Blackmailed For Love

I sat down on the sofa and opened the first box of the two in the soft overhead light coming from above the tv console.
I peeled the soft tissue that glimmered in the dim light and looked at the dark purple silk nestled in there.
With hesitant fingers I picked up the silken fabric, it unfurled in my hands as I let it drop down in front of me.
It was a sleeveless and a backless dress with a slit up to just below the waistline.
I would be half naked in this dress but still the thought of wearing it lit up a spark of anticipation deep inside my lower belly.
The other box had the same colored heels with red bottoms.
It took me twenty minutes to get ready as I didn't do much except to put Band-Aids on my nipples as the dress won't allow me to
wear a bra and my nîpples poked through the fabric as if begging for attention and applied a natural shade of pink lip gloss.
I looked like a virgin trying to be a seductress.
I shook my head at my own thoughts as I stepped out of the bathroom, 1 faltered when my eyes met dark greys.
My daughter was sitting up in the bed and she was looking at me with wide eyes and a curious tilt of her head.
"Anna..."
"Mama, you look beautiful."
My heart squeezed with love at her words.
I walked to her, concentrating on not falling face first because of the heels I was wearing, it was safe to say I wasn't used to such
type of footwear.
"What are you doing waking up? I thought you were asleep."
I said as I sat down on the bed beside her.
"I was."
She said with a silent Duh at the end.
I bit down on my bottom lip as my lips twitched, but she slipped closer to me and said, "I had a bad dream."

I cupped her cheek and pulled her on my lap, uncaring of the expensive silk.
Cradling her against my chest, I smoothed her dark hair back and asked, "Talk to me.
What did you dream about?"
"Someone was taking me away from you."
She replied, her voice small and a slight shaking entered in her voice.
My arms tightened around her.
And I said, "No one is going to take me away from you."
2 "Promise?"
I pressed a kiss on her head.
"Promise, my little angel."
She looked up at me and asked, "Where are you going?"
I didn't know the answer to that myself, but I replied, "Dinner."
Her brows lowered and her grey eyes turned inquisitive.
"But we had pizza."
I tapped her nose.
"Yes.
But I am meeting someone."
"A boy or a girl?"
For some reason I didn't lie to my daughter.
"A boy."

She made a thoughtful face and asked, "Is he your boyfriend?"
I shook my head.
"No, angel, he is not."
"Do you want him to be?"
With a thoughtful pause of my own, I nodded, "I would prefer it if he was my friend."
1 She scampered off my lap and then I watched as she leapt off the bed and pulled the basket from under the bed which was
filled with the few toys she had gathered over the years.
She rummaged in it for a bit and then held out a thick black macrame cord in her fist.
My heart gave a painful pang as I knew what was in her small fist even before she opened her fingers.
"Wear this.
It's our lucky charm, right?"
She said, her grey eyes light.
I shook my head and closed her fingers back around the black stone that had half of its piece back somewhere in Black
Mountains.
"It's yours.
You should keep it to yourself."
2 She pursed her lips and picked up my hand then slammed the shining black rock in my palm and closed my fingers around it.
"You gave it to me and I'm loaning it to you.
You can give it back to me when you return."
Knowing a losing battle when I see one.
I nodded and said, "Alright.

Now, I want you to go back to sleep."
She jumped on the bed but didn't lie down, instead she bit down on her bottom lip and regarded me with a suspicious look and
said, "Give it to me, I'll help you put it on."
1 Did I tell you my five years old daughter was a freaking smartarse? The thought had crossed my mind too, instead of putting it
on I'd have left it out in the apartment somewhere hidden but apparently the same thought crossed my genius daughter's mind.
And now she held out her palm in a silent demand as she moved on her knees so she was behind me.
13 I put the threaded rock in her palm and she swiped my hair aside, then her small fingers got busy as she tied the knot.
I put my fingers between the thread and my neck before she accidentally choked me as the thread wasn't too long and the
broken rock came to settle on the hollow of my throat.
Visible to everyone who would just look in my direction.
Once upon a time it was in a shape that resembled a human heart, not the one that we drew as children but with jagged edges
and veins running inside it, crystal clear and shining but now I only had smallest broken part of it, the other half and the bigger
part was left behind in the cottage on the Aaron estate when I accidentally dropped it while trying to pack all the things I could get
my hands on which didn't matter later when I had to run from one place to another because of the stalker that didn't let me settle
in one place.
3 "See, this makes you look the best!"
My daughter announced as she came around.
I engulfed her in a tight hug, just then I heard my phone pinging with an incoming message.
I ignored my phone and focused on my daughter as I said with a pout, "I thought I was already the best."
She clapped my cheeks between her palms and brought my face closer to her.
Her grey eyes fierce as she said, "You are.
You will always be the best, Mama."
I blinked the tears away and said, "So are you, my little angel."

I kissed her nose and in return she kissed the corner of my lips.
"I love you."
"I love you too, Mama."
I pulled back and ruffled her hair.
She made a face and I said, "Now, go back to sleep."
She laid down and I tugged the blanket over her.
Leaning down, I kissed her forehead.
"Good night, baby"
She asked, "When will you return?"
"Soon."
I replied "Good night, Mama."
I picked my phone from the bedside drawer and made my way toward the bedroom door when her soft voice stopped me,
"Mama?"
"Yes, baby?"
"Can this boy be my new Daddy?"
3 My broken heart suffered another scratch and I swallowed the knot in my throat as I said, "Go to sleep, angel.
Mama will be back soon."
She gave me a solemn nod and her grey eyes closed as she turned away and pulled the blanket up to her shoulders, Closing
the door, I let out a rough exhale and closed my eyes to gather myself.
Every time that my daughter had asked me about her father, I had to ignore her questions or make up a lie that I didn't want to
tell her.

Most of the time, my mother would interrupt and answer her vaguely but always painting her father in the light that would leave
room for more questions.
Sometimes, I think my daughter thought that I was purposely keeping her away from her father which was in fact a truth is
considered technically.
Kristian never knew that he had impregnated me.
He never knew I was pregnant when he threatened me and told me to run.
He didn't know even now that he has a daughter.
I wondered what would've happened if the last time I had gone to meet him to tell him the truth and if I had gotten the chance to
tell him the truth, if we hadn't been interrupted and he hadn't threatened me.
But now what ifs weren't going to help me, now I didn't even know how he would react when the wounds inflicted by me had
festered for so long that whenever his eyes landed on me they were resentful, cold and filled with promise of retribution.
> I pulled myself straight and unlocked my phone, I knew it even before I opened the message icon that it would be him.
But I wasn't prepared for his demanding text.
"I will be there in the next ten minutes.
Don't wear any panties."
This dress already made me feel half naked so I wasn't going to obey his insane demand.
I ignored his text and made my way toward my mother's bedroom to check up on her before I turned toward the apartment door.
As he mentioned that he will be here soon so I decided to wait for him downstairs because I didn't want him anywhere near my
daughter.
Not if I can help it.
And I would try as much as I could, until I understand what kind of man this Kristian was, would he intentionally force a daughter
from her mother in the name of his revenge? I locked the door behind me and slipped the key behind my phone in its cover.

Thankfully, there was no one out in the corridor but it wasn't the case as I stepped out of the elevator on the ground floor.
I cringed inwardly as people started to take notice of me when I came into the entrance hall near the reception.
I didn't want to stand outside and wait for him in this dress and I felt awkward with all the attention, so I decided to sit on the sofa
near the glass windows that looked out on the busy street outside Alter a few minutes a shadow fell on me prompting me to look
up.
A man in his mid twenties stood in front of me, not much older than me.
"Hi,"
He said, smiling down at me with straight white teeth "Hello "
I returned.
"Are you visiting someone here?"
"No I just moved in.
I'm waiting for someone right now."
"Oh, that's so cool.
Which apartment?"
He asked as he started to lower down beside me to sit * Before I could answer, deep voice that made me shiver replied, "None of
your fucking business * Kristian came to stand in front of me, making the man take a step back.
"I was talking to the lady here, not you."
Kristian turned his icy gaze on the man and said, "This lady belongs to me, so now why don't you scamper off like the little puppy
you are... or I will make you."
The man turned red in the face and his lips moved in silent words before he turned around and walked away.
I was aware of the eyes on us but I decided to focus on the asshole standing in front of me.

I stood up so I wouldn't feel so small in front of him and said, "You didn't have to do that."
His eyes narrowed on me and he said, "I don't like someone poaching on my territory."
"I am not your property."
"The papers you signed would say otherwise."
"They were just employment papers, it doesn't mean you own me."
I gritted out.
"Were they?"
He leaned closer, his eyes raking down the length of my body.
"Don't I?"
I sucked in a breath as my mind whirled around to make sense of his words.
Before I could ask him to explain, he said, "I sent you a text.
For your sake, I hope you obeyed."
4 I felt my spine snap with a tingle of warning, to change the subject I asked, "Where are we going?"
I pretended to smooth out my dress as I added, "I can't be out for the whole night."
He grabbed my elbow and started walking toward the glass doors as he said, "You are not a little girl with a curfew, Elsa.
I doubt your mom would mind you spending a night out."
"First, your words are totally opposite of what you call me."
His lips twitched a little and I added, "Second, I need to come back as soon as I can, sir..."
He jerked me into his side and turned to look down at me.
I gasped as I barely caught myself before I could twist my ankle and looked up at him.

He said, "First, keep your sass to yourself.
Second, don't tell me what you will do and won't.
I will decide that, not you."
"Kri—"
His fingers tightened on my elbow and he said, "If I want you to be with me for the whole fûcking night then that's where you will
be.
With me, in my fûcking bed.
Is that clear?"
I gritted my teeth.
He leaned closer and said, "Is it clear or not, little girl? Or do you want to make a bigger spectacle?"
I looked around and instantly felt the blood roaring in my ears when I met several gazes that were looking at us in interest.
"Yes.I understand, sir."