Epiphany

Chapter 32 Part 1~Truth

When the man stepped inside the house, a small smile broke out on his lips.

His formal attire was also drenched in water, as was his hair, which dripped from each sharp end of his lustrous strand. He sauntered towards me, leaving wet trails on the floor.

Chase seemed to be taken aback by his sudden appearance. “Andre?”

The approaching tall figure cast a brief glance at Chase, but he spared no effort to respond.

He came back. He actually did. I kicked away the small nagging person in the back of my head that told me he won’t be coming back because there he was making his way towards me. If I had it within me, I would’ve returned his smile with one of my own.

He kneeled as soon as he stood in front of me, surprising me with his proximity. Again. The closeness stirred a little uneasiness inside of me, and before I could draw back against the cushions, he stopped my movements. He took my wet hand in his, just like the last time. He didn’t inspect it like he had before, instead he focused his eyes on me.

“Did he hurt you?” His silky smooth voice transpierced my ears, and it wasn’t so much his voice that made me relax as the fact that I now knew someone was by my side.

“Did Gunther hurt you?” he repeated. “After my last visit?”

Of course, he did.

“He uhm…” I trailed off and found myself furrowing my brows.

Now that I was thinking about it, he hadn’t abused me or hurt me until now, which shock me.

His grip around my hand tightened as he urged me gently, “Please tell me.”

He did of course taunt me to put me back in place. But this was expected from him.

“No...”

He did brutally grab my face to emphasize that I was in no position to do anything though.

Andre didn’t say anything but continued to observe my expression with a look of suspicion. Or a look that seemed dissatisfied with my response. It seemed that he didn’t fully believe my reply to him.

A soft sigh escaped his lips and the slight dissatisfaction in his face was brushed away to be replaced with worry.

He said in a soft tone while squeezing my hands in his, “I’m sorry for the inconveniences. It wasn’t supposed to be you.”

What?

I opened my mouth to ask him if he knew about this entire ordeal, but he continued speaking.

“I know this is all hard for you, but I want you to stay strong. I’ll ensure your safety, Alyssa. That’s a promise.”

He knew, right?

“Do you know?” Upon arching his brow, I continued, “That this was all a misunderstanding?”

After a brief pause, he nodded. The time between my question and his action demonstrated his hesitancy.

“Tell them then,” I choked out. “Tell this boss of theirs to let me go. I have nothing to do with all this. I’m innocent.”

He pursed his lips, releasing one of his hands from mine. “I’m so sorry, darling. He knows… but he refuses to let you go.”

The new nickname didn’t go unnoticed, but did go ignored because of the importance of the other words he said.

“He won’t…?”

This was actually happening. Did this mean that he won’t get convinced if I did try to convince him? Andre said it in such a way that it indicated he had no intention of ever letting me go and that nothing would work to influence his future actions.