On the other side of the door, Lilly sat quietly as her tears flowed down her pink cheeks. She understood now why those three words were a nightmare to him. She understood now why he acted like that the past week.

Then she looked at the photos he had slipped earlier from under the door. It was at the entrance of Ashton's office building. The timestamp on which showed Mila entering the lobby just 5 minutes earlier than her. He had said that this was the proof of his innocence and if she needed more proofs then he would do whatever she would say to prove his innocence.

Earlier she had closed the door because she did not want to see his face but now she was not sure what she would do on opening the door. How would she face him after pushing him to his limits so mercilessly? She rested her head against the door as tears continued to flow down her cheeks.

They both sat there on opposite sides of the door for how long neither of them had any idea nor they were sure of what to say next.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Ashton... Ashton." he heard someone calling his name. Turning around he found his mother standing there.

"Hey, my boy." she smiled looking at him.

"Mom?" Ashton looked at her in disbelief. She was there in front of his eyes but before he could go to her a small child outran him.

She hugged him and picked him up in her arms. The child looked to him like the smaller version of himself. His mom kissed on his chubby cheeks lovingly as she smiled at him, "I love you, my baby."

" I love you too, mommy." The boy beamed at her.

The next moment he saw the same woman lying in a coffin.

"Mommy...!"

He saw the little child screaming and crying while a maid dragged him away.

"I want to go to my mommy."

"You scoundrel!" Ashton felt someone pulling him by his collar. It was his dad, Arthur.

"You killed her, you bastard!"

"No..." Ashton could feel the sweat beads covering his forehead.

"You killed your mother."

"No... I didn't." Ashton repeated, "No..."

"We need to keep Sebastian away from him. He is dangerous." Elsie interrupted. "He kills everyone who goes near him. You are nothing but a curse for the people around you, Ashton."

"You killed me, Ashton." He heard his mother's voice from behind him. Turning around he found her looking at him. She looked pale, weak and sad.

"Mom..."

"You killed me, Ashton." His mother said with tears in her eyes.

"No... no..." he shook his head repeatedly. He felt like he would choke on air. He couldn't breathe. It felt as if he was drowning in the deep sea with his feet tied to a rock with no way to escape.

"No...no!!" screaming he opened his eyes and realised he was still sitting in front of the guest room.

His whole body was drenched in sweat and his heart was beating crazily. He noticed the door was open now. He got up on his unsteady feet and walked into the room only to find it empty.

"She left... she left me," he repeated the words in shock and disbelief. He picked up a vase that came in his hand and threw it with full force on the wall, breaking it into thousands of tiny pieces just like the way she had broken his heart.

"She left me too." angrily he hit his fist on the mirror not caring about the glass that pierced his skin. She too had said those three words and then left him alone. She too lied like his mother.

"Liar!"

He hit his fist again on the broken mirror. But just then he remembered something.

"Sam. She won't leave without Sam."

"Sam!" He walked out of the room calling for the toddler. "Sam?" He called again but there was no reply.

Grace walked out of the kitchen looking worriedly at Ashton. "What happened, Ashton?"

"Where is Sam?"

" Sam went out with Lilly just now."

"Why did you let them go?" Ashton's angry voice made her flinch in terror.

"They just went out for a-" Grace tried to speak but before she could even complete the sentence he rushed out of the house and walked to his car hoping to catch them before he lost them forever.

Just as he opened the door to the driver's wheel he saw his wife and child entering the villa and without thinking anything else he ran to them.

"Where the hell were you?" He almost shouted at Lilly making the toddler flinch at his harsh voice.

The boy started crying as he hid his head in Lilly's chest.

"Hey, baby. It's alright. I'm here." Lilly cooed to the baby while gently rubbing his back. "Shh... it's alright."

Just then Grace came running to them and took little Samuel in her arms.

"You both talk to each other. I am taking him inside. I'll look after him." she said and took Sam inside as she cooed to him and promised to punish both the adults later for making him cry.

When Grace left with Sam Ashton hauled Lilly from her wrist and pulled her into the house. She was almost running to keep up with his long strides. He finally stopped when they entered their room.

Closing the door behind him he slammed her against a wall as he grabbed both her wrists in his one big hand. Pinning her hands above her head he pulled her closer by her waist and started kissing her ferociously. It was a possessive kiss as if he was marking her as his. It was a punishing kiss, a punishment for her trying to break her promise. When he finally let her go she was out of her breath.

"Where were you?" he asked angrily as he looked her in the eyes still holding her captive against the wall.

"I- I just went to buy something."

"If you need something just tell the driver. You will not step out of this house."

" Ashton," Lilly pursed her lips looking at him. "This is crazy."

"Say whatever you want but you will not leave my eyesight again." His eyes burned into hers.

She felt something ticklish on her bounded hands and looked up only to find it was blood running down from his hand.

"Ashton!" she pulled her wrists free and took his hand in hers. ''You are hurt! We need to go to the doctor-"

"No," Ashton said resolutely. "We are not going anywhere and you will not leave my eyesight ever again."

"Ashton, are you a child?" she held his other hand and made him sit on the bed as she quickly ran to the bathroom and brought a first aid box.

She crouched in front of him and taking his wounded hand in hers she started cleaning the wound. Once she was sure that no piece of glass was left she put the ointment and bandaged his wound.

As she was busy tending to his wound his eyes never left her. He was watching her every move. His gaze never left her. Not even for a second. He was scared that she might disappear as everyone else had and he didn't want that.

As she looked up into his eyes the only thing she could see was the fear of uncertainty. She had thought of so many possibilities during these past few days and had made so many scenarios in her head. She had thought that she will fight with him and get mad at him for leaving her like that for days and not returning home.

She had thought that she would fight with him for not answering his calls and get mad at him because he hadn't made even a single call.

There were also times when she thought that she will just get mad at him for a few minutes and then hug him tightly and never let him go away. She had thought that she will try to make him understand her feelings but the things now had turned out to be completely different from what she had imagined.

Everything was so unexpected. She had never thought of him to be so broken from inside. The man of authority and power she had seen from day one was nowhere to be found at this moment. And she wasn't sure whether it was the best thing of her life or a tragedy but she had fallen in love with this broken yet beautiful man. She had fallen so deep for him that she didn't even know if she could continue to exist without him by her side.

"Say something," Ashton said in a voice that could easily be mistaken for a whisper.

Still crouching in front of him she looked up again as she asked, "What do you want me to say?"

At this moment no words were coming to her head. She wasn't sure what exactly she would say if she tried to voice out her deepest thoughts.

He pulled her from her wrist and made her sit on his thigh. Very gently tucking a soft tendril behind her ear he took her chin between his finger and thumb as he made her look at him.

"Say that you will never leave me."