HIS RETURN FOR REVENGE

Chapter four: Sandra Sinclair

Consciousness returned gradually less than twenty four hours after insanity and slumber. Sandra opened her eyes gently to see golden ray filtering through the glass window that didn't belong to the world she was familiar with.

She jerked up from the bed instantly, white sheet shuffling on her body. Her head darted about the strange room with a mix of confusion and panic.

"W— where am I? How did I get here?" Her voice cracked.

She moved, and instantly regretted it.

A sharp pain shot between her legs.

"Ah." She winced.

She pulled the bedsheet up to realize a devastating reality. She was naked. Stark naked and the sharp pain in-between her leg made her chest hammered.

"God," She gasped, her voice trembling. "How did..how did all this happen?" Tears clouded in her eyes as the

She looked beside her and saw a strange man sleeping peacefully under the sheet.

Panic crossed her face as the reality settled in her mind like metal sinking in water. Her mind processed everything within millisecond from waking up naked, to the pain between her legs and then to finding a strange man lying beside in a room that wasn't familiar because she had no memories of what happened the previous night.

Her blood boiled.

"You rapist!!"

Her hand went up to pounce on the young man. Jaxon's eyes snapped open. Military training had Sharpened his ear even when asleep to detect immediate danger.

"What the heck."

He rolled across to her, dodging the attack effortlessly while Sandra's punch went hard against the foam.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"You rapist!!"

Sandra threw another punch. Jaxon weaved is head easily and Sandra's attack missed again, distorting the bed.

Frustrated, she lunged again and again Jaxon kept dodging with a simple head move.

Her anger spiked.

Her finger snapped at him. "I'm going to kill you criminal! You raped me!" She grabbed a wooden stool beside the bed to hurl it at him.

"No, you did."

"You took my virginity you bastard!"

"Oh, no you did," Jaxon countered again, his voice tone almost playful. "you stripped me naked yesterday, told me you were dying. What do I do?" His arms went up, smirking faintly in amusement. "allow you to die when you were begging me to quench your fire last night? I'm not Heartless, sweetheart."

Sandra's cheek flushed in embarrassment. The memories struck her like a thunderbolt, returning through the fog in pieces and bits— The strange man who saved her from the Bar, him lifting her into his arms. She couldn't see his face clearly because unconsciousness was taking over her but she knew with clarity the silhouette belonged to a man.

Silence took over the room as the memories formed a reasonable piece in her head. Her head dropped slightly, cheek flushing in embarrassment. The stool clattered to the floor.

"I guess you remember now." Jaxon said calmly, staring at her. "you were drugged. Obviously by those men who came to attack you at the Bar."

"But why? why would they drug me? And how did you know? What if you're even part of them?"

"I'm not the bad guy." He simply said, putting on his clothes now. "What were you doing at the bar yesterday?"

Sandra's mind played back to the moment before that evening.

She was meant to sign a contract with Darius Voss, the Voss Conglomerate the previous evening. Darius had invited her to the Bar, said he wanted them to celebrate the collaboration. She was against it but since it wasn't supposed to take long— just signature and closure— She went but not with the celebration in mind.

Darius offered her drink when she arrived— alcohol. She refused. He offered water. Her throat was burning at the moment. She needed it. She opened the bottle herself and poured the water into a glass cup on the table.

Could Darius have drugged the water when she vividly opened the bottle with her own hands?

"I— I opened the bottle myself. How could he have done that?"

"You've clearly missed something." Jaxon said without looking at her, adjusting his windbreaker with a steady hand. "He must have put the drug inside the empty glass bottle before your arrival."

Sandra swallowed, the sudden clarification crashing through her, but she didn't want to believe any of this yet. She needed evidence.

She knew Darius was desperate. He'd been chasing her for months despite being engaged to her elder sister.

The relationship made it impossible to believe it,

If Jaxon was lying about the aphrodisiac or if it was true Darius drugged her to sleep with her.

Jaxon turned to her seeing her lost in thought.

"I never knew you were still intact," He said, "I'll take responsibility for you henceforth."

Sandra looked at him, from head to toe and shook her head, almost pitifully. "With you looking like this?" she waved at him, "do you even know who I am?"

"I don't need to know who you are before I take responsibility for you." He said firmly.

Sandra let out a sharp laughter. "You don't know what you're saying. You can't even afford a good cloth."

"You're judging from appearance?"

"I'm stating an obvious fact." She said and walked out of the bed to dress up.

"It's the same."

She stepped out after dressing up, looking completely different from the vulnerable woman crying for help the previous night despite the wrinkled dress.

Her hair was tightly pulled back, her shoulder set in determination, eyes fierce with the look of someone who had walked into a battle and conquered enemies before.

She grabbed her purse and looked through it. Surprisingly, her things were intact. Maybe Jaxon isn't some scammer after all. She pulled out some wades of cash and tossed it to him.

She clicked to him, staring into his eyes ferociously. "And Listen," She started. "What happened inside this room dies inside here from this moment. And wherever you save it in your head, erase it completely. You never met me. I never met you."

She continued, her voice tightening.

"I am a public figure. I don't want scandals. Take the money, keep your mouth shut and stay away from me."

She clicked to the door but stopped suddenly and turned, her voice hardening.

"And if I find out you were lying, I'll find you wherever you are and you won't like what happens next."

The door slammed shut before Jaxon could respond.

He stared at the door through which she went out and let out a soft amused chuckle.

"Thinks I'm cheap?"

Knox materialized inside the room with files.

"Master," He bowed gently. "Good morning." He looked at the bed to see the woman gone. He wasn't surprised because he walked on the way.

"Morning," Jaxon turned to him. "She left. I need to make findings about her and her family. Sandra Sinclair. Also, keep an eye on her. She's part of my responsibility henceforth."

"Yes, Sir." He stepped forward with the files. "You need to see this, Master."

"What did you find?" Jaxon collected the files and flipped it open.

"Your father was involved in a land dispute nine years ago."

"Lakeside? the land where our house was built? It was inherited by my father from his father."

Knox nodded. "Yes, Sir." He said, an edge in his voice. "But it was sold with evidence of forged documents which had your father's signature as the owner— the seller, and his elder brother's was the witness."

Jaxon looked up from the paper, his brow scrunched in confusion. "Elder brother? My father had no siblings. None."

"Paper proved otherwise. He's Daniel Monroe."

Jaxon paused, his mind spinning. His father never told them he had an elder brother. They were the only family he had.

"He never told us."

"He must have kept it away to keep his family safe. Daniel Monroe was adopted by your grandfather." Knox responded. "Your grandfather disowned him at eighteen because he's trouble. Daniel had long found out about the land at the lakeside had black oil worth trillions so he orchestrated the attack on your family to claim the land, forging a document that stated it was sold out to one Richard Pepper."

Jaxon's eyes darkened.

"So," The words came out roughly between tightened jaws. "he was the one who killed my entire family."