Brian stared at Fiona in a way that she had gone insane.

Then he thought that she might again be got mentally unstable from the shock.

"Listen, dear. You are not thinking straight. Let's go to your room and talk. I know you are hurt but I wouldn’t let him hurt you anymore." Brian went to her and tried to take her to her room.

"Dad, please stop," Fiona said.

"I know what are you thinking. You love me. But rest assured. I am completely sane and thinking straight. To be more accurate, I have never thought this straight ever." Fiona spoke.

Brian shook his head in utter disapproval.

"No, I can't let you destroy your life before my eyes, dear. You shut up and let's go with me." Brian ordered her.

Fiona smiled at him.

"Dad, my life has reached the rock bottom. There is no way that I can destroy it farther. Can I?" Fiona asked.

Brian felt pain for his daughter, how her life took such a turn? But it didn't mean her life was over. She was his precious daughter and he would never let her play with it. Just the inability to bear a child doesn't make someone this miserable. She was still the apple of his eyes.

"Your life is yours. You can shape it again. Today, we will leave this damned place." Brian said in a firm voice.

"No, dad. I want to give him a chance." Fiona was impassive.

"Fiona!" Brian yelled at her. He never raised his voice at her like this, Fiona flinched. Her eyes welled up with tears.

Brian closed his eyes and said, "I am sorry. Please don't be mad at dad. Don't be like this. Dad can't see you do this mistake." Brian pleaded.

"Dad, I am done hurting. I was hurt when I was innocent. This time I won't get hurt. Do you know why?" Fiona remarked.

Brian frowned at her.

"Because I am not innocent anymore I am corrupted," Fiona stated.

"I have listened to you the whole life, dad. This time please listen to me. And do you know that I missed your lamb curry rice? Will you cook for us? Please, dad?" Fiona made puppy eyes, shifting the whole conversation in a different phase.

"Well, I will cook for you. But as your dad, you will state the conditions before me. I want to hear them." Brian uttered and Fiona nodded.

"Okay." Fiona entered the room holding Brian's hand.

She looked at the face of Adam. She carefully scrutinized his expression. His expression was impassive and hard as ever but his eyes were soft. This was very rare for a cold-blooded killer.

"You want to marry me? Then you were serious when you said you wanted to take care of me." Fiona asserted.

"I am serious about you. I want a chance to make it all up to you." Adam to you.

Fiona's eyes flashed in pure rage. She gritted her teeth. "Who do you think are? That marrying you will make everything okay?" She glared at him.

"However, when you want to make amends, I will let you. But you can't marry me for nothing. I hate you. And I am sure that you don’t love me either. But if I marry you then we must love each other." Fiona declared.

"Most importantly you have to love me because you want to marry me in the first place. You must make me feel cherished. You have to give me everything I could have if you didn't kidnap me in the first place. And this is the first condition of the list."

Adam's eyes widened. He never thought she would say something like this.

Love? What is love? The person I loved died two decades ago. From then I buried the feeling deep inside. Am I even capable of love?

Adam wondered.

But if I can't love her, I would lose her. I can't lose her. If I need to love that badly, I will learn to love her.

Adam thought.

"Okay. I will love you." Adam responded.

"Very good. I won't marry you until I feel that you love me, madly. The day you will make me feel that you are madly in love with me, the next day we will marry. And this is my first condition." Fiona divulged.

"This is utter insanity!" Brian interjected angrily. But Fiona and Adam both ignored him.

"What about your other conditions?"

Adam questioned.

"Yes. You will not treat me or my family as prisoners. My dad is innocent as well. You can't misbehave with him, you can't scare my brother too. If we live here, we will live as is it our home, not we are some prisoners." Fiona added.

Adam agreed, "Of course."

"And I want my old life back, as much as I can. I want to continue my engineering study at a university and you will let me. You will bear the expenses of that. You will help my father to build a new house with your money. Because solely you were the reason that it was destroyed. You can't put restrictions over my activities and will let me lead a free life. I will live my life as other girls of my life."

"You can never lay your hand on me neither disrespect me ever! The same goes for my family. If anything like this happens, the marriage is off and we will leave this house that instant." Fiona seriously spoke.

Adam spoke, "Of course."

"Lastly, you will believe me. And we will get married someday, you will treat me as your equal. Never keep your secret from me. You have to pamper me, spoil me. You will take me on lots of dates. If I am upset, you will listen to my rants. You can't yell or shout at me." Fiona clarified.

The last condition of her was so surprising that even Brian left stunned. He came to her daughter and touched her forehead.

"Are you alright, sweetie?" Brian thought Fiona was out of her mind.

"Dad! I am fine." She rolled her eyes. Adam stared at Fiona with amused eyes. Then spoke, "I have no objection to any of these conditions. Do you want our first date tonight?"

Fiona flashed him her sweetest smile. Adam suddenly felt fast-beating at the left side of his chest watching her smile.

"Yes, please. I will be ready at 7 pm." Fiona showed her thumb. Brian glared at his daughter and left the room in anger.

She saw her father leaving, and now she was alone with Adam. She just proposed so many conditions before him and he agreed easily. But she still could remember all the horrific deeds he did to her.

After her father left, her heart started beating fast in dread.

"Adam, I still feel very scared around you. Yet, I am giving you a chance to make up. But it's not forever. Your time is exactly one year to make me fall for you and yours falling for me. I don't know if it's even possible for us. I saw the worst side of you. It depends on you what can you do to make me forget those and make me love you. Can you love me? I have nothing but a shattered heart now. My body, spirit, you destroyed it all. Can you love the destroyed, damaged version of mine?" Fiona acknowledged.

"I know why you keep these conditions before me, Fiona. I don't know if you love me or not. But I will love you with my everything. Who knows maybe I already do?" Adam mentioned. But hearing that Fiona ran out of the room and went to her room. She closed the door and stood against the door. Her heart was beating abnormally fast.

The path I chose isn’t easy. It's a way of irreversible sin. The sin of love. She burst into loud sobs and cried her hearts out.

The heaviness of her chest didn't just go away. It just increased day by day.

.........................

That day during 7 pm,

Fiona wore a beautiful peach colored knee-length dress and a pair of wedge heel shoes. She tied her hair in a messy bun and waited for Adam in her room. She was feeling extremely weird because she was about to go on a date with the person she hated most.

She heard a knock in her door and said, "Come in." Adam entered her room wearing a denim pant and a black shirt. The shirt fitted his muscled chest and he was looking extremely handsome.

Fiona stood up from the vanity stool and walked to Adam.

"I am ready. Am I looking good?" She asked.