CHAPTER 42- THE MYSTERY WRAPPED AROUND HIS NECK.

"What do you mean Davian escaped?" Hades yelled into the cell phone that afternoon at the office.

"We just checked his cell sir, he's gone!"

"Incompetent imbeciles! That's what the lot of you are! Urgh goddamn it!"

"We're very sorry sir,  there seemed to be a dug in entrance from the back. Whoever did this must have been very skilled."

"And funny enough, I thought I hired much more skilled men."

"We're sorry sir."

Hades hung up.

How was this even possible? Now it all made sense. There was a huge possibility that both Karl and Davian were connected. It explained how someone sneaked into his bedroom and stole the keys but how did Karl even know about the mine? Someone else must have fed him with the information. Someone close to him.

This only meant that he was dealing with a whole team of scumbags! It was certain that Davian was behind Allison's attack. She was the reason He kept the sucker locked up and now he was no doubt seeking revenge where there was none. Whatever happens, there had better be no other fucker laying hands on "My Allison."

Night soon fell and Hades was back home. She was still there in his bedroom, on his bed, her hands tied up. They must hurt now after so long and as much as he wanted to untie her, he knew the next thing she'd do would be to run out of the house and he didn't want something bad happening to her again. Simply put, this pet was staring to grow on him.

Don't all pets?

"What are you doing?" She asked, as she watched him get out of the bathroom in his robe and instead, he was heading towards the three seater couch a few feet from the bed.

"I'm going to sleep. You should get some too."

"You know it's your room right?"

"I do but I know you despise sharing a house with me much less a bed and I don't have the strength for squabbles today." He said, sitting on the couch.

"I can't sleep like this." She said. "My wrists hurt."

"If only you were trust worthy then there would have been no need for this."

"Please...I can't spend the rest of the night like this." She pleaded.

Hades shut his eyes and let out a sigh and got up, walking towards her.

"Do you promise not to try to run away if I untie you?" He asked.

Allison immediately nodded. "I won't. I just need to get rid of this ache please."

"Fine." He said, untying her and afterwards placing his tie on the table.

"Now go to sleep."

"Mmm"

He watched her pull the mattress over her slim fragile body as she closed her eyes. Just to be sure, He locked the door and kept the key inside his pocket before heading back to the couch.

Meanwhile, cunning Allison wasn't sleeping. Rather, she kept counting the seconds in her head till it got to two hours later. By now she would sure he had atleast fallen deeply asleep but one disadvantage? What she was doing was just like counting sheep and it wasn't long, at number three hundred and fifty six, she too feel asleep. It was 9pm at that point but when her eye lids flew open again, it was 10:30pm. Gosh Ally! How could you be so careless. She thought as she carefully got up from the bed and tiptoed to the door in order to prevent waking the beast up.

Damn it! The door was locked!

The jerk knew what he was doing. She groaned, frustratedly as she started to search whilst trying to be as light as a feather but it was all in vain. He must have hid it inside his robe or something. She went over to the couch and crouched down gently in front of him. His eyes were closed and his face was facing opposite hers. It would be a tragedy if he were to wake up just now. She ran her fingers lightly on his chest, trying to feel out the metal but then her hands fell on his necklace.

The one that made him lose it with her the last time. The necklace he treasured more than life itself. What could be special about this piece of jewelry. Allison thought curiosity as she carefully detached the tiny tube from the base of the necklace. The glass tube must be the most important part of the necklace. She stared at the shinning particles of grey and sliver. So beautiful almost eerie and ethereal at the same time. What secret of yours is hidden behind this ordinary jewel Hades? But wait hadn't her aunt said she specially designed this necklace for him?

"It's been a pleasure doing business with you Vera."

"I could say the same. I only wished you'd call more often. Ever since the last time you had me make you that one special necklace, you stopped making patronizing me. I had feared, you started to lose trust in my brand."

"You know that's not true Vera."

"You still wear it on, I see."

"Yes."

And that happened to be Hades very first and last purchase from Hamilton's jewel. Odd...very odd. That also explains why he holds Vera in very high esteem for making him such a beauty. Just then he turned in his sleep, making her flinch and causing her to let go of the glass tube.

"NO!" She gasped, shocked. "No no no no please no." She whimpered as the glass broke into tiny pieces and the particles inside spewed out on the floor.

Oh no! He's going to kill me if he...

"Allison? What are you doing?"

Oh shit! He had woken up!

"Nothing. You should go back to sleep." She said, nervously as she tried to block the sight on the floor but Hades was suspicious.

"Move aside." He frowned.

"What? What do you mean? It's not like I'm hiding anything from..."

He brushed her arm aside and his eyes widened in distraught. For a minute he lost his voice. He stared as the only thred holding his sanity together being cut off.

"What the hell have you DONE?!" He yelled, angered but there was something else....hurt.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to."

"You just don't know when to stop Allison do you?" He asked, grabbing a fist full of her hair.

"I'm sorry." She apologized.

"Sorry? You're fucking sorry?" He yelled at her.

"I...I can make you another one. It's a Hamilton jewel afterall."

"You can't make another one of this. It's not the necklace that mattered but the contents of that damn tube!"

"Please stop Hades, my hair. You're hurting me." She cried out, groaning in pains as she held his hand pulling at the back of her hair.

What would her apology do? He thought, pained. Gawd! He wanted her to feel every inch of what her careless action just cost him. Why? Why was she someone he couldn't make pay for their actions? Why couldn't he drag her down a cellar and batter the soul out of her? He knew the answer- He didn't kill or torture women.

None of his victims were women and for this reason he let her live, those years ago but this one was tempting him so bad. He pushed her away and stormed out of the room. It was all He could do to make sure he doesn't regret his next actions and she knew. For the first time, she could feel this Man's pain and for the first time, she genuinely felt sorry. It made her realize that she barely knew anything about him and now that necklace must have meant the world to him.

She decided to go offer a sincere apology. It might not help calm his rage but it would help her feel better about herself. However, there was one problem now- Hades was nowhere to be found. Where had he gone to? She didn't hear the gate open and besides it was nighttime. He couldn't have just disappeared. Honestly, if that happened to be the case, it she wouldn't be surprised.

However, she decided to check the surveillance cameras and she found him in another room. The guest room at the far end of the corridor. "Okay Hades Lenshaw, I still want you gone and out of my life but all that will have to wait for now." She said as she made her way to the bedroom to meet him. The door gave way and Allison walked in . He didn't bother sparing her a look and it made her feel worse. The room had a big rectangular glass window and he stared at the stare through the open window. She sat besides him on the bed and star gazed with him for awhile.

"I'm so sorry." She said, softly.

"Ofcourse you are." He said, absentmindedly.

She let out a sigh. It would be no use asking a direct question, if she wanted him to open up to her, she needed to open up to him first. Nothing goes for nothing.

"You once asked me where my glasses were." She suddenly said out of the blue, confusing him but his gaze still remained on the stars.

"Well...I no longer need them."

"Why? Your eyes healed?"

"I wished. I use contact lenses now, medicated ones."

"What?" He turned to look at her.

"Surprised? Yes I expected that. They're not noticeable at all. All thanks to technology."

"Hmm" He was losing interest as He turned his head forward again.

"I'm sorry for being rude ever since we got into this contract."

"You're only trying to feel better about what you did tonight Allison."

"Maybe. But I was always acting hostile because I was afraid."

"Afraid? Of what?"

"Of you." She admitted. "Whenever we crossed paths, you always seem to take a loved one away from me. Even Vera left so our fake marriage could work out in the eyes of the public. I guess I hate being alone."

"Is that so?"

She shrugged, equally looking ahead.

"I've always needed people. My dad, Davian, Esra, Vera, Karl. I've always needed care and looking after because I never had those things growing up."

"How do you mean?" He asked, suddenly curious.

"My mother..."

She let out a sigh. This was a bit heavy for her heart, considering she's never spoken about her mother to anyone before.

"It's okay, you can tell me."

"I grew up in the slums with my mother."

"What?!"

Allison chuckled. "I don't look it. I know. It was a long time ago. Proud little rich girl, people say. But I firsthand know what hardship means and at such a young age, it just wasn't fair. My mother was a one night stand to my father. She owned a bar that we both managed. She was irresponsible, I'm not gonna hide it. She was a gambler and a prostitute. Often, I'd get punished for doing nothing at all. She'd lock me up in a wardrobe for breaking a plate, she'd rant all her frustrations on me and sometimes even beat me up."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. The thing is...I wasn't born with an eye defect."

"What?" He looked at her, surprised. "What happened then?"

"The last time I ever heard of my mother, she...she was in a fight with my father that day. I tried to separate them and she slapped me. In the process, her hands hit my eyes and....here I am today, having to depend on lenses." Allison smiled, bitterly.

"What happens if you don't wear them?"

"The world gets blurry in my point of view, very blurry."

"I'm really sorry. You must have gone through a lot."

"I'm over it now. Time heals all wounds afterall."

Hades smiled, wearily. "Bullshit!"

"I'm sorry?"

"Time doesn't heal anything, you just learn to leave with the pain as life goes on."

"Oh....wow. So what's yours?"

"Mine?"

"What's your story?"

She just poured out her heart to him, it would only be fair to do the same. He thought.

"I never even...knew my own parents." He said, suddenly realizing how pathetic that sounded.

"What?" Allison was confused. "But...but your father, Henry Lenshaw."

"No." He shook his head.

"You were..." She gasped. "Oh my gosh! You were fostered?"

"Mmm." He nodded. "Things were going fine, my father brought me up in the business way and I was the ever diligent son but the tragedy began when I found love."

Oh? Why did that sound weird to her? Probably because she thought this Man wasn't capable of any real emotions.

"She was very beautiful." He went on, his eyes and voice alive.

She noticed and she couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy, seeing him like this about someone else. What is wrong with you Allison? Focus.

"Her name was Venice."

"The one from your dreams?" She asked, suddenly realizing why he had snapped at her the other day for making fun of her.

"Yes. Straight black hair and brown eyes. She was a nurse. I met her in a hospital when I went for a checkup. You can call it love at first sight, I guess. We connected immediately and she showed me a prettier side of life. However, my father complained that I was losing focus and time at work. He was against our union. When she got pregnant, we thought He would finally accept us because of the baby on the way." Hades hung his head low, the memory was stabbing at his heart. She reached out and touched his shoulder, comfortingly, fearing what was to come next.

"What happened next? What did your father do?"

"He...He killed her not caring that she was pregnant with an innocent child."

"What? No! That's cruel!" She gasped, horrified.

"He threw her off a cliff but before that, he cut off her ring finger and handed it to me. The finger still had my engagement ring on." He said, painfully.

"I...I'm so sorry Hades. I had no idea. That must have been one hell of a traumatic experience. I'm so sorry." For the first time, she saw him as....a person. A simple person, one that was broken. Someone who could feel pain and hurt. Who could blame her when He always carried the aura of an invincible god. "She was the one who gifted you that necklace? Gosh! I'm so horrible! Im sorry Hades I took your only memory of her away."

Hades shook his head. "It wasn't a gift from Venice."

"What?"

"After she died, the next day, I took her cut off finger and incinerated it to ash and I grounded her ring to powder. I mixed both ash and silver and poured it into that glass tube. A few months later, I had Vera make a necklace for me so I could attach it to the tube."

Allison gasped, mind-blown. "What?"

Freaking psycho!

Yes."

"Well then if it meant so much to you, why use glass? Why not plastic? So it wouldn't break?"

"No. I needed it to be glass so I could handle it with more extra care. So I wouldn't be careless or lose consciousness of what I was wearing."

"And that way, you'd never really forget her."

He nodded.

"Do you still miss her?"

"A lot." He admitted. So much hurt was evident in his voice that it made her want to draw out all the pain away. "Sometimes....most times...Infact all the time, I blame myself for her death."

"It's not your fault Hades, how could you have known." She held his hand in hers which was thrice the size of hers.

Hades shook his head. "Please let me feel guilty. Please let me beat myself up, it helps you know. Why did it have to be her? Why not me?" He asked, anger seeping in as He clenched his fist.

"You had no control over that day Hades."

"I hate everything! Everything and everyone. I deserve to die Allison, I just want to shut my eyes in eternal void and never open them. What's the use of living if you can't save the ones you claim to love? I'm a fucking asshole! I'm utterly useless!"

"Oh my goodness! Shut up Hades, shut up." She said, almost breaking down in tears as she held his face with both hands.

He smiled, faintly. "What's the problem pet? Feeling sorry for me?"

"No one deserves to go through so much pain. I'm sorry Hades, truly sorry...." She said, swiftly reaching out and pressing her lips on his.

At first, his eyes shot open In surprise, the last thing He expected was this to happen. It wasn't long before he reciprocated, holding the back of her head with his hand firmly, as he pressed down harder on hers. One arm curved around her back, supporting her and his other hand went to her chin, properly tilting her face up for his kiss.

He kissed her long and deeply, she clung to him, her arms wrapped around his neck. All modestly, shyness and above all caution were thrown to the wind at that moment. She felt this hotness exploding from her insides, starting from her stomach she quickly spreading to other parts of her body.

A simple gesture at first but now that Hades had taken full control, it became hungry and hot. It was the kind that worked on every sense until she was trembling so badly she needed to hang onto something. That something was the back of his neck where the tips of her fingers had curled and had dug in.

Damn it why was she trembling so much? This wasn't her first kiss, no. She had kissed Davian several times before but this way no were compared and much more sensual. What am I even doing? She was shuddering so much that he literally had to hold her in place, her body pressed against his. She was small, he noted. So small against him and shaking too, he wanted to laugh. The kiss went on and on as a fascinating swim through a million pleasure zones. He didn't want it to end. Yet it had to end.

"What is this huh?" He murmured against her mouth, tugging at her bottom lip. "Mutual consolation?" He smiled, dimly.

"You tell me." She said, almost breathless and that made him laugh. It was a rare sight to hear him to laugh. It was a strained, low, husky sound. Thick with other things that made her insides begin to melt. What exactly was happening and why was she so sensitive to him now?

"What's funny?"

He shook his head. "Nothing is, I'm sorry." He looked into her eyes one more time as he brushed her lips with his thumb.

"Is something wrong?" She asked.

"Indulge me just one more time." He whispered, carefully grabbing the back of her neck and he pulled her in and kissed her one more time before pulling away.

Sudden humiliation clung to her as their eyes met again. She thought of what he must see now in his point of view. Her reddened cheeks, flushed with embarrassment and not to mention her probably, maybe definitely swollen lips from the kiss. Thank goodness it was night time and the lights were dim.

"I'm sorry I broke your necklace. That was what I came here to apologiz...."

"Shh, it's fine."

"Is it though?"

He nodded. Then his eyes went to the door. "Go first, I'll join you in a minute."

"Are you sure?"

"Mmm."

"Okay." Allison got up and walked towards the door and opened it. His gaze didn't leave her until she was out of the room and only one question was evident in both their heads.

What the hell just happened?!