Kidnapped to love

chapter 71

As the older man, dressed in an
immaculate, expensive white suit,
strode into the dimly lit room, Crystal
felt a chill crawl up her spine. His
presence was overpowering; his gaze
cold and unfeeling. The guards, who had
been restless moments before, fell into
a stunned silence as SOon as he entered
with his own escort of guards. Crystal
could immediately tell-this was the
man in charge.

She looked up, her heart racing but her
expression calm. "Who are you?" she
asked, her voice steady despite the
tension.

He stopped right in front of her,
examining her as if she were nothing
more than an object in his path. Just as
she opened her mouth to speak again,
he struck her with a slap so hard it
echoed in the room. Pain surged
through her cheek, and she instinctively
tried to reach up to soothe it, only to
remember her arms were tightly bound.

Without warning, he grabbed her hair,
forcing her to look directly at him. "How
dare you try to take my daughter's
place!" he shouted, his voice laced with
fury. "He belongs to my daughter alone.
Do you understand?" He shook her head
violently. "Do you understand?"
Crystal kept silent, her defiance
sparking something darker in him.

"You Marias have a habit of snatching
things that don't belong to you," he
sneered. "Your family did it to my
brother, and now you're trying to do it to
my daughter. I won't let history repeat
itself. Your entire family will regret it. I'I|
give you such a death, you'Il beg for
mercy , your while family will" he growled, his voice echoing
with venomous promise.

But despite the threat in his words,
Crystal's lips curled into a smile, small
and defiant.

His eyes narrowed. "Why the hell are you
smiling?" he roared.

"You won't be able to do anything" she
said, her voice soft yet filled with
unshakable confidence.

"And why are you so confident?" he
asked, his eyes blazing.

"Because he'll kill anyone who lays a
hand on me, she said, her voice
unwavering. "Dimitri will kill everyone
who tries."

Her calm, confident declaration seemed
to throw him off balance, and for a brief
second, uncertainty flickered in his
eyes.

In an instant, he struck her again, the
slap stinging across her face. "So much
confidence, huh? We'll see about that"
he sneered.

He looked at her restrained arms,
scoffing at her frail frame. "So fragile,"
he said, almost laughing. "You could die
with a single snap, yet look at your
arrogance."

Turning to the guards, he barked, "Untie
her arms and use some tape instead. ."

As the guards moved to follow his
orders, Crystal's smile faded into a
steely resolve. She knew, deep down,
that Dimitri would come for her-he
always did. This man didn't understand
their bond, didn't know how far Dimitri
would go to protect her. And that
knowledge fueled her defiance, no
matter how tightly they tried to restrain
her.