A manager was reporting the progress of his work to Manfred in the meeting room at Far Eastern Group when Manfred’s assistant had entered the room and cut in on their conference. After his assistant had whispered a few words in his ear, Manfred’s eyes were immediately covered with darkly menace as he stood up abruptly.
“The meeting has been recessed as of now!”
“Mr… Mr. Gordon?”
Before anyone of them in the room could say anything else, Manfred had stridden out of the meeting room in large firm steps as if he was in a hurry.
The attendants of the conference eyed each other in blank dismay as they were dumbfounded by their boss’s action. What exactly had happened that could make their boss whom was an obsessive workaholic dropped everything and rushed out from an ongoing conference?
…
Selina glared at the crazed man on top of her body while her heart was trembling with extreme fear. Her passive thought that maybe today would be her doomed day had overwhelmed her completely.
A loud bang sounded from the door all of a sudden which had startled both of them. The person behind the door was not knocking on it but rather hammering it violently in a relentless manner.
Franklin took his hands off Selina as he cussed, “Who the hell is trying to ruin my mood and business here?”
As soon as he had finished his sentence, the door came tumbling down in an instant, and Manfred’s ghastly face materialised at the entrance. At first glance, he could see that Selina was tied down on the bed while her clothes were left in tatters.
His heart was stifled when he had taken in her heart-breaking and helpless state, and he immediately swung his fist towards Franklin at breakneck speed to deliver a huge blow to his face.
“Mr. Gordon…” Franklin was sent sprawling across the floor before he could even finish his sentence, and he was immediately held down by Lawrence whom had entered the room at that moment.
“Both of you get out of here and leave us alone for now!” Manfred turned his head back to Lawrence as he ordered.
Lawrence nodded in acceptance of his suggestion, and after shooting his gaze back and forth between Selina and Manfred, he finally carted Franklin off to somewhere else.
Manfred stepped closer to Selina as he took off his coat and proceeded to drape it over her shivering body.
Selina huddled herself up instinctively as she was still befuddled and woozy, “Don’t touch me!”
“It’s me!” Manfred wrapped her in his embrace as he murmured softly, “It’s me, Manfred, so you don’t have to be afraid anymore.”
“Manfred?” Selina’s voice was hoarse when she called out his name, and after raising her head to look at him, she could see that there were sympathy and tenderness in his gaze. This gentle version of him was starkly different from the earlier man that she had met who was always pressing her to make a deal with him.
“Yes, I’m here. Don’t be afraid anymore.”
His words had unexpectedly dispelled all her feelings of despair and fear at that moment, and as her nose twitched, she could not help but to burst into tears in his arms.
Manfred just stood there and hugged her in silence to let her release her pent-up emotions. After she had wept herself to a state of exhaustion, he scooped her up gently and walked out from the basement with her in his arms.
It was already the next day when Selina had finally regained her consciousness. She looked around her surroundings only to realize that she had been admitted to the hospital, and her wounds from last night had been dressed and bandaged properly.
After noticing that Selina had woken up, a woman whom was dressed in professional attire stood up from her seat next to the bed and smiled at her, “I see that you are finally awake, Ms. Jones. My name is Aaliyah, and I’m Mr. Gordon’s personal assistant. As per Mr. Gordon’s command, I am at your service from now on, so you may inform me should you need any assistance.”
She was instructed by Manfred to be here…
Her recollection of the nasty incident from yesterday suddenly flashed across her mind and her whole body shuddered at the thought of it again. If Manfred had not shown up yesterday, she would have been… Had it not been for him, the aftermath would be unthinkable.
How cruel could you be, Horace?
“Where… where is Mr. Gordon?”
Aaliyah chuckled at her question as she answered, “Mr. Gordon had to put off his meeting in order to go to you yesterday, so he’s now busy attending to his meetings at the company since early morning. He will visit you later when he’s done with them.”
“I see.” Selina nodded and uttered, “I will wait for him then.”
Aaliyah was startled for a moment, “You need to talk to Mr. Gordon?”
Selina did not reply to her question this time as she proceeded to lie down and close her eyes, and she soon dozed off to sleep.
The night had fallen when she was awoken again, and the room was shrouded in darkness after the daylight had ebbed away.
Selina was in a trance after she had woken up as she stared blankly into space. After a few seconds, a husky voice rang in her ears, “I’ve heard from Aaliyah that you are waiting for me?”
Selina was startled by the presence of someone else in the room as she sat straight up in a hurry and turned on the light.
She could see that the man before her was cladded in an exquisite handmade Italian suit and was lounging in the sofa across her bed with his legs crossed, his demeanor and expression as languid as ever while his enigmatic gaze was fixated on her intently.
She was suddenly panic-stricken due to his intense gaze on her, but when she had recalled what Horace had done to her, she eventually raised her head and stared into his eyes resolutely.
Manfred chuckled lightly after he was being stared in the face for a while as he stood up, “You’re really something else. I’m impressed because nobody has ever dared to look at me like that before. All right, fire away. Why do you want to see me?”
“I agree to your deal!” Selina mustered her courage and blurted out.
“Huh?” Her declaration had stopped Manfred in his tracks as he swiftly redirected his gaze towards her again.
Selina’s courage had dissipated in an instant due to that moment of pause. She opened her mouth to try to continue but her words were stuck in her throat as she had lost her tongue.
“It’s nothing. I would like to rest now.” She wanted to lie down again after she was unable to continue the conversation anymore.
“Are you trying to back out now?” Manfred immediately grabbed her hand and pulled her into his embrace as he said, “Have you finally come around?”
Selina was almost choked by his overwhelming and intense aura of masculinity as she could not catch her breath. She nodded with her head drooping as she uttered, “Yeah!”
“Your reason? Do you still want to help Horace to get his hands on that project?”
“Of course not!” Selina clenched her teeth in fury as she said, “I want him to pay for what he has done to me.”
After hearing her resolution, Manfred quirked up the corner of his mouth, “Very good.”
“However, I have one condition.”
“Are you trying to negotiate with me?” Manfred raised his eyebrows in amusement, “You’re the first to ever do so!”
He picked up her long hair and playfully toyed with it as he continued, “Shoot.”
“One year. This deal will only last for a year, and within this year, you cannot restrict my freedom of movement, and I shall give you my word that I will be faithful to you during this period! After one year, our deal will be called off no matter what.”
Manfred’s hand which was playing around with her hair paused for a moment as he smirked, “What makes you think that I would agree to these unfair terms that are unbeneficial to me?”
“Mr. Gordon…” Selina opened her mouth but she soon swallowed back her words that were on the tip of her tongue, “I know this is too much to ask for, but…”
“It’s a deal!” Manfred cut her short as he accepted her conditions and said, “Who knows? Maybe I will be weary of you as well after a year.”
Selina’s heart jolted unexpectedly as soon as she heard his statement while she promptly lowered her gaze, “Thank you, Mr. Gordon.”
“Don’t mention it. Besides this, I hope you can resolve your marital problems with Horace as soon as possible. Although it is only a deal between us, I do not favor my woman to be involved with someone else.”
Selina’s face instantly turned ashen after hearing his remark as she knew clearly that Horace and she could not go on anymore even if Manfred did not bring up the topic.
“I will see to it once I am discharged from the hospital!”
“No need to get worked up over such trifles. Since you have already slept for the whole day, aren’t you curious about what has happened to Franklin?”
Selina went rigid upon hearing his words, and as soon as Manfred clapped his hands, Lawrence entered the room with Franklin in his hands. It was apparent that Franklin had been beaten up badly as he was in a pretty bad shape with injuries and bruises all over his body. If she was not informed by Manfred that the person in front of her was Franklin, she would not have recognized him at all based on his current state.
Franklin scrambled into the room on all four when he had set his eyes on Manfred, and he immediately kowtowed again and again to beg for his pardon, “This is all my fault and I know that I have done wrong, Mr. Gordon. I believe that you are a broad-minded man, so please have some mercy on my imprudent self and spare my life this time.”
Manfred’s gaze darkened as he reached out his arm and took Selina whom was beside him into his embrace, “I’m afraid you’re barking up the wrong tree.”
Franklin was stupefied for a second and after he had finally come to his senses, he instantly crawled towards Selina and begged, “I’m really sorry, Ms. Jones. I swear that I do not have the faintest idea about your identity, and if I know that you’re Mr. Gordon’s woman, I would never have touched you. Please put in a good word for me with Mr. Gordon and forgive me.”