Tyler lied.It was likely that he had gone to see the mysterious woman when he supposedly disappeared during the night, but Harvey seemed certain that the woman in the photo Vicky once found was not the woman Tyler was seeing at the moment.From Harvey's tone, Vicky could tell that he seemed to be protective over the woman in the photo, and she started to let her imagination go wild.'Can it be that apart from business rivalry, Tyler and Harvey had been in love with the same woman before?' she thought to herself.Naturally, it was all just a theory and Vicky cast it aside not long after.…Tyler had not returned home at all in the following week, and all the information about Tyler's schedule continued to be sent to Vicky's phone.As usual, Tyler would disappear at night, and the masked man—who had been haunting her in the past weeks—seemed to have disappeared as well, except the occasional message saying that he was busy.Vicky was busy, too, only not with work. She was runnin
Jennifer looked at Vicky. "Vicky, I can give you the perfume if you need it. However, if the person you're looking for doesn't appear around you or the people you know, it won't work. I suppose you can use this to confirm if it's someone you know, at the very least."Vicky nodded in agreement, believing it was an effective solution....That night, Vicky returned home with the perfume, and as soon as she changed into her slippers, she spotted the man sitting on the couch in the living room.He sat elegantly with his eyes on his phone, and Vicky narrowed her eyes when she glanced at his phone because it was the one he usually used.She walked over to him. "Why are you back?"He gazed up at her without a sign of abnormality in his expression. "Am I not welcomed here?""You are." Vicky avoided all the questions she wanted to ask but would never get the answers for. "Have you eaten?""No.""I'll get Nanny Paterson to start preparing dinner, then.""Sure."40 minutes later, dinne
At that moment, Vicky was about to go to bed and had her hair down, which conveniently covered her face."I didn't." She lowered her gaze. "I just used some essential oil."It seemed to be just a casual question, and since Vicky was about to go to sleep, Tyler went and switched off the lights on his end of the bed as well.He did not touch her or hold her closer, but Vicky consoled herself inwardly. 'It's fine. Jennifer said that anyone who's been next to me for an hour or more would have the scent stuck on them. The longer they're with me, the thicker the scent is, to the point that the scent would even cling to those they come into contact with. It might be like searching for a needle in a haystack, but it's better than knowing nothing at all.'...Vicky sat in the corner of a cafe and waited patiently.Shortly after, a woman wearing a pair of sunglasses sat in front of Vicky."Why have you asked me out all of a sudden, Miss Shaw?" Sheila asked.It had been so long since Vick
Sheila glanced at Vicky and took out her phone to search for something. Shortly after, her expression darkened.Vicky narrowed her eyes and stared directly at Sheila. "You know who that is, don't you?"Sheila looked up abruptly. "Vicky Shaw, were you testing me?""I'm not that bored," Vicky said casually. "Though you kept telling me that you don't know who this woman is, even Nikki managed to sense something, so is it really possible for you, someone who came close to becoming Tyler's fiance, not know anything? If you don't know a thing, why would you keep reminding me how important this person is to Tyler?"Sheila remained silent.The waiter brought the coffee Sheila ordered and set it down in front of her before leaving."Both of us are just substitutes for this woman," Vicky continued. "You might think that I'm lucky to be Missus Hart, but...once she's back, I'll have to give up everything I have now."I don't mind telling you the truth: Tyler has been acting weird lately, an
"Missus Mills, I don't know what's happening in the business world, but I think it's shameless to blame your business failure on a woman."Missus Mills ignored her and shouted hysterically, "You were the reason Sebastian had to stay overseas for years! You are a disaster, Vicky Shaw! If it wasn't for you, why would Tyler come after Sebastian and the Mills?!"Vicky frowned, unfeeling toward the Mills.Sebastian used her to set up a trap for Tyler, and she had gone through hell because of that, so it was only normal for Tyler to retaliate. It would have been odd if Tyler simply let it pass without punishing Sebastian."Please leave, Missus Mills. If you continue to cause trouble here, I'm calling the police." Vicky shook off Missus Mills' hand and walked into the mansion.Missus Mills did not follow her into the mansion and shouted, "Vicky Shaw, what's stolen will never be truly yours. You will pay for what you've done!"Vicky opened the door. Before she got in, however, she turned
Vicky could sense the man's smothering gaze even in the darkness and thought to herself, 'This guy has to be insane. Nothing ever happened between us, so why would I be pregnant with his child?'Naturally, she dared not to say it out loud for fear she might provoke him, so she remained quiet.Just then, a faint fragrance caught her attention.It was a pleasant, familiar scent, and Vicky's eyes widened.She tensed at the realization that…it was the fragrance of the perfume she got from Jennifer.The bed was filled with the same scent, and Vicky had grown used to it. Realization dawned on her that this was the first time she met with the masked man since she obtained the perfume.'We've only been next to each other for a few minutes, so why would he...smell like the perfume?' she thought. 'Am I just imagining things, or is the scent in this room so thick that it attached itself to his body?'The man stared at her intently with his piercing gaze. The fragrance became more and more
The air froze around them, and they could hear each other breathing.Sometime later, the masked man repeated in confusion, "Tyler Hart?"Vicky sneered. "Stop pretending. I know it's you.""I don't know what you're talking about."Vicky stared at the figure before her. "Switch on the lights and we'll know, won't we?"The man fell into silence, and Vicky did not press on.Silence filled the room and he took off the voice changer to reveal his cold, melodious voice. "How did you find out?"Tyler had admitted to it straight away since Vicky discovered the truth. He knew that Vicky was not one who could be easily fooled, and since she precisely mentioned his name, it meant that she had found solid proof of her claim.Instead of answering the question, she said, "Are we still going to continue the conversation like this?"A few seconds later, the lamp on the nightstand was switched on.The majestic face before her seemed both strange and familiar at the same time under the light. T
"Vicky, are you mistaken about something?" Tyler drawled, each word as frosty as a blade of ice. "You were the one who ran away with Sebastian Mills while I was on a business trip. You brought this onto yourself."Her breath caught in her throat. "This is your way of retaliating?""I won't call it retaliation," he said casually. "I just mean to teach you a lesson so you remember the consequences of running away, so that you won't run again." He stared at her fluttering eyelashes and said, "This is the price you need to pay."Vicky had thought that he was pretending to be calm, but he sounded so righteous that she realized he thought that all the things he had done were for good reasons.She opened her mouth to speak but realized she no longer dared to run.She developed a fear of the darkness and strange, unfamiliar environment, and Tyler's presence imprinted a sense of security within her.Tears welled in her eyes. "So you know about my plan to leave all along?""Yes.""You we