"Quick. Get out from the window", I whispered furiously.
Aiden stared at me, appalled.
"What the hell are you gawking at? Go. Move. Fast. Quick. You need to get out from the window."
"Police! Open up!"
"Why do you always have to be so impulsive and stupid? This is the 89th floor. I am not hanging out of any window.", he whispered back.
"Oh God. I am not getting arrested for you. I have a clean record. Not gonna happen. No. Get out.", I muttered angrily.
"First of all, all of the windows are sealed. Even if they weren't, I am not falling to my death for you. It is your fault the police are here anyways."
"Do you have any better idea? No na? Then listen to me-"
"Police! Open up or we will break the door! James! Break down this door.", the police officer bellowed outside the door.
"I am gonna get arrested. What will Dean and Carla say? Oh God, they wouldn't let me near my godson now that I am gonna become a convicted felon.", I murmured , panicking.
"Ah jeez, stop your spiraling woman."
"Look you have to- what are you doing, you idiot? We have to flee the scene!", I break off when I see Aiden strolling towards the door, all calm and composed as if we were not standing in the midst of a crime scene.
I mean, not a crime scene, obviously.
Ah, quick thinking on my feet, my arse. My employer will now know that my resume was falsely padded.
Oh my god. Everybody lies on their resume a bit right? It's not like I am the only one.
He is not going to fire me, right?
'But you wanted this na?', fires back my conscience.
Oh my god, what if he tells every business associate of his that I lied on my resume. A minuscule amount it was, that's it.
But what if no one believes me because of the mark on my record?
Oh my, I will become homeless, with no job prospects and a known criminal. My family will shun me. My friends will all shun me. Umm...I have to do something but what...what is it?
"Mam? Mam! Mam!? Are you okay?", a police officer was shaking me. I broke out of my reverie to see totally unconcerned Aiden and two totally concerned police officers staring at me.
"Huh? Ya, I am fine. How do you do?", I managed to squeak.
The officer ignored my question and quickly looked over my disheveled state. "Mam, are you sure you are okay and unharmed?"
"Uh..yeah", I replied, a little breathless from all the anxiety I was feeling.
"Mr. Aiden Salvatore here informed us of the situation . We received a 9-1-1 call from your number. Are you sure mam no one threatened you or anything? We would like to know if you are under any duress or not. Feel free to speak your mind, mam. You have nothing to fear."
"Oh, no. That's fine. I am totally okay. I just had a scare ,you know? I called 9-1-1 immediately but it was nothing so I cut the call. I didn't want you to waste your time."
I was actually proud of myself. I lied so smoothly, the Fixer would have been proud. I wanted to clap my own back now and kiss my own hands. Ha!
"Mam, we would like you to come down to the station with us. It would be better if-"
"W--why??? I told you I am fine. Nothing happened.", I interrupted anxiously.
"Why are their broken pieces of glasses lying around and why is your phone broken, Mam? If you are under any state of duress, if anyone is pressuring you to lie, we can help. You do not have to fear your boyfriend."
How the hell did this situation escalate ?
"Umm...no. It is not what it looks like. We were just....you know....we were just.....umm...the glass and my phone slipped from the..umm.....", I fumbled looking around, gesticulating wildly with my hands, "yeah...from the desk. We are...all okay. It's just a misunderstanding officer."
"Slipped? How did it sli-", continued the too much suspicious police officer.
"James! Hey! Let's go, man. Leave the lady and her man be.", interrupted the other officer.
"Wh--what?? No...he is not my ma-."
"What, Sam? Why? She might be in-."
I and the police officer named James both started to protest at the same time, but on two different issues in that argument. But before we could protest more, Sam coughed loudly and glared at James, and then pointedly glared at my own self, as if indicating something on my person that James should have noticed.
Wait. Why?
Confused, James turned around and took in my appearance and suddenly , as if something clicked in his mind finally, he looked at me and then Aiden and began blushing furiously.
What the hell is happening dude?
Looking down at myself, I took in my wrinkled white shirt and then looked at the disheveled looking Aiden. And just as understanding began to dawn on me, the two police officers started apologizing.
"Sir. Mam. We are sorry for any inconvenience we caused. We should get back to work. ", said the officers and then ran as if their pubes were on fire.
If I could blush, I would have blushed furiously at the apparent implication they made from the situation and the embarrassment I was feeling.
No, you baboons! NO! We were not having rough hot sex on his desk, you idiots!
Since I wasn't the type to blush, I did what I did best. I started towards them, a protest on my lips.
"NO! It is not what it looks like. Me and him were not havin-"
A hand wrapped around my wrist and whirled me around so fast, I could barely stop myself from falling into him and my tirade was cut off. Aiden pulled me closer and I could feel his warm breath on my face.
"Miss Crystalline. I assure you it would not matter to them what you were about to tell them unless you were planning on telling them about what really happened?", he quirked his eyebrows and whispered softly.
I looked at him sharply, put my hands on his body and shoved him away.
"Do you understand the concept of personal space, Mr. Salvatore? If you try this shit again, I will sue you for harassment, got it?" With that, I turned away and walked towards the door.
"Hmmph. What will the judge say when the said victim published nudes of the accused in the public in revenge without his permission?"
"They are not nudes! They are just---just----just----"
"Just what? Nudes?"
"NO!", I turned around sharply. "They are just shirtless pictures man. You used to be in movies. It's just photo-shopped, okay?", I blabbed.
"And just because I used to pose shirtless, does that mean I do not have the right to privacy now, Miss Crystalline?", he whispered. But I could see his tense shoulders as he stepped closer to me, his eyes sharp and laser focused on me.
I felt guilty. I was wrong. I knew I was in the wrong. I took this way too far. I could have just stopped him. I didn't need to take any sort of revenge. But at the same time, he threatened my best friends, the person I am protecting and everything I hold close to myself.
In fact, I even knew what this interview will bring for Aiden Salvatore. Public glare on him. Infamy. Trouble for his company. But trouble for him meant no trouble for my family. Public eye on him meant public eye not on my friends.
Sometimes, you just have to go far to protect your loved ones. But how far is too far?
I went too far, but I could not bring myself to apologize to the man, a man who so recklessly and ruthlessly threatened my family. He never even apologized to me once, so there was no way he was getting one from me. But I could not believe he had pulled me to his level, made me stoop so low that I didn't even once think about the consequences of my actions. I was impulsive but not about harming people, no matter how evil a nemesis might be.
I knew Aiden could see the guilt swarming in my eyes, could see me looking everywhere but at him.
"Look. At. Me."
I couldn't bring myself too meet his gaze. I felt guilty, even though I should not technically feel it.
He brought his hand to my chin and forced me to look at him. I closed my eyes at that.
"I said look at me, Siona."
I was being a coward but there was no way in hell am I going to feel bad about hurting Aiden Salvatore.
"Do you have any idea what you have done? What this action of yours will do to me, my family, my hard-earned company? I like playing games with you, Siona but this is too far. You have no idea to what length I can go. And believe me, you won't like to have any idea as well. Trust me, I am not a man to be messed with. So think long and hard the next time you proceed to do something as stupid as this."
A weird calm washed over me. I opened my eyes slowly, but surely and met his gaze head first. A small cruel smile came over me and I remarked," You, Mr Salvatore, have no idea about who you are messing with either. You think this is too far? Threaten my loved ones again and I will show you how far I can go. Then this-", I gestured towards his desk where the newspaper was lying, "- will be so minuscule that you would think of today as a good old day. Threaten me again, Mr. Salvatore, and I will show you exactly who you are dealing with."
We were so close that our warm breaths mingled but no one twitched. We looked at each other as an alpha wolf looked at another alpha, assessing our opponents with our gazes, sizing each other up. This man brought out the worst in me, the absolute worst.
Then, Aiden smirked and took a step back, his cunning eyes flaring. "From tomorrow, be ready to have a hell of a day everyday, Miss Crystalline."
Professional challenges , I could deal with. I couldn't quit according to the legal contract which now in retrospection I should not have signed. But he could fire me and my goal was clear.
Get him to fire me.
Little did I know that he would dissolve his hard earned company rather than fire me. But I didn't know at that point so I quipped back, equally resolved to bring this man to his knees.
"You can count on it, Sir."
Saying that, I swirled back and walked towards the door. I turned the doorknob and just as I was about to get the hell outta here for the day, the fucking irritating annoying pimple interrupted.
"Oh and Miss Crystalline!"
This stubborn pimple never lets me have the last word. Ufff.
Resisting the urge to pull out my hair in annoyance, I turned around and asked stiffly and sharply.
"What -?"
At his one raised eyebrow, I added," Sir."
"Me thinks the lady doth protest too much."
GOD! Now would be the right time to send a man-eating iguana to roast this man and chew him up.
Authors Note:- Hi Y'all!! So, I might make some changes at the background of Siona Crystalline now when I have some sort of an abstract idea oh how I want things to go. But still, there are some plot holes and stuff I need to figure out yet. How everything ties together etc.
Forgive me for all the errors, etc. It is all a first draft.
So, i think it might be a longer than I thought it would be. Hopefully I write it all down properly. Speeding things up would make this story a bit weird and unrealistic I thing.
Siona and Aiden have a long way to go before they even think about each other that way, a lot of things to sort out between them.
Who is Siona protecting? Guesses?
Anyways, I would love to read comments.
Please read, love , like , share and comment. Follow my story hopefully I do justice to it.
Hope you are all staying safe from Covid-19. Have a great summer and stay tuned.