The Royal Contract

"Please, tell me everything. I'm here." He kept encouraging her to continue, seeing the fear in her eyes.

Was she afraid of Nick? Did Nick physically abuse her? His mind worked overtime as he waited for her to continue. Several more questions plagued his mind, but he did not want to jump to any more conclusions.

He had always known that Dani appeared quite capable of taking care of herself. She had always been strong and stubborn to do things her way. 

But now, he discovered that she also had her weakness. Just like him, she was not perfect. She was hiding a terrible past that had been creating havoc inside of her.

"I'm here. I will never leave you. I will protect you from the likes of Nick." He kept encouraging her, seeing the hesitation in her expression. He wanted her to confide in him what truly happened with her relationship with Nick.

Hearing her tell him about how Nick had manipulated her life according to his satisfaction made him want to strangle him in his sleep. Give him the taste of his own medicine.

"When I discovered that she was sleeping with my friend, that was the time that I decided to end my relationship with him." She disclosed with him. 

The heaviness in her heart was still there, not because she still loved Nick, but the damage he had caused was still raw in her mind. It was as if she could not move on, remembering the shame and humiliation she felt.

She longed to cut the chain that bound her to her past and her association with Nick. She wanted to get away from it all, to find herself released from the pain. 

"What about the dream? What was it all about?" He knew that there was more to the story than she was telling him. He had to know everything before he decided on what to do with the information.

"I discovered them in bed together in his apartment before our wedding, talking about how he was only using me. The only reason he was marrying me was because of my money." She painfully spoke up her unpleasant memory.

She recalled the agony of standing outside that door, listening to their laughter. The way they talked about their relationship, years of love that she devoted to him like it was nothing but a big joke to him.

"What happened next?" He knew that sharing her dreadful past would never be easy for her, but it was a necessary evil she had to go through for the healing to follow.

He gathered that sharing something weighing heavily on her heart would lighten the burden she was feeling. He could carry some of that load for her and help her deal with it.

"He told Cassie that he never loved me, and no man would want someone like me." She had to pause because what she was about to say next was very difficult for her to share.

"He had to force himself to kiss me and make love with me because I was never good in bed. He said that all I could do was f*cking vanilla." Remembering every word that Nick said that day. 

Finally, she was entrusting with Alex, the darkest secret she had locked at the deepest corner of her mind.

It was an insecurity that was not easy to admit. The shame enclosed with it was enough to destroy Dani's confidence in her ability to build a real relationship. The fear of rejection had prevented her from pursuing a more serious relationship.

She suddenly felt Alex stiffened beside him. His hands balled up at her side. He tried to hide it from her, but she sensed it. He was also greatly affected by her revelations.

"You know that none of that is true, right?" He said as calmly as he could muster. "Nick was a bastard and a liar. He never deserved your love."

It took all his control not to run out of the door of their room. Then, he would haunt Nick down and beat him to a pulp. He finally discovered how Nick had broken her with his lies. 

He now understood why she was not confident with her sexuality despite her strong personality. He could see how Nick had destroyed her by cheating, exploiting her, and degrading her.

"I know now. You make me believe in myself." She swiftly took in a large amount of air and released it simultaneously with all her sorrows. 

She slightly felt a weight in her shoulders lightened up. Alex's support gave her the courage to open up to him and help her eased the burden she carried in her heart for a long time.

It was hard for her to admit to him her weaknesses, but she knew that he was the only one who could heal her completely. He was not an enemy but someone she was willing to trust with her life.

"Because you are a great person. Intelligent, beautiful in the inside, as well as the outside." He pointed to her face and in her heart. "Another thing." He added.

He figured that it was not about him. It was all about Dani and her feelings. He had to be careful to consider what she needed and not what he felt he had to do. To help her, he needed her to trust him even more now that she revealed her inner secrets.

He laid on the bed and pulled her to him until she straddled him on the bed. He stared into her eyes and started to wipe the tears that were still visible on her face.

"What is it?" She asked as her fears and insecurities slowly subsided, as excitement slowly took over.

She knew that getting over what Nick did to her would never be easy. It would probably take a lot of time. But with Alex at her side, she felt that she could do it. She had high hope that she could love and be happy again with Alex. Someday.

"Never believed Nick. Trust me." He held out his hands and moved her hair away from her face. He wanted to see her beautiful face. "You are absolutely great in bed." He pulled her to him until her lips covered his.

Suddenly everything was quite clear to him. The day he first met her at the bar. Why she got drunk that day? Why she had to prove to herself that she could be wild in bed? It was all a way to disprove Nick's claim.

She was not after the one-night stand, but only to cleanse herself of what Nick had done to her. It all suddenly made sense to him. She was the innocent girl he had seen that night. 

He was not wrong with his first impression of her. His instinct to protect her from the predators that were around her had been accurate. 

He was glad that he was the one who took her home before she went with somebody else. All of a sudden, he was thanking fate for letting their path crossed at the bar. Then again, when their eyes met again at the elevator.

"Remember that you are one of a heck of a woman. Anybody who would end up marrying you is one hell of a lucky man." He pulled her even closer to him, wanting to feel every inch of her.

He found himself thinking if he would be the lucky guy who would put a ring on her finger and be his wife. Honestly, the thought was starting to grow on him. 

Every minute he thought about it, the idea of marrying her became more appealing to him. But could he actually go through with it and marry her?

"Thank you for listening to me." It was more than she could ask from him.

"Thanks for trusting me." He knew listening to her was not enough. He needed to do something more.

He was not going to allow Nick to continue to ruin her life. He would put a stop to him. He would make Nick pay for what he did to her. And put an end to his plans. 

He figured that her past relationship with that scumbag had been rough, but he did not know the extent of it before. But judging from the way it affected her now, he surmised that it had been worse than he initially thought.

It was transparent that she had been a victim of abuse, not physical but emotional.