Breathe in, breathe out...Ana sent a silent prayer to God that the man dragging her from the club was not a serial killer to sell away her body parts.
"Look sir, I don't know why you are doing this. Please leave me. I am not the one you are looking for. I have a sick mother to take care of at the hospital." Ana pleaded, trying to get rid of his firm grip on her wrist.
"Sit down, Bella…" He opened the car door for her, his voice intense against the flowing wind circulating in the atmosphere amidst at least dozen of men in black taking their positions around them with their guns.
Ana could only stand and stare, stunned at the way her name rolled comfortably off his tongue. That was the name only her mom used to call her. Bella. She used to always call her Bella. It had been three years since she heard somebody call her with the same name.
He uttered it with such ease, the way a person who knew every little thing about her, in a way only a person who said her name frequently would say it, with familiarity and intimacy. How did he even know her pet name?
Lost in thought, lost in the strangeness of the man, Ana sat on the super soft comfortable leather seat of the car and he occupied the seat next to her. Being sure to keep her distance, she almost felt the door would swallow her. There was something about him that made her apprehensive and at the same time she could not miss the tenderness in his every action that got her perplexed. Though she wouldn't dare let him see that.
She surreptitiously checked him out who had that model-type essence. About two days of stubble shadowed his face giving him that extra masculine roughness. What was that stubble on a man's face doing to her? She had slept with so many men yet he had the power to build in her the strange feelings she had not experienced with any man so far.
His jaw was acutely squared and angular, and his lips were too pink to grace a man’s mouth. Mr. Forbidden suddenly glanced up at her to note she was checking him out and she swallowed noisily, feeling like a child who had just been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.
A big smile worshiped across his sexy lips, and his eyes locked on hers playful. She gulped heavily. Why did she feel so warm all of a sudden?
Ana found the courage to raise her eyes and finally face him. "It's Anastasia for you." He slightly bent towards her and fixed his impeccable gaze on hers. "It was and will always be Bella for me." He claimed, staring unblinkingly at her, arresting her with his gaze.
"Anastasia" he tittered, shaking his head. "Isn't that your official name? Your mom always called you Bella and also the elders in the old age home. I love the name. So you are always Bella for me."
Who was this man? How did he know her mother called her Bella and she was brought up in an old age home. Then does he know her step-father too? What if he is one of those goons sent by him?
Ana refused to get intimated, she tried but was not able to muster up enough courage to counter him.
He looked at her fervidly and then something struck his eyes. "Are you feeling hungry?"
Since morning she did not have anything. Though she was prideful in acknowledging. No matter how hungry she was. He suddenly held her hand and her mind stared blank at his heated grip on her wrist. A touch that jolted through her like an electricity and felt so familiar. She glanced down at his hand gripping her wrist, then back at him. "Please talk to me Bella. Are you feeling hungry?" He repeated.
"Why are you angry at me? Is there anything I can do to let your anger down? His voice pleaded but his expression was impassive. How did he manage that?
"Okay, we can stop at one of the restaurants on the way." She acquiesced, telling him indirectly that she was hungry. Because to be honest, she was dying to know about this mysterious man more than hunger. Who was he? She slept with many men and their touch was much more mature than his virginal hold on her wrist. But she did not nourish these amorous feelings towards any man. In a sense deep down within her his touch was awakening vestiges of eradicated emotions.
"Why did you buy me? You can always pick a girl of your choice?" She asked, aiming for casualness though she was acute to know his reason.
His face scrunched in disgust. "I despise seeing you on that stage around so many men watching you with hunger. I do not like you to work as a sex worker. It...It pains me," he confessed and guided her through the entrance of a fancy restaurant where booking a slot would take a month's time.
The manager who was standing at the entrance only for his reception greeted him with a warm smile and guided him inside the dim lit restaurant towards a corner table as if they were going to have a romantic dinner with candle light.
"I have already told you how I was here and why I was here. I do not have any other choice and above everything you have now taken away my employment from me. Why are you heavily bent on destroying me? How am I going to save my mother now? She is my only family that I have in this world." Her voice went slightly raised by overpowering anxiety.
He gazed down at me with no emotions but his tone was etched with concern. "Everything will be taken care of. From today onwards you need not worry about anything." He said to her and casually glanced down at the menu card.
Ana was taken aback by his reply. "Do you know me from somewhere?" She asked him out of interest. He looks very familiar.
He ran a hand through his mass of dark hair, clearly deliberating over his response. and that one move had her squirming. Evading her question, he asked, "What do you want to eat? Veg loaded pizza with extra cheese. Isn't it." His eyes blinked at her playfulness.
"Yes," she confirmed and the next second stared at him bolted out of blue. How does he even know her food choices? Who was this man who knows so many things about her yet she did not have a bleakest idea about him. Her flow of thoughts was interrupted by his calm words.
"And what are your intentions for employment after this?" He asked her with a cheerful smile slightly bending his upper body f and giving her his undivided attention like she was his most important business deal that he had to look after. Ana blushed red at his fervent actions.
The server came with the order. "That's for me to worry about." She twisted her lips. "Since you have taken away my job." Heavens, she didn’t want to think about any of that right now.
In the hope of temporarily decimating her worries, she reached for the bottle of Grey Goose Vodka which he had ordered to fill her glass. But strange Mr Forbidden placed his hand over hers to stop. And there was that electrifying feeling again. Now she really needs that drink.
"No alcohol." He ordered sternly. I do not want to see you drunk.
"Look, mister, you don't know me, you don't own me, you can't tell me what to do," She sassed.
"Do you remember I bought you?" He raised his eyes in a challenge. Assimilating the changing emotions on her face he sighed. "I am sorry. Telling you what to do is not my aim. I've seen the calamities you cause when you drink." He smirked, making a mockery of her mishap last night.
Sulking like a teenager, Ana rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. Oh, this man... He looked amused again.
"What do you enjoy doing with your free time?" His gaze was so penetrating and she couldn't help thinking if he was trying to tell her something with his eyes.