Stalked To Be Desired and Damned

" I thought I was going to die here..I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life here."

Ariel wept profusely. Her nose burns. Her lips quivered.

She didn't believe it when the guard told her she was being released. She laughed, shook her head, called him a clown cause she believed she was being pranked until he showed her the file, officially stamped.

Shocked was an understatement of what she felt at the moment. Questions whirled across her mind.

How's this possible? Is the truth out now? Is that why she was being released?

" I'm so happy for you." Hedgehog smiled happily as she pulled her into a tight hug.

" You had no idea, I thought my life was over." Ariel wept over her shoulder. Her body still trembling.

" Well now you know it's not." She giggled, pulled away, and wiped her tears off. " Come on, crybaby, you should start leaving."

She said as she glanced behind her, where the guard was waiting.

Ariel nodded, smiled but clasped Hadge's hand into hers. " I'm going to miss you."

She doubts she'd ever forget her even for a second. It was thanks to her that she was able to survive.

" Don't." She replied, feigning a stern tone.

Ariel chuckled. " I promise to always come visiting you."

Hedge dropped her head, smiling. " You should take very good care of yourself. Don't ever come back here as a criminal."

" I won't." She shook her head. " Do you promise to tell me your real name then? When I come visiting?"

She asked. Hedgehog has always been a mystery to her. Someone she knew nothing about even after spending three years together. She never mentioned her real name, never told her the reason why she ended up in prison.

" On one condition. If you still meet me here."

" Hm? Are you getting released too? When?" She asked, her eyes sparking with excitement but Hedge only laughed and called on the guards.

" Please, take her away, she's ready." She announced as she pulled away from her.

She frowned, knowing she was dodging that question, but Hedge isn't someone she ever wants to see again, but she didn't answer her and only waved at her as the guards led her back into the prison.

Ariel sighed sadly when she finally got out of sight, " Hopefully, I see you again." She mumbled to herself.

" Congratulations." The guard's voice cut through. " Here are your things." He handed them over, nodding his head at her. " Lucky you, your family must've pulled all sorts of strings to spend a life sentence in just three years."

Ariel twisted her face both in confusion and curiosity.

' My family? Pulled some strings? My family that sent me to jail? That never visited me once pulled some strings?'

Her jaw ticked. Her heart felt heavy with feelings she isn't ready to dwell into.

'So it's not like the truth is out?' Her brow furrowed as she added in her mind.

She said nothing to the guard till she was led out of the prison.

The moment she stepped out. A cool fresh breeze blows across her face.

Ariel threw her head back, shut her eyes, and inhaled deeply.

" Mhmm." She moaned out the air, feeling refreshed.

The air doesn't smell of rust, sweat, and chaos. It was fresh, cool, and peaceful. She looked at the clear sky, and tears brimmed in her eyes.

She lowered her head and smiled bitterly when she heard the cries and the excited shouts of a woman.

She looked up to see the family of one of the other people who was released that day, hugging and crying with joy, asking about the person's health and checking her body for any injury or bruises.

They looked so happy to have reconnected.

She looked around and almost every other person had someone or people waiting for them.

Except her.

Her face was blank, her mind was numb.

She couldn't tell if it hurt. Or if she appreciates it.

She inhaled deeply, adjusted her bag on her shoulder, and made to leave when she caught sight of a black SUV parked at a distance away from the prison.

" Someone must be from a very rich family." She muttered, exhaled, and went about her way.

**

" Should we follow her, boss? Or I should call her?" The driver asked, tilting his head to one side.

Silence.

The man in the back seat didn't answer. He just sat there, half-shrouded in the shadows, with one arm resting lazily against the window edge, watching her.

Her small, hurried steps, the tilt of her head when she brushed her hair off her face, the faint tremble in her shoulders. Fragile. Restless. Tempting.

His lips curved slightly, but it wasn't a smile. More like a thought that tasted dangerous.

" Let her be." He said finally, his voice low, smooth, laced with that quiet authority that made men obey without question.

" But we don't know where she's heading?" The driver pointed.

He didn't respond. His silence was its own command. The driver lowered his gaze, but the man's eyes stayed on Ariella.

He didn't need to follow her. He already knew every step she'd take, every place she'd hide.

Watching her was enough-for now.

His expression was cold and blank as if carved from stone, yet his gaze clung to her like a mark he'd already claimed. He leaned back after her figure disappeared, his lips curving dangerously.

Volkov kruv, a cold, calculating, and untouchable man. Emotionally impenetrable, a kind of man who never needs to raise his voice. Judges fear him, criminals obey, people whisper his name but never want to cross his path.

The man who doesn't do love.

Nor is he used to wanting anything.

Until he met her.

Dressed in her school uniform, debating about the computer programming she created during a contest he sponsored.

He couldn't take his eyes off her, off her laughter after she'd won the contest, off her pure, innocent smile.

She'd crawled quietly under his skin that day, becoming his unwanted fixation.

If only he hadn't traveled afterwards.

By the time he was back. She was in cuffs. Seated in court. Broken. Accused. Trembling.

He didn't see a criminal. He saw something that called to the part of him he hides from the world. Something innocent yet ruined.

The kind of contradiction he wants to own. He wants to ruin.

His strong fixation doesn't have a reason, nor was it something he wanted to understand.

Only that it consumes him.

Not like morality was ever his thing, but it becomes non-existent when it comes to her.

He bends the system, pulls every string, threatens judges, and blackmails the government to get her released.

Not for justice. But because he can't bear anyone else controlling what belongs to him.

' She shouldn't have caught my attenti

on.' he murmured, his gaze still fixed on where she'd disappeared.

But she had. And now, she'd never be able to run from it.

From him.