Magical Christmas

When she tried to open all senses, Nathan's voice came out somewhere, he was talking. Slowly creeping, she approached the door where she suspected the sound had come from. It was not completely shut.

Slowly she peeked through the small opening of what she assumed was a Study Room. A photo of Nathan, framed in gold, sitting side by side another photo of Patrick, with the same manner.

"But Father, surely you could think of our proposal through," Patrick's voice came out from the other side of the door.

"You have no idea, Patrick. Obviously you don't understand my intention. I meant no harm to you both. Besides, you are in deep trouble now. How would you expect them to be silent now?" An old man's voice, unfamiliar and firm.

"Father, please sit down. Over here with me, please," Patrick was trying to calm the old man.

The footstep sounds indicated that he was obeying this. Followed by his deep sigh and a wind sound as he sat down on the sofa.

"She was our mother too. I also lost her, I was the one pulling and dragging her on that trolley," she recognized this tone in Nathan's voice. He was trying to suppress his sadness.

Silence draped around the room. It added to the weigh of her guilt.

"But it is done, Father. I promise you, no one would find out. We've taken care of her note and belongings. Everybody had been informed and they promised cooperation..." Nathan's words were interrupted by a roar of anger.

Both sons kept quiet.

"Marie... My sweet Marie...," the old man's grief was very evident in his croaking voice.

Suddenly she saw Nathan came into view. He reached out for a glass and poured water into it. He was in his formal attire; a white shirt, overlapped by a slightly embroidered platinum waistcoat, a checked tie, and black pants. She saw him walking back to the group, but couldn't see the rest behind this wide door.

"You! You were supposed to just ruin that bitch and dump her body! Their pain will be nothing compared to Marie's! You think the tape of you guys torturing her is enough, Patrick? You're wrong!" That angry outburst shocked her. She felt like a dagger had just been plunged into her heart.

"Father, revenge will do nobody any good. Please calm down.... Here, have more drink," Patrick's voice came back.

"Now, Father, I will take full responsibility," Nathan slowly added, in a deep gentle tone but firm. He was facing the old man on the sofa.

For what seemed like a few long minutes, the old man sighed again.

"I don't know, Son, I really don't...," shaking his head in defeat, the old man grew quiet. His heart must have heaved like tons.

They were discussing her like an object. She didn't know what to feel about that anymore. Tears started welling up in her eyes, but she quickly wiped it away. She must not cry now. Trying hard to remain silent, she couldn't stop feeling disappointed of Nathan, and a little hurt by these men's cruelty, and a big fear of death. Full Responsibility? What was that? By dumping her dead body? They had even paraded her humiliation in front of this old man?

Suddenly Nathan stood up and walked to his desk, reaching out for another glass, and was about to pour water in it, when his eyes caught hers. He saw her! Gasping in surprise and fear, she quickly stood up, and was about to run as fast as she could, when she felt nauseous all in a sudden. She tried to steady herself, barely moving from her peeping spot. She heard him saying to Patrick and the old man, "I'll be right back."

His long legs made it very quick for him to reach the door. She walked back instinctively, and turned around to run. Her speed was no match to his. He caught her, bumping her back against his hard chest, his hand covered her mouth to stop her from making sound. Her heart thumped. He whispered, "Shhhh..."

Oh My God, I'm dead, I'm dead. The dreadful thought pounded loudly in her mind. She tried to struggle him, but was no match to his strength. Her feet thumped the floor as a result, and soon the chatting inside the room stopped.

After a few seconds of eerie silence, Patrick and the old man came in hurried footsteps.

They swung the door open, and found her still struggling Nathan violently. The old man's mouth gapped open. Patrick came over to help his brother.

The two men were holding her from both directions and she quit struggling when she lost all her strength, trying to catch on breath. Tears stained her furious face, and she was trembling in fear.

"You!" The old man roared, pointing a finger at her face. Then, couldn't find a word to throw at her, he raised his hand to strike her.

Nathan's body came in front of her, his back against The Baron, protecting her with an embrace.

"No, Father! She's carrying Nathan's child!" Patrick's shout came like an arrow.

The old man stopped, looking flabbergasted. His face turned furious, contorted in pain, and then suddenly furious again. His eyes were popping out, starring at her, whose view was completely blocked by Nathan's broad shoulders.

Her reaction was the same. She gasped against Nathan's tie, completely stunned by the whole revelation. Nathan's arms steadied her in his protective embrace. Her limbs went all weak. The careful creeping had drained some of her energy, but this last bit of information gave her a hard blow. As if watching a slow motion picture, she tried to gather up words, but her brain failed her. Hell, she couldn't even bring herself standing up straight.

"No...," she whispered. Tears started to well again in her eyes.

"What? No...," She heard the old man's voice croaking, consumed by his own shock too.

She slumped against Nathan now, losing all the will to say anything. He had been using her for his plans. Something inside her deepest heart just broke. Her widened eyes looked blank. She felt like her own soul left her body.

Nathan gasped. His body was already bent from protecting her in his embrace, but as he moved her limping body to the right distance, he had to lower his head again to meet her face. What he saw pierced through his heart. Her usually beautiful green eyes just lost the light. He became very worried. Shaking her a bit, he called, "Rebecca?"

She couldn't answer, just starred at her front blankly. Silence followed. Her heart still beating, but her soul just floated somewhere.

Ignoring the old man and Patrick, Nathan lifted and carried her, his heartbeat racing. Overcame by a great worry, he kept on shouting, calling out for Dr Lewis, all the way through to her bed room.

He put her on the bed, kept on shaking her by the back of her shoulders and upper arms, calling her name.

"Rebecca! Rebecca! Oh God! Rebecca! " failed to conceal the fear in his voice now.

Her tears started falling, burning her cheeks. She wasn't even aware of it.

Patrick's voice approached them, calling the old man to stop, followed by their noisy footsteps. Emerging into view, the old man looked at her again, still gaping. His eyes darted to Nathan's back, and then back to her again. Taking one hand to his mouth, he stepped back, his other hand groping for chair. Patrick helped him, assisting him by the hands.

"Father, please. It's not their fault, it's mine," Patrick tried to calm him when he was settled on a chair.

"Quiet, Patrick," still gapping for word, the old man seemingly lost himself. He demanded Patrick to keep quiet, as he watched on Nathan trying to revive Rebecca.

Tears welled onto the old man's eyes. "Their daughter? Bearing my heir?" Still forcing himself to trail some fact forward.

"My h...," he lost all words. Tears fell on his wrinkled face. He bit on his own finger, allowing his tear drops to emerge more. His ears went numb, despite Nathan's raising voice, calling on Rebecca's name. In his mind was only Marie. Sweet Marie, laughing and calling on him to play with her. In her yellow dress, all happy and running care free. Images from his memory came back into his mind. Of Marie being introduced to Stephen, of her laughing and kissing Stephen, and then of her wedding dance with Stephen. She seemed so happy. They were both happy, asking him to join them in dance. Then came the inevitable; a memory of her kissing him goodbye. It wasn't meant forever. Or... was it?

Sobbingly, he allowed tears to drop all over his expensive suit. The memory recollection had been playing through his mind, over and over again, for the past 13 years, torturing him, lashing on him to plan for this vengeance. Letting Marie and Stephen go was hard. Finding them gone, and how late he was by one year, was even harder. He had been blaming everything on Rebecca, and the parents, and on himself.

Yet, the painful truth is in front of his eyes now. His dearest Nathan, a splitting image of Marie, is holding onto Rebecca now. The eyes were Marie's, now looking all lost and torn apart. The lips were Stephen's, now turning pale.

"No, Becca! Please! REBECCA!" Nathan's voice broke out into a near cry. He turned pale. Tears welling in his eyes.

She remained still.

"GOD! NOOOO!!! REBECCA! REBECCA!" He cried, hugging her limp body tightly, as if it could prevent her soul from leaving. Dear God, is he losing her to an unknown world nobody could call her again?

Shaken, he called out her name over and over. Then, he hugged her tightly again, whispering to her ear, "I love you..." Like a child losing everything for the first time, he cried shakingly. His sound tore through anyone's heart.

Again he wailed, repeating the words he had been keeping for years, "I love you, Rebecca. I love you... I love you..."

He thought he heard her soft whisper, so he stopped his cry abruptly, loosening his arms a bit, looking into her eyes. They were still blank. But she was whispering, "You impregnate me for your plans..."

He almost did not hear her in the panic, shaking his head, "No... No. No. No," quickly pleading her to stay.

"No, Rebecca! I love you! I love you! Haven't you been hearing me say it in your sleep?" He explained it urgently, almost stumbling at his words. He didn't want to lose her again, to the unknown world.

"Rebecca, please come back! No, don't faint again! Dear God, Please! Rebecca, don't leave me!"

She heard his words, as if in a distance, not realizing it the first time she heard him. He kept on repeating the same words again, calling her, and declaring his love. She just took a long time to absorb the words. He had been repeating it; which grew into a rhythmical beating, slowly pulling her back to his voice.

Suddenly a sharp smell caught her, pulling her completely back. Dr Lewis was holding a strong smelling liquid in front of her nose. With a gasp and some coughing, she was brought back into reality, into Nathan's warm arms. He was trembling all over. His face all wet in tears, and he was pale. She couldn't understand it at first, but slowly realization crept back into her mind.

She remembered his words. She remembered her heart was broken. By what? Oh but then he was saying he loves her?

"What..?" her first whisper was drowned by his crying in desperation.

"I love you, Rebecca. I do, I love you, I love you, I love you," like a little boy begging for candies, he kept on repeating it over, pleading for her to stay with him, ignoring everyone else. He didn't care what anybody would think over this show of weakness, he just couldn't afford losing her again.

She reached her fingers out to touch him, feeling the rugged surface against her tips. It was then she realized how much he meant to her, and she to him. He was the real world, her whole world.

"And I you, Nathan," her right hand cupped his left cheek. Colour and expression slowly came back to her face. She gave him a weak smile.

"Oh God... You're Okay now... You're okay...," Tears of joy came out, he was laughing in relief. He kissed her cheeks, and hugged her. Then kissed her again, and hugged her again, as if couldn't decide on which to do first. Finally he hugged her very tightly, as if not wanting to let go anymore. He was truly very relieved.

Slowly realization filled her in. She moved her eyes from him, directed towards the old man sitting not far from them, and Patrick. Then she saw Dr Lewis, Leslie, and Jack, all looking in great relief that she was okay. She blushed at the commotion she had caused.

Her vision was no longer blurry now, and she saw the old man, who had been looking at her with full hatred, was no longer looking at her that way. The Baron was teary-eyed, his suit was drenched in tears too. His love to the boys was pure, a real fatherly love. They were the only traces left of Marie and Stephen. And clearly, Rebecca meant everything to Nathan. The boys' happiness was important to the old man, even if it meant beating his own personal vengeance. However hurtful it felt. He looked more like a fragile old man now. Realizing her gaze, he cleared his throat, then stood up.

A bit embarrassed by his own grief earlier, he patted on Nathan's shoulder, saying that it had been a long journey, and he was heading for bed.

Then, as if unable to decide on how to treat her, awkwardly he patted on her shoulder too. It felt warm.

He turned and walked away.

"Father...," Patrick tried to stop him.

He paused for a while, speaking over his shoulder. "I am old and tired, Son, I just need some rest."

Patrick tried to approach him again. The Baron half raised his right hand, asking him to stop.

"Oh right, yes. Nathan?" Supported by a walking stick that Jack had handed, he turned around.

Nathan lifted his head from beside hers, and turned around, listening.

"My feelings are my own matter. I shall retire after the wedding," pausing for a while, he sighed.

"I trust you and Patrick could clear out all this mess," his eyes looked straight into Nathan's.

"Unruly sexual behaviour does not befit the heir of Gerard. Destroy her tapes or there will be no wedding. You've put my name at a stake. Come to my study tomorrow," again he paused.

"Make the best of every situation, Son," after a few seconds pondering on what else to say, with this last one he left the room. Patrick followed behind him.

Silence grabbed the room for a few seconds. Then, Dr Lewis approached the unmoving couple, ready to examine the patient. Nathan's attention was already back at Rebecca. He gazed into her eyes. Yes, the lights were back inside.

His hand kept on holding hers, all the way through the examination. He would not let go of her anymore.

When everybody had left the room, leaving only Rebecca and Nathan, she blurted out a question.

"How could you have the heart to plan on killing me?"

He looked at her, didn't expect the question to come.

"It was a camouflage. I just wanted to meet you again, there's no other reason really. We plan to keep you alive by all means. I had no idea why at first, I thought it was because of guilt in failing my first job, then I thought because of Maman, then I thought of other possible reasons. But nothing really felt true," he seemed sincere. She looked into his eyes, blinking once.

"I would do anything to grab the chance. In fact, I did try to create coincidences to meet you at Patrick's school. Father stopped me," he pointed out. She was still looking intently. Was that why Patrick had moved away so suddenly in the middle of semester?

"There was something about you that made me curious. I even saw you stealing glances at Patrick with this strange look. So I set this plan up and proposed it to Father. He rejected it many times until I promised to bring you to him, dead," He was telling the truth.

"You saw me attracted to Patrick?!?" She blushed. The only thing that attracted her to Patrick was because of his resemblance to her secret childhood prince. "Well, you do resemble Patrick... I secretly wished he was you."

He grinned. Their resemblance could sometimes confuse people, they looked more like twins instead of older-younger siblings.

His palm had been subconsciously stroking her in embrace.

"How do you know that I'm pregnant?" She couldn't hold her curiosity.

"We don't," he was silently smiling. She lifted her eyebrows.

"It was Plan B. To make him think I've been sneaking off behind his back, dating you. He had been trying to prevent that. But he couldn't harm you if you're carrying my child," he grinned.

"That's why you were not in our school," She guessed, and was replied by his nods.

"You know how curious I am," he was a bit embarrassed to admit that, but couldn't lie to her.

"And... he knows of your high sex drive?" She blushed, couldn't stop herself from asking.

"He knows that I'm curious," he corrected.

"Any further than that, Ma'am, is up to you to find out," he was suddenly on top of her, responded by her gasp. She giggled.

He held onto her wrists beside her head, locking her position. Her warm junction pressed against his hard arousal. She had learnt to like this pose. His intimidating tendency had grown to become her favorite. For the first time, he saw a peaceful happiness in her eyes. Ah, she loves him too.

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Chapter 11

She woke up feeling different this morning. Her head felt airy and floating. She just found out that Nathan loved her. He confessed it over and over again last night. He proved it many ways. Some of them made her blush. But the most important thing is; he loves her.

Having had many love experiences in her life, she was taken aback too, of how easily she trusted and loved him. He did commit a crime; abducted her, brutally raped and abused her. But no matter how improper the circumstances were, somehow she knew that he wouldn't harm her, and his love to her grew stronger each day. His love was all she wanted.

Nathan just couldn't get his eyes off of his bride-to-be. She trusted herself completely to him. He could see it in her eyes. Although she herself couldn't understand why, after all of the humiliation, and his hurtful treatment to her, with all of his flaws, she just wanted to be loved by him.

She was in love.

Love had truly blinded them both.

He gave her a morning kiss. His care was torturing him; because he couldn't release his animal lust on her again this morning, he had to control himself and did not want to damage her private areas. His cum flooded all over her tiny sex despite her attempt to wash it off last night, and he sure had hurt her. Failed to control his savage release, he had raped her again after the bondage, despite her crying and begging him to stop. What an animal he was.

She was still lying motionless on the bed when he woke up and prepared himself for Lord Gerard's debriefing. The old man couldn't be made to wait for long, he had a plane to catch tonight. Rebecca watched as Nathan emerged from the shower; the ripple of his muscles glistening, she could smell her Lilac soap from the distance. He still looked handsome, despite his unruly wet hair. He wiped himself, not concealing anything from her sight, and put on his working attire. On the sofa, he had prepared a white long-sleeve shirt, cream coloured silk waistcoat, a matching silk tie, and pants. His vibrant light brown hair was wavy, providing radiance on the supposedly pale combination.

She blushed, having had a first good look of his whole body, after all this time. He was as nude as the day he was born, and then one by one, pieces of fabric wrapped him up smartly. How she wished she could rip them out of him, undoing the cover in reverse. But her blush intensified, remembering how sore she had gotten, as a result to her unladylike demands.

As he buttoned his sleeves, he moved towards her, smiling, planting another kiss on her forehead and cheeks. Red flushes went all over her face.

"Are you ill?" he asked, his eyebrows frowned.

"No," she grinned.