Denial

Time stood still, only the noise from the elevator ascending could be heard. The yellow lights from above made her face glow. Physically she still looked like the same woman he dragged out of the club but something about her felt different. Perhaps it was the aura radiating from her body that caused the change. He couldn't be sure but somehow he felt like this was another person. Another version of her he had never met before.

He watched her cock her head to the side, as hints of a smile danced on her lips. A certain wildness wrapped itself around her and an unsettling thought appeared in his mind.

'You don't know the woman in front of you. This isn't your darling Anai'ya'.

As if by instinct he immediately rejected the idea. He had built such a firm idea of the person she was anything else felt wrong. What else could she be but the person he had envisioned?

It was denial. He knew there were parts of her he knew nothing about in his bones, but his mind refused to accept it. Even now having experienced the evil intent behind her actions his mind rejected reason.

Maybe it was a moment of drunken anger.

One-time kind of thing.

Yeah, that's what it was.

He would just put this behind him.

He angered her just now, her mind wasn't in the right place.

Andre stood there looking at the woman he was so infatuated with and convinced himself the previous events were nothing to worry about. A man so madly in love could not accept a flaw in the world he had created for them. The same man with hands drenched in the blood of his enemies was blind to the enemy right in front of him.

-

Anai'ya watched as the man furrowed his eyebrows, denial, and doubt flashed in his eyes. She could see the struggle inside him. The red streaks of blood on his neck gleamed calling attention to them. They were hard to ignore as she had put a lot of strength in her grip just now.

For a split second, she forgot all about her plans, the only thing on her mind was to cause him pain. The way she saw it, this was nothing but a small punishment. Completely ignoring the fact that had he not freed himself from her grasp as quickly as he did, she could have easily taken his life.

Who else in their drunken state could exert that much strength unless they were professionally trained? She didn't consider the consequences of pulling such a stunt so early in the game. All she cared about was punishing him for manhandling her earlier.

It was undeniable how much she enjoyed it though. It gave her such a rush to feel the breath hitch in his throat the harder she squeezed. She could feel him start to convulse under the pressure of her fingers, the way his heart raced under his shirt as she was pressed against him. The whole ordeal lasted about a minute but she relished every second of it.

She knew how the human body worked and what areas could cause immense pain when assaulted. Death by strangulation was one of the first ways she learned how to kill someone. She had never actually used this method before but she knew what to do. A rush of excitement washed over her the moment she wrapped her hand around his neck. It felt like she had taken a hit of the strongest drug there was. For a brief moment, his life was literally in her hands.

Anai'ya fought the smile that threatened to form on her lips as she stared at him. Arrogance and pride were evident in her eyes.

'I was so close,' she thought.

She never imagined it would be so easy to toy with his life because she knew who he truly was. A demon in human skin. Just a week ago he killed a man in cold blood. The man was strong, he wasn't an easy target, she had expended a lot of effort to hide her treachery from him for these very reasons. No matter how powerful she was physically and mentally she would never match up to the strength of a man like him. So this was truly unexpected.

A fluke.

Perhaps such a chance would not present itself again for a long time.

It was okay if she reveled in it for a bit.

-

The elevator dinged pulling her out of her thoughts.

Anai'ya came back to herself and smirked at the flabbergasted man in front of her before sidestepping him to exit. Completely unbothered she walked leisurely into his penthouse.

How he processed his shock was not of her concern. Whether he decided to pursue the matter or not didn't matter to her at this very moment. Nothing could ruin her mood right now. Matter of fact, she knew she was going to sleep like a baby tonight.

Grinning, she sauntered her way to the bathroom to wash up. She was disheveled and reeked of wine, she needed to refresh before going to sleep.

The fact that Andre remained standing in the elevator meant nothing to her. Eventually, he would come out, there was no time to care about him.