Paradox | T. Riddle ✔

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She wished he had killed her that night.

She wished he had put her out of her misery the instant he had satisfied his lust because the moment that followed was even unbearable.

He had ravaged her mercilessly, each part of her body throbbed in pain and she was utterly exhausted, unable to fight back when he stopped at last and dropped down beside her.

A blanket had fallen over the two as Tom muttered a spell, the ropes receding into the bed and her arms and legs falling limp without the binds. He cradled her almost lifeless form in his arms, drifting off to sleep while she lay awake, looking at the ceiling with blank green eyes.

She felt numb to the pain in her body but the pain in her heart was killing her internally. All she could see was Regulus's features swirling in front of her, all she could hear was his soft voice and all she could think of was that she had let him down.

Even though it was not her fault and Tom had taken advantage of her without her consent, she still felt as if she was the one to be blamed for everything.

She did not know how long passed as such until the door to that room burst open revealing Laverne Yaxley, standing there in shock as she witnessed their bodies entangled together.

Tom woke up hearing the noise and realized the situation immediately. Disgust had spread on the woman's features while he kept the blanket over Eleanor, clothing himself with a single flick of his wand then stood up.

"Miss Yaxley, I was truly not expecting you," his voice was cordial but the threat underlaying his tone was evident even to her.

"So this is why Nicole killed herself?" Laverne stormed over to Eleanor, a hard slap striking her cheek, "you were cheating on her behind her back? And that too with this excuse of a woman... How dare you!"

She could not sit up because her whole body felt broken beyond repair and she could not even say anything in her defense because Tom had not yet retrieved the Silencing charm from her.

"I should have known it was you all along," Laverne's eyes burned through Eleanor, "why else would she send you to stay with me? She felt threatened that you were going to take Riddle away from her and that's exactly what you did! You both drove her to kill herself!"

I did not... I did not kill her. But her pleading voice could reach no ears except Riddle's who held back his laughter upon taking in her distress.

"She thought of you as a sister!" Another slap struck Eleanor until Tom came in between, "answer me, how could you do that to her!"

Yet she couldn't answer, she couldn't prove her innocence and Laverne would only believe what she was seeing.

"Miss Yaxley, I entreat you to leave this instant," Tom spoke up, "what happens in my house does not concern you. You have no right to come barging in either."

Her eyes flashed towards him but he stared down at her intimidatingly until she stepped back.

"You're going to pay," she muttered as she retreated, "and Eleanor, don't you dare come back to my place. I will kill you if I ever see you again."

The door slammed shut as Laverne finally left and Tom turned to face the broken woman on his bed, his eyes softening ever so slightly as he saw the tears streaming down her face.

He took in a deep breath as if to compose himself then sat down on the bed beside her, his arms reaching out to her as he lifted her up. She would have collapsed again so he pulled her against his chest, arms wrapping around her firmly to hold her in place.

"Finite Incantatem," he retrieved the silencing charm and a painful wail escaped Eleanor as she cried out in pain, a cry so painful that it would have melted even a heart of stone.

But apparently he had no heart because it did not affect him in the slightest.

"Don't kill Laverne," the words left her mouth at last as she begged, much to his surprise, "don't kill her..."

"You never fail to surprise me, love. I thought you would beg for your own death and here you are begging for the life of a woman who clearly despises you," he caressed the soft brown strands, releasing the tangles gently.

"Either kill me or spare her," she bit her own ego and spat out.

"Kill you?" Grey locked with marble green as he leaned closer, "I don't think I am going to do that. Spare Laverne Yaxley... Perhaps."

He felt her tensed body ease as relief washed over her. At least Laverne wasn't going to die because of her.

But her relief was short lived as Tom added, "but on one condition."

The words stilled her once again and she could only think of how terrible conditions he could come up with at the moment.

"You're not going to go anywhere, I'm keeping you if you want Laverne and other people who might die at my hands to live. You stay with me and I won't kill them, promise."

Staying with him meant dying over and over again because she knew exactly why he was reluctant to let go of her. For some twisted reason, he desired her and wished to keep her with him forever.

Like a prized possession, a doll to play with whenever he pleased and break in the end when he got bored of the game.

"Answer me, love, either you stay with me and I spare them or I let you go and they all die," his lips touched her cheek, then her ear, her jawline and finally her neck as he sucked at the soft skin, leaving a prominent lovebite.

"Spare them," her voice was a breathless whisper and the smirk on his face widened as he fastened his jaw onto her bare shoulder instead, leaving another purple mark.

"You're going to stay with me forever then, Eleanor, forever. You're going to be mine... Only mine. Don't forget that."

She could possibly never forget that. She was stuck in the time loop forever and by trying to save Nicole from her death and later attempting to prevent Laverne's murder as well, Eleanor had made things evidently worse for her own self.

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