Chapter 3

Severe pain in her head was what brought Claire back to consciousness. She felt like something hit her head because of the intensity of the pain she was feeling. Even the lids of her eyes were so heavy that she had a hard time opening her eyes. And her whole body feels so heavy as if she had drunk a few bottles of wine. But even though her eyes were heavy, she still tried to open her eyes.

At first, her vision is blurry. So she slowly and repeatedly blinked her eyes until her vision became clear. And she was so surprised when she found herself in an unfamiliar room.

"Where am I?" She asked herself as she roamed her eyes across the wide room.

Her confusion only heightened upon seeing what's inside the room. The bed she was lying on, a bedside table, a cabinet, and a lampshade that illuminated the whole room, are the only things that are inside the room. That's all that she saw. Other than those things, she has nothing more to see.

The room looked so empty.

Even though her body was too heavy, she still tried to stand up, or just to even sit down. But her forehead wrinkled when she felt something preventing her, particularly her hands and feet, from sitting or even move.

She looked at her hands. And her eyes widened when she saw her hands being handcuffed to the headboard of the bed she was lying on. Then she looked at her feet and her eyes widened even more when she saw that both of her legs were tied to both pillars of the bed.

Her heartbeat hastened.

She suddenly got nervous and started to panic.

What is happening? She asked herself again.

And even though her head hurts, she tried to remember what happened to her.

She remembered what happened between her and her parents. She remembered how she ran away from their home and went to her friend, Andrei. She also remembered she went to Ruby's condo. She remembered what they did and she remembered getting out of Ruby's condo, went into different companies to look for a job, and how she ended up in the park. But after that, she can't remember anything anymore. She did not know what else happened next.

She thought she had nothing more to worry about. But she was wrong. Because when she looked at her body again, her mouth widened in shock when she saw that she didn't have a single thing covering her body.

Oh, God. She is fully naked!

She did not know how else she would feel.

She was naked while lying on the bed and her hands were handcuffed while her feet were tied.

Jesus Christ, what is happening to her? Who did this to her?

There are so many scenarios going through her brain. Bad scenarios that could happen to her, causing horror to her. And because of the bad scenarios that entered her brain, she quickly moved her body without hesitation.

She began to struggle, hoping she could escape from the handcuffs and ties. She doesn't care anymore if she gets injured. She tried to bear the pain that she feels in her wrists and on her feet. All she had in mind was to get out of the room.

But the beating of her heart quickened, even more, when the door of the room where she was, suddenly opened and it spat out a stranger whom she could not see much of its face because of the darkness in the part of the room where it stood.

"You're finally awake." The stranger, a male voice, said before he walked inside the room where she was and closed the door.

Claire could no longer describe the nervousness she was feeling.

She has no recollection of what happened to her. But based on her current state and her body, something bad will happen to her.

"Who are you? What do you need from me? Where did you take me?" She asked angrily as she continued to struggle and secretly prayed that the rope on her feet and the handcuff on her wrists would be broken.

The stranger walked over to the bed where she was lying and only stopped when he was already at the foot of the bed. And because of the light coming from the lampshade, she finally saw the face of the man who took her and bound her.

She threw sharp stares at the stranger, who was grinning as he stared at her.

"Oh, I love that look in your eyes, sweetheart. So fierce. So sexy." The stranger said while grinning.

She gritted her teeth in anger. "Don't fuck with me, asshole. Who the hell are you? What do you want from me? If you are looking for money, then you got the wrong person. I do not have anything so let me go!" She said.

But the stranger seemed to ignore the anger she was showing. Instead, he just grinned at her. "I don't need your money, Claire. I have lots of it." He said as he looked at her naked body that made the hair on Claire's body stand on end.

She could see the lust on the stranger's face as he stared at the private parts of her body.

"If you don't need money, then what? What the fuck do you want from me?" She asked through gritted teeth.

Claire's nervousness even doubled when the stranger approached her and sat on the side of the bed. The grin disappeared from his lips and was replaced by a serious expression instead.

She flinched when the stranger suddenly caressed her cheek. "Get your fucking hand off my face." She said while giving the stranger a harsh stare.

But the stranger seemed to hear nothing because he just kept caressing her cheek which made Claire even angrier.

"I said, get your fucking hand off my fa---"

"You're asking me what I want from you?" The man suddenly spoke which surprised Claire. "It's you, Claire. It's you that I want. I want everything that you have. Your heart, your body, your mind, and your soul." From her cheeks, his hand went to her lips, down to her jaws. "Because you are mine, Claire. The moment I laid my eyes on you, I already marked you as mine." And then the stranger met her eyes. "Remember this, Claire Simone, you, are mine." He continued.

And even before she could protest, the stranger had already caught her lips that made her eyes widen in shock.