As soon as the both of them looked into each other's eyes, Ella was reminded of the last time when she was this close to him. It was two years ago, that fateful night. Just remembering that day and its events were enough to glisten her eyes, and she had to look away to hide them from him. But he had seen it very well. His hold loosened a bit, which she didn't realize as she looked at him, with her glistened eyes, not letting them fall, saying,
"You think I will come to you, after everything?"
"I did it for you, for us." She turned away from him, tired of everyone telling that it's all for her own good.
He grabbed her wrist, holding her waist firmly in the other, and brought her closer to him whispering in her ear, "You are my lady. Always. I will grant everything to you, but not at the cost of your life; And definitely not by losing you to any other man on this damn planet." She shivered while he kissed her below her ear and went on towards her neck. If only she had learnt to control her senses around him, thought Ella.
When talking about Nick, she couldn't help feel surprised that he was aware of someone else being with her.
"What? Thought that I won't know?" It was his time to glare at her now.
Can she run away again? Not before doing what she came here for. She pulled away from him, with all her might and glared at him, "Do not touch me. I have come here to tell you only one thing which would benefit the both."
Roy quirked his eyebrow, wanting to know what was going in her mind that she finally decided to come out from hiding.
"I, I give up the throne." Roy faced her with his face blank, and she continued, "I will give up the throne. In return, I should be free of this search mission of yours." He had to admit, it had been a long while since they both had a deal, and he did miss it. The deals would be as quirky as her.
"Hmm... Why do I sense something else along the lines, darling?" He said while stepping closer intimidatingly, scanning her face for any signs of lies.
"It is a simple contract. You can get the corp and leave me out of it. After that I don't want any of your goons to be breathing behind my back."
"How could you leave? Don't you know the responsibility that your family had taken during the whole legacy?" Ella paused and tried to contemplate his way of thinking. Didn't he want that? He made it seem that she was the villain here to not care about her responsibilities and duties to her people around.
"The same reason why you were following me. I guess I don't need to know the reason why you were seeking me, so as to get me out of your way."
"Yeah, well, I thought the app would do that. But here you are, finally with me." Roy grinned after saying that.
"You were using the app to find me?" She asked him in disbelief. She knew there was something fishy about that app, but she never took it that the app would be made to find her. Such wastage of resources, by breaching people's lives. What was wrong with him!
"Yeah. I just needed a location. After that it wouldn't have been too much to hunt you down. But here you are. You came to me willingly. What was Nick Brooks doing with you?" He asked the question which had been bothering him, since the both of them entered the city. He had instructed to be notified the moment anyone saw Ella, anywhere in the whole United Kingdom. But what surprised him more was that she was seen with Nick Brooks, his classmate in those days. He wouldn't have given much of a thought if the man he had appointed to lookout hadn't mentioned that she was not being dragged by him to hand over to Roy. Rather they both were coming willingly together. That just boiled his blood, as he knew it wasn't just a mere coincidence of finding each other in the same flight heading to the same destination.
"He brought me here." Her answer short and to the point. It made him more and more suspicious of that Nick's role here. He would have waited to know the source from where they had taken the flight and all the details, if he wasn't impatient to meet her and snatch her away from that guy.
"Are we having a deal, Mr. Knight?", she asked, coming back to the reason why they are meeting now.
"How can I say no to the London's most beautiful lady." She ignored his remark and turned away from him, to leave the place. Two goons of his blocked the exit for her. They weren't present when she entered or maybe she failed to notice, with Roy grinding her against him.
"I hope you have your belongings here, for your stay Miss Kingsly. After all you will need it, to address the members." She sighed and turned back to face him.
"I thought we had a deal. Why don't you do the talking?"
"You see, it's no small matter to put a stop to the family legacy altogether. So you have to stay here present until a negotiation has been reached."
"I'll get a hotel then." Ella was adamant on staying with this man within any close radius.
"You won't. You are to stay here, if you want what you want. Else consider this deal void." He said in finality.
"I won't stay with you. I don't trust you." Not anymore.
Something akin to anger with hurt was visible on his face and was gone with a blink. His jaws tightened, "Don't think so highly of yourself madam. You won't share my bed. You are merely given a guest room till you are here."
She shouldn't feel anything, yet she felt it. Oh god, it was not even a moment since Nick had kissed her; And here she was, still feeling for her ex.
"Fine. But I need to meet Nick first." She was still worried about Nick, and with him already knowing about them heading here together, she didn't find any reason to hide away her friend's importance.
"He'll be informed about your new living conditions when he would visit." He mocked right at her face. She narrowed her eyes at his answer. She knew that Nick would look out for her here, if she didn't inform him.
"Then make a call. I need-" Roy took hold of her elbow and dragged her away from there to upstairs. That made her to stop talking abruptly. She then tried to call his attention to let her go.
"Roy! What are you doing?" She was getting more flustered while passing by the servants. It seemed like she was a call girl for Roy, with the way he was dragging her towards somewhere. That was answered when she came across a room. It was his room because of his scent reeking around the whole room.
He deposited her on the bed. While being dragged and thrown at, Ella was getting up from the bed, when he put his arms around either side of her, which led her to lean back her neck, her hands supporting her in sitting on the bed. His face was close to her which was angry. Very angry. She didn't understand it. She had only asked for one phone call.
"You will not associate yourself with Nick Brooks." He said with gritted teeth.
"Whyever not?"
"That's the rule for staying here. And I don't want to hear another man's name from your mouth, Ella." She knew he was specifically talking about Nick. She tried reasoning him still.
"He'll be worried. Nic-" He went over and bit her lower lip then. While doing so his hands reached hers which were supporting on his bed. He didn't kiss her, he bit her.
"Aaa...", her soft gasp turned him on. It was really long since he heard that. Must he say he missed it so much that he had put all his resources in search of her. Only to be in vain. Once there was a lead, but it got lost, while they were tracking it. She was getting better at the game, yet she wants to leave now at the crucial moment.
"Told you no other man, Elle." It didn't help that he was clutching her hands tightly and her name! Oh god! She had heard the voice ringing so much in her ears, that now it raced her heart. Too fast. He didn't do anything further than bite her lips. She kept shut about it and looked elsewhere, trying to calm her heart down slowly. He had missed this. He missed her. Her courage, her strong will, even in situations that are very uncertain. At first, he had thought that she wanted to make the next heir with him, but who knew she had the plans of leaving forever. He had given her some time to be alone that day; when she ran away. The way she said about it, seemed like she was leaving all for that bastard Brooks. At the same time, he knew she would be looking out for other ways to contact that guy. Just thinking about him made him want rip his body with all the bullets of his gun. He had to take care of him then.
"Don't even think of running away, Elle. You won't get too far."
"Do I have to remind you that it has already happened once. And it won't hurt again to happen again!"
"If you don't want your favorite toy to be ripped in pieces, you will stay put." He said seriously, his eyes trapping hers to obey him. Her face turned to anger, then disgust and lastly pity at him. Her string of changing emotions only made him want to take her in his arms and console her for the past years. But she wanted none of it, just as she has clarified.
"Fine. Got what you wanted! Just like you always do." Her sad tone mocking at him. At a point she was sad for being helpless. But she expected this. It was Roy after all. And he was never gentle to matters relating to her.