Assault

Soon Anna reached the Knights Enterprise. It was Saturday and quiet late in the evening due to which the entire building was eerily vacant. She had expected something like that but there was not even a trace of a single guard which made her suspicious about something being off. Nevertheless she pushed her uneasiness at bay and went inside the building. To her relief, there was a lady on the reception who greeted her and led to the Conference room where she had met Regan formally for the first time. She knew that lady as she was the same person who had received Mia and her during her last visit over there and she instantly felt relieved. She went into the elevator which led them to the twentieth floor.

"This way mam. Sir has been wanting for you in the Conference room."

"Conference room? Are there other board members too. I wasn't informed about that."

She smiled formally. "You'll soon get to know about it."

Anna simply nodded her head on her clipped answer and decided to let it go. Soon they reached the Conference room. As Anna entered it, the lady left the place through the same elevator. When she entered the room, she had expected a few people to be there, but to her surprise, only one chair was occupied with a man. She immediately considered him as Regan as she could only see the back of the chair.

She remembered the earlier events of the day and her heart constricted with the same pain that she suffered through the whole day. But this time it wasn't about her. It was about Ashton and she was sure that if Regan had called her for a meeting at his office, it must be related to the hotel project. Before he could take out his grudges to close off the deal, she decided to speak first. She cleared her throat to inform him about her presence.

"Regan? If this meeting has something to do with our project, then please consider your decision. Whatever misunderstandings has happened between us, I hope that won't affect our business. Please don't let your personal grudges affect our professional relations. Besides..."

Before she could speak further, the chair turned around and she took a sharp intake of breath. He was the last person she was expecting to meet at such a time.

"Mr. Benc? What are you doing here? Wh...where is Regan?"

He laughed out loud on hearing her. "Long time no see Miss Prescott. Aren't you too naive to still ask this question?"

"What do you mean?"

He stood from his chair tucking the buttons of his suit and taking slow steps towards her direction.

"It's not Regan who wanted to meet you. It was me. Actually I wanted to have a word with you." He smirked eyeing her from top to bottom.

She instantly backed up to enhance their distance.

"It has been very clear from the start that we have nothing to do with each other. So I don't think I am needed over here anymore. Excuse me."

She turned around to open the door knob when he roughly held her hand and squeezed it harshly.

"I haven't even started and you want to leave?" He snickered. He pulled her hand which forced her to stumble backwards. However, she managed to held her feet to the ground and looked at him in shock. He went to her again and commanded in a deathly cold voice. "Have a seat Miss Prescott. Don't force me to do something which both of us won't like."

When she still didn't follow his order, he barked loudly and she flinched.

"Sit."

She instantly sat on the nearest chair.

He turned around to look over his surroundings. "Do you remember this place? It's the same place where you humiliated me for the first time." He moved in her direction to see the terror in her eyes and sneered. "I can see that you still remember it. The second time you humiliated me at Mr. Knights anniversary party. Do you remember that too?"

By now, he was standing too close to her invading her personal space. She could feel his breath fanning her face and she realized that he was drunk. His hands were holding the arms of her chair caging her like a prey. She was scared would be an understatement. She somehow mustered some courage and asked.

"What do you want?"

"I can see how desperate you are... for this project? And so was I. But you ruined my plans Miss Prescott."

"I am... I am sorry for earlier. Please let me go. I...I haven't done anything."

He laughed like a mad man after hearing her. He held her jaw tightly and spatted.

"You not only ruined my plans but you also ruined me bitch. How can you say you did nothing? Do you know why are you here?"

She shook her head in a 'no' with tears spilling from her eyes.

"I want to teach a lesson to that bast*** who ruined me because of you. Inspite of being a shareholder in this Company, he separated me from this project. And as if it wasn't enough, he stalk claim over my shares and removed me from the Company as a piece of trash. Do you know why? Because of you." His hold on her jaw tightened and she yelped in pain. "It happened just two days back when he heard me saying something about you. Its always about you, isn't it? Why? Did you sleep with him?" He smirked eyeing her disgustingly.

"What... what do you want from me?"

He left her jaw. "I know I can never lay a finger on him. But..." He grabbed her shoulders forcing her to stand on her feet. "But I can hurt you. So I thought to..."

Her eyes widened on his words.

"He cares for you too much Miss Prescott. I have worked with him for years and he never had a weakness before you came into his life. But then they say... People change with time and he too has changed for sure. He has it now...you are his weakness. I know I can never hurt him directly but I can hurt you."

She was still in a shock with his words frantically shaking her head in a no.

"Mr. Benc..... please... please let me go..."

"Beg me. Beg me some more. You can't imagine how good does it feel. Beg me for your dear life Anastasia."

He left her shoulders and she immediately landed on the cold floor on her back. The terror and tears on her face were unleashing the beast inside him. He bent down and roughly pulled her hair causing her to look into his lusty eyes that were red in anger.

"Why....why are you do....doing this to me?"

"Haven't you heard of killing two birds with one stone. How good would it feel to have my ways with you.... at his place.... with you all so helpless and him unable to do anything to save you from me."

"You're sick." She spatted disgustingly.

"Oh you have no idea of how sick I can be Anastasia!"

He stood and went to the edge of the table to take the glass of wine placed on it. "Initially I thought to hurt you physically but looking at you all so gorgeous, I have changed my plans."

He gulped the whole glass and turned around to see her. By then Anna was already on her feet ready to escape from him. But he was too fast. Before she could reach the door, he pulled her by her hair and brutally slapped her face causing her to slump on the floor again. Her eyes welled up with tears with blood dripping from the corner of her mouth. She felt dizzy and looked at him pleadingly. He had already removed his suit jacket and was now roughly opening the buttons of his shirt.

Anna dragged herself back towards the wall.

"No no. Please.... please let me go. Don't do this to me." She screamed in horror.

She was freezed up with the unexpected events. She was not only hysterical about the current happening but also with the tragic event of the past when she was in the same condition, helpless and inefficient to protect herself. The trail of the painful memories caused her to tear up more not knowing what to do. Before he could pounce on her, she rashly stood on her feet and pushed him as hard as she could which made him fall on his back clashing with one of the chair behind him. Without waiting for him to recover from the shock, she went to the table to reach her phone that was in her bag to call for help. She went through her call list with shaky hands but didn't know whom to call as her mind had went numb by then. She was still scanning the contact list but before she could dial any number, her phone was pulled and thrown towards the wall.

"You who**. I was going easy on you until now. But you aren't worth it. Let me show you the real beast now."

He pushed her hard tearing the sleeve of her dress and she crashed with the table making the bottle of wine and glasses land on the floor. One of the shattered glass pricked her hand and she screeched in pain. She was reiteratively pulled again and tossed on the floor on the shattered pieces of glasses that slashed her frame with cuts and bruises. He snagged her leg to drag her towards him when her hands frantically started searching for something to defend her from the monster. She took the broken piece of glass and besieged his hand. The sudden attack made him to loose his grip and she ranked to dash away from him as fast as she could staggering a few times due to her wobbly feet. Her vision was blurred with dizziness but she kept herself awake to push her marred frame out of the building at the earliest. She somehow managed to get herself out of the conference room and reached the elevator. But before she could get in, she was yanked back by her hair and then again vigorously shoved towards the wall causing her to brutally collide with it. She held her bleeding head with both hands lurching down with a thud. Her eyes became heavy threatening to shut off at any moment, no words coming out of her mouth but eyes pleading to leave her, to spare her dignity.

She wanted to move, run, fight and save herself but she laid there motionless with drooping eyelids looking at the monster who wiped his face with the back of his bloody hand lurching towards her, coming closer and closer to her face with every passing second. Unlike a few minutes earlier, her heart that was pounding erratically, she felt it beating extremely slow hoping that it would gradually stop, bringing an end to the pain, agony and misery that she was enduring since long. She whimpered when she felt his body weight over her tiny frame feeling disgusted with her ownself... wishing the end of her life to prevent the last shreds of her honour from the monster. The memories of past flooded her mind reminding her of the person that rescued her the previous time from a similar situation and she uttered her last words before slipping into darkness.

"Ashton."