Maril was flabbergasted and she stared at the man she had kidnapped as if he were a monster. Her eyes widened, ready to pop out of their sockets while her chest constricted in fear.
"You...you...you..." Maril's mind was a mess and she was having a hard time comprehending the reality. "How did you get here?"
"You tell me, lady. How did I get here?" Rhysand looked at her darkly as though he was ready to swallow her whole.
Although his face had an 'I'm pissed off and I'd end your life anytime' expression, in reality, he was thoroughly entertained and was enjoying the scene to his heart's content.
Rhysand was happy, more than he had imagined. He couldn't move his eyes away from the woman who had moved his heart completely. Her lovely brown eyes were filled with a spark that ignited something within him and her beautiful face was flushed, either due to embarrassment or something else, he didn't know.
His heart skipped a beat when he lowered his gaze to her pink lips and he had to use a lot of willpower to distract himself from doing things that none of them were ready for yet.
"Impossible! I was supposed to kidnap him. How did you...When did you... What were you..." Maril stumbled on her words, unable to speak coherently and Rhysand smirked to himself, enjoying the plight she was in.
Maril knew who Rhysand Moretti was. He was the man she had been crushing hard once upon a time and had even taken him to be her imaginary boyfriend. He was a mafia lord, the truth that made her admire him and respect him at the same time.
She had been bewitched by his face when she had seen an interview on television. His aura, his conduct, and his command over the situation lured her to him, and it was the first time she had been attracted to any man.
However, over time, she realized that the man's power, influence, and status were far beyond her imagination and reach. So, she had let go of her tiny crush. But she had still not given up on one small wish of hers. That is to meet him one day.
Maril had never expected the day to arrive this quickly and in this way.
The man was right, but the situation wasn't. She was supposed to meet him as his fan, not as his kidnapper.
"Lady, I'm waiting for you to answer," Rhysand reminded her when he noticed her go into a trance. He didn't mind her staring at him blatantly. She had the right, he had granted it to her voluntarily.
But it still made him antsy to see her look at him silently. It was as if she saw through him and knew his ploy.
Rhysand fidgetted in his spot uneasily, ignoring the ropes digging into his skin. He considered it his punishment for using handcuffs on her.
"How did you get here? It was supposed to be him. When did you two switch places?" Maril's brain had stopped working and she asked him questions that made no sense.
Rhysand almost burst out laughing at her confused and innocent questions. If he weren't tied up, he'd have patted her head for sure.
Although he wanted to tease her about it, he remained mum instead and quirked his brow at her questioningly, not realizing that this small action of his had scared the shit out of the lady.
Maril's blood ran cold and she was close to having a heart attack. She was petrified and she realized the taste of fear for the first time in her life. It wasn't that she feared the man, but the fact that she had invited death to her house herself.
Maril was fearful of herself. How could she make such a huge blunder? She was a threat to herself and for a moment, she even wondered if she should visit a temple to check if she was a jinx. Otherwise, why would she bring trouble to herself?
Rhysand was speechless. Maril's mid-conversation silence unnerved him. Her face was unreadable and he was having a hard time comprehending her state of mind.
Before he could speak again, Maril reacted first and started pacing back and forth before him in panic, disregarding his presence for the time being.
"Great, Maril. Just great. How could you be blind and not realize who you were kidnapping? It was supposed to be that scumbag, not a mafia lord," she chastised herself and even started to doubt her intelligence.
Rhysand sighed in relief, secretly joyous to see her finally getting out of her frozen state.
It was time to continue his act.
"Excuse me! Did you just call me a scumbag?" Rhysand asked incredulously.
Maril stopped pacing and shook her head instantly. "Nope. Never. I swear!"
Rhysand Moretti? And scumbag? She wouldn't associate the two in the same sentence. The man was anything but that. In her eyes, he was akin to God.
Rhysand's lips quirked when he saw the vivid expressions on her face. Every emotion he had only ever read flashed in her eyes and her eyes....
Rhysand realized her eyes had a direct impact on his heart. They were just so beautiful that he was having a hard time controlling his heartbeat.
Masking his infatuation behind his cold face, he looked at her mysteriously. "I have to say you've got guts. People usually avoid me, not abduct me. This is a first."
Maril almost turned around and fled for her life after listening to him. 'Maybe I should go underground for a few months. Where should I go? Europe? Australia? Brazil? Japan? It'd be nice to go to Switzerland. I could go skiing. Fantastic! Switzerland it is.'
In just a few seconds, she had already decided on the place as well as the clothes she'd be taking with her. She even made a list of things she wanted to buy for her trip.
"Lady? Are you here?" Rhysand's cold tone brought her out of her beautiful dream and Maril frowned, secretly cursing the man who had disturbed her plan.
But when Maril noticed who it was, she took back her curses and bit her tongue, recalling why she had even planned an impromptu trip to Switzerland in the first place.
Maril had to appease him first. She could plan her trip later if he were still angry with her.
"Listen, Mr. Wrong Guy, it was a mistake. A big, ridiculous, terrible mistake. How about we pretend this never happened? I untie you and you go back to your dangerous mafia life while I return to… well whatever it is I do."
Rhysand's lips arched up while his eyes twinkled with interest. He would go back to his mafia life alright. It was a mistake, he accepted it. It was his 'mistake' after all. But he would never pretend this never happened.
Otherwise, why would he resort to getting himself kidnapped by her when he could have forgotten about her completely if he wanted to? He intended to bring her into her life and this was his first step toward his goal.
"And what if I'm not interested in forgetting this ever happened?"
Maril's brows knotted into a confused frown. 'Does this man have some strange fetishes? Why isn't he behaving like normal humans do?'
"Why do you want to remember something so embarrassing? Shouldn't you be trying to forget this pathetic incident?"
'Pathetic? No way. This is the most remarkable incident of my life, Maril. Otherwise, I'd have missed out on a gem.'
Rhysand's lips curled until he was smiling. "I don't think it's pathetic. I'd word it intriguing. After all, it's not every day I come across someone as daring as you."
Maril felt her head throbbing. If it were in any other circumstance, she'd have started dancing. Rhysand Moretti had just praised her. It was the best moment of her life.
But not right now, not when her life was hanging by a thread.
"Look, Mr. Mafia Lord…."
"Rhysand Moretti," Rhysand introduced himself, hoping for her to eradicate the distance between him and get acquainted with him instantly.
Maril was speechless. 'I know who you are. You are Rhysand Moretti - the Rhysand Moretti, the man of my dreams. Now, stop interrupting me or I will lose focus.'
Maril composed herself and pushed her strange thoughts to the back of her mind. "Right, Mr. Moretti, this was all an accident, a confusion. I apologize for my mistake. I mean no harm, you mean no harm. Can't we forget everything and end this amicably?"
"We can," Rhysand started.
"Thank …."
"But we won't," he deadpanned.
Maril's face lost all color and her eyes quivered in fear, her mind sketching all kinds of brutal scenes of her getting murdered. "What's that supposed to mean?"
It was time to come clean and Rhysand tilted his head as he studied her. "It means you've piqued my interest, lady. And in my world, it's not something that happens often."
Maril blinked at him a few times before she snapped at herself. "Oh great, just what I needed in my life – another complication."