Prue didn't know what to feel when she saw Khadem take his wallet out, and she only realized just how much he had given her when the bill was already in her hand.
"This is too much—-"
Khadem placed his calling card on top of the hundred-dollar bill. "Call me when you need me, angel."
I'm no angel. I never was, and I can never be one.
Those were what she wanted to say, but she couldn't, since he was already walking away, and as she watched him with eyes made blurry by tears, she felt as if he was taking a piece of her heart with him.
Prue closed her eyes. This was the end then. This would be the last time she would see him—-
"You're crying."
Prue's eyes flew open, and she was stunned to see Khadem standing right in front of her again, and she could only cry harder as she felt him wipe her tears away with his thumb.
"I tried to let you go," Khadem said tersely, "because I thought that was what you wanted. I thought you were scared of me—-"
Prue was already shaking her head before he even finished speaking. "You took care of me last night."
His lips twisted in a humorless smile. "Do you really think that?"
"Yes," she said fiercely. "Other men would've t-taken my virginity, but you didn't!"
"If you choose to stay with me now," Khadem warned tightly, "I will never be able to let you go."
Prue was having a hard time keeping herself from reading too much in his words. "W-What exactly are you saying?"
"Wherever I go, you go. I will always keep you by my side, and the whole world will know that you are my woman and mine alone."
"Oh, Khadem..."
Prue's voice shook, and Khadem cursed under his breath when her big, brown eyes welled up with tears. "If the thought of marrying me is making you cry," he gritted out, "then forget I said anything. Just say what you damn want—-"
"It's you," Prue choked out.
Khadem stiffened, and a moment later, Prue had thrown herself in his arms, and Khadem's heart slammed against his chest.
"I'm scared, Khadem."
"Don't be."
"Things are happening too fast."
"Things are happening exactly as they're meant to be."
Prue pulled back to smile up at him tearily. "Because I'm destined to be yours?"
"Yes."
"A-And you?"
He took her hand and placed it on his chest, and Prue felt the hard pounding of his heart.
"Is that answer enough, my angel?"
Chapter Ten
Khadem: Have you broken up yet?
Prue wanted to smile, but the thought of doing so made her feel guilty, and so she ended up biting her lip instead while texting her reply.
Prue: I haven't even gotten home!
Khadem: You should just send him a fucking text.
Prue: You know I can't.
Khadem: Just don't forget who you belong to. And in the event that you do, my men are following your every move, and I've instructed them to do whatever is necessary to take you back to me.
Prue: You're kidding, right?
Prue: Khadem?
She tried ringing his phone, but all of her calls remained unanswered by the time her cab arrived at her place. Hmph! He had probably known she would have made him promise not to do anything drastic, and since Khadem wasn't the type to break his word, he had decided to avoid her calls instead.
One of the live-in servants opened the front door for Prue, and she was relieved to find out that her parents had yet to return from their weekend trip in Tahoe.
She tried to rehearse what she wanted to say to Klaus as she took a shower, but with Khadem no longer around, what had seemed an easy choice earlier was now weighing heavily on Prue.
Am I really going to do this?
Prue tried to keep herself calm, but by the time she stepped out of the shower and changed into a fresh pair of jeans and her favorite shirt, Prue was hyperventilating so badly she had to sit herself down on her bed.
Relax, Prue, relax.
She had always been the type to look this way and that a hundred times before crossing the street, and she had never been the once-burned, twice-shy type because she had always been careful with her decisions.
Choosing Khadem over Klaus was easily the biggest decision she had made in her life, and while she knew her parents would likely up in arms about it—-
Prue only had to imagine what life would be like with and without Khadem, and she knew right away there was only one choice for her to make.
I'm sorry, Klaus.
Prue's fingers shook as she sent a text to Klaus, and her stomach turned queasy with nerves when he replied in moments.
Klaus: I can be there in half an hour. Is that okay?
Prue had just texted 'yes' to Klaus when her phone suddenly rang, and she quickly answered the call when she saw Mom pop up on her screen.