Serena woke up slowly, blinking her eyes open as she adjusted to her surroundings. Surprisingly, she didn’t feel disoriented or even shocked to find herself nestled in this man’s arms. Instead, she felt a strange sense of contentment, something she hadn’t expected. Her gaze fell on the small white button on his shirt, right in her line of sight, and she inhaled deeply, trying to calm her racing heart.
Somehow, the scent of this man- her husband, she’d come to assoiciate with safety and calm.
The previous night had been harrowing, leaving her on edge. It had taken her hours to finally drift off, only managing to find sleep as dawn broke.
From disbelief over having overheard the plan to harm her and believieng it to be Aiden to coming to realize that his father’s voice matched him perfectly. And then being kidnapped by that filthy man and the things... she shuddered at the memory.
Who in their right mind carried a stun gun with them all the time? And to make matters worse, Charles Hawk was actually a good shot. She had managed to evade him the first time, her adrenaline pushing her to move faster than she thought possible. But the second time, she hadn’t been so lucky. He had caught up to her, and before she could react, she felt the sharp sting as the stun gun made contact.
Her muscles had locked up, and she had been helpless. She could still hear his voice whispering in her ear as he’d picked her up while she’d been unable to struggle... It made her shudder.
"Don’t worry, Serena," he had murmured, his breath against her ear making her feel nauseous. "This is just a stun gun, so it only paralyzes you for a moment. But I have a special injection that will make you lose consciousness, so you won’t have to know what I plan to do. Hush, stop struggling. I might actually not do anything tonight. We’ll just share a bed..."
The very thought of it made her skin crawl. He had been so calm, so assured in his twisted words. She couldn’t have imagined Charles Hawk to be such a person. She’d actually believed that man to be a decent human being.
"And then tomorrow, when you wake up, Aiden will hate you," Charles had continued, his voice dripping with malice. "He hates me, you know. So anything I’ve touched, he hates it automatically too. You can try to tell him I seduced you or even forced you, but I doubt he’ll listen... But of course, I wll only claim it was a mistake. You see, as far as anyone else is concerned, I’ll clain that you climbed into my bed and I mistook you for my wife... "
What kind of sadist did a person have to be to harbor such sick desires? And not only that—Charles Hawk had actually involved his own wife in the twisted plot. His wife had helped kidnap Serena and then stood guard outside the door to keep Aiden away. The sheer cruelty and madness of it all left Serena reeling even now.
Should she tell these things to Aiden? She didn’t know. She couldn’t know. After all, he hated that man but they were still father and son. How would he feel about having a father like that...
"What is so fascinating about that button?"
Serena blinked and turned her head up at the sound of his voice...Well, now that she heard it carefully, the way he talked was slightly different from that old man. There was almost a... gentle quality to it...
She looked up at him and gave him a small smile as she looked into his worried eyes. " Hmm. I think it is a beautiful button. So white and such perfect little two holes for holding it fastened..."
Aiden raised an eyebrow at the absurbity of it.
Seing his look, she cursed herself for blabbering and sighed, "You know what?"
"What?" Aiden asked curiously
"You remind me of Cinderella," she said, a teasing grin spreading across her face.
Aiden’s brow furrowed in confusion. "Cinderella? Why? Am I covered in cinders or something?"
Serena shook her head, her smile growing wider. "No, no cinders,"
"Well, I don’t have two evil stepsisters,which Cinderella had as far as I remmeber the story, so that can’t be it either."
Serena let out an exaggerated sigh, her expression turning mockingly sympathetic. "No, but you’re pitiful enough to be Cinderella. You’ve had tough luck in parents huh?"
Before Aiden could be offended at being pitied, Serena placed her hand on the button, her fingers playing with its edges as if the motion itself could ease the tension between them. She looked up at Aiden with a playful glint in her eyes.
He caught her fingers as she slid the button out of the look and trapped them between his hand and his chest. "What are you doing?"
She looked up into his eyes felt her heart flutter. Without thinking, she leaned in and pressed her lips gently against his wanting to kiss him. The kiss was soft and unexpected, for both of them, and Aiden pulled back slightly, his eyes wide with surprise.
For a moment, neither of them moved, the world around them fading away as they looked into each other’s eyes. Serena was not satisfied with a mere brush of their lips. As if drawn by an invisible force, she closed the distance again, this time deepening the kiss.
Her fingers curled into the fabric of his shirt, while his hold on her hand tightened almost painfully, as she pressed against him, her body responding to the connection in a way she hadn’t anticipated.
In that moment, she felt him surrender as he let go of her hands and instead his hand moved to her waist, pulling her closer to his body. As she felt their lower bodies touch, a thrill coursed through her. She wanted to feel more of him and so she moved closer...