Chapter 2 Love Bite.

"Did you spend the night out yesterday?"

His questioning struck her heart as Roxanne felt her palms get a little sweaty.

“Babe?” Christopher’s voice sounded again, reminding her that he was awaiting her answer.

Roxanne raised her head to face his gaze filled with suspicion and discontent. Even his voice was a few degrees colder.

"Babe, answer me. Where were you last night?"

Babe? Roxanne sneered at this word. Well, he still had no idea that she was next door last night, or he shouldn't dare call her 'babe' anymore.

“Ah, yes. I spent the night at Iris’s place.” Placing an apathetic face, she lied without batting a lash.

No way was she allowing her plan to fall apart just because of a small slip-up after she had come this far.

Christopher narrowed his eyes at her. “Well, is that so?”

His voice was soft but full of skepticism. Christopher had known Roxanne for more than seven years, their story went as far back as the first year of college. He knew his fiancée well.

A rich good girl with a simple mind, easy to extort her fortune with his sweet words.

But today, it felt that she was different, and he couldn’t pinpoint the exact thing yet made him subconsciously uneasy.

He couldn't give up now, before he managed to marry her and got her family fortune in hand. That would be an important help for him to defeat Lance and succeed in winning the heir-ship.

Christopher took a step forward with a smile, trying to soothe her, “You never told me you had plans of doing so. Why’d you suddenly change your mind without informing me?”

For the first time, Roxanne saw through the coldness behind his warm smile so clearly.

She avoided his embrace without a trace and squeezed out a smile at him, "Didn't you say you had to work late last night? I just didn't want to bother you."

Her voice sounded tender as before, but the way she looked at him somehow hit Christopher as if she had noticed his affair. NO! She wouldn’t. They covered it well.

Christopher then hurriedly explained, "Don't say that, babe. I also want to spend more time with you but we're marrying soon and I need to work hard for our future."

'Deceitful bastard.' Roxanne sneered on the inside, 'You actually mean your hard work hard on the hotel bed, right?'

She clenched her fingers shut as she boiled on the inside with rage and betrayal and just when it seemed like she was about to lose all sense of reasoning and charge at him, the sound of her phone ringing went off in her bag.

“Roxy, have you gotten home yet?” Iris, her best friend's voice heavy with a country accent was the first thing that graced both their ears after the line had connected.

Roxanne glanced in Christopher’s direction briefly before speaking. “Yeah, I made it home alright. Thanks for having me last night, it was of big help.”

“No problem babes, I’m just glad you made it home alright, wouldn’t want Chris holding a saw up to my throat.”

Roxanne forced a laugh. “I don’t think he’d do that, as a matter of fact, he’s here right now.” She said and shoved the phone in his direction.

Christopher didn’t like the idea of speaking up as he and Iris never got along since the first day, but in order to confirm last night's situation he greeted her. “Hey, Iris.”

“Well if it isn’t Christopher Laurent.”

“Hm, yeah. By the way, thanks for having Roxy last night, it took a lot of worry off my shoulders.”

“Yeah, it was no problem.. Roxy, since you are home, I am officially relieved of my duties. See you later, girl.” Those were Iris’s last words before the line went silent, leaving Roxanne and Christopher alone once more as they stood on the porch of her house.

"See? I was not lying to you." She looked at him with displeasure in her eyes.

“I'm sorry babe…” Knowing he might have overthought the entire situation, Christopher scratched his head in embarrassment and wanted to apologize with a kiss.

“I have to go in and change now.” Roxanne skillfully dodged him as she turned to open the house door.

Her heart almost exploded the moment she stepped into the bathroom. She gripped onto the wash hand basin for support and exhaled heavily through her lips.

That was so close! That she was almost being caught after her first cheating night!

At that moment, her phone buzzed and Iris' text came in.

「You owe me a favor, girl. Tell me the truth later! 」

Reading her playful words, Roxanne couldn't help but smile. On the way she hurried home she had contacted Iris to cover for her but had no time to explain too much. Luckily, it worked.

Since Christopher was a very deductive person, she had to perform better to make this game more fun.

‘Come on, Roxy, it's just the beginning.’ She reminded herself as she gazed at the reflection in the mirror.

***

When they arrived at the mansion of the Laurent family, there were already quite a few guests and many of them were the business partners of Roxanne's parents.

To help Christopher get a foothold in the Laurent family, Roxanne had introduced him to many investments and contacts before. After their engagement, he also gained more respect from others. Yet, the man was not grateful at all.

Roxanne silently took a sip of her wine while Christopher was hinting at her to convince the guest to invest in his new project. And just when she was ready to implicitly reject it, a clamor raised at the entrance.

With a beautiful drift, a black Mercedes Maybach stopped steadily at the entrance. Seconds later, the door opened and a male stepped out of his vehicle. With the shiny and successful aura he exhibited, any person would have been able to tell who he was.

Lance Laurent, the true heir of this household.

Hating his stepbrother as he was, Christopher still placed a friendly expression on his face walking towards him.

"Hey, Lance. You finally come."

However, Lance just ignored his very existence but scanned his eyes through the crowd. The moment they landed on Roxanne, his lips pulled upwards and approached her direction.

The way he looked at her was exactly the same as last night. Dangerous and sexy.

At that moment, Roxanne felt like she had become the prey of a hunting predator. She wished to run, but her feet were just feeling pinned in place, preventing her from escaping.

Finally, he stopped in front of her with his hands tucked into his pocket and a more evil smirk on his lips.

“Hello sister-in-law. How was your night?”

His voice was playful and Roxanne immediately remembered the sultry scene he coaxed her to chant his name on the bed.

She could feel her face a bit blushed and when she noticed his pleased smile, she couldn't help but feel a bit annoyed.

'Don't let him get to you, Roxy. It's nothing more than a one-night stand.'

Christopher was not happy to see his stepbrother was too close to his fiancée, especially after being ignored by Lance. He kept his flaring nostrils to a minimum and matched right back to Roxanne’s side, taking her hand in his, which made Roxanne calm down.

She did nothing wrong last night.

“My night was pleasant. Thank you for your concern, brother-in-law,” Roxanne spoke as she forced a smile onto her lips.

Lance was pleased by her answer at first but when his eyes gravitated towards her fingers entwined with Christopher’s, his grin completely faded.

He wanted to say something more but Christopher quickly dragged Roxanne along to greet the family as per the duties of an ‘upright son.’

Christopher definitely didn't like the way how Lance looked at his fiancée.

“Oh my, Roxanne. What is that on your neck?”

Roxanne was confused for a few seconds when Christopher's mother Grace exclaimed. Then she quickly realized what Christopher's mother meant was the hickeys Lance had left.

She had warned him!

Roxanne couldn't help but glare in Lance's direction secretly as she covered the hickey, only to see Lance walk toward them with a playful smile.

Hell, what was he going to do?!