Chapter Two
She’s innocent
“She didn’t kill her, Boss.” Those words send a mad echo in my study, draining the life out of my face. “We just checked again. Your mate had another visit to the hospital on the night she bled to death. And the girl wasn’t the one who attended to her.”
I was staring at one of my men as he spewed those words. My eyes are literally peering holes into him as I can’t seem to blink or even catch my breath; I’m pathetically speechless.
“We’re still looking into it. We’re not gonna stop until we find out who the doctor that attended to her is.” The man finalizes his words, bows, and leaves.
Those words are going off in my head in a loop. SHE DIDN’T KILL HER. SHE DIDN’T KILL MY MATE. Every inch of those words is literally trying to drive me insane. If she didn’t kill her, if she's innocent, then that means I tortured her for nothing.
I’ve spent a whole month and a few weeks trying to get her to admit to her crimes. Little did I know that she had nothing to admit to and I was just a shitty devil who picked up some random girl from the streets and ruined her life.
“What are we gonna do now, boss?” My beta and right-hand man, Enzo, asks from behind. It’s just the both of us in my study, with the smoke rings from his blunt beautifully tainting the air around us.
I have no idea…
“We should let her go. It’s already bad enough that we tortured her for nothing. We should let her leave. We should give her back a bit of her life that we viciously stole from her. That’s the logical thing to do.”
“I know,” I say with a groan, standing and pacing to the window. Listening to Enzo’s principled words is torturing. He’s damn right though. The logical thing to do right now is to let Sofia go. But that’s also the most impossible thing to do.
This last month, I spent torturing her, but at the same time, I was getting infected by her. I got fucking infected to the point that I found myself thinking about her abnormally frequently. I didn’t mean to, but I found myself wanting to know more about her and I did. First, I learned her full name.
Sofia Armani. Then I found out she’s been a nurse at that hospital for two years. She’s some free-spirited girl who’s fucking chill with everyone. She loves frequenting the little garden in her small Pack with her mate on her off days, she loves tulips…she loves cakes. I mean, it’s crazy that I went about picking up the littlest details about her, but I couldn’t help it. She’s slowly become an obsessive thought for me and I can’t seem to shake off the need to know every little shit about her. To need to own her. Permanently.
I tried to kill that interest by frequently reminding myself that she killed my mate and I shouldn’t let her mess with my head, but now I can’t say that anymore because it’s been proven that she didn’t. So yeah, now I’m fucked up and confused. A million thoughts are jogging through my head but letting her go isn’t one of them.
“Boss,” Enzo calls back my attention and I glance at him. “When are we letting her go?”
“Letting her go isn’t happening, Enzo. So don’t even dream about it.” I didn’t wanna be so bluntly honest but he has to know, so we’ll be on the same page about the situation. And so he doesn't push it. I may get too triggered and snap and that's gonna be ugly.
“Why not?” He quizzes, stepping closer to me with brows raised in confusion. “You already know she didn’t do it. She didn’t kill your mate…”
“I know that, and believe me, I hate myself for having tortured her for nothing.”
I am in sizzling agony. I feel like crap. I’m never that man who lets myself feel guilty for shit and but right now, I can’t help the guilt. I wish I could undo most of the horrible shit I did to her. But I can't, and that makes me feel even worse.
“If you already know that, then why don’t you wanna let her go? Keeping her here any longer is insane. She deserves her freedom. A freedom we should never have taken from her in the first place.”
“I’ll be damned if I let her go!” I snap, unable to hold back the revving emotions anymore. “She messed me up just as much as I messed her up and she needs to stay here for me to get back my senses. I know it’s selfish but that’s just how it is.”
“I don’t understand.” Enzo shakes his head, looking more confused than earlier. “How did she mess you up? What really happened between the both of –“
“Please, let me go,” a quivering, feminine voice interrupts the conversation. I turn sharply, and she’s at the door, in tears, looking at every bit of the misery that I've put her through in the last month.
Seeing her is torturing and painful. not just because I just found out about her innocence, but also because my heart gets heavy and beats fucking hard whenever she’s in sight. How did I get here? How did I go so fast from loathing her to being fucking obsessed with her? It's the quickest, unrealistic transition that I’ve ever gone through in my life.
Enzo sighs and leaves the room. I step away from the window just as she takes a few steps further inside the room. Her face is puffy and drenched in tears. I’m almost tempted to hug her real tight and apologize over and over for the hell I’ve put her through, but I can’t afford to show her that vulnerable side of me. I just can't.
“You already found out that I didn’t kill your mate. I’m innocent and you know it. So why don’t you wanna let me go?! You already ruined my life. The least you can be is apologetic and…”
“I’m sorry,” I cut in, ending her rambling. “I’m fucking sorry about everything, but I can't let you go.”
Maybe my apology didn't sound sincere but it is. I AM SORRY. VERY SORRY. But sorry isn't fixing this, is it?
She sobs, clenching her fists. “Why not? You already took everything away from me. My family, my mate. my career. My virginity. My dignity…”
Hearing her making a list only fueled my guilt, and it almost forced me to get down on my knees and grovel for her forgiveness. Especially for the way I took her virginity. Hell and be damned, I didn’t expect her to be a virgin. She had a mate and I thought…
“What more do you wanna do to me?” She continues, tearing up even more. “Why don’t you just let me go, please?”
“No.” It's hard to keep refusing her heart wrenching request, but I can't do what she's asking. It’ll kill me. “You’re staying here, Sofia.”
She runs out of the room in tears, and I can hear the walls of my heart collapsing at her exit. I barely have my emotions back on track when Enzo rushes into my room.
“Boss, there's a problem!”
“What is it?”
“Come see for yourself.”
I follow him immediately, and my steps only increase when I see he’s leading me to the area of the building where Sofia’s room is. I step inside, noticing the frightened look on the faces of the maids. I push past them and get closer to the bathroom door. Sofia is on her knees, throwing up into the toilet seat.
“What's happening to her?” I bark at the maids, and they all wither in panic. “Did you poison her?!”
“We wouldn’t dare, Sir.” They reply, dropping to their knees. “She’s just been dizzy lately, and she barely eats, and now this. We sincerely don’t know what’s going on with her.” one of them further explains.
“Someone get me the doctor!”