After Rebirth, I Took Revenge On My Scumbag Ex-Alpha Mate!-Chapter 12: She’s My Woman!

DARREN

All through the drive home, I couldn’t stop my brain from thinking, from constantly calculating.

Truth be told, I’m not really sure about what I’ve gotten myself into. I don’t even know why I agreed to help her out in the first place. Why I agreed to let her talk me into this mess.

Maybe it was because of what she said or how she had said it but then again, it could be that I had taken pity on her and her condition or maybe because I had known her for a long time which I doubt that she knows.

No one has to go through what she had to endure. It was simply too much even for her.

I always knew that my stepbrother was a useless scoundrel but I never expected him to go this far with a woman. How could anyone be that cruel and heartless?

I glanced at Kalia’s fragile sleeping frame that was curled up on the car seat. She indeed looked tired and worn out.

I don’t think she had even slept properly following the series of events that had taken place in such a short amount of time. She was exhausted and I could tell.

She folded herself tightly to wear out the cold as she trembled but still, it didn’t help matters at all.

Parking my car by the side of the road briefly, I reached out to my jacket at the backseat and gently covered her up.

She grabbed onto the jacket as if her life depended on it and for a moment there, I just watched in silence.

How did she manage to live with them in that house for so long despite how she was treated? Despite everything they made her go through?

Why didn’t she leave? Why did she choose to hold out for so many years; to stay in such a toxic environment?

The first day I met her crying in front of me after she hit my car, something died inside of me. I had imagined one of my sister’s in that position and my heart bled for her.

Somehow after that day, I couldn’t get her out of my mind. I wondered how she was doing and if she was okay after that encounter.

I always hoped that the goddess would heal her broken and injured heart and make her all better again.

But what I didn’t know is that I’d run into her again and it happened to be on the day of my stepbrother’s supposed marriage ceremony when she opened up the door for me.

That’s when I knew and got to find out that the bastard she had married and was crying over was him.

I recognized her then as his fiance or rather ex-fiance and more importantly, someone I once knew after seeing an old picture of her that was covered in the living room but I don’t think she recognizes me from our previous encounter years ago.

If my father hadn’t requested my presence that day, I probably wouldn’t have met her.

When she had approached me at the restaurant today, I thought that she had finally recognized me and wanted to get familiar with each other but when she requested that I marry her, I realized then, that she didn’t know who I was, yet.

She knew me as her ex-fiancé’s stepbrother and that’s it. I can’t say I blame her though and judging by how things are going now between us, I don’t think I can either.

It’s best that she doesn’t know. It’s best if she thinks that I was a stranger because if she knew who I was, she wouldn’t be able to go through with her plan anymore.

She wouldn’t feel comfortable using me to achieve her goal and I don’t want that.

I don’t want to be an obstacle that hinders her or stands in the way of her plans so I would rather carry on this secret to my grave than let her find out about it.

We arrived home shortly after. I honked the horn of my car and dimmed the lights. Just then the gates slid open and i drove in.

Kalia chooses that exact moment to wake up as she casted her eyes out of the window to take in her new surroundings.

"We’re home." I announced, killing the engine to the car after I had successfully parked at an empty spot in front the mansion.

"T-This is your house?" She asked, pointing at the mansion that resembled that of a private castle with bright lights shining everywhere adding to the beauty of the whole building and residence at large.

"Yeah. Sometimes I even forget that it’s mine." I opened the door and stepped out of the car before making my way over to her side to do the same.

The sentinels that guarded the place lined up to welcome us in a straight file opposite each other.

I helped her out of the car and adjusted the jacket on her body so that it covers her up properly before leading her towards the mansion.

"You stay alone in this place? All by yourself? Isn’t it too much for one person? Don’t you get lonely?" I could hear the disbelief in her voice at that question.

"Barely." I replied with a shrug. "My father gifted it to me on my twentieth birthday."

"I only come here on rare occasions or when I want to hide away from the world and my problems because it can be a little chaotic and suffocating out there, sometimes." I was quick to add.

"Then, where do you sleep?" She glanced at me briefly before casting her eyes down. "And why are there so many sentinels guarding your mansion?"

"I sleep at one of my family’s hotel whenever I’m in the country. I occasionally work from there too." I breathed out as we slowly made our way towards the building.

"And regarding the sentinels, they are here to keep me safe. That was the bargain I struck with my father before he gave me his permission to move out and stay on my own. It was either the guards or not moving out at all."

"I understand." She blurted out. "You are his first son and the heir to his empire. He doesn’t want anything to happen to his successor. Typical of him to think that way." 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"All parents who loves their children thinks that way; at least most of them do." She added with a sad voice and just before I could address that, we were interrupted.

"Darren?" Moira, my maid rushed out to welcome me with her head bowed down slightly to the ground.

I had told her countless times not to do that but somehow she never listens.

"Welcome back home." She greeted me with a hug which I reciprocated. "I didn’t think you’d come back here. I thought that you would leave the country after your work was over just like you told me."

"Well, something happened last minute so I’m stuck here for a few months." I gestured at Kalia with my eyes hoping that she gets the message which she immediately does.

"My Lady, forgive me for not acknowledging your presence sooner." She apologized but Kalia was quick to stop her.

"You don’t need to apologize ma’am. I don’t hold it against you." She said with a nervous smile.

"Well, Moira this is Kalia, my woman and Kalia, this is Moira. I call her my second mother because she practically raised me when I was a notorious changeling." I introduced them to each other, my hands instinctively snaking around her waist to pull her closer.

I felt Kalia stiffen under my touch when I did that and addressed her as my woman. Looks like she still has a lot of things to get used to.