Obsessed to Hate Him-Chapter 16: Punishment

Chapter 16: Punishment
LIAM
Kian’s eyes are dark. Just like the rumbling thunderclouds that ruin a beautiful spring day with its devastation and rage. And for now, it is going to ruin me.
Kian’s fingers tighten around my wrist making me flinch. My heart is hammering against my ribcage and sinking deeper and deeper into the pit of my stomach. My mind is blank or I am thinking all too much to comprehend anything. My chest is rising and falling with each labored breath I take. I am scared half out of my wits, but I have to hold my ground. However, I am not sure if there is any ground left to hold anyway.
Up until now, I have always thought that the worst death was the kind of death that we die in vain or in misunderstanding. But I know that none of them is worse than dying at someone’s hand who could crush you the moment he saw you but didn’t because he wanted to use you as a play toy. And now that you have disobeyed him, he will wreck every limb of your body apart.
And now, I can only hope for one thing, he kills me first and then does whatever he wants to do with the damn body. I don’t want to die a painful death. But I think Kian is plotting the most painful death that the whole of humanity will ever see.
I don’t want to be an example.
I am so scared that I can cry. But I don’t. I look him in the eyes. I can’t run anymore...so I must act like the brave soldier that I am and take him on, though I am not sure that it is even possible.
"Why did you run away?" Kian’s voice rumbles out of his chest and hangs between us. His voice is low, inching towards a menacing and dangerous zone. It is barely above a whisper.
Dread claws down the path of my spine and coils inside the pit of my stomach. A noose snaking around my throat and squeezing until my air supply is cut short. "I-I..." I sputter, unable to come up with something, "I got stuck inside the bathroom."
I am just praying that my words don’t sound as lame to him as they sound in my own ear.
Kian raises an eyebrow, inflecting mockery and disbelief in the action. Fear skates along my skin, burning and reddening it until I resemble something close to it.
"T-Then I saw that the window of the bathroom was broken..." I continue, my voice lapped with anxiety, nervousness, and unignorable fear. I have to clench my fist and lock all the muscles in my body to keep me trembling, though it isn’t working all that much.
Make something. Make something up, Liam! You can live! You can live for at least another second or maybe another minute if you make something up!
My instincts scream at me. Right. I have been navigating the royal court and parliament of Sylvyran for years. I can at least make something up to save my own life!
"I-I thought that maybe...maybe the culprit ran away from there..." I hitch and flinch as he tightens his grip just for friction. Pain bursts out from where he is touching me, scooting and spreading through my whole body. His dark eyes never leave me. "S-So, I started to follow the trail...and it led me to that market." My voice is so low that it’s barely audible.
I sneak a peck at Kian, whose face is taut with fury and something else...worry? I want to slap myself for thinking so. I must be overthinking, overseeing, and doing whatever the hell there is out there that starts with ’over’.
"And when did you plan to come back to me?" He grits out; his voice has a rough edge that goes down all the way to my toes and makes them curl.
This time I look up at him. My eyes are speaking the single word,
"Never."
Kian gets it. He assesses me for what seems like an eternity. I can count my heartbeat in the palpable silence. One. Two. Three...
"Get on." He speaks up finally, his voice a little less strained this time.
I blink, confused, "H-Huh?"
"Get on." He repeats again, slightly inclining his head toward the horse standing by the side of the road.
I was so consumed by him that I didn’t notice the horse up until now. "O-Okay..." I can still feel my pulse throbbing in my throat when I step toward the horse, but Kian’s grip doesn’t loosen; he yanks me back until my heart hikes up to my throat all the way from my stomach, and I am crushed against his broad chest. I gasp.
"Before that, I am binding you with me." He fishes out a handcuff from Gods know where, and before I can say anything, he binds my left wrist and his right wrist together. He locks it and shoves the key inside the pocket of his military uniform.
My jaw falls open. "What are you doing?!"
"You tend to run away a lot." He starts to drag me toward his horse; he has let go of my wrist from his deadly grip, "So, I am binding you with me so that you can’t run away. This is your punishment."
He hurls me over the horseback and then climbs onto it himself. I am sitting before him as he grips the rein of the horse. I can feel his hot breath against my neck, raising goosebumps. I keep on protesting as he speeds down the streets, but he ignores me like I don’t even exist.
I shut up after a while when I am certain he is not gonna listen. He never does.
He suddenly stops. I jerk forward at the abruptness but don’t fall as he tugs at the handcuff and holds me back. The sun has already set and the moon is rising.
I look up at the house and my eyes widen, "Why are we hair?"
"To close the case."