Katarina

"We are here." The stranger announced as soon as we came to a huge golden gate.

He drove into the compound immediately the gates were opened.

I didn't have the time or the energy to fully appreciate the opulence of the place. I was too busy trying to figure out my next move

I was lucky to find such a kind man who was willing to help me even though he didn't know who I was. If he hadn't picked me up when he did, I was sure that I would have been captured by Kylan's men by now.

I didn't want to think of what Kylan would have done to me if he had been the one to find me instead of this kind stranger.

"Thank you," I said to the man as he opened his car door and rounded his car to open my car door for me.

He smiled, revealing his impossibly white dentures and I smiled back at him. It was a genuine smile but it felt frozen on my face.

He waved me off and held my hands as he led me down to the front door of his place.

"Welcome back sir." A man appeared at the doorway.

"Thank you, Festus. Make arrangements for our guests. Food and a warm place to sleep."

"Of course sir," Festus said with a small bow and scurried away, disappearing into the house.

We advanced further into the mansion and I couldn't help but admire the beauty of the place. But my admiration quickly gave way to a feeling of dread. I knew I was safe now but I couldn't help but feel worried. What if somehow Kylan finds me?

I didn't want to put this kind stranger in danger and what would Kylan do to my parents now that his investment was gone?

I didn't want to think about it but I couldn't help it.

"Are you alright?" The man asked beside me.

I glanced up at him.

"I'm okay, just finally feeling the effect of running sixty miles, I guess." I chuckled nervously.

"Sixty miles? Just how much of a monster is your husband to be?" His eyes widened. For the first time, I noticed his appearance. He was handsome, the kind that was equal parts sophisticated and rough. His black hair and blue eyes were a huge contrast that fit perfectly and his jaw was a work of art.

"Ex-husband to be." I clarified. I knew there was still a chance that I would be found by Kylan but I wasn't going to jinx my escape by calling him my husband-to-be.

"Yes, ex-husband-to-be." He repeated, his tone mimicking.

"He's everything you think but worse. I don't want to talk about this." I said, uncomfortable with his questions. I knew he was trying to help but the only help he could render now was to get me out of there as fast as possible.

"Of course. Come on, I'll take you to my room. You can freshen up there till Festus finishes with your room."

"Thank you so much. I wish you would tell me your name, I don't feel comfortable not knowing it."

"Fine. It's Jerome." He said as if he was doing me a favor by telling me his name.

"Jerome..." I tested the name on my lips.

"Thank you, Jerome."

"You are welcome."

Jerome took me upstairs to a bedroom that looked like it belonged in the castle of a medieval drama.

I quickly hopped in the shower as I honestly needed to relax.

Done with showering, I put on my wedding dress as it was the only thing in the room.

Shortly after, I exited the room and went down to the living room, uncomfortable with being alone in the room of someone I didn't know. He was being a complete sweetheart and a gentleman but I didn't want to take my chances.

As soon as I got to the ground floor, I met Jerome waiting for me. He was talking to someone on the phone but that didn't stop him from taking my hands and leading me to the kitchen.

I tried to listen in on his conversation but he was speaking a language that I didn't understand. Arabic to be precise.

We both settled down on the stool and the maid made quick work of dishing out food.

"Your dress," he muttered, "I will inform Festus to get clothes for you."

"Thank you," I replied with a smile and immediately delved into the food.

I didn't realize how hungry I was until I finished my plate of pasta in less than two minutes.

"How on earth did you finish that so fast?" Jerome's voice came as a surprise to me. I didn't realize he was done with his call.

"I'm sorry. I was just hungry."

I said sheepishly.

"No, there's no need to apologize. I've just never seen a woman eat that fast. You can have as much as you want."

"Thank you, Jerome. You are a lifesaver."

A weird smirk appeared on his lips that made me uneasy but I waved it off.

"You say thank you a lot, you know that."

"I'm sorry..."

"That too... stop apologizing to me."

"I'm sorry... I mean, okay."

"So, tell me, what are your plans?"

Jerome asked as he settled down beside me.

"Well, I need to skip town as soon as possible. Leave everything behind and start over."

"How can I help?" He asked.

"If you can get me a ticket, I promise I'll pay you back with interest once I'm finally settled."

A weird look crossed his face but before I could place what it meant, it was gone.

There was a long pause from him before he spoke up again.

"Alright, I'll get you your tickets."

"Really?" I asked, almost crying with Joy.

"Of course. If you feel unsafe here, I'll help you. You can pay me back whenever you want."

Just then his phone rang, stopping me from thanking him.

He placed his palm up, halting me from speaking. He picked up his phone call and began to speak in rapid Arabic again. Shortly after, He hung up.

"Well, I've got to leave for a while, business calls. I'll be back as soon as I can and then we can talk more." He said to me.

"Oh?" I said, my voice a little disappointed.

"Yeah. Don't worry, Festus will take very good care of you."

"Oh, alright." I smiled and watched him leave.

I had no idea what was going on but I didn't feel comfortable with staying in a mansion so big without the owner in it. Plus I had this nagging feeling that something wasn't quite right. I needed to leave as soon as possible. Maybe even sooner.

Done with eating, I went back to his room and rummaged through every drawer. I found some cash that I knew would me to the next city.

I took off my wedding dress, stole a T-shirt and sweatpants that were too big for me and ran out of the house.

 I made sure that the coast was clear before disappearing from the mansion.

Kylan

"Remember Festus, no staff should be in the house until further notice. I can't have my bride be suspicious of anything." I said to Festus who was sitting beside me in my car.

"Of course sir." Festus nodded.

I had already informed him of this information before I had even brought my very lovely bride who had decided I was not worth marrying to the house. But I felt the need to hammer it in. I couldn't have her suspicious of anything.

I still wasn't completely sure what to do with her other than keep her in my mansion as my prisoner but whatever I decided on would be something that left an everlasting mark on her.

She didn't deserve anything less not after humiliating me and making a ridicule out of me among my business associates and family. She and her family would pay for making me a laughing stock and for making me lose my chance at becoming chairman of my father's company. I had my eyes on that chair for as long as I could understand and the bitch had destroyed my chances. How on earth was anyone going to trust a man who couldn't even get a woman to marry him? I know I fucking wouldn't.

Sure she was fucking beautiful and I was having a hard time not touching her. But none of that mattered to me, not when She thought I was a monster, some kind of villain. She was not exactly far from the truth but I was only a monster to people that deserved it and she did.

Maybe I was overreacting, maybe she did what she did because she was genuinely scared of me. She looked shaken when I picked her up.

The memory of the girl running into the church to announce that my bride had run away flashed in my mind and it immediately erased every doubt in my mind. I was going to make her pay for her insolence.

With my hands still gripping the steering wheel, I turned a corner and entered my street. Festus sat beside me, quiet as always. He was holding a few supplies that I had ordered him to go get for Katarina while I quickly drove to my in-laws who were still very worried about their daughter's whereabouts.

Good for them, I needed them to feel the humiliation I felt hours ago. If they couldn't keep their daughter in check, I was glad to do it for them.

Less than five minutes later, I drove into my mansion and came out of my car.

Festus walked ahead of me and opened the front door. We both marched into the house only to stop abruptly in our tracks, eyes wide with shock at the scene before us.

"What the fuck happened here?!" I barked, looking to Festus for answers even though he'd been with me since I left the house.

"I...I am not sure sir." He stuttered, walking ahead of me to inspect the scene.

I scanned the living room, anger starting to boil in my veins. The place was in complete disarray as if it had been bulldozed through by a bulldozer.

My couch was flippied over, my coffee table lay broken in half on the ground and shards of glass were scattered on the floor.

Two of my chandeliers were gone from the ceiling which I now realized were the shards of glass scattered on the floor.

I glanced up at the ceiling and found a few bullet holes.

"Find her!" I growled and headed upstairs, taking the stairs two by two.

Someone had broken into my home and I had a feeling that they had taken Katarina.

This could not be fucking happening! Nothing appeared to be missing, not that I had anything of value in this particular house. It wasn't exactly my main house. It was just one of my many houses in the city.

I got to my bedroom door, a little panicked at what I'd see in there, and pushed it open.

I went straight to my closet and pulled out a gun in case the intruders were still lurking around. Armed with a weapon, I searched the room for Katarina.

"Lisa!" I yelled out her name but couldn't find her. Where on earth was she? Had she been taken? Was this a kidnapping or was this an attempt at taking my life? It wouldn't be the first time.

I came out of my room and searched every room upstairs and still couldn't find a single sign of her.

Still unable to find her, I went back to my room, and as soon as I entered, my eyes zoomed in on a piece of paper on the dresser.

Quickly, I plucked the paper from the dresser and saw that it was a letter.

"Dear Jerome, thank you so much for rescuing me and having me in your home but I am afraid I can't stay for both your safety and mine. By the time you're reading this, I will be long gone.

I took some cash from your dresser, I promise to pay you back someday.

Thanks again."

Lisa*

"Fuck!" I yelled as I crumpled the piece of paper and threw it against the wall.

She left. How could I have been so naive?

Fuck! I cursed out again, as I ran my hands through my hair. The woman just kept slipping through my fingers.

Well, at least she escaped unscathed, at least I wanted to believe that she was long gone before the intruders came but I couldn't be sure.

Maybe they had taken her. But why? Nothing was making sense.

I needed to find her, and most importantly I needed to know who the fuck had broken into my apartment. This shit had never happened before. I was going to kill every single one of them once they were captured.

I was already halfway down the stairs investigating the situation, when I saw Festus running towards me.

"What is it Festus? Did you find her?" I asked, hopeful.

"No sir but you have to see this." He said a grim look on his face. I had never seen Festus look anything but impassive before so I already calculated that whatever he saw was bad.

Without wasting time, I took the stairs and followed Festus into the kitchen to find my cook lying unconscious on the floor with blood spilling out of her stomach.

"What happened to her?" I asked, ignoring the disarray in the kitchen.

"She appeared to have been shot, sir. She's still breathing." Festus Informed, tremor lacing his usually poised-sounding voice.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Call a fucking ambulance!" I barked, running toward the unconscious maid

Festus frantically ran to the living room to make the call while I crouched down to where my cook lay, eyes shut and face countered into a grimace while placing her head up in my hands.

 "Don't move, the doctor will be here soon, and don't die. I need to know what the fuck happened here!"

Katarina

3 months later.

"Table at Isle Five is asking for his order."

Odette, one of my colleagues said to me as she walked past me, carrying a tray of empty plates to the kitchen sink.

I rolled my eyes, annoyed that I had somehow gotten the worst of the worst customer today.

"I'll be right there, thanks Odette," I said to her despite my irritation for the man at table five.

He had only been inside the restaurant for all of ten minutes and he's been nothing but a pain in the ass.

First, he'd tried to touch me inappropriately and then he'd told me to get him a particular wine and when I had, he had tried to gaslight me that he'd asked for a different wine.

I didn't need a priest to tell me that it was going to be trouble with that one.

"What's up with table five's order, Greg?" I called out, to the chef over the counter.

"Two minutes more and I'll be done, Lisa."

Greg said as he flipped the eggs in the pan.

Lisa... I was still getting used to that name. Sometimes I'd even forget that it was my name and completely ignore my colleagues when they used it.

It had been a total of three months since I left everything behind, three months since I left the most powerful man alone on the altar. I'd like to say it was easier now that I was no longer forced to be with a man I didn't care about but that would be a lie.

Being by myself made me realize just how sheltered I was back when I was with my parents.

The street was hard and harder for someone who was desperately trying to bury her old life and at the same time run away from it.

I had grown so much in three months despite how difficult it had been for me to adjust the first couple of weeks. Thanks to the cash I had gotten from Jerome. Not only had I been able to skip town, I had been able to get myself a tiny one-bedroom apartment in the worst part of the town, but I was practically a new person.

My short pixie-cut pink hair was one of the drastic changes I had to make when I first arrived in town. I was at least five states away from my family now but I wasn't about to take my chances.

I even wore blue contacts to cover up my amber-colored eyes and did my makeup differently. I still looked like me but anyone trying to find me would have a hard time recognizing me, especially when I was wearing makeup.

"Alrighty, it's ready!" Greg said, moved closer to the counter, and plucked the tray of food.

"Thanks, Greg."

"Anytime..."

I practically ran down to table five and found the man staring at me with an irritated look in his eyes.

"What the hell took so long?" He glared as soon as I placed the tray on his table.

I wanted to scream at him that it had only been ten minutes since he ordered but decided against it. I didn't want to lose my job, I couldn't afford to.

"I am sorry, sir." I gave an apologetic smile to the balding man, my hands behind my back.

"Are your words supposed to make me forgive you?"

Forgive me? Was the man insane? Was he missing something?

"I hope sir," I said.

"Well, it's not."

I was doing my best to ignore his silly tantrum but the more he spoke, the harder it got.

"I'm not sure what you want me to do sir..."

A lewd smile spread across his face causing an uncomfortable shiver to run down my spine.

"You know, you are a beautiful girl, one I'd like to plunge, just imagine you on my bed and me on top of you fucking your brains out. Wouldn't that be interesting?" The man said, his disgusting smile still in place.

What I wanted to do was slap the shit out of him but I ended up taking the high road because I wanted to keep my job.

"If you'd excuse me, sir, I think I hear the chef calling for me."

I turned around without waiting for him to speak. I hadn't even taken a step when I felt his hands slap my butt.

I turned around to look at him but knew I couldn't exactly do anything.

Shamefully, I walked away, not wanting to cause any trouble. I was barely five steps away from him when I heard the sound of someone getting punched.

I turned around to find a man punching the shit out of the man at table five.

"How dare you put your hands on her?" The stranger growled.

He had him up in a chokehold, and his legs were dangling up in the air.

I would have laughed if the man's face hadn't started to change color.

"You will apologize to the waitress or I'll kill you right here."

"Please." The man struggled to get my savior's hands off but couldn't. He looked like a garden gnome being strangled by a giant.

I ran up to them and signaled for a colleague of mine to get security.

"I will apologize." The man choked out, his words barely coherent.

"Good," the tall man said and dropped him to the ground like a hot potato.

"Now, apologize."

The bald man quickly glanced at me and began to plead for forgiveness but I was too stunned to even acknowledge him because standing in front of me was a man I thought I'd never see again.

It was Jerome, the man who had saved my life three months ago after I had escaped my wedding day.

"Jerome?" I whispered, barely audible enough for me to hear.

 The man looked at me like he didn't know who I was and it was then I realized that of course, he wouldn't. I looked nothing like I did, the day he met me.