Illuminated By The Darkness

Chapter 36 (Part-a)

Tiara:

Ugh.. My head was pounding. I tried moving but all my limbs felt so heavy and sore, everything hurt. I opened my eyes and everything seemed foggy and there was a pressure building in my ears. I was on a soft comfortable white bed that made me feel like I was sleeping on clouds. With quite some struggle I sat up on the bed. I looked down and saw that I was wearing a man's shirt. What?

Where am I?

I looked around and nothing felt familiar. I moved the blanket from my legs and saw a bandage there. What happened? I noticed I wasn't wearing anything under the shirt.

How did I reach here? Where is Amara? Where is Chris?

I got up from the bed and held on to the headboard to balance myself. I held my breath when a door opened and a very handsome man stepped in. His brown eyes widened when he saw me. I stared at the man in front of me with unmistakable fear. I also noticed that he was not wearing a shirt. Did I sleep with him last night? Is that why I was wearing his shirt? Who was he? Where was Chris? Where was Amara? Did I switch places with her yesterday? Why was I with this man? There is no way Chris would have given me away. Why can't I remember what happened yesterday?

A hand on my shoulder had me flinch away.

"Its me princess. You are safe." the man said. His voice sounded muffled in my ears.

Princess? No one called me that.

A sudden gush of bile had me covering my mouth with both my hands, not wanting to throw up on this man and anger him. Without any warning the man scooped me up in his hands and set me down once we were in the bathroom. I emptied my stomach's contents into the toilet while the man held my hair back. He kept saying something but I couldn't hear anything. When I was done I thought I would collapse but his hand wrapped around my stomach anchoring me to him and got up pulling me with him.

I couldn't ignore that fact that he was so strong. Effortlessly he walked me to the sink and gave me a glass of water. After rinsing my mouth I took a big gulp of water but the man's hand on top of mine had me freeze, yet it felt electric. His knuckles were bloody and bruised. I slightly moved my eyes to his chest, it was covered with tattoos. It only added to the dark aura of this man.

"Drink slowly" I heard his voice as if he was far away.

I couldn't hear properly, my vision was blurry, my head was hurting. What is happening to me?

Without looking at him I took few small sips of water. When I removed the glass from my mouth he took it back. His hand came up to my cheek and I flinched but it didn't stop him. The pad of his thumb swept across my bottom lip wiping away the moisture.

"Look at me princess" I shivered at the gentleness of his voice and I looked at him.

His brown eyes filled with so much emotions that I turned my head. How can someone like him who was so intimidating and dark, look at me with so much care?

Who was this man?

I noticed a bloody shirt discarded on the floor. His knuckles were also bloody. What did he do? Unable to stand the sight I turned around and caught a glimpse of myself on the bathroom mirror.

I was a mess, there were several bruises on my face and neck. I looked beat-up and terrible as always. But the thought that this man saw me like this bothered me more than the fact that I was hurt.

"Tiara?" He turned me back to face him.

My heart stopped before pounding in my chest.

Did he just call me Tiara? How did he know that name? It was supposed stay hidden until I was free. All red flags went up in my head.