Chapter 6

All the men were staring at me with ravenous expressions, as though I were prey on display. My heart leaped into my throat. I swallowed hard. My mind stretched thin, desperately scrambling for any story, any excuse to buy time. But fear had paralyzed my thoughts—I couldn’t come up with a single thing.

Then they clustered together in a tight knot and began negotiating among themselves:

“Right now, I’m the one who brought her here, so I go first. You lot can have her after.”  

“Damn it, hogging everything like always.”  

The other men grumbled, clearly dissatisfied with Luciel, but they still had to respect him. What he said was the rule.

God, they were actually busy arguing over who would go next. At that point, I threw every shred of dignity away and blurted out:

“Luciel… I need to use the bathroom. Just for a minute. Then I’ll come right back and take care of you.”  

Luciel whipped around to glare at me, his eyes burning. Terror sealed my lips. A moment later, he turned back to the others:

“Fine, go sort out the order over there. I’m going first. You’re wasting time.”

My face went numb. I’d just poked the beast.

“Son of a—” A few of them shot jealous looks at Luciel, but no one dared break the rule. One by one, they filed out of the room. The door slammed shut. The sudden, heavy silence that followed terrified me more than anything so far.

Luciel licked his lips, then pounced onto the bed. I squirmed, but my wrists and ankles were already restrained. A wave of ice shot up my spine. I swallowed again, voice trembling:

“Luciel… Luciel… I… I…”

I tried to force out a full sentence, but his face was so close, so overwhelming, that the words died in my throat. One hand clamped around my jaw like a vise. The other slid down like a snake, gliding over my waist and creeping upward.

“AAAAAAAAA Uncle! Help me!!!”

BOOM!

The door exploded inward with such force that it tore off its hinges and crashed to the floor.

A tall figure in a sharp black suit stood framed in the doorway, his face carved from ice. Behind him, the gang of thugs who had just been inside was sprawled across the hallway, clutching their stomachs and groaning. Had he taken them all down alone? My heart hammered wildly. This… this wasn’t a dream. This was the face I had longed for every single night.

His gaze swept across the wide bed. When it landed on Luciel, pinning me down, a layer of frost seemed to coat his eyes. I had never seen them so cold. For a split second, I even wondered if it was really him.

He strode forward in an instant, seized Luciel by the collar, slammed him down, then yanked him off me and hurled him to the floor like a sack of trash.

“Who the hell are you?”

Luciel barely had time to process what happened; the speed was inhuman. Fear flickered in the depths of his eyes.

He lunged anyway, swinging a wild punch. In a blur, my uncle sidestepped and delivered a single, vicious counter that sent Luciel crashing to the ground, blood coughing from his mouth.

I had never seen him fight before.

The moment I saw him, tears poured down my face. I missed him so much. I thrashed against the chains. “Uncle, save me… please save me…”

He moved quickly to my side, unlocked the cuffs on my wrists and ankles. His face remained cold stone; he didn’t say a single word to me.

Freed, I threw my trembling arms around his neck and buried my face in the solid warmth of his shoulder. Every ounce of terror I had been holding back came flooding out against him.

He shrugged off his suit jacket and draped it over me, then lifted me into his arms. I sobbed uncontrollably against his chest while his hand patted my back—soft, gentle strokes. I pounded weakly against his chest in frustration.

“Why did you come so late? Don’t you care about me anymore?”

He let out a quiet sigh and rubbed slow circles on my back. “I’m sorry. I’m here now. Shh… don’t cry. It hurts me to see you like this.”

“Did he touch you?”

The question made me freeze. My fingers curled into fists, clutching his shirt. Tears kept streaming down.

He didn’t press me further. Instead, he glanced at the bodyguards standing nearby and spoke in a voice like frozen steel:

“Break his hands.”

Luciel’s agonized scream echoed through the room. I pressed my face into my uncle’s chest, crying so hard his shirt was soaked. He covered my ears with one hand, carried me out of that nightmare place, and the screams gradually faded until they disappeared entirely.

He kept stroking my back, soothing me as we left the building. His car was already waiting at the entrance. Even though his movements were gentle and careful, there was an icy aura rolling off him now—something suffocating that made it hard to breathe.

Once inside the car, he set me down in the passenger seat, but I refused. I climbed into his lap instead, curling up against him, desperate for his warmth, for the feeling of safety only he could give. I’m only 1m55; he’s 1m85. The size difference made me disappear against his chest.

He drove in silence, eyes fixed on the road. I know how well he can control himself. He didn’t show it outwardly, but I could see the fury burning behind his gaze—the same razor-sharp coldness that had appeared the moment he saw Luciel on top of me. It was the kind of look that makes people shiver.

He didn’t scold me. He didn’t demand explanations. I think that silence carried a trace of anger toward me. Normally, he would have fussed over me, bombarded me with worried questions, but this time, he stayed quiet. Maybe I had caused him too much trouble. Or maybe he didn’t love me anymore.