Page 4 of His Black Onyx

My stuttered words are a lie. I don't understand anything. What am I doing here? Why does he insist on calling me Lailah, even after I told him that there has been a mistake?

Because that's obviously what happened here, right? Somehow I was mixed up with someone else who was supposed to be kidnapped, the daughter of a rich family, maybe? Ransom money, that's what he must be after. If he wanted to kill me, I'd be dead already, wouldn't I?

My head is spinning, the questions circling in a wild cloud inside of my skull. A dull throbbing accompanies their uncontrolled dance, and it feels a lot like the aftermath of being hit against the head. Did he beat me unconscious? Was he the one who took me from my room?

He locks me in place with his beautiful gray eyes as he slowly removes his hand from my throat.

"No, you don't," he whispers. "You don't understand anything."

Of course, I don't. But you threatened to choke me. What was I supposed to do but tell you what you wanted to hear?

"Do you want money?" I ask. "Is that it? Ransom? Because I… I’m not rich, but I know someone who is and he-"

"Shut up!"

He raises his voice to a level that is scary enough to silence me right away. I glare at him, biting my lower lip while I wait for an explanation. But he just shakes his head, pinching the bridge of his nose as he lets out a deep sigh.

"Look," he says, casting me a strained look. "There's a lot you need to learn. You'll need to listen, obey, and work hard. We don't have much time to get this right."

"This?" I probe, tilting my head to the side. "What do you mean by this?"

He narrows his eyes, pondering for a few moments before he answers.

"Onyx."

His response is weighted, offering a solemn taste of significance, as if the word held any meaning to me.

I throw him a puzzled look. "Onyx? Like the gem stone? I don’t… get it."

"You will soon enough," he says, crossing his arms in front of his strongly muscled chest. He sighs again, just as heavily as before. He looks stressed and tense, as if this was harder on him than it is on me.

"All you need to know for now is that you're an integral part of this," he elaborates. His eyes once again find mine and his expression appears exerted. That piercing gaze is enough to send an ice cold blast trickling down my spine, and it only gets worse when he continues to speak, concluding his angst-inducing introduction.

"You're our Onyx. And if you fail us, you’ll die."

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