The Sweetest Temptation
Chapter 226: Nightmares

Chapter 226: Nightmares

Stella looked around her surrounding, struggling to maintain her rationality as she processed the familiarity of her environment.

"No, this is not happening." But her nightmare was confirmed. She was back at Nolan’s apartment.

"Babe," The voice that haunted her nights and her days spoke behind her. She froze, unwilling to turn to see if it was all real. Oh but it is, after all, here she is.

Slowly, she turned towards the direction where the sound had come from. To her utmost horror, her gaze locked with those of Nolan, the one person she hoped she’d never again encounter in her life.

"Nolan," She whispered, feeling the blood drain from her face and her knees go weak with instant defeat.

"Baby," He whispered with a sinister smile. It’s not real. She knew for certain that it was not real. But why did it feel so?

"You left me," His expression turned grim as he spoke. "You left me, Stella. After everything I’ve done for you, you went ahead and left me."

"You allowed me to go," She replied defensively. She wanted very much to be out of there. She darted her gaze, scanning the space for any signs of possible escape

"You won’t find what you’re looking for." How does he know?! "You’re trying to escape are you not?" He added, and then he snickered, a very possessed kind of sound that roused her need to be out of his presence. But strangely, when she looked at where the doorway usually was, behind him, there was no door.

"I told you, you won’t find what you’re looking for." He spoke again, this time, he began to walk towards her. She backed away, with her hands behind her, searching for turns and spaces that she could take to get away from him.

"Stay right where you are!" She exclaimed with a whimper, feeling her tears sting her eyes. Her vision began to blur. "No," She whispered to herself, she needed to see where his attack would come from. It would not help if she was blinded by her tears. But they could not be helped.

Through the haze, she saw something glint in his hand, in the dim lighting of the room. He was raising it. Quickly, she blinked away her tears, only to behold a knife hovering above her. She screamed a sound filled with bone crushing terror, and turned to dart away when –

She jolted awake. Immediately, she rose to a sitting position on her bed.

It was a dream! She thought to herself as she broke into a smile. Her heart soared with gratitude as she scanned her environment, searching for any signs of a break in. When she saw none, she fell back in the pillows and began to weep.

For the longest time, since her eventual escape, she lived with nightmares of the one person she had grown to hate with her entire existence. Nolan, despite being out of her life, still haunted her nightmares. Days would go by where she’d imagine being attacked, or carted away by him, back to his lair. And there was no safety of another’s arms, where she was sure to let her pains melt away. She didn’t think she was ready to give away her control just yet. But her nightmares were becoming the bane of her existence.

How long will I continue to live in fear? She thought to herself, wiping the bead of tears that had formed in her eyes with her arm. She looked at her alarm clock.

"Eight forty?!" She exclaimed as she rushed towards the edge of her bed, all thoughts of the nightmare and her fears, dissipating in the wind.

***

Stella walked into the office, greeted by an unusual frenzy from the workers. "What is happening?" It wasn’t until she’d gotten to register her presence at the front desk that she noticed the missed calls from a strange number.

"Who is this?" She whispered to herself as she placed her card on the scanner.

"Thank you," She was about to walk away, when she halted in her track, suddenly remembering something she’d intended doing. She turned back to the receptionist who beheld her with a warm smile.

"Um, I just want to ask, what is happening?" She spoke with a whisper.

"Oh, Mr. Quinn has a very special client coming by, so he asked for the place to be organized." She replied with a hint of friendliness in her tone.

That makes a lot of sense. She thought to herself and gave her reply. "Oh, thank you so much."

"Of course, Stella."

That explains it. She noted within her that the client must be very big for him to be trying so much to prepare. She rushed towards the elevator, trying to catch up with the activities for the day. Hopefully, her work would not involve manual labor like the others.

***

She walked into the hallway that led to her office. To her surprise, there was not as much activity as there was downstairs. She wondered what exactly was happening, but she restrained herself from asking any more questions. Her phone began to ring again.

She lifted it towards her line of sight and saw that it was the same number. Her breath hitched in her throat, as she suspected that it belonged to the person that she wanted out of her life for good. But she forced the growing anxiety and fear inside her to the back of her mind and she picked the call.

"Hello," She murmured.

"Where the hell are –" The voice on the line reverberated in the hallway, alerting her to the presence of her boss. Matteo was the owner of the strange number. How did she not think about that?

I actually thought it was Nolan.

Now her dreams were affecting her reality. She overslept, and was late to work, which was why he took the initiative to call. Everything was clear, so why did she choose to ignore the call? Because of a dream.

Great job, Stella.

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