Nina froze for a mont before a cold chill shot up her spine.
’It’s over!’
She’d planned to be back before dawn, but after just a little beer, she’d unexpectedly fallen asleep.
That would have been bad enough, but she had just spent the entire night with Finn Prescott. Based on what she knew of Caleb Rhodes, he would likely skin her alive.
Caleb Rhodes was intensely territorial. He wouldn’t allow anyone to lay a finger on anything he considered his, even if he didn’t particularly like it. Once he’d put his label on sothing, it was off-limits.
Especially now that he was showing so interest in her. If he found out she had been with another man for an entire night, there was no telling what he might do.
And this man was Finn Prescott, of all people—his own niece’s boyfriend.
’He’d probably strangle .’
Finn Prescott woke up too, frowning. "Who’s that? So rude, banging on the door this early in the morning!"
Nina whispered, "Keep your voice down! It’s my uncle!"
Finn Prescott raised an eyebrow, watching her as if enjoying the drama. "You’re flustered? We’re both single. So what if we spent the night together? The worst he can do is make take responsibility for you. What’s there to be so scared about?"
Just then, another heavy round of pounding ca from the door, louder than before.
Nina’s head was starting to ache. She stood up, looking around the room and even glancing out the window.
Finn Prescott watched her with a wry smile. "What? You want to jump out the window? Are you that afraid of your uncle?"
Nina’s eyes lit up. "Can you?" she whispered.
She suddenly rembered they were on the fourth floor and imdiately shook her head. "Never mind!"
The pounding on the door grew louder. "Nina!"
Caleb Rhodes’s voice was already laced with fury.
Nina’s scalp tingled with dread. She opened her bedroom door. "Or... could you hide in my closet for a bit?"
Finn Prescott’s expression darkened, clearly offended. "Nina, what do you take for?"
Nina bit her lip, her eyes darting toward the front door. Her gaze was filled with tension and fear.
It seed she was truly terrified of Caleb Rhodes.
Finn Prescott frowned, intending to go open the door.
Seeing him walk toward the door, Nina panicked, grabbing him. "What are you doing?" she asked frantically.
Finn Prescott’s face was cold. "Opening the door. Your uncle is still knocking!"
"You can’t!" Nina said at once.
Her voice was still soft, but unusually firm.
Finn Prescott’s expression was grim. He ground his teeth. "You have one minute to explain. Otherwise, I’m opening this door."
As he spoke, the sound of pounding grew even louder.
Outside the door, Caleb Rhodes’s voice was cold and heavy, sharp with nace. "Nina, this flimsy door of yours... do you think it can withstand a few of my kicks?"
Nina bit her lip, her hand tightly gripping Finn Prescott’s clothes. "He’ll kill you!"
Finn Prescott sensed sothing was deeply wrong with the dynamic between Nina and Caleb Rhodes, though he couldn’t put his finger on it. He sneered, "You think I’m so pushover?"
"Nina, what are you so afraid of? You’re all grown up. No matter how strict he is, he has no right to control your relationships!"
With that, he reached for the door. Nina grew anxious, grabbing his hand and lowering her voice. "Finn Prescott, I’m begging you!"
Her voice was thin and soft, with a hint of pleading, and her dark pupils were filled with panic.
Finn Prescott’s heart softened a bit, but he had no intention of hiding. "I’m not afraid of him!" he said, his face cold.
Before the words were out of his mouth, another round of frantic pounding began.
Finn Prescott narrowed his eyes and reached for the bolt.
Nina squeezed her eyes shut, her mind flooded with grueso images of what was about to unfold.
But then, the pounding abruptly ceased.
A mont later, she heard the sound of footsteps descending the stairs.
Finn Prescott sneered, "Nina, after today, you’d better give a reasonable explanation!"
Listening as the footsteps grew more distant, Nina’s heart, which had been lodged in her throat, finally settled back into her chest. She looked at Finn Prescott and whispered, "I’m sorry! Young Prescott, thank you for keeping company last night. I owe you one."
Her voice was soft, laced with what sounded like lingering apprehension.
Finn Prescott watched her, her nervous deanor reminding him of a little schoolgirl caught red-handed by a teacher. His heart softened a little.
"Nina, you’re twenty, not ten, not fifteen. You have the right to be in a relationship. Your uncle can’t control you forever."
Nina lowered her gaze and murmured a soft, "Mhm."
Finn Prescott looked at her obedient appearance, as if she were a completely different person from the one who drank with him last night. For a mont, he didn’t know which one was the real Nina.
But whichever one it was, there was sothing endearing about her.
He clicked his tongue, his gaze darkening slightly. "Co here."
Nina looked at him, not knowing what he wanted to do, and stood still.
Finn Prescott stepped forward and gave her a light hug. "Rember," he murmured, "this favor you owe is a big one. First, I’ve never gone out of my way to keep soone company like that before. And second, I’ve *never* had to hide and sneak around like this."
Nina pushed him away, looking anxiously at the door. "You should go. He’ll definitely be back soon."
Finn Prescott said in a low voice, "Nina, if you don’t explain what happened today, I won’t let you off the hook!"
After speaking, he pulled open the door and left.
Nina was still very nervous, terrified that he and Caleb Rhodes would run into each other in the stairwell.
Luckily, her fears didn’t co to pass.
She stood in the doorway for several long minutes, waiting until there was complete silence before closing the door again.
The fear had been real. Now that she could finally relax, that hollow ache in her chest ca rushing back.
She sat on the small sofa for a while, and just as she was about to tidy up the room, she heard the sound of the lock turning.
She didn’t speak, just sat on the sofa, quietly watching the door.
The door was old and the lock was simple. Within a minute or two, it was open.
Caleb Rhodes stepped inside, carrying an aura of biting cold.
He stared at Nina, his expression terrifyingly cold. The rage in his eyes threatened to drown her.
Nina sat on the sofa, quietly watching him.
He looked furious—angrier than she had ever seen him. His eyes were shot with red, and he looked so terrifying it was as if he wanted to rip her to shreds.
His complexion was awful; he clearly hadn’t slept at all last night.
She lowered her eyelids, her hand unconsciously clenching the sofa fabric beneath her.
’He must have been very busy last night.’
She realized with a pang of sorrow that even now, what she kept picturing was the sight of him holding Rosalind Lowell.
’Their necks entwined, intimately close.’
’This isn’t what I should be thinking about. I should be thinking about how to face the rage that’s about to erupt.’
A wave of pain and coldness spread from her chest, seeping through her veins into every corner of her body.
It hurt, but she was numb.
Neither of them spoke, but the air was thick with a dangerous tension, so suffocating it felt as if one could drown in it at any mont.
Caleb Rhodes’s thin lips were pressed into a hard, cruel line. He looked at Nina, who was curled up on the sofa, and the dark fury in his eyes was so intense he had to actively restrain himself from striding over and snapping her slender neck.
’No one dared to defy him like this. No one!’
When he’d taken her call last night, sothing felt wrong. When he’d tried to call back, her phone was already off.
He’d hastily left a room full of people to rush back, only to find Warner Zimrman dead asleep and Nina gone.
Warner Zimrman had been with him for years and had never made such a blunder. He said he’d only had a glass of milk Nina gave him before bed.
’She did it on purpose. She did it on purpose!’
In the middle of the blizzard, he rembered the ti she’d been hit by the car, and his thoughts wouldn’t stop racing.
A groundless fear and rage nearly drove him out of his mind. His first instinct was to rush to the hospital where Lana Shaw was staying.
But it turned out she was here, in her own rented apartnt, drinking beer and eating barbecue.
He stared at her, his gaze deadly.
Her pale little face looked so delicate and fragile, her dark eyes so shy and full of affection. But only he knew how damn stubborn she was.
In his peripheral vision, he saw the glasses on the table.
’Two of them!’
Several empty bottles were also scattered across the tabletop.
Suddenly, a watch on the table caught his eye.
His gaze suddenly beca colder, a dark malevolence flickering within.
He stepped forward and picked up the watch.
A vintage chanical n’s watch from PK. Pre-sale price of thirteen million. Only ten in the entire world. And he had one of them sitting in his own cabinet.
He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and clenched the watch tightly.
A trace of malevolence seeped out of his cold voice. "Where is he?"
Nina saw the watch too. Her fingertips trembled, but she forced her voice to sound normal. "Uncle, are you done with your business?"
Her voice was still soft and small, like an innocent child.
Caleb Rhodes had the feeling of being deceived from beginning to end. He gripped the watch so tightly that the veins on the back of his hand bulged.
Intimate images of her with another man flashed through his mind. A torrent of violent thoughts surged up, each one filling him with a bloodthirsty impulse.
His chest rose and fell violently as he fought to suppress the horrific thoughts about to break free. In a low, tightly controlled voice, he asked, "Who was it? Where is he?"
Nina looked at the watch, but her gaze was suddenly snagged by a ring on his left middle finger that hadn’t been there before.
It was a silver ring, minimalist in style, that gave off a faint, cold gleam.
’I heard engagent rings are worn on the middle finger.’
Her heart felt as if it had been viciously squeezed. Nina took a deep breath, forcing back the sharp pain that shot through her chest, and said softly, "Uncle, I’m allowed to have a boyfriend, you know."
Caleb Rhodes’s body stiffened. He spun around, the malevolence radiating from him terrifyingly thick.
His eyes were full of scarlet veins, and his voice was frighteningly cold. "What did you say? Say that again."
Nina was afraid, but the pain in her heart was worse.
Not knowing where the courage ca from, she suddenly looked up at him. "I said, I want to have a boyfriend. He’s the one who left this watch!"
Before she could finish her sentence, he dragged her right in front of him. His expression was sharper and colder than ever before. "Boyfriend? Who is your boyfriend?"
His fingers touched her chin, the icy sensation making her instinctively lower her head.
The gleaming silver ring on his hand looked a little loose. Faintly engraved on its surface was a single letter: Y.
Y!
’Y! As in Ying... from Rosalind’s na.’
’Are they already so close that they’re engraving initials on their rings?’
A sharp pain stabbed her chest again, spreading through her limbs until it felt like even the marrow of her bones ached.
She closed her eyes, bit her lip hard, her face terrifyingly pale.
Her defiant expression provoked him to the point that he could barely contain the beast raging inside him.
He stared at her, grinding out each word through his clenched teeth. "Nina, I’m giving you one last chance. Who. Is. Your. Boyfriend?"
"Think clearly before you answer. If the answer isn’t what I want to hear, the consequences won’t be what you want either!"
His voice was extrely cold and seed to carry a slight tremor. If Nina had just glanced at him, she would have noticed sothing was off.
But she was so consud by her own pain that she’d lost all reason. She gritted her teeth and mumbled, "None of your business! It’s not you, anyway!"
As soon as the words left her lips, he lifted her into the air and was at the bedroom door in a few strides.
BANG! The bedroom door was kicked wide open.
Then, Nina was thrown forcefully onto the bed.
The next second, his tall body covered hers.
Her thin clothes were ripped away in monts. The cold air lashing against her delicate skin shocked Nina back to her senses.
"Uncle!"
But Caleb’s eyes were bloodshot. He pinned her head down and devoured her lips.
As if finally realizing his intent, Nina began to struggle, but she was completely overpowered in seconds.
Caleb pinned her hands above her head with one of his own. With his free hand, he unbuckled his belt and threw it violently to the floor.
She opened her eyes wide in terror, begging him, "Don’t, I’m begging you! Please!"
Her soft pleas and pale, delicate body were like the most potent aphrodisiac to Caleb. Ti seed to rewind to that one afternoon.
Her soft lips, her sweat-dampened temples, her terrified eyes—everything dragged him back into his mories, to the unfinished business from that day, which had replayed in his dreams night after night!
’It’s ti to finish it!’
He could barely hear her. A voice just echoed in his head: ’She’s yours. She was always going to be yours. Take her now!’
’This is the woman you’ve wanted for so many years. Why can’t you take her?’
’She’s mine. Of course, she can only be mine!’
With almost no hesitation, he pulled the nearby blanket over both of them.
Pinning her down, his powerful body covered hers.
A forceful penetration.
A vicious possession.
He swallowed her pleading cries along with everything else.
The small wooden bed, unable to bear the strain, slamd violently against the floor, CREAKING under the force.
The air filled with an indescribable scent, a mixture of choked sobs and heated gasps.
After what felt like an eternity of frenzy, everything gradually subsided.
Staring at the disheveled bed and the red marks covering Nina’s body, Caleb slowly returned to his senses.
The bloodstain on the sheets was proof of her purity. Her body, curled into a ball, was still trembling.
Her cries of pain still seed to echo in his ears.
’Of course it hurt. She’s my woman. It’s only natural she should feel pain for . Besides, it wasn’t exactly a walk in the park for , either.’
However, he now had so regrets.
But he didn’t regret hurting her. He regretted not taking her sooner.
’I should have taken her on the very day she ca of age.’
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