Chapter 3 then and now

Rafael’s POV

I leaned back in the leather chair my fingers drumming against the armrest as I stared at the screen in front of me. It was the club’s security footage played in real time, every camera feeding into the private VIP suite where I sat. It was a habit I had developed over the years of watching, controlling and ensuring nothing happened in my domain without my knowledge.

The last thing I cared about at this stage of my life is how a club I own is going. I have so many of them and this one isn’t even the best I’ve got. I barely spend time here watching this. But tonight was different in every shape and form. I hadn’t expected to see her here.

The woman I once loved with every fucking feelings I have been hiding. The same woman I worshipped the literal ground she walks on. The woman who had ripped my heart out and left me to bleed for her own selfish benefit. She never turned back to see how I was faring after she had left.

She moved across the stage with hesitant moves, her red hair cascading down her back and her body wrapped in nothing but scraps of lace that barely covered her curves. She’s become more curvier since those years ago. She was nervous and I could see it in the way she gripped the pole and in the stiffness of her movements.

But that didn’t matter at this moment. What mattered was that she was here and she was fucking stripping to those worthless men. Not that she is also worth a dime now. She isn’t. My jaw clenched so hard it ached and my teeth are grinding. They might turn to dust in no time.

I had been keeping tabs on her since her pathetic excuse of a husband divorced her, waiting for the right moment to make my move because i have been planning this revenge before i dropped out of highschool after she had turned me into a laughing stock in the school. Marco is my first target before I come back for her but things are moving better and faster for me.

I let her think she had escaped me, let her struggle and let her fall. But this? This wasn’t part of the plan. I allowed her to get a job here when she came begging Vince to help her and to keep her closer, I agreed. But a bartender was one thing and a stripper was unacceptable.

The moment she stepped on that stage, every fucking man in the room thought they had the right to look at her. To touch her as if she belong to herself. Vince should have fucking told me before he allowed her on that stage. I might shot the fucker between the eyes if he is not careful.

“Get her off the stage. Now." I shot him a look from across the room that made him jump on his feet. For a smug guy, he is so fucking trrrified of me and I don’t blame him. I’ve been rumored to be a bit hotheaded.

“Boss I..uh.,” Vince hesitated, wiping his sweaty palms on his jeans and he was really lucky I wasn’t in the mood today or he’d be dead for daring to argue with me. .

I raised a single brow sipping on my whiskey and he quickly started acting. He nodded and reached for his earpiece, muttering something to security but it was already too late. The moment I turned back to the screen, I saw it.

A man had pulled her into his lap, his filthy hands gripping her waist and holding her there like she fucking belonged to him. Adriana didn’t fight it, she fucking wanted it if her expression is anything to go by. She didn’t push him away. She let it happen like the fucking whore she has turned into. It makes me feel no guilt (something I haven’t felt ever) for what I have planned for her.

My blood turned to ice as I continued to stare at the screen. She was enjoying this. The anger that had been simmering inside me erupted into something dark and something uncontrollable. I stood, adjusting my cufflinks with a calculated calmness that masked the storm inside me.

"Bring him up." I ordered one of my guards or more like my freaking shadow, Nathan.

Nathan didn’t even blink and he was already walking out of the room. He never argues with me and knows exactly what I want before I could even say it. Nathan is the closest thing I have to a friend in this dark world I have found myself in. He just likes to keep our relationship professional.

My eyes flicked back to the screen, watching as Adriana scrambled off the man’s lap and then she proceeded to grab a few bills before disappearing off the stage. Was that a smile on her face as she held those notes? But I didn’t care about her right now. I cared about the bastard who thought he could put his hands on something that didn’t belong to him.

The door to the VIP suite opened and my men dragged the old fucker inside with his face red with indignation. He was still adjusting his belt, the sick fuck. I planned to just break a few of his fingers and maybe shot his both thighs that touched Adriana but for this action, he won’t be leaving this room alive.

"You dared to touch what’s mine." I said, voice calm but he shouldn’t have been delusional to think I am anything but that. Any man that has touched her will meet a bad end. Marco is next but I’ll take my time with that.

“Yours? She’s a fucking stripper, man. If you don’t want her touched, don’t put her on a goddamn stage.” The man scoffed, shaking his head completely unaware of the mistake he had just made. Hasn’t he seen the guns?

“Wrong answer.” I exhaled slowly while rolling my shoulders back as I cracked my knuckles, the sharp sound slicing through the silence of the VIP suite. The bastard had no idea who he was dealing with.

I turned to Nathan and without having to say a word, he started action. The first punch landed square against his jaw snapping his head to the side. Blood splattered onto the white floor a sharp contrast to the sleek luxury of the room. He barely had time to groan before another hit struck his gut, knocking the air from his lungs.

I stepped back watching as my men did exactly what they were trained to do. Fists crashed against bone, the wet crunch of cartilage breaking filled the air. The bastard tried to scream but one of my men grabbed him by the throat squeezing just enough to cut off the sound.

No one touched what was mine. No one disrespected me and goes away like that. I’m glad Vince is watching by the side and looks like he is about to fucking throw up. Next time he argues with me, I might not even give him the grace of getting punched. He’d just get a bullet straight.

His body went limp with blood dripping from his split lips and his nose broken at an unnatural angle. His suit that is expensive and tailored was now stained crimson and torn from where he had tried and failed to shield himself. Fucking Pathetic.

I pulled out my gun, sliding off the safety with a quiet click. The sound alone was enough to send a shiver of awareness through the room. Nathan wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, his eyes flicking to me for permission to continue.

“Hold him up.”

My men obeyed, dragging his half-conscious body upright so he could face me. His swollen eyes barely opened with blood bubbling at the corner of his lips as he gasped, struggling to stay awake. I should have let him bleed out on the floor. But that wasn’t enough.

I wanted her to see what happens to any man she allowed to fucking touch her again. I had given her freedom for years but it’s time for her to pay for all she’s made me go through. I gestured toward the door and within seconds, Adriana was pushed into the room. Vince should not have done that either. Only I have the right to hurt her.

She stumbled forward, her red hair wild as usual with her lips parted as she took in the scene. Her wide eyes darted from me (it lingered as shock went through her) to the bloody mess of a man in front of her then up to me again. Tears pooled in her lashes and I almost smirked at that.

I didn’t look away because I wanted her to understand what was going on. She wasn’t just some worthless stripper. She wasn’t a forgotten woman trying to survive because I never forgot her. She was mine whether she fucking liked it or not.

She took a shaky step back her breath hitching in fear. I tilted my head, letting the weight of my next words settle in the room. And then without breaking eye contact with her, I lifted my gun and pulled the trigger. The gunshot echoed deafening in the enclosed space.

The bastard’s body jerked once before going completely still with blood splattering across the marble floor and onto my shoes and onto her dress. Adriana gasped, a strangled noise escaping her throat as she clutched at her stomach horror painting her face.

I threw my gun back on the table stepping toward her. She flinched and this time around I couldn’t stop myself so I smirked. I’m not sure what reaction is better. The shock from seeing me after so many years or the look on her face after I killed a man that tried to touch her? I’ll take both for now.

“Now you remember, don’t you Adriana? You were mine then. And you’re still mine now.” I murmured, my voice low as I held her jaw tightly in place despite the tinge I felt where our skin was connected.