Chapter 22: Nothing less and Nothing more.
Chapter 22: Nothing less and Nothing more.
She sat quietly, her head resting sideways against the window as I drove us toward my apartment building.
I lived in the penthouse but at my demand and with further incentive I got an apartment three floors under mine, on Fifty fifth.
I was sure that Elsa would love it and she would be comfortable, also she wouldn't have to commute through the subway.
I could drive her with me, not that I was looking forward to it.
And I was only doing all of this because I just wanted to make sure my property was well taken care of.
And she was mine.
My property.
She doesn't know it, I had distracted her but she signed herself to me that day.
2 "Where are we going?"
She asked after a while.
"You will see."
I could feel her eyes on me and then she said, "If there was a reason behind what… happened, would you believe me?"
3 I didn't answer her as I looked ahead.
My fingers twitched on the steering wheel for a second.
Then, I said, "I already know the reason, whatever you say won't make a difference.
It would just be another lie for me."
4 From the corner of my eyes I watched her biting down on her bottom lip as she once again focused on the streets outside.
And her lips caught my attention, not for the first time.
They were still red and slightly plump from what happened in the office.
And I could not get that image of her on her knees with her lips wrapped around my thick cock out of my mind.
A part of me wanted to continue that.
but a part that I fought with and it still managed to win out didn't want to break her.
And for some stupid reason that part believed her when she said that she hadn't been with anyone else after me.
I was reluctant to admit it but maybe it was because I wanted it to be true that I took her words on face value.
And not to mention, those big blue eyes of hers.
Those were the reasons that we were here like this, if not for those doe eyes I wouldn't have given in to her all those years ago.
I parked the car in front of the first apartment building I had invested in when I had come to New York, in my own bid to forget about the past and not to give in to the need to find the girl sitting beside me, now a woman.
Opening my side of the door, I told her to come with me as I stepped out.
She waited for me on the other side and fell in step beside me as we walked to the front doors of the building.
The guards nodded at me and pulled the doors open.
The reception and sitting area was decorated in pale green, a big fountain dominated the open area and the chandelier on top of it made the water look like crystals.
I made my way straight to the bank of elevators, on the left to the four elevators there was the private one that I used, that opened and closed with the code for my penthouse only.
But right now, I wasn't going up to my place, right now we will go to the fifty fifth floor where I'll show my little girl her new apartment.
I couldn't wait to see the look on her face.
I wonder if her eyes still twinkled like the morning sky when she was really amazed and happy.
One of the elevators opened and two men stepped but, their eyes going straight to Elsa.
In her black dress and with those lips she looked like an innocent siren.
I placed my hand on her lower back and walked with her inside the elevator.
"This is odd."
She murmured.
"Why are we here? Are we meeting someone?"
"If you will have a little patience, little girl."
I said, my fingers slightly squeezing her waist.
She turned to me and I met her gaze.
She said, "You know it very well, patience and I don't get along."
Oh, I know.
I had learned it a long time ago and I had adored her impatience.
I looked away and watched the little screen that counted the floors.
She sighed and stepped away from me.
For a moment I fought the urge to pull her back to me but I let it go.
The elevator opened on the fortieth floor and three women entered, one of them I was familiar with and I cursed silently when her eyes fell on me and brightened.
"Kristian…"
Sasha nodded, her blue eyes sparkled and her hair no longer blonde but now black shone in the overhead light.
I didn't say anything, just returned her nod.
But she didn't take a hint as she drew closer, ignoring the look other two women were giving her and said in a low voice, "I haven't seen you in quite some time.".
"I have been busy."
I bit out, acutely aware of the slight tension that had entered Elsa's body.
"I was thinking of making an appointment with my hair dresser."
Sasha said, touching her black hair.
"Blonde, right? That looks good on me."
I turned to her and said in a clear voice that left for no mistakes.
"You don't have to turn your hair blonde anymore, Sasha.
I don't require that of you, or anyone else."
The elevator opened and the other two women stepped out, leaving me with the girl from my past, the tl had tried to make a duplicate for me.
And the woman looking at me with lust in her eyes was one of those duplicates, with blue eyes she had me looking at her twice and then I suggested for her to change her black curls to blonde.
She did.
And I gave into my frustration and lust and anger.
Only twice, because by then I had realised no one could come closer to the real deal.
My real obsession was for the girl who was standing with her stiff back to me, looking like what was happening around her didn't matter to her.
Sasha's eyes flitted to Elsa and the look in her eyes made me want to pull Elsa closer, but I didn't have to as Elsa turned in that moment and met Sasha's eyes head on.
"One would think with all the rage about feminism, you would love yourself enough to not change for a few one night stands, and that too for a man like him."
She pointed her finger at me like I was beneath her.
"And you do look pretty in your black hair."
Even though Elsa had complimented her, Sasha felt insulted and it showed in her next comment, "But you don't.
I thought he was trying to create someone far more superior than what I'm seeing right now."
Elsa pursed her lips and said, "Then, you know I'm the original one.
The one he was trying to see in you and failed.
So you can take your tattered dignity and go find yourself another blind asshole because I am here, the real one that he wanted and still wants. NôvelDrama.Org exclusive content.
Not a fake like you."
.
I saw it before it happened and grabbed Sasha's wrist tightly, giving it a warning squeeze that I'd break it without remorse if she touched my little girl.
I said, "Enough of this, Sasha."
I pressed the button on the elevator for the upcoming floor and waited for the door to open.
I turned to her and said, "Get out.
And don't ever talk to her that way, if you ever see her turn back around and go the other way."
+ Sasha gritted her teeth, her blue eyes glaring at Elsa behind me but at last she jerked her hand away from me and stomped away.
The moment the door closed once again leaving me with my little girl alone, I thought she would say something about my failed attempt to get her look alike, but instead she said in a bored tone without glancing at me, "You didn't have to warn her.
I doubt I'd ever come across her."
Elsa didn't know it yet but living in the same building as very high chances that she would meet Sasha again.
Feeling like this shouldn't have happened, I rubbed a hand down my face and said, "About what she said,"
"I don't care.
You are not mine just as I'm not yours.
I am here because I need money for my mother's treatment.
You are here because you want your revenge and a chance to humiliate me for what happened in the past.
Nothing less and nothing more."
3 Her words shouldn't have mattered but they felt like claws on my skin, prickling me with unease and I wanted to hurt back.
She didn't have any right to talk back like that when she was the reason for everything.
She was the last one who had broken me down, a direct hit at the back of my knees that had dropped me on the floor, helpless.
1 She didn't see me coming as she still didn't look at me, I grabbed a fistful of her hair— the hair that I had dreamed about, silken soft and shone like a sun so bright with the hints of pink that had diminished somehow.
Pulling her back against my front, I circled my forearm around her throat and gritted out, "You are mistaken, little girl.
You are mine.
You have been mine since the day you kissed me in that shed.
And it was the only reason you couldn't make yourself open your legs for anyone else, because deep down…."
I slipped my other hand around her, clutching her left breast where her heart pounded fiercely.
"You know that you belong to me."
"No…"
She whispered softly.
But then with more force.
"No!"
1 She wrenched away from my hold and just then the elevator doors opened so she walked out, every step indicating how rattled she was and how furious.
I smirked to myself as I followed her.
There were only four apartments here and my little girl stood between the wide corridor, not knowing where we were going.
I walked past her to the door on the left and pulled out a key from my pocket.
"Come."
I could feel that she was still angry and reluctant but when I entered and the automatic motion lights came on she followed.
"Do you live here?"
She asked after a few minutes as we walked further inside, past the foyer into an open space.
The living room, drawing room and the kitchen were one big space with the floor to ceiling windows looking out to the residential building opposite.
"Are you going to answer me?"
She asked as she trailed her hand along the back of the dark purple sofa, her teeth biting down on her lip.
From nervousness or the fact that she liked what she was seeing, I couldn't tell.
"Go.
Take a look around."
I ordered her.
She turned to me and her blue eyes tried to peer into my mind.
I returned her gaze and arched her brow as I said, "Are you going to do as I say or shall we start with your punishment, after all? I didn't miss the insult you threw at me in the elevator?"
Her cheeks flushed and she looked away.
After a slight hesitation, she walked away and I made my way into the kitchen.
I checked the drawers and refrigerator as I had given specific orders for everything to be stocked so she could move in without a worry on her part.
After I was satisfied with what I saw, I made my way toward the bedrooms.
The apartment had two bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms and a small guest room.
A bathroom near the living room which also served as a laundry room.
It was bigger and luxurious considering only Elsa and her mother would live here.
Mostly only her mother, because I intend to keep her to myself.
I found her in one of the bedrooms.
Her bedroom.
Because the food wasn't the only thing I had asked for to be stocked.
I had called my personal shopper to buy everything Elsa would need.
I didn't like the clothes she wore.
Outdated and simple, that didn't suit her.
I wanted her in silks and cashmere.
I wanted her sparkling and shining, not dulled out to be a background.
She stood in front of a closet.
I walked up to her, standing a step behind her, I said, "They are yours."
A tremor went through her and she said, "I can't stay with you."
She turned around and said with more force, her eyes looking terrified before she hardened her face and said through clenched teeth.
"I won't stay with you."