Alanna couldn't help it, though.Hades went to the balcony and lit a cigarette. After taking a drag, he pulled out his phone to make a call.Yves' voice rang out on the other end of the line. "What's up, Hades?""Send a copy of the photos of Blake with those starlets to his brother-in-law," Hades said.Yves was taken aback by this. Blake could be considered a self-made man, but he'd made his money with help from his wife's family. His wife's surname was Quigley; the Quigley family had dabbled in illegal dealings for ages.The current head of the Quigley family was Blake's brother-in-law. Blake's wife had grown up like a princess. Her brothers had doted on her all her life.The Quigley family hadn't been pleased about her marrying Blake but had no choice but to turn Blake into a more powerful man for her sake.In the early years of their marriage, Blake had been pretty grounded. But as his business expanded, he started showing his true colors. It was just that he didn't dare to m
Alanna pursed her lips tightly. She didn't answer Hades. Obviously, she felt wronged, but it wouldn't win any of his pity or mercy."Did you not see Blake trying to make a move on you the first two times, or did you just not care?" Hades gripped the back of her neck, forcing her to look up at him.Alanna didn't change her tune. "I had no other choice but to seek Mr. Walsh out. Melanie refused to work with me, and her manager didn't answer my calls. And you, Mr. Florentine, insisted on using Melanie for this. What else could I do?"Hades released her. "If you can't do your job, I might as well switch you out for someone else!""You need to get something straight, Mr. Florentine. Melanie Smith is the one who's been refusing to work with me!"Hades sneered. "And why would she do that? I warned you not to piss her off, haven't I? Think about your attitude toward her!"Alanna lowered her gaze. Her heart ached so badly that she felt like she was suffocating. Did the problem lie with he
"Can we not do this right now?" Alanna asked.Hades paused. "You should know that I haven't spent this much money on you for you to throw tantrums at me, Ms. Jacinto!"Alanna felt suffocated. Indeed, he was paying her to be his sex toy. How could she have forgotten? She stopped resisting them and responded to him enthusiastically, even.Hades was rough with her, as if he wanted to punish her. He even seemed like he wanted to swallow her whole. Alanna could only go along with him as best as she could while telling him tentatively not to be too rough.He finally stopped when it was past 2:00 am. Alanna was exhausted. The sweat from her face dripped onto her collarbone; it hurt a little.Hades had left a bite mark there, covering the mark that Blake had left on her. His face was covered in sweat; there was no sign of tenderness in his gaze as it landed on the bite mark. "Does it hurt?"Alanna shook her head. He pressed it hard. "Does it hurt?"She turned pale from the pain, but he
Alanna couldn't deny she'd complained about Melanie. Last night, she'd repeatedly told Hades that she'd only gone to Blake because Melanie had refused to work with her. She hadn't expected Hades to warn Melanie, though.After all, Melanie was his first love and someone to whom he'd never raised his voice. Perhaps he had only done it to make their work go smoothly, but Alanna couldn't stop her heart from skipping a beat. It was as if there was a little sparrow hopping around inside it.Then again, she found herself rather pitiful. Hades had only been the slightest bit nicer to her, yet it was enough to secretly make her jump with joy.Alanna didn't say anything else to Heidi. She focused on arranging for the photoshoot. She spoke to the photographer and the crew. When she was done, Melanie's makeup was also done.Melanie stood before her and smiled. "Hades said he's going to throw me a homecoming party. You should join us when the time comes."Alanna turned her down without any hes
This was one thing about Melanie that Alanna admired—the fact that Melanie could adapt to any situation for the sake of tormenting her. She knew that if she didn't go for the meal, she'd probably be made out to seem like she and Melanie were sworn enemies.Alanna suppressed her annoyance and nodded with a smile. "Alright, then. I'll go."Melanie broke into a wide grin. "You're the best, Ms. Jacinto."Renee was disgusted by this. After Melanie left, she leaned close to Alanna and muttered, "Mr. Florentine must be blind. Why is he in love with someone like her?"Alanna laughed. Indeed, she couldn't understand it either. Hades had countless women swarming him—naive ones, alluring ones, gorgeous ones, classy ones… He had plenty of choice. Why was Melanie the one who'd won his heart?It wasn't that she was looking down upon Melanie, but she genuinely didn't have anything going for her aside from her looks. But what could anyone do about it if Hades liked her? She said, "Well, it all bo
It was Melanie. She approached Alanna with two glasses of wine. Alanna looked at them, immediately knowing what was going to happen next. Her temples started throbbing.Sure enough, Melanie held out one of the glasses to Alanna. "I want to apologize to you, Ms. Jacinto. Before this, I delayed your work and caused some unnecessary misunderstandings. I'm sorry for that."Alanna looked at the wine glass before meeting Melanie's gaze. "There's no need to apologize; it's only normal for these things to happen when it comes to work. Everything will be fine as long as we communicate properly. There's also no need for us to drink. I haven't been feeling too well, anyway."She didn't accept the wine glass. With that, she turned to leave. But Melanie quickly moved to stand in her way again. "Are you unwilling to forgive me, Ms. Jacinto? Why else won't you even have a drink with me?"Alanna smiled. "I've already made it clear that we only had a small disagreement over work, Ms. Smith. There's
Melanie didn't drop the pitiful act. "I don't mean anything else by it, Ms. Jacinto. Please don't be mad at me.""You're overthinking this, Ms. Smith." With that, Alanna left the private room. As she shut the door, she saw Hades handing Melanie a tissue. The latter didn't take it. Hades helplessly wiped her tears away."Look at you, still crying when you're at this age," he said."It's not like I wanted to.""You look so ugly." Despite his words, the smile on his face remained in place.Alanna tightened her grip on the doorknob. Her knuckles turned white from the force. The night before, Hades had cruelly told her that crying was useless and that she shouldn't even dream that her tears would soften his heart.She'd always felt that he had a heart of stone. Indeed, he'd been incredibly cruel to her over the years. He wouldn't soften his stance when faced with her tears, nor would he back down because of her pleading.But when Hades was with Melanie, he was the complete opposite o
Alanna hung up her coat. "I went to the shopping street.""Whom with?"She paused, then decided not to hide anything from Hades. Judging from the way he was acting, he had to already know something. "I went alone, then ran into Mr. Lawson on my way home. He dropped me off."Hades looked at her from his perch on the couch. "A coincidence?""Yes.""How coincidental, then." He sneered and patted the space beside him. "C'mon, sit here and tell me just how big a coincidence it was."Alanna stiffened. Hades was obviously angry. There was a bitter taste in her mouth as she explained, "I was waiting to hail a cab by the roadside when he passed by. Then, he offered to drop me off. I'm not that charming, Mr. Florentine. I can't summon someone with a single phone call."Hades had an extremely ugly look on his face. He sneered again and snarled, "You'd better remember what I told you before, Ms. Jacinto. Stop fooling around with other men. If you dirty yourself, you won't be worth your curr