Zayn turned to her with the same nonchalance in his eyes.Marissa felt her heart racing. It was a strange change—she had known Zayn for at least a week now, and had seen him for all seven of the days. It never really registered in her mind, and even when she did notice him, she regarded him with contempt. Zayn was just a nondescript agent sent to protect her. The schism of status between them was as wide as the gap between a princess and a peasant.All of that was gone. On the contrary, it was her turn to be nervous and uneasy in his presence. Her erstwhile haughtiness and self-importance had escaped her like a puff of smoke.Zayn’s performance had blown her mind. He was not just any normal agent—he was a 4S-class superhuman powerhouse! She might be a hapless outsider when it came to powers like these, but she was aware of the significance of the ranks. 4S-class legends were those at the very apex of the human classes. They were the elites who were above the shackles of wealth. Anyo
Marissa was very shaken. Zayn’s aura was so imposing that he was even more intimidating than her own father. He was a god amongst men.Hence, when she raised her head and realized that Zayn had put off teaching her lesson, she let out a sigh of relief. Gritting her teeth and steeling herself, she approached him once more, murmuring sheepishly, “I know it’s my fault. I was too reckless. I didn’t heed your warning… I won’t ever act this recklessly ever again. Please… Don’t be mad at me.”“‘Don’t be mad at you’?!”The dying flame within Zayn’s chest roared back into life. Her words were like a bucket of gasoline. As the fire sputtered violently in his chest, he turned around to face her, smirking. “Yesterday, I told you multiple times that there were assassins after your life, Marissa! You weren’t supposed to have your stupid sight-seeing trips, because you’ll be giving them a chance! But what did you do? You didn’t listen, and you found a way to dump me while bringing your oh-so-power
To be pushed away—or more accurately, to be completely put behind an invisible wall—by Zayn like that pushed Marissa’s button. One could call her what they wanted, but she was still going to be the precious daughter of a Eurosian financial empire, a princess of the wealthy class with money that rivalled a small country’s GDP, and a woman so physically and aesthetically-endowed that not even lingerie models could compete against her charms. How many men did she have wrapped around her finger? How many times had her stunning beauty intoxicated half the males on planet Earth?However, here before her stood a Rheasian man who was completely impervious to her spellbinding beauty, and remained antipathic to her no matter what she did. That adversarial attitude was egging the pride that nestled deep behind her guile. Her temper had reached its boiling point.“Oy, Rheasian man! Or are you not a man at all? I apologized, alright? What will it take to make you forgive me?” she snapped.Her pe
“Three.” Zayn finished counting while a very defiant Marissa remained tight-lipped.“You asked for this,” he sneered before grabbing Marissa around her waist and hoisting her up as he headed for a nearby chair.The young woman screamed and wriggled in his arms, panicking. “Put me down, Rheasian man! What do you think you’re doing?! I’m not just anyone—I’m Marissa Bell, a guest in your country! Stop the savagely… thing that you’re doing!”Zayn was not going to buy any of her threats, because he had made up his mind about teaching the girl a lesson. At the very least, she needed to be punished for the deaths of Hank and Grant!He forcefully dragged the chair towards him with his free hand and sat, placing the young woman’s body on his lap. “Last chance, Marissa. Apologize.”Marissa panicked. As the precious daughter of a powerful business mogul who grew up in excessive luxury and adulation, the young woman was unaccustomed to being treated so boorishly or ever being forced into such
“Uh-hem,” Zayn began awkwardly. One could already tell that there was a misunderstanding afoot.He hurriedly offered, “Alright, look, it’s not what you think.”And right after that, Marissa let out a moan from on top of his lap.The accusatory look of confusion from Liam, Dick, and the rest of them intensified. They gaped at him as though they were looking at an animal.Zayn felt tingles crawling all over his head. ‘Guys, this isn’t what it looks like!’Never had the thought ever cross his mind that Marissa would let out such an annoyingly audible and suggestive moan. What the hell was that supposed to mean? Was she actually a masochist? He might have held back from using his true strength, but it should have still hurt quite badly!Marissa froze as soon as the moan escaped her lips, too. Her face turned into a flustering scarlet. Shame—she felt so ashamed of herself! How could she have let something like that escape her throat?! She had never been so brutishly violated before, b
After a mutual salute, Zayn reported darkly, “We were the assassins’ attacks. I’m the only one who survived—comrade Hank and Grant have died.”Zayn proceeded to recount everything that had happened up until then, which was received by the group’s darkening, sombering miens. Any sense of comical jocularity they harbored prior to the report had evaporated.They scanned the carnage around them. Their eyes swept across the assassins’ bodies, Marissa bodyguards, and finally, the lifeless, cold corpses that belonged to Hank and Grant. They were red in the face.Zayn felt terrible watching their reactions. He had grown accustomed to being a cavalier man with no attachments. He might have endured a rather terrible past, but the only pain of loss he had ever felt was over his parents’ death when he was a young boy. Since then, he had never experienced any encounters of death with those close to him. He definitely did not witness their deaths in such a gruelling manner either.He hated the f
Zayn stared at her nonchalantly. “My mission is completed. It’s time for me to go home.”“No, you can’t! You’re supposed to keep me safe! I… I’m still in danger! You can’t abandon me just yet!”Liam, Dick, and the rest watched the budding exchange between the two, and took notice of the anxiety etched on Marissa’s face. It was completely antagonistic to her normal demeanor to be so worried and impassioned, so it was only a matter of seconds before cocked brows and suggestive smiles shadowed their faces.They were certain that something salacious had happened between them!“There will be other agents to fill my role.”Seeing Zayn was about to leave again alarmed Marissa even more. It was an unprecedented feeling—one not born out of her sudden timidity, but because she was on foreign land. It did not help that all of her bodyguards were dead either. Plus, Captain Horton, the man she had relied so heavily upon, had lost all of his powers as well.Of course, she was also utterly mesm
As they were speaking in Rheasian, Marissa found herself excluded from the conversation. She stared at the men talking amongst themselves, eyes wide with confusion.Liam and the rest of the group froze. Before they could offer any form of response, Zayn chimed in, “Well, that’s about it. There aren't going to be any more assassins coming for her life, so just deploy any other agent to take over from here; she’ll be fine. I’m out.”And that was it. He vanished into thin air, as if he had teleported away and into the vegetation that surrounded them.Marissa had watched him slip through the cracks of her hand. She found herself left with no choice but to stomp her feet in embarrassed indignance.…Zayn was finally heading home. It felt great to be back.Before he knew it, he had been gone for half a month—his longest time being separated from Faye ever. He had never yearned for her so much before, ever!Absence made the heart grow fonder, and Zayn was certain that he was fonder tha