Chapter 298: A Horrific Nightmare
Alex went to sleep shortly after returning to his hotel. He did not even bother to check the encrypted files which were sent to him by Iranian Intelligence. At least not until the following morning. He was well and truly exhausted from the events that preceded him on this day.
And in the end, he found allies in the most unlikely of places. Regardless, Alex decided to make use of an ability in his sleep that he had neglected for a very long time. Simply because, until now, he did not need them.
While the Queen of Hearts had encouraged Alex to make use of his ability [Nightmares] on La Madre, in the end, Alex had followed his own path to success. One he did not regret. But knowing that he would need to play his cards right and use every advantage available to him to coerce Aisha into falling in love with him.
Alex connected himself to the girl’s dreams. However, unlike in the past, when he had used this ability, Alex did not drag his rival into them. Instead, it was solely him and Aisha. The setting of the dream was a small rural home in an area that Aisha was unfamiliar with.
She was wearing a lavish silk dress and was in a peculiar state. There was a little girl by her side who she was playing with. The girl was unknown to her. In fact, she had never met this girl at all in her life. But at the same time, there was a very deep connection between the two of them, one that only a mother and her child would have.
In fact, this girl was very clearly her own, as one could see the family resemblance. But there was another person’s features mixed within. The young girl was half Caucasian and half Arab. Displaying Alex’s blue eyes, as she cried out for her mother.
“Mommy! When is daddy going to be home?”
Aisha did not know why, nor could she control it, but she answered the young girl with a loving smile on her face.
“Your father is an incredibly important and busy man. You will have to be patient for his return.”
And just like this, Alex appeared, walking through the door while dressed in a royal ensemble. His hair was not in its usual style and was instead slicked back in a regal display. The man quickly approached his “wife” and “daughter” with the same smile on his face that Aisha had.
All the while, their young “daughter” rushed towards him.
“Yay, daddy’s home!”
Alex appeared genuinely happy as he picked the young girl up, who could not possibly be older than five, and swung her around as if he were a human carousel, he then placed the girl down, and kissed her on the forehead in an affectionate display.
“How’s my favorite little girl doing? And how is her beautiful mother on this wonderful day?”
Aisha approached her “husband” and kissed him on the lips. It was a strange and alien feeling to the woman who had never experienced such a thing before, yet it felt vaguely familiar, as if she it was a routine part of her life.
Realizing that Aisha was truly tainted by Alex, a look of utter hatred appeared in his eyes, as he dusted his hands off of his failure and walked out the door, but not before giving one last order to the gunmen beneath his command.
“Kill the girl first, then the whore...”
With that said, Ali left the room, where the gunmen did exactly that. Aisha wanted more than anything to protect her young daughter and take a bullet for her, but her body froze, completely incapable of moving as she saw the girl shot and murdered, just like her father.
Tears streamed from Aisha’s eyes as she fell to her knees, sobbing. Screaming at Ali, the words in her heart. But these were not words that Alex forced her to say, unlike everything else that had been perfectly scripted until now. These were her own genuine thoughts, which she yelled so loud that even Ali heard them as he walked out the door.
“I hate you!”
In the next moment, the guards fired another shot, killing Aisha like they had done her daughter seconds prior.
—
Aisha woke with a fright in the middle of the night. She was covered in sweat, and what were clearly tears. She continued to sob for the little girl who she had never learned the name of. A little girl that was not real, and one who would not have the possibility of becoming real thanks to her father’s declaration earlier in the night.
She was visibly distraught, believing that the Ali she had met in the dream was really the man in life. She despised the man for what he had done in her dream and dreaded the idea of marrying him. Even if this entire thing was simply a conjuration made by Alex specifically to invoke feelings of hatred towards his rival.
And it worked like a charm. Because Alex too awoke the same time as Aisha, and when he did he saw something that made him smile something sinister.
[Aisha is terrified of the prospect of marrying Ali!]
[-25 Affection from Aisha to Ali]
[Aisha’s Affection to Ali: -25/100]
Alex had dealt a hefty blow to his rival, and the man did not even yet realize he was in competition for Aisha’s love. Obviously, Alex would not dare to start another nightmare, because if he did he might genuinely cause long-lasting distress to the woman he was trying to win over.
And thus he rested his head on his pillow and fell back to sleep, content with the progress he had made on this day.