Eason’s POVA spotlight hits me and people are turning their heads at my direction. I vaguely hear the host’s voice coming from the distance, asking me to take my dance partner and join the dancefloor.“Eason!” mom grits beside my ear, pinching my arm. “Go invite the girl now. Or you will regret it later.”She is pushing me. I know if I say yes, I will become her puppet once again, which is exactly what she wants.I take in a deep breath and pull myself free from her grasp, taking a step back.“Mom,” I meet eyes with her. “I don’t care if she’s a princess or the daughter of the richest man on earth, I won’t dance with her.”There is only one person I want to share my first dance with.And she is not here.“Don’t be stupid, Eason! As the Ramirez’s heir, you have a responsibility to—”I cut her off, “Mom, stop fucking control me. I am the Ramirez’s heir. Not you.”Her lips part slightly in shock. She’s obviously astonished by my outrageous words. But I don’t give a damn. She can go nuts
It’s like a bucket of ice water being poured down my head. How can he possibly know about this?!!! Zack narrows his eyes and studies my face. Thought I tried everything to hide my panic, the look of surprise must be pretty obvious. A few seconds later, he lets out short sneer. “I wasn’t sure until just now,” he pats my face dismissively. “You are really a cheap whore, Natalia Moore. So basically anyone can get into your pants right? As long as they pay you the right amount. You are no more than a prostitute, selling out your pussy for coins.” My teeth are chattering. Every word that comes out is shattered. “H-how do you—” “How do I know about this? It’s so fucking obvious alright? He was very protective of you. No one could have done the same thing for his stepsister. You two were definitely fucking.” Suddenly, a cold and evil smile appears on his face. “So, what was it like to be fucked by the Ramirez’s only heir? The golden dick must really taste differently huh? You were suc
“Great speech,” Zack sneers. “You guys done?”Eason’s voice becomes cold again, “I’ll give you 30 seconds. State what you want.”“Ten million USD in traveler’s checks. A car with full tank. No cops. And you must come alone!” Zacks blurts out at once. “Then you can have your little whore back.”My heart sinks.Oh my god. Ten million USD!!!Even if the Ramirez can gather that much money in a short amount of time, how will I ever be able to repay them?“How touching,” Eason says sardonically. “You talked about how your parents and sister were mistreated. But what now? You are going to abandon them and run away yourself?”Zack’s jaw tenses and his face twists in anger.“Do you want her back or not!” he snarls. “Because if not, I can have so much fun with her—”“One hour,” Eason cuts him off sharply. “And send me your location now. One hour later, I want to see her safe and sound without a scratch. If you dare land a single hand on her, I promise you now, you will die miserably. I will hav
Is this how I am going to die? I can feel Zack’s grip gradually loosen and my body is falling backwards. A terrified scream escapes my lips as my entire life suddenly fast-forwards in front of my eyes. I want to tell mom that I wish her a lifetime of happiness; I want to tell dad that I’ve forgiven him by now and he also deserves to be happy with his new girlfriend; I want to take a look at my friends again, Jenna, Alex, Katherine, and even Eddie… But most importantly, I want Eason. I want to hug him once more and let me him know my feelings. I love him. And I don’t care how the rest of the world sees us. I want to trade in everything I have to be with him. But…everything that I want seems like a luxury now. Yet right at this moment, the roar from the car fills the air. Zack suddenly reaches out and grabs me by the shoulder, pulling me back from the cliff. He murmurs in disbelief, “You hear that?” I fall to the ground, too terrified to utter a single word. Cold sweats soak my
I hurry and follow him while asking, “What show? What are you talking about?”“You will see,” he wraps his arm around my shoulder and walk me to the side.“Are we going to walk?”He lets out a short chuckle, “No of course not. How do you think I managed to get here in such a short time?”Then I hear a loud clattering sound coming from above. I snap my head up and see a helicopter fast approaching. It eventually lands in the open space in front of us, causing a gust of strong wind.A real chopper! I’ve only seen one before on TV!“This is so cool!” I shout to his ears as he picks me up and helps me onboard. “But how much is this going to cost!”“A lot cheaper than you think!” he shouts back. “It doesn’t cost anything if you own it!”I gasp in shock. So buying fancy cars isn’t his most luxury hobby then. This is.He places me on the passenger seat and fastens my seatbelt. I widen my eyes when I see him switch seats with the pilot and start checking the dashboard.“Wait!” I raise my voic
Natalia’s POV “What? Where did this come from?” I almost laugh out loud. That is the most ridiculous I’ve ever heard. I’m literally shaking with laughter. Before I moved to Miami for good, Jenna flied here once and stayed with me for a week to help me pack. She met Eason a few times that summer. But it was such a long time ago! And they didn’t even speak to each other. So something is definitely wrong with her memory. “You got it wrong. We were friends, but nothing more. In fact, I saw him dated at least 4 girls that summer. I even had dinners with his girlfriend! Do you still think he had a crush on me?” Jenna frown, shaking her head in perplexity. “No, I’m pretty sure about it. He used to stare at you in a funny way, like he was ready to take you as his personal prisoner any minute.” “Ewww, gross!” I shiver in disgust. “You are totally fantasizing things. He was probably just sick of me following him around.” “No! I know it for sure because—” “Because?” “One day you were o
Mom breaks down in fresh tears again when she sees me. I can’t get her to stop crying. Eventually, Mr. Ramirez comes forward and try to soothe her.But mom immediately turns against him, “What do you mean everything is OK? This is my only daughter! And your son took her out and injured her on our anniversary party!”I sit awkwardly on the bed twisting fingers in anxiety and don’t know what to say. I hate that mom is accusing Eason of my injury. She didn’t know that Eason did everything he could to save my ass. But nor can I tell her the truth now…since a man’s life was involved.Amidst the silence, Ms. Griswold speaks up in an expressionless voice, “My son has nothing to do with this.”Mom’s face turns an ugly purple. She jumps up like a furious hen trying to project her baby chicks and points a finger at Ms. Griswold, “How dare you! It’s him who took her out and we haven’t even heard a single word of explanation from him yet! How can you be so sure that he’s not involved?”Ms. Griswo
“What—why…what’s all this?!” He holds his hand in the midair waiting for me as his smile grows wider, “What does it look like? It’s a surprise.” “Yeah I can see that. But why?” “Well…remember that dance you promised me?” I pause for a moment, and then suddenly remember that we did talk about it once before the anniversary party. I said I would save my first dance for him. Yet then so many things happened and that plan got completely ruined. I didn’t know he’d still remember this. A sudden wave of strong emotions flushes through my heart that makes me want to hug and kiss him. Taking in a deep breath, I place my hand in his palm. “That’d be my honor,” I say in a slightly shaking voice. He pulls me into his arms and leads me into the dancefloor. A beautiful music is playing in the background, and we dance to it. I’m not a very good dancer, but gladly my partner knows his moves very well. He holds me tightly by the waist and waltz me through the dance floor. It’s like flying abo