is jittering, you idiot!!"

Rhys Volkner then looked at me, looking at my very tiring face. I was so out of energy, so lethargic that I knew my brain would stop working anytime soon.

Through my very tiring, puffy lids, that were fighting so hard to keep my eyes open- I saw his face, looking at me. Sheer anger was burning his eyes as if it was going to hurt me as much as possible. He started to support my back by making his arm muscles tauter and more, bringing my face closer to his,

"Sleep."

He commanded with such a cold voice it shivered down my spine.

Tears started to flow down from my eyes, they reached my ears. My hair was messy and slick with my own sweat.

"I'm very scared." I could speak only, my jaws were hurting, and every single muscle on my face was burning with pain.

"Why?" His voice got colder and furious. I realized why everyone feared him.

But I did not know what happened to me, maybe I slowly started to lose my god-damn mind, or maybe I was going crazy.

"I'm scared... Sameer." I spoke with the rest of the energy I had. And I had no clue why the fuck I called Rhys Volkner Sameer, after knowing very well that he knew I caught his lies.

But, calling him Sameer made his face go softer, the anger in his eyes started to mellow down a bit, and it started to be overshadowed by absolute hurt. He looked at Marco and commanded,

"Leave us alone. Switch off the lights."

Without a single protest, Marco walked away, I could not see his facial features. He walked away and closed the doors.

After a few moments, all the yellow lights in the room started to dim slowly and the room was dark. I could see the nightscapes of Paris through the window.

Darkness around me made me feel so uncomfortable, and scared. I grabbed his shirt, my body started to curl up with all the negative emotions.

"Why, my love?" He asked again but in a softer, sweeter tone. The harshness of his voice was gone. I could hear Sameer now speaking, it made me calm down for a fraction of a second.

That was the moment, I realized two absolute truths,

Number 1, I am alone on this earth, no one was there for me.

Number 2, this man, Rhys Fucking Volkner was absolutely batshit crazy.

And I thought I was the crazier one, but I was wrong, he proved to me how wrong I was. He was just going back and forth from being in blissful love and being in abysmal hatred.

I started to wail in his arms, he hugged me tighter. But now, his hugs started to calm me down more.

"Why?" he asked again, pressing me harder against his body, burying his head deep in the nape of my neck. I could feel his warm breath caressing my bare skin.

"You are scaring me," I admitted with such a trembling voice, that even I could not guess what was I saying.

He did not react to me and kept his head in that same state, while I was wrapped in his coat, his arms were tugging me closer to his body as if I was not close enough to him.

A quietness fell in the room; I could only hear a clock ticking very smoothly somewhere nearby. I was feeling freezing even in his coat and embrace. But I noticed something cold started to touch the skin of my neck where Rhys buried his face.

I realized he was silently shedding tears.

Why the fuck you were crying?

"I thought I had lost you.................." He spoke from my neck; his words were muffled.

How do I tell him he already had lost me?

"......If I were late, they would have killed you..............."

His voice was shaky as well and he could not speak. 

"........I wish you knew how powerless I felt when I saw... You were gone. You were lost... I thought I had lost everything.... everything....."

His wails and murmurs were muffled by my skin, his head was deep buried still.

The way he told me that, I genuinely felt bad and guilty of running away for a moment. I could hear the tinge of fear the way he said the same thing yesterday, when we were starwatching and he told me he could not lose me. I believed him so much. But he broke my trust. He broke my heart in a way that I had no idea a heart could be broken.

"I thought you loved me."

My voice was so weak, every muscle of my body was tired as fuck.

Rhys lifted his face and looked at mine, I could only see the lights of the city in his eyes, nothing else. Everything was dark. He knew how much I feared darkness, but still, he decided to taunt me with it.

"I love you... I love you more than anyone can ever imagine...." He replied with a shaken voice, even in the darkness, I knew his eyes were red.

When I thought he had fallen in love with me just meeting me for 5 days, my brain wanted to believe him. But now knowing very well that he had been falling for me for the last 4 months, his "I Love You" sounded so vague, so pointless, so useless.

".... But I know you don't believe me, Kay." He spoke with a guilty and angry tone.

"Does it matter what I believe or not?" I asked him, my lids were begging me to shut my eyes down.

"Sleep." He replied.

Can he like.... read minds?

"No." I protested, "I want answers."
Rhys lifted his hand and pressed both my lids with his palm. I wanted to remove his hands, but I realized my hands were somehow compressed with his body and I could not fight back, I was so tired beyond imagination.

"We have the rest of our lives to get answers," Rhys spoke.

"No." I shook my head to remove his palms with such failure.

"Kay, be a good girl. Please. I calmed myself down very hard, I have no control over my anger, so obey."

My heart sank in my stomach, what? Did he just threaten to hurt me?

Is this the way to show love to someone? Threatening to hurt them?

Is every man the same? Which trap I have fallen into?

I started to cry under his palms, but he did not react. After a few minutes of staying like this, I realized I started to enter my REM cycle, I was so agitated that my body refused to fall asleep easily. But Rhys removed his palm from my eyes and again hugged me with his neck now pressing my eyelids.

"Sleep...my little love. You're safe here, with me, in my arms.... nobody will ever hurt you.... or find you......"

He kept mumbling like the lunatic he was, I could hear them until I had fallen asleep.

------------------------------------------------

"You could have just talked to me!"

A woman's whimsical voice woke me up from my thin sleep, she was so loud, yet she was not yelling. I decided to open my eyes, as the lights were already turned on. I was lying on the sofa with a thick, soft blanket covering me up to my neck.

I saw Rhys standing, leaning on another Table, Maria Volkner was there, her demeanor was so infuriating, that even from a distance I understood why she was called Baba Yaga.

A few feet away from them, I saw probably the most handsome Man I could have ever seen. Rhys was nothing compared to him. He had brown hair with grey eyes, his build was almost as same as Rhy's. He was wearing a blue shirt, his sleeves were folded up to his elbow, and his arms were crossed. He kept looking at Rhys with a very disappointed face.

Without ever even seeing him before I knew this was Royce Volkner. The Lion of Europe, Chairman of Volkner Group. Assuming him being Maria's husband, he looked surprisingly younger than the age I assumed he would be.

"I was just inquiring about her; nothing was serious at the beginning!" Rhys replied. Maria's face contorted with his words.

"Just inquiring? Rhys, you stupidly fell in love the moment you saw her that night, dancing on the streets, getting harassed by the locals." Marco spoke from another side; I could not see his face.

"Wait... is this the same lady who rejected Rhys's gifts at Como and threw out his flowers from the balcony?" Royce spoke, his voice sounded lighter, younger than Rhys's- the voice did not match the description of the "Lion of Europe".

"Wait, really? That's really her?" Maria's voice changed from anger to amusement.

Are they talking about me?

Before Marco or Rhys could say anything, Maria started to laugh like a teenage girl. Even from a distance, her laugh sounded like a wild waterfall in a deep jungle, waiting to be discovered by humans. Royce covered his eyes with his hands and started to laugh silently.

"She is very smart. Don't laugh at her. Please," Rhys commented. Though he scared the shit out of me for the last 12 hours, his compliment made my heart flutter a bit.

"Smarter than you," Marco countered.

At that moment Royce looked at me from that distance and saw that I was wide awake. Maria's gaze followed his and her eyes fell on me. Rhys followed their gaze, and he turned back to me to see that I had woken up.

"She needs rest," Rhys spoke again. I realized that I had not eaten for a long time.

"No, she needs to eat," Marco commented.

Maria stepped down a few steps, realizing somehow, they were talking somewhere in a platformed space as the middle of the room was lower than all four sides. Then she walked to me very gracefully. And she stopped at me, forwarded her hand to shake mine.

"Hi, sorry I did not introduce myself that day, I am Maria Alvares Volkner, Rhys's mom. You must be Dr. Kaya?"

I wish I could tell you how much I had waited for this moment, to meet the woman I have been idolizing for the last 4 months, and I ended up meeting her while I laid down on the sofa of a man's office who lied to my face, deceived me. I had plans if I ever met Maria, I would wear a beautiful Saree to match her boss lady aesthetic, but now, I am drenched in sweat and tears.

Sitting up in a hurry, I shook her hands with a faint smile.

"I am so sorry whatever happened today. I hope you can forgive us for all this."

She spoke with such empathy, such sweetness that my heart jumped out with amusement. Is this how the most feared woman on Earth talks? With such humbleness and graciousness?

I was speechless, Maria Fucking Volkner was standing in front of me.

"You look very tired and hungry, when did you eat last time?" She asked, and that was the tone of a mother, a mother that I wish I ever had.

"She had a late breakfast at 12," Rhys spoke from behind, he looked more like Sameer than Rhys Volkner, there was so much worry in her voice. My brain somehow registered him as two different people and started to judge him like that. Marco rolled his eyes at Rhys's tone as he came forward to see me.

Royce meanwhile kept judging me from a distance.

"I also had a late lunch which was almost 9 hours ago. I badly need dinner now; will you join us for dinner? We need to talk, I think." Maria asked me.

On which planet could I reject Maria Volkner's dinner invitation? Of course, I was going to join her, I had been looking for this event for the last few weeks.

I nodded with a forced smile. She smiled back at me, I realized she did not have that lethal expression I saw back in Italy, instead she looked like a soccer mom, a very pretty soccer mom.

"Do you need a shower? A bath? A change of clothes? Anything?" She asked again as if she would bathe me if I told her that I needed a bath.

I nodded but before I could open my mouth Rhys said,

"I'll see it, you can go now."

Maria raised an eyebrow to her stepson, Rhys spoke again,

"It had been a long day; you and Dad go get freshen up. I'll bring her with me. See you at 2."

Maria started to walk away with a pressed smile. She was somehow entertained by his behavior.

"Be gentle with her, I did not raise you like this," Royce spoke from behind. I saw Rhys almost roll his eyes at his dad. But Royce had anger lingering on his face.

"Behave well with Kaya, Rhys Sameer Volkner," Maria spoke to him as she stepped out of the room with Royce and Marco.

My heart sank at her last words... Rhys Sameer Volkner! Of course, his real name had Sameer's part, that part came from his biological mother's side, Sameer was an Arabic name. So, he was both Sameer and Rhys. Great. I hate this fact.

I slowly started to realize that Maria's calming words, her presence, and my little nap gave me some mental energy to fight back at Rhys Volkner.

"You lied to me." I declared with a heavy tone. This made him turn his head back to me again. I saw his eyes widen with a sudden rush of anger.

"What!" He hissed at me; it was not as scary as I thought.

"You lied to my fucking face, Rhys Volkner," I repeated. It made him slowly walk toward me, and then he leaned over my face, almost making his nose touch mine. I closed my eyes and stopped taking my breath, his warm, furious breath was brushing my face.

"I have not lied about a single damn thing to you," he spoke between his teeth.

This pissed me off so much that I started to laugh like a maniac. It made him confused and agitated, his brows furrowed so much.

"That's why you asked me that night whether I hated you or not?" I asked him. He did not reply. But he came to me and forwarded his hand to me,

"Come," he commanded.

"No."
"I said, come."
"Why should I?" I asked him.

"Because that's my order." He hissed.

I gave him a mocking grin; I was not his pet.

This agitated him way too much, he leaned over took my hand, and started to pull me gently, and I protested.

"Either you come with me willingly, or I will force you to come with me."

I was astonished at his audacity, how fucking rude! I tried to yank my hand away from him. But I soon realized it was a wrong move as he suddenly tightened his grip around my hand and looked at my eyes,

"I am not your pet!" I yelled at him. His face contorted with disgust! He pulled me closer to him with such force that I fell over his body, and then he grabbed my waist and spoke over my face,

"Of course, you are not, little Viper! You are not my pet, you're my everything!"

"You freak, lying, spoiled son of a bitch!" I hissed back at him, this put a half smirk on his face.

"The stunt you have pulled today, Little Viper, if someone else had done it, I would have blown their head off right then and there."

WHAT THE FUCK!

".... You should call yourself lucky that I love you more than I have ever loved anything else, Kay." He hissed like a monster back at me. I could not believe my ears; this was the same man who kissed me like his life depended on it 24 hours ago.

"Now be my good girl, and come with me, you fuckin' idiot!"

His, calling me an idiot, made me realize one thing,

That he never loved me to begin with.

Little Kay was right, love was never there. I was just a trophy for him to get.

"I hate you... I hate you so much..." I whispered in his face; tears started to roll down as a response to his disrespect.

Seeing all the tears, made his eyes filled with sadness- which I stopped caring about then and there.

"If hating me, hurting me ensures that you are safe, ensures that nobody can ever put a scratch at you- then I am your villain. Hate me, hurt me, use your poison-filled mouth to insult me as much as you want- I do not give a damn shit about it."

He yanked my hand from his grip with such force that I stepped back a few inches.

How would I tell him that I CAN KILL HIM IF GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY?

A thin line of tears welled in his eyes, as he clenched his jaw and walked away from the room, leaving me alone. I sat down on a sofa in anger and hatred.

I would have started crying a river right now, but someone entering a room at this moment made me stop thinking. Nina slowly walked towards me, kneeled before me and just told me,

"Kay let's go. You need to talk with Maria."
"I have no problem talking with her."
"Then why you are so pissed?"

"You all lied to my face."
"We did hide things from you.... not we did not lie."

I was livid at her words; she was also on this bandwagon of deception!! Wow!

"Let's go, please. It's way past midnight, Maria and Royce flew here all from Zurich after they heard what's going on, they just want to talk to you."

I did not have a single intention of believing in her anymore.

"I know we all broke your trust, but Maria will never lie to you. It's not in her nature. She was so upset when Marco told her about Rhys's stupid game to win your heart, and Rhys fucked up some other thing... Maria will tell you everything. Just come with me. I live nearby, you can wear my clothes."
"I am half of your size," I explained, Nina managed to laugh even at this intense moment.

"I have beautiful dresses, Rhys told me you love wearing dresses rather than regular tees and jeans."
I was perplexed, I never told him anything like this- though it was true, I love wearing dresses as it's less work and comfortable to wear them.

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