“When did you become such a scaredy-cat?” Xander teased, a charming smile on his face.“What are you doing here?” I asked, slightly bewildered.“I missed you, of course! That’s why I came.” He pressed my body back down onto the chair and reached forward to continue his massage.I instinctively tried to avoid his hands, but he clamped me down and ordered, “Don’t move.”His tone was demanding, which was rare. As his hands worked their magic, using just the right amount of force, I really began to feel like I was in a massage parlor. I let him continue.After a while, he retracted his hands and handed me a glass of water. “How do you feel? Do you need to go to the hospital?”“I’m feeling better, no need for hospitals. I still gotta head back to the office for a meeting.” I clutched the glass of water in my hands and took a sip from it.Xander was quiet. He pulled out a chair and sat in front of me. He stared intently at me for a long while before asking, his tone stern and firm, “D
When Mason saw me walk in, he put down his phone. He looked at me and asked, “How was the site recce?”“Not too bad. Do you need anything from me?” His schedule was not free enough for him to come all this way just to play with his phone.“I told you this morning that I’d send you some soup.” He passed me a container. “Drink this while it’s still hot. It’s good for suppressing nausea.”“Thank you.” I was grateful. He had been very attentive to me and my troubles recently, and I felt bad he had had to come all this way. “I’ll buy you a meal someday to make up for this.”“That’ll have to wait till after you’re done with this whole spokesperson thing. I heard you’re organizing a huge talent show for this?” Mason sounded like he had just learned about it.“Yeah, so it can be fair and no one feels insulted,” I joked.He lifted his head to look at me. “Do you ever wonder if the reason Theo passed this job to you was that he didn’t wanna work with Newlight any longer? What are you gonna
“Do you know the man who was with her?” My first reaction was to ask that.Cecilia shook her head and said, “I think I heard Cindy call him Zedd.”Zedd Nichols. No wonder they had not come to me looking for trouble. They had changed their strategy and had chosen to target Cecilia instead.Had they done this to Cecilia just to get back at me?Things were no longer as simple as I previously thought.I felt a headache coming on. After comforting Cecilia and promising her that I would get to the bottom of this, I left the interrogation room. Mason was waiting for me in the hall. When he saw me coming out, he walked up to steady me. “Are you okay?”I shook my head. “If she’s found guilty, how many years is she gonna have to serve?”“Possibly three to seven years, and it could go up to more than seven years too. It all depends on the victim’s condition and what the policemen say about it,” Mason answered solemnly.My knees gave way, and I lost my balance. How cruel could Cindy Reed b
Theo hugged me very tightly, so tight I could hardly breathe. I had never seen him like this—fragile and perhaps a little bit clingy.He buried his head into the crook of my neck and murmured, “Let’s just be happy from today onwards. Let’s not fight anymore.”The warmth of his breath stroked my ears, as well as that low, velvety voice of his.Theo pulled me in closer and said, “Don’t move, let me hug you for a little while longer.” His voice was resounding and left no room for me to deny him what he wanted.All I could do was sit in his arms and listen to his murmuring.It was a rare atmosphere, one that held both harmony and tenderness.I was not used to this. A dull fire rose from the bottom of my heart as I wiggled around and tried to get up.He chuckled softly. He seemed to be in a pretty good mood.I was speechless. My body was stiff, and I did not know what to do. To be honest, I had mixed feelings about how he was acting right now—a little conflicted, a little awful.Th
“Whatever it is, we can talk about it tomorrow .” He caressed my back gently in an attempt to coax me back to sleep.“No, this is urgent, I need to ask you about it tonight.” I shook his arms fervently.He pecked me on the forehead, his eyes still closed. “Okay, then tell me. I’m listening.”“Cecilia was accused of drunk driving and a hit-and-run, but it’s all a setup! I’m begging you, can you help her, please?”He shuddered a little and slowly let go of my arms. When he opened his eyes. they were icy cold. Theo asked me coldly, “Is this why you came home tonight?”I felt timid as his icy stare bored into me intently. I wanted to deny it, but I could not find the right words to say.“Was that why you initiated things with me tonight?” His voice was cold, a clear bloodlust in his tone. “Wanda Lane, do you think that I’m that revolting? So you had no reaction at all, but you had to force yourself to please me?”I shook my head quickly, answering hastily, “No… it’s nothing like tha
My eyes were still tightly shut when I finished speaking. I did not dare to look at Theo’s reaction.“Don’t worry, we will try our best. Let’s get you to the emergency room right away and inform the OB/GYN about this.” I was quickly pushed into the emergency operating theatre.Right before I was wheeled in, I caught a glimpse of the pain on Theo’s face. His hands were balled up into fists and he was punching the wall repeatedly.My heart hurt so much I could barely breathe. It was all my fault. It was all because of my stubbornness and my rashness when it came to making decisions. If the baby was gone, just like this, I would be the greatest sinner of all time. I would never be able to forgive myself.When I woke up again, whiteness greeted me. I was laying in a hospital bed, and Theo was staring at me intently. I had never seen him look so tired and roughed up before. The memories of what had happened came rushing back into my mind.“My baby.” I jumped up from the bed and reached
After the nurse left, I sat there, staring into space as a warmth rose from within my heart. It looked like he cared more about me than he showed and was not as cold as he portrayed.Theo walked in after he was done with his phone call. I recalled what the doctor had said and snickered.“How audacious of you to laugh! If not for you, would I have been publicly reprimanded like that?” He lifted his fingers and flicked me on my forehead.“Ouch… It hurts,” I covered my forehead and cried out in exaggeration.He ignored me, looking intently at the drip bottle.“I’m hungry, Theo,” I tugged on his sleeves as I said in a pitiful voice.“What do you feel like eating? I’ll buy it for you.” He proceeded to get up, ready to go out the door.“I wanna eat your cooking. Let’s go home, please?” I actually just wanted to go home. I really disliked staying in the hospital. Since the doctor had said that my baby was okay, I would rather rest at home.Theo frowned. “No, the doctors said you’d ha
I made a face and kept quiet.“Are you worried it’ll be bitter?” After a short while, he grinned. He lifted his eyebrows up a little, his eyes shining like the sun and his smile extremely alluring. It was a shame he did not smile often.He got up, took a bottle of honey out of the fridge, scooped out a few spoonfuls, dissolved it in water, and passed the cup to me. He said, “It won’t be bitter anymore after this! Let’s eat that medicine now. There’s a good girl!”I… Was he treating me like I was three?Exasperated, I took the cup and gulped it down.Once I was done with the medicine, he took the cup from my hands and washed it in the sink.It was a surreal feeling watching him, with his tall and lanky frame, slave away in the kitchen. Tonight, he was giving me all his love, and it felt unreal, like a dream I had stolen for myself temporarily.There were ripples in my heart even though it was obvious he was only doing all of this for the baby.“What are you thinking about?” Whil