MARGAUX WAS STILL CONFUSED when she turned her head to the car’s window. She could barely see the droplets of water hitting and rolling down the heavily tinted glass. They had been driving for hours, but she still didn’t know where they were headed.
‘This day didn’t happen? What does he mean by that?' Exhausted, she let her back fall against the seat. She was hungry, dizzy, and tired, but she couldn’t complain a bit. Instead, she just looked down at her hands, which were resting on her knees.
They were already a few miles outside of Manila when the guards received a phone call from her father. The next thing she could remember was how one of the guards dragged the doctor out of the car forcefully with a gun pressed against her head again.
The doctor begged for her life, cried aloud, and tried to escape. She wanted to help the lady back then, but she couldn’t. The guard that was left with her was eyeing her closely. Terrified, she turned in the other direction and pretended not to witness everything. God knew how staying quiet back then made her feel so worthless. Her conscience was killing her.
That was the last time she saw the doctor, and she couldn’t even tell if the doctor was still alive or not. The only thing she was sure of was that her father didn’t want anything wrong to happen to the amber-eyed man.
Alejandro might have ordered the guards to kick the doctor out after ensuring that the man survived the long trip.
She closed her eyes when a sinister thought crossed her mind. She wasn’t close to her father. She didn’t even know what her father usually ate for breakfast. However, she grew up being told that Alejandro was a good man. Her mother never failed to remind her of that.
"A good man?" Margaux snorted. What good man keeps a half-dead man inside his office and orders his guard to abduct a doctor?
"Kindly stay here, Madam Margaux. I’ll get you a coat." It was that low voice that woke Margaux from her trance. She blinked a couple of times without saying a word, and then turned to the tinted window. It was only then that she noticed that the car had stopped. A little scared, she turned her head to the driver’s seat and saw the guard open the door. He walked out of the car, locked it closed, and then rushed through the heavy rain.
'Chance!' her mind screamed upon seeing the guard leave. She quickly leaned against the window to observe where she was. With her eyes squinting, she gave a once-over to what was outside the car. She wanted to figure out where she was, but the dark-colored window made it almost impossible. She barely saw anything.
It was a few seconds more before her eyes landed on what looked like a villa nearby. With renewed curiosity, she pressed herself a little harder against the window of the car, hoping to see more. She could tell that there were many trees in that place, but the view was too dark. Although there was a light post close to the villa, its light was dimmed by the heavy rain, and she could only make out shapes.
Still staring and thinking, Margaux’s eyes suddenly widened as she finally identified where she was. ‘Mama’s old villa—’
"Oh!" Her own yelp cut off her thoughts. Something heavy fell on her back and pressed her hard against the car’s window.
She was pinned and couldn’t move. She quickly turned her head to see what was trying to suffocate her.
The first thing she saw was her medium-brown hair, soft and unruly. A loud, exasperated sigh escaped her chest upon realizing who owned it. Gracious! How could she even forget about Amber-Eyed?
Trapped in another sticky situation, Margaux rolled her eyes. Should I take this man with me as I escape?
The currently senseless guy lost his balance in his seat. The guards didn’t put a seat belt on him earlier, seeing how sensitive his condition was. Half of his body was wrapped in bondage, and he smelled heavily of medicine.
Margaux bit her lip while thinking. Then, with one deep inhale, she tried to push his weight off of her back, hoping to get more space to move.
She wasn’t able to anticipate what her movements would result in. With a loud, painful roar, the amber-eyed man’s hand mindlessly grabbed the hollow of her waist out of reflex and gripped her hard.
She almost lost her breath when they both fell back onto the passenger seat with a loud thud.
"Aww!" "Cazzo!" Two voices echoed inside the car, one weaker than the other.
Losing her mind again, Margaux tried to wobble away. However, the man’s grip on her tightened even more, along with more painful grunts. It seemed that he was venting his pain on her, and the more she hurt him because of her movements, the more he choked her.
She wanted to move fast and run away, but the car’s confinement made it impossible. Although she was petite, the man with her was huge. The car’s backseat was choking with them squeezed in there.
One of the unconscious man’s hands landed on her chest, the other around her waist. His face was buried on her cheek, and she could feel how his overnight stubble was grazing her skin. She hitched her breath upon feeling a bulge under her buttocks. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to know what that bulge was. Their legs were oddly intertwined in a rather intimate way. One of his knees ended up folded between her open legs, accidentally rubbing her.
Given another situation, she swore that she would give this man a twin-slap—no, make that a quadruplet-slap. However, the vulnerability and innocence of his responses made it clear to her that he wasn’t aware of anything at all. He was drugged.
Not knowing what to do, Margaux checked if she could pull her arms from under them. Unfortunately, what she did earned a tortured cuss from him. Her wrist was pressing on his left side, and that was where his wound was. He stirred a bit under her, and she gawked when his knees accidentally rubbed between her legs again.
She was shocked and afraid. She swallowed hard to control the foreign sensation in her center. Then, she quickly turned to him to check how he was, completely forgetting their proximity at the moment.
Their faces brushed against each other, and it was too late to pull back. Her lips had already landed in the wrongest place possible—his cold, pale lips.
Her eyes were still bulging out of their sockets when a clicking sound came from the driver’s seat door, and the guard from earlier peeked in.
"Ma’am Margaux, here’s your... coat."
*****FROM: margaux.montenegro@gy.comTO: alejandro.montenegro@montcorp.comSUBJECT: Where are you?Dad, How are you? Why aren't you answering my calls? The guy you asked your guards to bring here is doing well. He was feverish last night and was babbling incoherently. Your guards get Doctor Liza here every night, but they couldn't last night. It was raining hard, and Julio called in, telling us that the bridge they had to pass through broke. You shouldn't be worrying too much, though, because the guy's fever went down at around three in the morning after I gave him a sponge bath.*****MARGAUX'S FINGERS FROZE from typing on her laptop. She blinked a couple of times as she reread the last seven words of her email. Then, as if something had woken her with a slap, her eyes widened, and she began banging on the keyboard's backspace key anxiously.She rewrote, 'After our maid, Alberta, gave him a sponge bath.' She then cunningly looked at the old woman, who was busy chopping salad greens
MARGAUX PURRED when something soft and warm traced her spine. Her consciousness began to drift in and out of sleep. It was like that until those lips found the dimple on her back and bit. "Mmm..." She unwittingly buried her face in her pillow when thousands of sensations peppered her skin. "Do you want more?" "Yes." As if that was the only cue the man behind her needed, his hand instantly found one of her breasts and squeezed. The heat that traveled from his palm to her flesh was heavenly. "Oh, yes!" "More?" "Please!" "As you wished." With one swift move, the man grabbed her shoulder and pinned her down. The bed they were on was soft, but the man next to her... was lean. The brute unceremoniously dove for one of her sore breasts, just in time for her nakedness to be exposed to him. Forcing a sweet moan from her, he tenderly bit the underside of her breast, playfully leaving a mark. He wetly kissed the same skin to relieve the pain. "You like it this way, huh?" "Yes," she sai
ROME GRUNTED LOW upon waking up. He forced himself to open his eyes, but doing so just made him feel worse. So he shut them again and gave himself another minute to rest.His head felt like it was cracking, and he was pretty sure that it wasn't because of a hangover. He owned a club. He would be ashamed if he died just because of Bacardi. Moreover, his whole body felt sore and stiff, as if he hadn't even moved for a month.'A month?' His body immediately sprung out of bed with that thought. However, a sharp pain surged from his side and made him groan. Shaking his head to dismiss the pain, he quickly moved to the side of the bed and tried to get out of it.He cussed between gritted teeth when his knees buckled under his weight. It was good that he could hold on to the bedside table just before his face hit the floor.Dizzily, he managed to drag his heavy feet to the nearest window. Then, with his body safely leaning on the wall next to it, he tugged hard on the curtain and ended up cu
THE DAYS DRAGGED SLOWLY for Margaux. Just like the other nights, she’d been twisting left and right for hours and still couldn’t sleep. Not knowing what to do anymore, she closed her eyes and stopped moving. But then, even pretending to sleep didn’t help—her mind remained restless and wide awake.Finally giving up, she grumpily sat on her bed and grabbed her phone from the bedside table. She checked the time and instantly frowned upon seeing what was on the LCD. It was past three in the morning. Although it was still dark outside, the sun would eventually show up in more or less two hours.‘Good job for another sleepless night, Margaux! Four in a row. What are you trying to do? Get a Guinness Record for not sleeping?’Annoyed, she rolled her eyes before sliding out of her bed. She marched towards the mini-living room with her phone in her hand, then made a free fall onto her luxurious cream-colored couch. Soon enough, she was already checking her emails on her phone as if she hadn’t d
"OH..." MARGAUX’S MOAN SOUNDED THROATY upon waking up. Her head felt like it was breaking, and she surely knew why. Getting hangovers wasn’t foreign to her since she studied in New York City. In fact, there had been numerous times when she came home crawling from wild college nights.‘Argh! Did I really drink that much?’ she asked before yawning and pulling her quilt up. The soft mattress under her was heavenly against her aching back. Furthermore, it had this delightful scent, urging her to bury her face in the sheets more. It smelled like menthol shampoo — fresh.Wanting to sleep some more, Margaux tried to curl her body into her favorite fetal position. However, her back and chest immediately ached as soon as she rolled to her side. Thinking that the pain was just due to an upcoming monthly period, one of her hands unconsciously groped at her swollen breast."Good morning, cara mia.""Good morning too, caro— Shit!" Margaux’s back sprung abruptly out of bed. Her view immediately spu
WHAT DID SHE JUST CALL ME?’ Rome froze while staring at the door. He wasn’t the type to be easily surprised by anything. But then, Margaux has been proving herself exceptional at it since last night.Smirking, he shook his head bemusedly and laughed. ‘Crazy woman.’ He didn’t lie to her when he said that she was still a virgin. The truth is, she was still technically a virgin until now.Thinking about what happened between them, he rested his back on the couch and closed his eyes. Then he cursed her name over and over inside his head after everything came rushing back to him like a tidal wave.At thirty, Rome had already seen and bedded more than enough beautiful women. None of them ever made him as hungry for sex as Margaux did, though.Women were nothing but cheap, disposable items to him. He used them once, and then he trashed them. But Margaux was like an expensive wine that not many people could afford. She was the perfect mix of innocence and wildness.Her lips tasted divine. T
IT WAS ALREADY PAST EIGHT IN THE EVENING when Margaux stepped out of their villa. She had been grumpy the whole day. Her phone was missing, and she couldn't find it no matter how hard she looked.To be honest, losing the phone was nothing. She could always ask Alberta or any of their guards to get her a replacement whenever she wanted.However, she was waiting for a critical phone call. What if Alejandro suddenly remembered that he had a daughter who was waiting for him to explain everything he was up to?'Dream on!' She rolled her eyes.Soon enough, she reached the hilltop where her treehouse was. She was still frowning when she dropped her bag on the ground and gave the whole place a slow once-over. She wanted to make sure that there wouldn't be anyone present when she vented her frustrations.She then knelt in front of her bag and pulled out a bottle of chardonnay. She opened it and drank straight from the bottle, like a superb drunkard.Getting her fill, she slipped the wine back
MARGAUX'S BACK BOUNCED against her bed after she made a free fall. She remained to stare at the ceiling for a while, as if waiting for something to appear there. Letting out a breath, she then pursed her lips while thinking, ‘Who the hell are you?’She had wasted her whole day surfing all the social sites she knew about: Facebook, WeChat, Instagram, etc.Her curiosity about Rome was ticking inside her like a time bomb. Still, she didn’t have the guts to ask him questions directly either. Instead, she opted to stalk him online, hoping that there was any information about him readily available. Her efforts ended up being useless. Finding anything about Rome was like finding a needle in a stack of hay— it was like the man didn’t exist at all.Rolling to her belly, Margaux reached for her laptop and started typing again. She badly wanted to know him. Moreover, find out about his connection to her father.She typed his name on the search engine for the nth time and waited for a few seconds