Cross

3

Winter

There's a bath tub filled to the brim when the guards push me in here. It was never there before. An unsettling feeling fills the prison and I shudder from the fear pulsing through me.

I feel Roman's attention. He is still as I remember him when he left me here all those months ago. Short clip dark hair and yellow-green eyes; an empty abyss. He's dress in a grey T Shirt and black trousers; and he's perch on a chair with a confident swagger.

A filing box is next to his chair, I eye it curiously while he pins me with his piercing gaze.

The look is like hot coals on my skin. It burns. It scorches. It sets me on fire.

I palm my chest feeling the erratic movements of my heart. He makes me nervous and my fear of him obvious because he nods in satisfaction at my reaction to him. I'm curled in the corner, looking everywhere but him.

"Why did you do it?" He asks so blankly. He leans in his chair, thick thighs spread apart and arms cross over his chest emphasises his tree trunk arms and massive pectoral muscles.

I wet my lips and stare at my feet, they're dirty. They're dirty because he doesn't give me shoes. Brows pinching forward, I glare at him in resentment, "Can't a girl leave if she wants too?"

He cocks his head, "any other girl yes." He answers in a deep husky growl that makes my palm sweat, "You? You only leave with my permission."

I swallow, feeling a deep blush erupt on the surface of my skin. His words swirls an unwarranted feeling in the pit of my stomach.

I don't find Roman attractive, I tell myself. He isn't like the pretty boys I'm used to back in California. He's different, he makes me nervous.

"Now," he commands making my legs wobble, "Tell me why you did it?"

I ball my hands into a fist, clenching so tight my brittle nails dig into my soft palm. I'm angry at him for sitting there asking questions like he doesn't know the answer to them.

"You can't keep me here!" I finally yell at him. "I have the right to leave if I want to!"

He doesn't retaliate but leans forward, elbows on his knees. His expression doesn't change, it remains chilling sending a tornado of fear through me. I feel myself breaking.

"My birthday is coming soon isn't it?" I say, "you're going to force me to marry you like you promised."

"Your birthday was two weeks ago."

I blink as the realisation that I've been here longer than I thought overpowers me. I bite back tears but still can't mask the terror and helplessness in my voice.

"So now what?" I ask. "You're just going to keep me here forever?"

I don't want to be here forever.

"That's the plan." He notes and my heart drops. "But you don't have to live in this basement, Alexandra. You can live upstairs and return to the world with me."

"That isn't my name!" I grit out.

His lips point forward in a small smile liking the fight I'm giving him.