"I met Joaquin is one of the photoshoots. He was a gentleman, very polite and courteous, I thought he was a good person," she sighed, remembering, "He offered my manager a good deal so I could advertise his diamond company.

When he told me he wanted to show me the merchandise, I said yes, not knowing it was going to be in a restaurant, I expected to see him in his office. The next day the media said he gave me that bracelet and that we were dating. I didn't accept that bracelet in the pictures.

​​

Every time I would meet him somewhere accidentally, it would all be in the news or social media the next day. It was like they were setting us up.

And that news about me being disrespectful of their traditions, he didn't even bother to tell me that there was a dress code when he invited me to that party. Everyone ridiculed me, but then he was always there to defend me, so I thought he was very kind and nice to do that.

Then his sister in law invited me to this place one time, there were a lot of cult symbols and dead animals everywhere, I should have run when I saw that, but then, at the altar, he had tied his sister-in-law, and it looked like he was hurting her, but he was getting some sort of pleasure out of it. It was like some weird bondage stuff.

So I started avoiding him, but he kept on pestering me. He even got my assistant Bonnie to leave early and pretend she was sick.

He was waiting for me in my room and tried to force himself upon me, but I hit him on the head and was able to run away.

He was so mad that I was able to come home. So he released the drug photos, enlisted The Star Light to fire me, and when you took me in, he released the drunk photos," she said exhausted of all that trauma Joaquin was able to inflict on her.

Blake stared at her and caressed her face, "It meant that he had been targeting Sara from the beginning."

"He must have wanted something from you, did he want you to marry him?" he asked.

"He needed my help to enter the Maple kingdom," she replied.

"Do you know anybody from the Maple kingdom?" he frowned because he had heard about them and knew that they were very strong, and there was a myth about their treasure. He wondered how she got connected with them.

"We were doing one of our seaside shoots for this swimsuit company, and they chose an area near the Maple kingdom.

They had wanted me to get into the water to do those hair flick shots when I realized something was brushing up my leg.

I fished out the floating body of a very beautiful teenage girl. The doctor said she was drugged, but it didn't explain why she was at sea.

At first, I thought she was just one of the locals having some fun, but when she came to, she said she was the princess. Someone drugged her and threw her into the sea to drown.

We immediately informed her parents. It was a very tearful reunion. She had been gone for several weeks, and they thought surely, she was dead. They had thanked me profusely, saying that they would throw a huge celebration in honor of me finding their daughter.

I had declined because I was there for business. The princess still talks to me up to this day, inviting me to see her, and Joaquin wanted to use that opportunity to enter the palace," she narrated.

It was now clear to Blake that Joaquin was not really in love with Sara, and he was only using her to get more power.

"That bastard tried to kill Sara, and he's going to meet his end in my hand," he vowed, not realizing he was tightening his hold on her.

"Blake, say something, you're holding me too hard, and your silence is scaring me," she urged.

"Do you love him?" he said, staring into her moodily. He did not want to ask her the question because he did not really know if he would like the answer.

"What? Don't be absurd. How can I love a psychopath like Joaquin?" Sara stressed.

"But did you ever have feelings for him before that incident with his sister-in-law?" he had to know.

"No it wasn't anything like that, I just thought he was a nice guy and nothing more," she confessed.

She never had any romantic feelings for Joaquin. He was very handsome and was always a gentleman before he went psycho on her, but he never made her heart race, not like Blake.

Blake just had to look at her and her defenses crumbled, his touch excited her and made her throw caution into the wind. And when his arms were around her, she felt very safe, like she always belonged there.

He relaxed and started grinning, he couldn't contain his happiness. Sara never liked Joaquin, which means there was nobody in her life but him.

"Why are you so happy?" Sara asked curiously.

"Because I just learned that you don't have a bad taste when it comes to men," he said chuckling.

"Really? Then what about you," Sara asked.

"Choosing me was one of the best decisions you've made in your life," Blake boasted.

She prayed that he was right about that because right now, she's beginning to rely on him, and she didn't know what she would do if she lost him.

She was scared to confess because she did not want him to tell her that their relationship was just a contract and nothing else.

"You should go to sleep, my baby," he said, noticing that her eyes were drooping. She was getting lulled into sleep by his voice.

Blake, on the other hand, was very much awake. He had received the best news tonight, and he was too wired to sleep.

"She never loved anyone else," kept on floating in his mind. It was making him giddy, like when a kid finds their favorite toy under the Christmas tree.

He had liked her from the first moment he met her. She had intrigued him, but he was stubborn, he didn't want to acknowledge that his heart had already fallen for her before he did, his mind was at odds with his heart.

He became possessive when he learned that Joaquin might have been with her.

And the more he spent time with her, the more he fell for her. He knew there was no turning back when Joaquin held her hostage. The fear that took over him scared even him to death, he would give his life just to see her safe.

Once, he had asked Tristan how did he know that he loved Ava. He said that you'll know when you care more about her than yourself. He never understood it and just thought Tristan was just being poetic.

He never prioritized any woman above himself, he loved himself too much to waste his life on any woman. But now all he wanted was to be with Sara for the rest of his life.

Courting Sara was going to begin today, and he will make sure that her answer would be yes. He was going to make sure she had no other option but to be with him, he thought as he tightened his arms around her.

She released a soft moan, and he had to loosen his hold before he went too far.

He will fight all the odds to make Sara his beloved. Now he understood how Tristan completely changed once he fell in love with Ava.

Sara was now the most important thing in his life, more important than himself.

"My Baby," he thought smiling.

"Mine," he thought possessively, as he stared at her very lovely sleeping relaxed face.

She gave meaning to his life, it felt like he had never really been happy until she showed up in his life. Her resiliency and tenacity made a very deep impression on him, but he never knew that his heart would fall for her.

Sara never tried to impress him or faked who she really was, and that's what he liked the most about her.

"I love you, baby," Blake whispered as he touched her face. She was in deep sleep not knowing that Blake had just confessed.

"Don't even bother trying to run away from me," Blake said, "because I will always catch you, wild cat," he smirked.

It seems that the one who always tried to run away from commitment was now very eager to be in a relationship.

Now that he was in love, he would not give her a chance to escape.

Blake closed his eyes and slept peacefully, knowing that the most important treasure in his life was right beside him.