My Fault

“Natalia never seduced me. I did. So, open your eyes, Francesca. It’s time for you to administer my punishment,” Zak said with a dark sadistic grin before he grabbed his mother’s hand that was holding the whip.

“No! Let go. Please! Zak!” Madame Francesca screamed as she struggled against his grip.

I was in shock as I quickly pulled my panties back up and let down my skirt to its proper position. What is Zak planning to do? He’s not going to…

“Zak, stop! Please!” I cried out in panic as I approached him.

“Stay back,” Zak said calmly as he smiled sadly at me.

“Count with me, Francesca. Are you ready?” Zak sneered at his mother as he took her wrist and swung her arm up along with the movement of his own.

“No! Stop…Zak!” Madame Francesca cried out loud and I could see tears staining her face. It was a sad and pitiable sight.

“One…Two…Three…” Zak started counting loudly.

Each count matched with the whip flogging down onto his own beautiful skin as his arm controlled his mother’s arm to deliver her punishment onto him, blow after blow. I cried uncontrollably as I hugged Zak’s other arm and begged for him to stop.

With each hit, I felt my heart burn up in pain. Seeing Zak get hurt was so much more painful than getting hurt myself. Those twenty lashes lasted forever. When he was done there was blood where he stood, and I almost fainted on the spot. Throughout it all Zak never made a sound beside his constant counting, and he didn’t cry. It was the first time that I realized that I had never seen Zak cry.

By the time he was done, Madame Francesca had completely loss her sanity. She was crying non-stop and wailing non-coherent sounds at the top of her lungs. It must have been a shock to her to see her precious son get so injured and at her own hand. She crumbled to the floor on her hands and knees as she continued to cry her eyes out.

“Family members must be protected no matter what. I’ll always protect Natalia. She’s a family member to me more than anyone else could ever be,” Zak said slowly as he crouched down close to his mother.

“Zak…” I whispered his name softly as his firm words reached my heart.

“A rotten apple never falls far from its tree, isn’t that what you said? Well, we’re the real crazy ones here, Francesca. You…and me,” Zak said before laughing madly in his mother face.

I have never seen Zak like this before. It was like, this man standing in front me was much older, more mature, and much darker. He seemed so…dangerous.

Taking my hand in his a little roughly, Zak led me out of the building while he was still stark naked. I worried endlessly about his wounds although he didn’t seem to pay them any attention. We walked through the thin forest behind his mansion and soon we were in his mansion and in his room. I cried silently all the way until we reached our destination.

“We should call the doctor. You’re injured…you’re bleeding…” I managed to say in between my wrecking sobs.

“Don’t worry about me and worry about yourself more,” Zak replied in a cold and deep voice. He didn’t sound like himself at all, and it was scaring me.

“How did you know?” I asked.

“I haven’t missed any of them…no matter how small or faded. All the marks on your body,” Zak replied flatly.

Zak has always been watching me and thinking about me. I bit my lips as tears continued to fall from my eyes. Now, Zak is hurt because of me…

His body is hurt and the relationship between Zak and his mother is damaged. This is all because of me.

“Show me,” Zak ordered bluntly as he pulled my body towards him by the waist.

“Show you…?” I began asking in confusion but his hands working roughly to remove my clothes gave me the answer that I needed.

“Show me…your body,” Zak commanded, more precisely this time.

I tried to hold back my tears and muffle my sobs as Zak impatiently stripped me of all my clothes until I was standing naked in front of him. Feeling ashamed and exposed, I tried to cover my chest with my hands, but Zak pulled my arm down and kept them to pinned to my side as his cold eyes scanned my body.

He turned me around so that I had my back to him so that he could scan the backside of my body for damages as well. The silence between us was driving me insane and my guilt was eating me alive.

“Zak…we should call the doctor…” I whispered my suggestion softly.

My words evaporated into thin air without a response from Zak. So much for my effort to speak up.

After what felt like forever, Zak was done with his inspection of my body. He sighed but didn’t make any comments.

“Zak…I’m sorry,” I apologized in a sad and small sound.

“What are you sorry for?” Zak asked casually.

“For getting you hurt, for getting you in trouble with Madame Francesca…for letting her find out about us…” I replied before I started crying so hard that I couldn’t speak anymore.

“Wrong,” Zak replied curtly, disappointment clear in his voice.

“Huh?” I let out a confused sound.

“The only thing you should be apologizing for is not letting me know right from the start when she approached you. Why?” Zak said with narrowed eyes.

“I…” I didn’t want to get Zak involved. I didn’t want him to feel hurt.

“You didn’t trust me enough,” Zak stated with a sigh as he closed his eyes.

“No! I didn’t want you to get hurt,” I said desperately as I tried to explain.

“You wanted to protect me,” Zak said, his eyes finally looking back into my own.

“Yes…” I replied in between my sobs.

“Then what makes you think I wouldn’t want to protect you too?” Zak asked.

There was so much guilt, disappointment, and sorrow in his eyes that I had to look away. It hurt too much to keep looking into his eyes.

I didn’t have a reply to that, so I continued to cry my eyes out instead. Everything I thought I could protect was falling apart and it was all my fault.

“Listen, Natalia. None of this is your fault,” Zak stated clearly and firmly as he gripped me by the shoulders.

“Zak…” I called out his name in a low whisper. I was still crying hard, and I was finding it hard to breathe.

Zak hugged me tightly to him and I could feel the heat of his chest on my wet cheek. The calm beating of his heart helped to calm me down as well.

“Remember this, Natalia. Everything that happened today and anything that may happen in the future, none of it is your fault,” Zak stated definitely as he stroked my hair softly and slowly.

No…Zak. All of this is my fault…

Soon after that fateful day, I heard that Madame Francesca had decided to move to live far away from the city due to health reasons. Zak became the master of his house and started contributing much more to the family business. If anyone had any suspicions surrounding what triggered these changes, it was never voiced or openly questioned. I didn’t know what deal Zak made with Madame Francesca, but I had my guesses.

That fateful day was the first time I met the man who I would come to call ‘Black Zak’. It was also the day Zak asked to break up with me and we ceased being boyfriend and girlfriend in the normal sense of the word. From that day forward, my relationship with Zak started to transform into what it was today.

--To be continued…