I NEED YOU, ELENA

Chapter 0001

ITS HIS DEMONS.

ELENA

"Don't leave me Lena, please stay with me. I love you." Evan said holding my hands. "You keep doing this Evan, I can't do this anymore. I said and walked away.

"Nooooh stop saying that." He yelled, shaking his head in disagreement, anger in his eyes. You can't leave me, I'll never let you." He yelled, pulling me back.

"Let me go Evan," I screamed, trying to get his hands off me. I woke up with a pool of sweat all over me, my night clothes clinging to my body, I had been dreaming.

Realizing that I had fallen asleep on the sofa waiting for Evan, I reached for my phone to check the time. Still in my confused state, I was jolted out of my reverie by the knock on the door, jumping in fright as I turned on my phone. It was after 2 am,

As Evan stumbled into the room, his words slurred and his breath heavy with the smell of alcohol, I tried my best to hide my disappointment.

"I'm sorry, I didn't hear the knock," I mumbled, trying not to provoke him any further. He paused and turned to me, walking slowly toward me. As he staggered towards me, anger burning in his eyes, all I could think about was how much longer I could endure this toxic relationship.

With each step Evan took toward me, a knot tightened in my stomach. His drunken state only exacerbated his already volatile temper. It felt like walking on thin ice around him these days - one wrong move and everything would come crashing down.

"Sorry!!" He asked angrily, "Shame!!! How do you manage to sleep when your husband isn't home?"

I didn't know how to answer, "It was a mistake, I fell asleep, I'm sorry." I said apologetically, hoping he would understand.

"You fell asleep, are you crazy Lena?" He thundered, his eyes blood red with anger as he came into the room. He approached me and slapped me. I held on to my cheeks, the sound of the slap echoing in my head as I groaned in pain.

"I'm sorry, please don't hurt me." I cried and after a moment of hesitation he slowly nodded and smiled faintly as he approached me and held me by the neck as if he was going to strangle me.

"You're hurting me, Evan," I stammered as I struggled to speak, tears streaming freely down my cheeks. He smiled mischievously and pressed his lips to mine.

"You can't keep me waiting Lena, all right?" He said as he unbuckled his belt.

"Why did I sleep off?" I muttered to myself, I knew I was going to get a beating for my mistake.

He leaned over and held my hands as he began to unbuckle his belt. I was wearing a loose nightgown. He planted a kiss on my lips and pulled my pants off.

"Don't do this, Evan, please." I pleaded, pain in my voice as I begged to be released from being held up like an animal to be slaughtered.

"You know how much I love seeing you like this, having you beg me while I fuck you amuses me." He said as he took off his pants and pulled me onto the couch.

"Ouch." I groaned in pain from being pushed onto the couch, my face hurt, my back hurt and Evan didn't care, he wanted to have sex and that was all that mattered.

"Please...." I groaned and pleaded with Evan as I lay helpless. I couldn't fight him any more and decided to let him have his way. From where I lay helpless, my legs spread apart, I could see his cock erect as the surge of veins that ran through it.

He planted a kiss on my lips and inserted his cork into my vagina, causing me great pain. I moaned in pain and he laughed, clearly amused at punishing me. He was thrusting back and forth and moaning clearly excited.

"Ahhhhh." he exclaimed as he came, he got off of me and pushed me to the side as he got up to go to the bedroom.

Evan had raped me again.

I lay on the sofa crying uncontrollably. Being married to Evan at such a young age was overwhelming. It wasn't so bad at first, but it got worse over time.

It felt like I was dying, but I soon got used to the abuse. Buried in my misery, I cried when I remembered how I met Evan. He was the sweetest soul, or so I thought, but months into our marriage, Evan became the beast he was, or just showed his true colors.

I remembered my mother's words when she introduced us.

"Evan is the best man for you, his father is the prestigious owner of one of the universities. Our families were friends and our parents couldn't have it any other way.

Evan's demons made him harass me every time. It was hard, but I loved him anyway. Growing up in a home where marriage was important, I couldn't afford to let my family down. My marriage had to work.

Every time I got pregnant, Evan beat me until I lost the baby. After several miscarriages and injuries, you would wonder why I stayed. As much as I wanted to leave. There seemed to be no way out for me.

I could hardly sleep through the night. I cried so much that I soon fell asleep. The buzzing sound of the alarm woke me up in the morning. I opened my eyes to see Evan holding a tray over my head. He had brought me breakfast.

" Hello beautiful, sorry about last night, I don't know what happened." He apologized, sincerity laced in his voice.

I got up and sat by the bed, " I brought you breakfast." He said as he dropped the tray and handed me a cup of coffee.

" No Evan, you don't get to do this, not after last night, you hit me, raped me and now a cup of coffee makes it fine." I blurted out pushing the coffee away, it spilled all over the sheets and poured on him.

" Shit!!! Are you crazy Lena?" He asked me with fury in his eyes.

" Look what you did." He said pointing at the sheets and he raised his hand to hit me.

" I am sorry." I pleaded, tears welling up my eyes and I trembled in fear. He paused and looked at me for a while.

" I love you Lena, stop being stubborn."he said and kissed me,

" Take this, have some food, it took me a deal to make this for you." he said, handing me the tray full of scrambled eggs and some toasted bread. I took a bite and smiled. " Thank you." I said amidst tears.

As he left I dropped the food and since I had a class that morning, I hurriedly got ready to leave for work.

I applied makeup to cover the scars on my face. After the slap from last night I had a black eye and could not afford anyone seeing it.

I got some sunshade and wore it and just as I was about to leave, Evan's voice stopped me, " I am so sorry about yesterday, you know I love you."

" I do and I love you too. " I faked a smile and grabbed my keys to leave.

I drove to work drowning myself in the songs that played from the CD player in the car, my mind filled with thoughts of what had transpired the night before.

" Will Evan ever learn to treat me right?" I thought to myself.

Still consumed in my thoughts, the car soon came to a halt. I looked at the mirror, " You are stronger than you know, Lena." I told myself, staring at my reflection on the rear view mirror. I got off with my bag and pile of papers. They were the tests from last week. I was going to hand it back to the students so they could see their scores.

I walked to the class trying not to think too much about my miserable life and as I got to the hallway, I stumbled as a feeling of unease overcame me. The sounds of the students surrounding me dwindled into the background as the air became heavier.

It was then that I saw him.

He was standing close to me, he was strangely familiar and just then, a sudden realization hit me when his gaze met mine.

" THIS CAN'T BE, YOU ARE DEAD. I muttered inaudibly. My surroundings became hazy, and darkness covered everywhere. The only thing visible in the darkness was the man covered in a hoodie.

He moved closer, I was scared to my bones and could barely move. I stood staring at him, unable to do anything. His presence was overwhelming and it numbed me.

"You can't run forever, Lena," he said, his voice echoing as he spoke in the darkness.

"ITS HIS DEMONS OR YOURS."

Suddenly, everything fell back to place.

I gasped, my heart pounding as I quickly blinked, attempting to ground myself. The hallway was as it had been before. Students shuffled past, laughing and chatting, ignorant about what had just happened to me.

"Ma'am? Are you okay?"

I turned to see a young man in front of me holding the papers I had dropped. He was one of the students, he stared at me, his brow furrowed in concern.

"You dropped these," he said, offering them to me, staring at me suspiciously.

I stared at him, trying to make sense of what had just happened. My hands trembled as I took the papers from him.

"Thank you," I murmured, my voice shaky.

The student hesitated. "Are you sure you're alright?"

I nodded, forcing a smile. "I'm fine. Just... a little distracted."

He gave me a suspicious look but when he pressed further, I snapped at him and walked away clutching the papers to my chest.

"You can't run forever, Lena. It's his demons... or yours." As I walked away, the words echoed in my mind as my heart raced.

HE IS BACK... I muttered quietly as I walked to my office, scared to my bones about what had just happened.

My sins were haunting me, he was back to make me pay.

Chapter 0002

FEAR, THREATS AND TERROR.

RYAN'

"Oh my!!!" I heard someone scream as I bumped into her, distracted by my phone. The papers she was holding were scattered everywhere. Feeling upset, I knelt down to pick them up and apologized.

"I'm sorry, I didn't see you coming." I apologized and got up to give her the papers.

Then I saw her.

She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. No insults to my mother. Her hair was immaculate and framed her face perfectly. When the wind blew, a few strands of it covered her face, revealing her mystical beauty.

For a moment I was lost in my own world.

As she took the papers from me, our hands met and a wave of electricity went through me. It felt as if fate had orchestrated our meeting.

It was so perfect.

As I stared at her. I couldn't help but notice that she was lost in thought, staring at nothing in particular, mumbling inaudibly.

She had a black eye, obviously from a punch that her makeup didn't do a good job of hiding. I continued to stare and noticed some bruises around her wrist. I tried to touch the bruises and she recoiled in horror, quickly pulling her hand back and adjusting her sleeves to hide them from view.

"Are you okay?" I asked, concern in my voice.

She glared at me. "Mind your own business," she snapped, grabbing the papers and walking away. Her heels clicked sharply on the floor, echoing down the hall.

I stood frozen, watching her disappear. There was something about her that captivated me. An attraction drew me to her. I was sure what it was.

"Ryan!" Eddy's voice brought me back to reality. He was my high school buddy, and we happened to be in the same college. He had started earlier than me, so he knew the teachers and how the school worked. I was a freshman and was walking to meet him when I ran into her.

We were supposed to go to class that morning.

You're blocking the hallway. Let's go." He said, gesturing for us to go to class. As we walked to class, I couldn't stop thinking about her.

"Who is she?" I whispered, my mind still reeling from the encounter.

"Who?" Eddy looked at me, confused.

I gestured in the direction she had gone. "Her. The one I bumped into."

"She's the new professor, I hear she's so good, but." He paused, scrolling through his phone.

"But what?" I asked curiously, "You should see this?" he said, turning the phone so I could see it. He noticed my attention was on Professor Elena and looked at me suspiciously, "She's beautiful." I muttered, still staring in her direction.

"Are you okay? Why are you staring at her like that?" He asked, tapping me, snapping me out of my reverie.

"Nothing, it's just, I stopped for a moment. Let's go to class." I said walking away, he followed me, still looking at me with confusion in his eyes.

"Try to stay out of her way, you don't want to have any problems with her class." Eddy advised.

"Why not?" I asked intrigued.

"Oh man, because she is the ice queen. Beautiful? Sure. But trust me, you don't want to get involved with her. Besides, she is married."

"Why do they call her the Ice Queen? Is that a thing?

"It's Ryan. She is cold." He stopped and stared to see if anyone was around. It was suspicious, but I was curious to listen.

"There are rumors, but no one knows for sure."

I couldn't get the image of her out of my mind. Her beauty was breathtaking and the mystery around her was captivating.

When Eddy noticed that I wasn't responding, he turned his gaze to me, concern written all over his face.

"Did you hear me, Ryan?" He asked and I nodded, "Of course, stay away from her, right?"

Eddy nodded, emphasizing what he had said earlier. I chuckled, "I know better than to take your advice."

Satisfied, Eddy walked on and we got to class.

Surprisingly, we had her class that morning. When she entered the classroom later, my heart raced. Throughout the class, my eyes kept drifting to her, her every move fueling my curiosity.

.

"At the end of the class, she asked if we had any questions. I had barely listened to the lecture because I had been staring at her the whole time, but I raised my hand. I didn't know why, but I just wanted a chance to talk to her. Yes," she said, pointing in my direction.

I stood up, suddenly excited. I didn't even know what the lesson was about. As her eyes locked with mine, my mind suddenly went blank.

I stammered, not knowing what to say, and before I knew it, I blurted out:

"Why are you so beautiful?

Soon everyone started laughing, she smiled and then suddenly her expression darkened as she silenced the class.

"Quiet everyone!" She shouted and the class fell silent.

"What does this have to do with the lesson?" she snapped. "Sit down, Mr...?"

"Ryan," I said quickly, a sheepish grin on my face.

"Mr. Ryan," she repeated icily. "Next time ask something important and don't disrupt my class again." She warned.

In the days that followed, my fascination with Elena only grew. Despite Eddy's warnings, I couldn't resist the urge to find out more about her. I wasn't sure what was going on, but I knew I had to find out.

One night while I was studying in the library, I overheard two students talking in low tones. "That's why she behaves the way she does," I overheard one student say.

"Excuse me, I couldn't help but overhear what you said. Is what you just said true?" I asked the student with a mixture of concern and curiosity.

The student looked at me cautiously before whispering, "Yes, I heard that her husband is responsible, he molests her. "My heart sank at the mention of her husband's involvement.

"That's all lies, besides why wouldn't she try to get help?" The other student said, "Wait, she is married?" I asked, curiosity in my voice.

"You didn't know she was married?" The other student asked skeptically. "Well, I heard she was, but she's not wearing a wedding ring, so I didn't think she was." I said calmly.

"Oh, I also heard that he watches her, you know, so no one comes near her." She whispered.

"He doesn't want her to get help."

"You mean her husband?" the other asked.

"Yes, but no one knows the whole story."

This news only increased my curiosity. "What did she go through in her marriage? Was she happy?" The questions seemed endless with no answers. I had to find out for myself and decided to go see her one day after class.

My timing couldn't have been worse, but I needed to know what was going on.

When she saw me, she sighed. "Hello Mr. ......" Ryan. I interrupted, she had forgotten my name again.

"What do you want?"

"I wanted to see you, I wanted to ask you something." I said quietly.

"What did you want to ask?"

" Are you okay, ma'am? I couldn't help but notice..." she snapped, interrupting me.

"What makes you think I'm not?"

"I saw the bruises," I admitted. "If... if you need help..." "Stop," she cut me off sharply. "Stay out of my life." She said harshly, anger in her voice.

But I couldn't help but notice the fear in her anger.

She opened the door and walked into her office, slamming the door in my face. As she opened the door, I couldn't help but notice a picture on her desk. It was a picture of her with a man.

She was beautiful as always, but there was fear in her eyes. "What was she so afraid of?" I thought to myself as my mind raced with questions.

"Was her husband abusing her? Was she okay?" The stream of questions seemed endless with no answers.

As I drove home, strange things began to happen. My phone beeped, and when I checked it, I noticed it was a text message from her unknown number.

"Stay away from her."

At first I thought it was a prank, but then I got another message. This one was scarier than the first. It contained a photo of me talking to Elena outside her office.

"Was someone really watching her?" I thought to myself.

I pushed the thought away and went to my room. When I got to my room, I found a note on the door.

"Some lines shouldn't be crossed, Ryan. Stay away," I saw the words and shivers ran down my spine. The words were written in red ink, dripping down the door. I touched the ink and a sudden realization hit me. It was not ink or paint as I thought, it was blood.

Someone knew my name. Someone wanted me to stop, and they were threatening me, showing me how dangerous they were.

As much as I wanted to, I couldn't. The threats only fueled my curiosity. I had to know the truth.

"Who is behind all this and why?" I asked myself.

Chapter 0003

THE PARCEL

ELENA

" I am so tired." I yawned from exhaustion after a long day of work. I leaned back in my chair to rest. I stared into the empty room and thought about what had happened in class.

"How rude!!" I sighed irritably as the thoughts of Ryan's outburst in class lingered in my mind.

I thought about the mess that my life had become. First, Evan's suffocating control and abuse, and now Ryan was invading my peace at work.

Suddenly the door creaked open, I lifted my head to see who it was and realized it was Diva.

"Going home? She asked, looking all packed up and ready to go home. "Not now, I have to finish this work." I said pointing to the pile of papers in front of me, it was the students test and I needed to grade them so they could get their results.

"I can't wait for you, I guess I'll go ahead." She said and I nodded in agreement, "Don't forget what I told you." She told me and left the office.

I sighed deeply as I thought about what she had said. If I let her know what was at stake, I couldn't tell her or anyone else about it, it was a secret to the grave for me. I couldn't divorce Evan and I guess I wanted to go along with her plan and see how it worked.

I was pressed and decided to go to the ladies' room. I left the office and returned to find a package on my desk. I looked at the door, wondering who might have come in when I went to the bathroom.

I saw no one. I went to see what the package was, I was scared but I had to open it to see what it was.

"Was it from Evan?" I asked curiously, grinning to myself, I continued to open it.

It was the most beautiful gift ever, a bracelet with my name written on it, LENA...

I went on to open the attached note, "To the most beautiful woman there is, I hope this makes your day."

"Of course it made my day, I could stop blushing over the gift. As optimistic as I was that the package could be from Evan, I was tired of getting gifts every time he hits me. I checked the back of the note to see who it was from.

"RYAN." I muttered to myself, "Who is Ryan? And why did he send me gifts?" I thought to myself and a sudden realization hit me.

The student from earlier who had bumped into me and made a scene in class, disappointed, I picked up the package and threw it in the trash.

"How dare he? Who did he think he was sending me gifts?" I muttered angrily, too angry to think or work, I dropped the papers I was supposed to grade, picked up my bag and went home.

I had a lot going on in my life and didn't need a college student sending me romantic gifts.

As I drove home. I got to the door. I looked in my bag and couldn't find my keys. It seemed that I had forgotten to take them with me. I decided to knock and wait for a while and got no answer. Frustrated, I looked through the bag again and saw the keys.

"Thank goodness." I exclaimed as I rushed in, wanting to make dinner before Evan returned. I was not ready for his demons today.As I walked into the house I noticed some clothes on the floor and picked them up. I realized they were Evan's clothes. I quickly picked them up, not wanting him to see them lying on the floor.

"Those are Evan's clothes," I said, relieved because I was afraid someone had broken in before I arrived. As I picked up the clothes, I noticed some flowers leading up to the room. I smiled, knowing that Evan had planned something nice to apologize to me. I went up to the room.

" What did he have in mind?" I thought to myself as I walked up the room. As I approached the bedroom, I heard a commotion and rushed over to find out what was going on.

"Oh my, what is going on?" I shouted at what I had just witnessed as the door burst open, the clothes falling from my hands as tears rolled down my cheeks. More than I expected, I had gotten the surprise of my life.

"Evan was here with a gun, sitting in the corner of the bed, staring at something on his phone."

"How could you, Lena? How could you?" He asked, his voice barely above a whisper. I stood numb as tears streamed down my eyes, unable to move.

"Evan," I called out, my voice barely above a whisper, "what's wrong?"

"I've always loved you and you want to leave me?" He yelled as he turned to face me, anger in his eyes.

"Uhh, Evan," I stammered. "I would ne...ver, think about it, I love you, remember."

"Lies, lies. Don't pretend anything, Lena." He shouted and I jumped in fear, "I have the recording, you know?" He said, playing the conversation between Diva and me. "How did he get it?" I asked. Trembling with fear, I tried to save the situation.

"You have a gun, Evan. Drop it so we can talk. The recording is fake. I swear I will never leave you. "I said, tears streaming down my cheeks.

"She's a liar, Evan. Everything on that recording is true. Diva said, she had come in while we were talking.

"Why are you here? Did you send him the recording?" I asked her, anger in my voice.

"Of course, I can't watch you give up on your marriage. I could play the recording if you want, so you can hear yourself. She smiled mockingly.

Shocked to my bones, I opened my mouth in awe. This was her plan, not mine. It's okay, Diva. Don't worry about it." I muttered.

"I told you Evan, she is no good for you. Just divorce her." She told him smiling like the conniving bitch she was.

"Lena, I will kill you if you leave me. I love you too much to see you with another man." He threatened, pointing the gun at me. He dropped the gun and walked over to Diva, "Thank you for keeping an eye on her for me."

"It's nothing." Diva smiled back at him, "But wait, are you serious, after everything you just heard, I thought you were going to leave her." Diva said with confusion on her face.

"I loved her too much, we were going to be together forever." He said as he walked back to me, pulling me to him.

He stood up, picked up a glass of wine and walked towards me, "Cheers to a long life together Lena. " Laughing mischievously he walked away to get a bottle of wine leaving Diva and me alone in the room.

"Backstabbing bitch.... This was all your idea." I yelled at her as I approached her angrily, wanting to pull her hair and beat her into a puppy.

"Fool, I did this for you, don't you see." She said and I paused for a moment to assess the situation, "Could this really be for me?"