Tiffany Lane was still a vulnerable girl despite her carefree attitude. Having no experience in such a thing, she panicked a little. With her shaky hand, she rang Ethan’s number on her cell phone.Ethan just had to keep his phone turned off at a moment like this. She redialed to John Lane, her father. Fortunately, the call went through. But before she could even speak, John quickly answered with “I’m in a meeting” and hung up.She pounded on her steering wheel in anger when the call hung up. In a fleeting glimpse, she spotted the entrance to a basement parking lot and drove in without a second thought. It was dim inside so it was very difficult for people to drive around if they weren’t familiar with the place.Tiffany didn’t dare to drive very fast in here. She was taking a gamble to see if she was lucky enough to find an elevator if she had to abandon her car.As expected, the car behind her followed her into the parking lot. Up close now, she realized that it was a van. That mea
Jackson West didn’t seem to panic at all. He took off his black trench coat, as it restricted his movement, revealing the well-tailored suit he was wearing underneath it. He raised one leg and, without a beat, sent the big guy nearest to him flying with a kick.Tiffany was so anxious that her palm began to sweat. It was one up against so many people. Now that Jackson and her were in the same boat, both of them were done for if things went south. Although the guy had crazy long legs and seemed to be quite a fighter, she was still worried...To her surprise, all the big guys were down on the ground in just less than five minutes. Jackson didn’t even have to use his fists. If it weren’t for the fact that she already had Ethan, she would have fallen head over heels for him.After making sure that the big guys would no longer pose a threat to her, Tiffany tapped on the window and gestured for Jackson to unlock the door for her.Jackson picked up his trench coat from the ground, then dis
Just as Tiffany was about to leave, her gaze landed on Ethan as he nonchalantly turned on his computer again. He didn’t even bother to look at her or send her to the door.She took a deep breath after shutting the door. This was not the first time that she felt tired. This time, the feeling was much stronger than usual.…At the Tremont Estate, Arianne was completely unaware of whatever happened to Tiffany. She went straight back into the art studio after purchasing supplies. She only cleaned up and went downstairs when Mary called her down for dinner at night.She realized that every time Mary called her “Madam”, it meant that Mark was home.As expected, she found Mark sitting on the sofa, flipping through a magazine when she arrived downstairs.“Time for dinner,” Arianne reminded him.Mark closed his magazine and walked to the dining room. He didn’t show much of a reaction or look at her.This was strange to her. They were fine during their dinner at White Water Bay Café. Why
Arianne’s heart raced involuntarily. His scent overwhelmed her senses with every breath she took. It was faintly sweet with hints of his unique masculine essence, mixed with bits of boozy intoxication. This made her breathing quicken as well.Mark drew his slightly damp body, fresh out from the shower, closer to her. Then, he stretched out his arm and wrapped it around her waist. Arianne’s breathing went into disarray. Realizing that she wasn’t asleep, he flipped over and climbed on top of her. Then, he accurately found her soft lips...She remembered the pain from the other night, and the smell of alcohol on him further terrified her. She pressed her hands against his chest. “You’re drunk…!”He held her shoulders down and replied in a deep, husky voice. “Fulfill your wifely duties!”She didn’t say anything more. She was too afraid to close her eyes. As she watched the devastating figure on top of her, Arianne frowned from the discomfort. She gritted her teeth and endured it, until
She didn’t say too much, knowing that he liked peace and quiet during meals. Extra conversations were mood-killing noises to him.At ten in the morning, Brian delivered her formal dress, heels, and jewellery. Arianne hurried upstairs to dress up. She tried styling her hair into an updo for the first time. This would make her look slightly maturer; her features always seemed young and puerile. The formal dress fitted her surprisingly well. It was a tube dress, which she didn’t like. It was white in color, although not garish. The dress’ hemline covered precisely half of her heels.Mark reminded her that it was an outdoor venue so that she would put on a thick coat as well. Despite the lack of snow over the past few days, it was still particularly cold. When she peered into the mirror, she realized that her neck displayed a string of hickeys. She blushed as she tried to hide them with a concealer but to no avail. Traces of them could still be seen.At this time, Mark had returned to
Tiffany grabbed her wrist. “Come, let’s get away from this place!”Arianne couldn’t understand this. “You have to explain this to me… I can’t leave. Mark would get upset if I leave…”“He doesn’t even care if you live or die. Why should you care if he gets angry? I can practically see through him. He doesn’t love you, he’s torturing you! He wants to take your life!” Tiffany was close to losing it. Her expression was a horrific sight.Arianne was at a loss from her reaction. “Tiffie… What are you saying?”Tiffany was now flustered and exasperated. “Do you know whose engagement party this is? Will Sivan’s! I didn’t want to tell you. I found out about it when I spoke to Will yesterday. How could Mark possibly not know this? He knowingly brought you here. Does he want to see you in pain? Or to provoke Will? I don’t know if you love Will or not, but Will loves you. He’s agreed to this arranged marriage by his family, just so that he could come back to the country and be a little closer t
Not only did Arianne manage to hold back her tears, she even managed a smile. She was afraid that her tears might bring bad luck to Will’s engagement party. Hence, she tried her best to smile…At least his fiancée was very pretty. She was an appropriate match for the Sivan family. She hoped that he would live a happy life.As if drawn by some sort of invisible force, Will’s gaze landed on Arianne. His smile instantly faded. The starry sparkle in his eyes was immediately awashed with sadness.They locked eyes for two seconds before Arianne hurriedly looked elsewhere. She didn’t have the courage to look him in the eye.“Ari,” Tiffany gritted her teeth angrily, “Unless I’m mistaken, the bridal gown on Will’s fiancée… is one of your designs. Mark Tremont is just… too cruel!”Arianne finally noticed this once she pointed it out. It was true. She had initially thought that Mark had purely brought her to the fashion show because her design would be on display. Incidentally, he brought he
Mark was unexpectedly calm, but Jackson was flustered instead. He pulled Tiffany away. “You better shut up, little girl. This doesn’t concern you. Let’s go!”No matter how much Tiffany struggled, Jackson still dragged her away by force. The price he had to pay for doing this was getting bitten on his wrist so hard that blood was drawn.He was both angry and amused at the same time. “What are you? A dog?”Tiffany glared at him. “I’m not a dog, but I don’t mind being one whenever I see you. You are a bastard like Mark Tremont!”Jackson felt wronged but couldn’t defend himself anyway. “Alright, alright. You can think however you want as long it makes you happy.”Arianne showed neither dissatisfaction nor anger toward Mark and grabbed his arm on her own accord. “I want to go home now. Should we leave together? Or maybe I can go first while you stay here with Aery?”Mark looked into her eyes. For the first time, he was unable to read her emotions. “Let’s go.”Arianne put some distanc