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

“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

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

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

A key. But a key to what?Suddenly, an absurd idea flashes across my mind as I gasp, “You are not asking me to move in with you, are you?!!”He gulps and sits up straighter. I haven’t seen him this nervous before.“Yeah, that’s what I’m doing,” he smiles awkwardly. “But honestly, this isn’t the reaction I was looking for.”I sit there still, my mind completely blank.He is asking me to move in with him? But we are only 18! And, of course, he isn’t like normal students since he has his own house and everything, but regardless, we are still too young to make such huge commitment!I am the only one to think that moving-in is a huge, huge step for a couple?Amidst the silence, he leans over and grabs my hands, “OK now you are scaring me a little. You make it seems like that I’m holding a gun to your head and forcing you to jump off a cliff.”I force out a smile, “been there before.”“Just tell me your real thoughts. It wouldn’t be the first time you rejected me, and I think I can take the