The man slowly approached Vicky, and each step he took felt like a sledgehammer to her heart."You blocked my number, so all I could do was to come and see you."'This man is insane!' she yelled inwardly.As the masked man got closer, she ran out of patience and grabbed the lamp by the nightstand and flung it toward the man, but he simply tilted his body to dodge the attack.Crash! The lamp slammed onto the ground and shattered into pieces.The only light in the room vanished following Vicky's action, but the man had only been delayed by a second before he started to walk toward Vicky once again through the shattered glass.The shattered pieces of glass cracked as the towering figure approached in the most intimidating manner.Facing the masked man was different from calling or texting him.During the day, she had been in the depths of her despair and risked it all to shut him out, but all the courage she managed to summon vanished as soon as she saw him in person.It was only
'How did I get myself involved with this pervert?!' she screamed inwardly."Perverts love being scolded. Keep going." The man's mask glittered in the most terrifying manner under the moonlight, and Vicky felt like she had fallen into a never-ending nightmare.Just then, the man asked, "Vicky, do you want me to leave you alone?""That comes with a price, right?""That's right," the man said coldly. "Steal confidential information from Tyler Hart for me, and I'll leave you alone. How does that sound?""Dream on!""If that's a no, then you can only wait until my insomnia is cured.""And if your insomnia never...goes away?" she blurted out asking."Well, then," he whispered casually, but his words pierced through her like pricks of ice, "I will never let you go."Her blood ran cold as fear overwhelmed her.She did not doubt for a moment that he was joking; it was a warning....The next day, Vicky woke up with a throbbing headache, and she jolted when she saw the shattered glas
Tyler studied the shattered glass by his feet and asked, "What happened?"Vicky panicked and said, "I accidentally dropped the light last night, and it was too late to clean..." Not daring to meet his eyes, she muttered, "W—When did you get home?""In the morning."Vicky did not have the courage to ask him about where he had been. "Go ahead to the dining room for breakfast," she said. "I'll clean the room.""Leave it." He reached to grab her wrist. "Leave it to Nanny Paterson. Come and have breakfast with me.""Okay..."The breakfast seemed to stretch indefinitely.To her bewilderment, Tyler did not leave after breakfast, and he simply remained sitting in the dining room with his coffee as he watched the finance news.Vicky was both confused and worried that Tyler would notice something, so instead of asking him about it, she decided to go upstairs to change and head to the studio."Vicky." He set down his coffee and called out to her abruptly. "Pack your things and come with
Just then, Vicky noticed something odd about the phone Tyler was holding.She frowned when she realized that he was using a different phone instead of the usual one he owned. Throughout the time she had spent with Tyler, she never saw him using this phone, and it seemed obvious what could require a man to possess two phones at the same time.Vicky quietly moved toward Tyler and stared at his phone.Tyler finally noticed her presence when she was getting too close and snapped his head up abruptly to look at her.The look in his eyes darkened when he saw her and he simply asked with a composed voice, "When did you come downstairs?""Just now." She kept her eyes on his phone. "Have you gotten a new phone?""No." The faint signs of shock had faded from his face. "It's for work.""Work?" Vicky looked at him. "I've never seen you with this phone before.""It's for the business trip to Drome. Sometimes, when I don't want others to know my number and can't turn them down on the spot, I
Apart from the time Tyler returned from a business trip, he had not been intimate with her since then.After being married to him for so long, Vicky knew that he had needs, and it was abnormal for Tyler to restrain himself. On top of that, it had been some time since he held her in her sleep.Even when their relationship was at its worst, he would still hold her close and sleep with her in his arms. Lately, however, he would not touch or hug her and seemed to be distancing himself from her.The only explanation Vicky could think of was that he had another woman.Once the seed of doubt was planted, its root would spread and take over a person's heart swiftly.'Maybe...' The photo she once saw in Tyler's study room emerged from her memories. 'Maybe the woman in the photo has returned.'...Harry arrived shortly after, but instead of accompanying Tyler on the business trip, he simply left after sending Vicky and Tyler to the airport.Four hours later, the plane landed in Drome.A
The man acted swiftly and caught Vicky before she slammed onto the ground."What's wrong? Were you having a nightmare?" Tyler asked, his handsome features faint under the moonlight.Vicky would have felt safe when she saw him at any other time, but fear had taken over her at this moment, and she hysterically tried to get away from him. "Let me go! Don't touch me... Go away! Go away!"She was feverish and completely out of control, which she had not been except for the first week since she returned home from Forever Night."Vicky." Tyler stared into her eyes. "It's me."Vicky's eyes remained dazed and unfocused as she struggled to distinguish dream and reality.She continued to fight his embrace and screamed, "Let me go! Let me go right n—mmph!"Tyler lowered his head and captured her lips. Unlike his usual forceful ways, his kiss was gentle and consoling at the moment.Tyler was never a gentle and caring man, but when he acted that way, there was not a woman on earth who could
Tyler was awake. Vicky silently thanked the darkness for concealing the panic in her expression.After a few moments of silence, she said, "I'm just thirsty and want to grab a glass of water."She heard a slight shuffle on the other side of the bed as Tyler got out of bed. "Stay still. I'll get you a glass of water."Since Tyler had woken up, Vicky gave up on going outside. "Okay."The lamp by the nightstand was turned on, and the room was instantly lit in its warm, yellow light.Tyler walked out of the bedroom and returned shortly after with a glass of water.The light was faint, and Tyler's shadow was reflected on the wall. Vicky, however, felt familiar with the sight as though she had seen it before.She frowned as she watched him approach with the glass of water."Here you go."Vicky did not have time to hold onto her thought and accepted the glass. "Thank you."Once she finished her water, the two went back to sleep....Time flew. It was already the second night of th
The only times Vicky would call the masked man were when he threatened her into doing so.'I guess it's not that strange. It's not like he has his voice changer on all day long, just waiting for me to call,' she thought. 'He could be busy or occupied.'She realized that this might be her way of finding the weakness of the man and went on to call two more times. Still, the man did not answer nor had he replied to her message.Soon, Tyler came over to look for her and saw Vicky staring at her phone thoughtfully. The look in his eyes darkened, and he walked over to her. "What are you looking at?"She put her phone away. "Nothing. Just got bored and started reading news articles.""We can head back now.""Okay."Once they returned to the hotel, Vicky headed for a shower. By the time she returned to the bedroom, she noticed an unread message was on her screen.She unlocked her phone and realized that the masked man finally replied.[Why are you contacting me all of a sudden?]Vick