Adina entered her study with her phone in her hand and switched on her laptop.Even though the news about Jones Corporation had been suppressed, there were still many people spreading rumors online. A number of posts were gaining public attention.Zhenny ordered the workers to work overtime throughout the night in order to boost the revenue figures. They were made to work almost sixteen hours a day. Many workers fainted on the job. Some nearly died from the shock and were being monitored in ICUs.Adina skimmed through the news. “Daniel, we have two shifts at the site. Each shift is supposed to be eight hours of work. You have to pay attention to that, alright?”Daniel had made note of everything she said. Adina looked grim after the phone call. Based on Zhenny’s manner of doing things, the petrochemical project was quite likely to deliver significant benefits in the span of a month.The resort project went off without a hitch, but they were a little late while starting off. They
Earl sat on the edge of the bed and grabbed her chin with one hand.When the task was completed, Adina abruptly woke up. She slapped Earl’s hand away.Earl clamped her mouth shut. “Don’t you try to call Duke, or else I don’t know what I will make you do,” he hissed.He swung the dangling earring in his hand. “Even if I asked you to kill Duke, you would do it in an instant. Do you want to bet on it?”“You scumbag!” Adina squeezed out the words from between gritted teeth. “Do you know how thrilled I was when I found out you had been implanted with the bio-intelligent chip?” Earl said as he stroked her cheek. “Can you imagine how surprised I was to learn that the bio-intelligent chip in your body was produced by my company? I was ready to accept my fate and spend the rest of my life in that underground room, but you gave me hope.” Adina grimaced and moved away from his touch. Every time he touched her, she felt disgusted.He looked like Duke. But it baffled her how evil he could
Thoughts ran in Adina’s mind. She forced out a smile and walked to the kitchen with Duke.“Duke, how’s Earl these days?” she asked as she washed the tomatoes.Duke was cutting vegetables. “He’s locked up in the basement. He is being truthful without making too many demands.”Earl used to make strange requests during the first few days of his confinement. He always tried to escape but was caught every time.Now, he just answered Duke honestly when interrogated. Perhaps he had accepted the fact that he could not escape.Adina’s hands stopped. Duke seemed to be unaware that Earl had escaped.She looked down. “Duke, I want to speak to Earl.”Duke stopped what he was doing and looked at her. “Addy, Earl is not easy to deal with. He’s not going to tell you anything.”Earl refused to disclose anything regarding the chip database, no matter how hard he forced and coaxed him. Besides, he didn’t want Addy contacting Earl.“What are you worried about, honey?” Adina wiped her hands clean.
Duke only calmed down when Adina approached him and patted his back gently. He pursed his lips and continued, “The surveillance is probably destroyed. Hire a hacker and restore it. We must find Earl.”Duke was still furious even after hanging up.“Calm down…” Adina said softly. “You know Earl. He’ll never let himself get imprisoned for the rest of his life. He probably has been planning his escape the first day he got imprisoned…”Duke held her icy cold hand and said gently, “Addy, if you hadn’t wanted to talk to Earl, I might not know when I would learn that he’s missing…”“Duke, now is not the time to blame yourself.” Adina reassured him, “We should think of potential places where he might be hiding.”Duke had a stern expression. He gritted his teeth and said, “He’s most probably coming to Sea City.”He thought of a terrifying possibility.‘Earl hates me. It’s predictable that he’ll come to Sea City to take his revenge.‘He might come for Addy instead…’He subconsciously e
Adina bit her lower lip so hard that her red lips turned pale.“I’ll count to three. If you refuse, I’ll have you play with Duke.”Earl’s lips curled into a wicked smile as he gently shook the earring in his hand.A frequency is sent to Adina’s brain through the chip whenever he pressed the little red button.No matter how hard she resisted, in the end, she could only succumb to Earl’s command.She might even kill Duke if Earl asked her to.‘Duke trusted me. If I were to be involved, he would surrender willingly…’“One.“Two.“Okay, okay. I’ll do as you say.”Adina raised her head and looked at Earl. “What do I have to do to make you happy?”Earl looked at the queen-size bed. “Get on the bed and get undressed.”Adina pursed her lips, turned, and walked towards the bed in silence. She was about to switch off the light when Earl said coldly, “You don’t have to switch off the light. No more tricks. Just get undressed already.”Adina lowered her head and started to unbutton
“You need to give me some time to adapt to this…” Adina lowered her gaze aggrievedly. “…So I can willingly sleep with you…”Tears welled up at the corner of her eyes as she looked extremely aggrieved and pitiful.This instantly melted Earl’s heart.Even though he knew that Adina must be up to something, he could not help but compromise.He pursed his lips and said, “Take your time, then.”He slowly touched her hair and his fingers massaged her scalp gently. He recalled what he had gone through during the period he was locked up.He had been living in the shadows, but when he was locked up, without knowing if it was day or not, he realized something. It turned out that even living in the dark all the time was better than going through the motions like a living dead.He continued to massage the back of Adina’s head and said gently, “Does it feel good?”She closed her eyes and nodded. She started to loosen up and did not resist. Earl took off his shoes. He leaned into her as h
Adina slowly stood up, walked over to the balcony’s glass door, and closed it.She walked to the bathroom and turned on the light. When she looked at herself in the mirror, she saw that her face and her snow-white camisole were stained with blood.Her eyes were bloodshot, and her hair was messy. She looked like someone who had just crawled out from hell. ‘How did I become like this…?’She lowered her head and washed her face with the cold tap water. Only then did her head clear up. She returned to her bed to change the sheets and duvet cover. Then, she pulled out the gold earring and studied it carefully.‘This earring is exactly the same as before, and the command program on the inside is not too different…’She leaned against the head of the bed, unable to fall asleep.‘Earl is a devil. For sure, this will not be his last time here. ‘I’ve hurt him too. I’m sure he’ll come up with a worse form of revenge.’She got out of bed and walked to the bedroom next door. It was a
Adina’s body and mind were split into two; one clamored her to push Duke away, and the other wrapped around him desperately.Soon, the night was over. The next morning, Adina was exhausted from the moment she woke up.Duke hugged her and whispered, “What do you want to eat? I’ll make it for you.”She stayed in his embrace and said in a hoarse voice, “Did I do anything abnormal last night?”Duke kissed her on the lips. “Addy, you’re amazing. You bypassed the biochip program. I’m so proud of you.”“Oh, really?” She smiled. “From now on, let’s sleep together.”Duke pursed her lips.‘Even though Addy won the battle last night, she must’ve been in extreme pain. I don’t want her to go through that the second time.’‘Sure, but I don’t think we should do it again…” He hesitated and then said, “Be good. Don’t seduce me again, okay?”Adina hugged him back happily. ‘As long as I’m spending the night with Duke, Earl won’t sneak around anymore. That’s all I want.’After breakfast, Adi