Be his.
Catherine hears the sound of her heart blooming.
Knowing this man is bad news is one thing, hearing his luring voice forming such a sentence is still nice. Pleasure is pleasure.
Twisting his question, Catherine leans into his arms, mimicking his whisper: “Tonight I am all yours, and yours only.”
One million just might be the highest price for a night, even in this golden town. Satisfying the customer is her responsibility.
“Smart is good,” The man taps her chin up, his half smile not hiding the coldness in his eyes, “but you don’t want to be too smart.”
Her rejection upset him.
He might extended the offer half-mindedly, but men like him don’t like hearing a no.
Instantly a dangerous feeling grips Catherine. Not sure how she got herself on the back of this tiger.
She knew she shouldn’t have come back with him.
“Our last deal is not done yet, Mr. Moore,” Catherine smiles, brightly though with distance, “why subscribe before the trial expires?”
So long as she can get through tonight, she won’t be listed in the sugar baby market after. Surely Mr. Playboy can turn his attention elsewhere.
“You are worth the full price,” The man seems to be pleased by her business talk. The warm smile is back on his face.
“What’s the full price then?” Catherine plays along.
“How about...” Damian leans in, his lips almost touching her neck, raising such an itchy urge in her as he says, “One, point, seven... billion?”
Catherine’s eyes open wide, and her pupils shrink at the shock. She pushes him away, blurting without thinking: “You investigated me?!”
An evil smirk crawls onto Damian’s face. He shakes his head slowly as if disappointed. Catherine instantly knew -- she showed her hand too fast.
“You are too young for the negotiation table, little girl,” The man pulls out a cigarette almost lazily, lights it with a silver Zippo, and takes a long slow drag yet no smoke comes out. Then he continues, “Lesson one, know the floor price before you get on the table.”
Smoke comes out as the man speaks slowly. Catherine frowns, turning her head to dodge.
“And no, I did not investigate you,” Damian continues, giving the cigarette a light flick, “I wouldn’t get where I am if I had to investigate to know that your dear uncle gulped your father’s company with that number.”
She forgot. He holds the scepter of the whole city’s entertainment & media business in his hand.
Her dear uncle Jacob started hitting the stock of Quinn Corp when her father was still in the ICU, and he got the company at, using Damian’s words, floor price -- the exact number of the company’s debt when he forced the bankruptcy himself.
The company itself is worth ten times that price. And he not only made a huge profit, but also left Catherine and her mom without one single cent.
Damian looks up, just in time to see the girl force back the water in her eyes before putting on a serene smile.
His pupils shiver slightly at that.
“He already got the company. Besides, I know little about business anyways.” The beauty smiles carelessly.
As if the man imagined the pain he just caught in those eyes.
Her father wanted her to live the princess life all the way to the end. Business wasn’t her interest, so he never paved that way for her.
The fragile yet tough smile on the beauty tickles Damian’s heart. He looks away to hide his moment of lost.
“Marry me,” The man concludes simply, putting out the cigratte with a clean move as if nailing a business deal, “I’ll take care of everything.”
Catherine freezes. What?!
The man chuckles at her stunned face, taking it as pleasently surprised,“The best medical care and your father’s company. All can be yours if... you be mine.”
Mine. This is the second time he mentions this word.
This man is poison under a sweet coating. She knew. Yet at this moment, Catherine has to admit she is still tempted.
Tempted doesn’t mean she would act stupidly.
“Does Mr. Moore often picks up girls in the middle of nowhere back to his place for a wedding proposal?” Catherine puts on a proper smile, tuning the topic into a joking tone.
“Just you,” Damian says, playing her hair tauntingly. If only looking at those soulful eyes, you would think him a guy deep in love.
“Don’t tell me,” Catherine smiles harmlessly, yet somehow it lands in the man’s eyes as aggressive, “...the distinguished Mr. Moore is in love with me.”
A shade of amusement flashes through the man’s eyes. An evil smirk crawls onto his lips, as the man says the fakest lines with the most genuine tone: “You caught me. What do they call it... love at first sight?”
She sees him as poison, he can tell. And he tells her that indeed he is. But he won’t take off the coating, and he wants her to take the poison, willingly with her own hands.
He is too lethal. A poison she has sworn off.
“I can sweeten the deal,” Catherine strokes her hair to the back of her ear, locking the fear of dealing with a devil deep into her heart, “you take care of my mom’s bill, and I will be at your call, for as long as you want.”“Sweeten the deal...” The man tastes her words slowly on his tongue,“So, to you, being a call girl is better than taking the title of Mrs. Moore?”Coldness shades his voice at the insulting.“Better, for YOU,” Catherine’s eyes sparkle with mischieving, “you get all the fun and none of the responsibility. Isn’t that sweeter?”“Sex is ALL the fun in a marriage?” Damian pulls the girl’s face close to his in a rather rough move.He is too good a predator to miss the well-hidden fear in her watery eyes. But then, restiveness covers the fear altogether--“Why? Is Mr. Moore’s love also on the table?”The man narrows his eyes dangerously. The grin on his face widens, but a shade of evilness infests.“Not too many dares to be this bold in front of me. So I guess conversat
The girl’s sulking mock gets a laugh out of the man.“Name one better,” Damian challenges, teasing the irritated kitten.The Moore family owns lands more than anyone can fathom. An old money’s power doesn’t lie in just the wealth. But in their resources. Half of the politics, business, and even laws are friends with the Moores. Yet Damian started his own business on his own, before taking the throne of the whole media business.Who suits the queen of the city more, than its king?Leaving a safe distance from the man, Catherine puts on a harmless smile, her scarlet lips separate to a pretty curve: “Anyone.”Damian narrows his eyes dangerously at the wild cat waving her claws.Boys have followed her around since she could remember. All wealthy, all handsome. And most important of all: they all want her.More than Damian at least.Taking a deep breath, she finds her confident posture again, looking at the man in the eyes first time this night: “I don’t want to marry you...please.”“Give
The secretary took good care of Catherine, dropped her at the hospital, and even offered to accompany Catherine, but Catherine refused. She doesn’t want to spoil Damian’s hospitality--Anything she takes from him is a debt she might not be able to afford.Then she regretted after only five minutes--Seeing two guards in black suits at her mom’s ward, Catherine’s stomach drops as she dashes forward.“Miss Catherine! Thank God you are here...” Victoria exclaims when she sees Catherine, worried into tears.There is one man in the room, and his presence nervous Victoria so much that she doesn’t even know where to put her hands.Victoria has been Catherine’s nanny since forever. Though Catherine couldn’t afford to hire her now, Victoria insisted on staying to help for free. She is the only one who has been helping Catherine ever since Catherine lost everything in the car accident of her parents.“It’s okay, Victoria,” Catherine takes her hands and gives her a reassuring grip, “Uncle Jacob
Three hours to midnight, Nightfall is at its busiest hour. The dim light lines out the liberated face laughing, drinking, kissing, and more, leaving enough dark shadows for things that can’t come out under the light.Sitting with a group of businessmen is Damian Moore.On their couch several girls are squeezed in between the men, wearing next nothing. Though as if having an invisible bubble around him, Damian’s sides are empty.He, too, laughs and drinks and talks, yet somehow he comes off lonely. Like the blinding lights irradiating around can’t paint his world any color.But then, a shade of pure white crushed into his eyes--Catherine enters in a tame, white sweater, loose enough to cover her figure. Pairing with jeans and light blue tennis shoes.In short, not a fitting style for Nightfall. Making her stand out even more.Gulping his glass empty, Damian’s eyes follow the girl onto a couch not far from the bar. He frowns.“Tell me,” He thinks out loud,“...when would a girl reject a
Initially shocked, Damian understands her move instantly, and then a smirk crawls onto his lips slowly.“What the hell?!” Annie slaps the table angrily. Then when the whole table snaps out of the shock, they burst into laughter, pointing at Catherine’s drenched funny look.A winning smile is back on Annie’s face.The two punks exchange bewildered looks.“Miss Bell,” Catherine starts with a calm tone, “how do you like my apology?”Annie rolls her eyes, a mocking smirk on her lips, “I asked you to drink it, not shower with it. Don’t say that I bullied you.”“Thanks for acknowledging that you asked me to drink it,” Catherine nods politely, still with smiley eyes, “so, can you lend me the fifty grand now?”“Are you crazy?” The mean girl shrills in a nasty voice, “Does Annie owe you anything?! Why would she lend any money to a slut who seduced her man?!”“Miss Bell?” Catherine looks directly at Annie, ignoring the mean girl.Annie seems to be in a struggle. Her eyes land on the empty mug,
Damian doesn’t miss how Dawson’s eyes passed on Catherine the moment he spotted her. As a man, Damian understands Dawson’s look well.He still cares about Catherine.At this moment, Catherine lets out a light chuckle. As if laughing at herself, or at the world. Finally she stops her laugh, looking up at Annie slowly as cold words leave her scarlet lips: “After last night? He is not even a friend anymore.”Sulleness flashes through Maverick’s eyes.The evil amusement takes over Damian’s face.“What if he begs you for a second chance,” Damian cuts into the conversation so naturally and elegantly as if he has always been a part of it, “...for the sake of your years together?”Catherine opens her mouth like a stunned kitten as she watches Damian joining the table. Seeing her cute look, Damian’s smile widens.“Answer me, kitten,” Damian walks so close to Catherine, he could see himself in her eyes.As if stung by a painful memory, Catherine darts her eyes off Damian. In that split moment,
Damian finally pulls back his sight from the gate, glancing at the woman sitting down beside him.Ava Knight.Best actress of the year. Unlike Annie’s purchase nomination, she earned it with her flawless acting. Though not without the influence of the city’s two kings.“What’s up?” Damian puts down his glass, looking at Ava with a serious look. She only looks for him when she wants something.“Nothing,” Ava lets out a laugh, slightly surprised at his assumption, “Killian says he’s meeting you here tonight, so I thought finding you is the same as finding him.”Then why not straightly looking for Killian?With little of an expression, Damian nods, reaching for his glass again.He can’t help noticing the glow on her face though. She was never this happy in the past two years, traveling the world with him. But now, even waiting for Killian, she is happy beyond reasoning.A shade of mockery flashes through Damian’s eyes. Icy cold.Pity Killian isn’t here to see it.Killian is in a maroon A
Noticing Maverick out on the street looking around. Catherine dashes into the first ATM vestibule she could find.She doesn’t understand Maverick, and she doesn’t care to anymore. She closed her heart toward him when he broke up with her out of nowhere and disappeared from her life.She didn’t want the breakup to turn ugly. After all, the three years’ good memory was real. But seeing this new Maverick since yesterday, Catherine is no longer sure who he really is.The perfect, gentleman-like caring boyfriend? Or the mean, cold-hearted nasty cheater?Either way, he is only in her past now. Life is too short to try only to fall into the same hole twice.No, second, chances.Catherine closes her eyes shut before Damian’s face could squeeze into her mind.Deposited the check, Catherine notified Victory the first thing before slipping down against the wall.She is drained.She has been bustling around ever since her father’s accident, exactly a month ago. She hasn’t even got a spare minute