Chapter2 You're Such a Coward

The suffocating sensation squeezed Linnea's brain into a knot. She nearly lost the ability to think. She wanted to resist, but the man's absolutely overwhelming strength kept her immobile. She could only cry out hoarsely, "No... please... let me go!"

"Shut up. You scheming little cat."

His voice was so cold it made her tremble.

"I grew up in a family full of crises and calculations. Since childhood, countless enemies have tried to poison me. I've long been able to resist countless types of poisons, drugs, and of course... aphrodisiacs."

Linnea began to feel dizzy. To escape being strangled to death, she tried hard to play dumb. "Then congratulations. You can avoid being manipulated by your enemies and don't have to be forced to sleep with me, a completely unfamiliar assistant secretary. That's good..."

She emphasized the word "enemies." Right, she hadn't done anything. The one who drugged him was just his stupid illegitimate half brother!

"Ha." He released his grip. "I never said I was being forced."

Linnea had no energy now to guess at his implications. She only wanted to stay alive. If jumping directly out the window could achieve that goal, she might try it. After escaping the fate of being strangled by Caius, she tried to curl herself up at the foot of the bed, but heavy knocking sounded at the door.

"Sir, we brought him."

Caius immediately pulled her into his arms. Her head was pressed into his chest, completely blocking her vision. In the pitch darkness that made her uneasy, he carried her to the door and opened it. No one spoke. The sound of a trigger being pulled scraped past her eardrums.

"Bang!"

A gunshot rang out. Immediately after came the dull thud of a body hitting the floor.

The smell of gunpowder mixed with blood filled her nostrils.

At this moment of facing death directly, Linnea predicted her own demise with the worst possible thoughts. Maybe tonight. She couldn't help trembling again, tears soaking the man's expensive shirt.

Caius felt the warm liquid. His brain, frozen by fresh blood, actually melted a little at this moment.

She was afraid? Interesting reaction.

He gave the bodyguards a look to clean up, then carried the girl back into the room. Until the door closed, his frightened little cat remained curled in his chest, as if afraid that exposing even a bit of her forehead would result in a gun barrel pressed against it.

He couldn't help but lift her face and look at her, using his fingers to wipe away her tears. "Linnea, you're such a coward."

"But I'm afraid you'll be disappointed. I don't casually kill a lady, especially you... such an intoxicating beauty."

Caius was no longer as rough as before. Perhaps the vulnerability she displayed made him temporarily regard her as a frightened kitten who posed no threat to him, so he felt like toying with her.

He even pulled Linnea to sit back on the bed, preventing her from falling to the floor with weak legs.

But in any case, Linnea didn't dare trust his words. In the last moment before entering the room, she carefully opened her eyes and saw the face of his illegitimate half brother lying in a pool of blood.

Seeing her suspicious look, he raised an eyebrow. "You seem to have an opinion about me. Please speak."

Instinct told Linnea she'd better be honest.

"You just shot your own brother."

"Oh? Just because of that?" He asked back indifferently. "What's wrong with it?"

"He's only your brother. He only drugged you."

"Only?" Caius repeated her words. "You mean he had no murderous intent toward me, he just wanted to drug me to send an enchanting woman to my bed, to let me enjoy supreme pleasure on this night of desire?"

"Maybe it was to finalize a business deal..." She said hesitantly. "Even if the method was stupid."

Caius burst out laughing. He hadn't realized that this woman, bold enough to send herself to his bed, actually housed a kind and innocent little angel in her heart.

"Looks like you grew up in a happy family." He casually guessed her past. "Because you and your family are honest with each other, you never thought others would lie to you, right? Good girl."

No. Linnea said in her heart. Quite the opposite.

Her mother, a philanthropist, firmly believed that most things in the world were harmless and used this principle to educate little Linnea, encouraging her to trust others more, even though she had been swindled out of too much money by dishonest aid recipients.

Her mother had once created a pure and beautiful childhood for her.

But since her mother died, everything changed.

Everyone in her family wanted to harm her. Including her father who had been cheating for years, the mistress nanny her father had hidden outside, and most importantly, that pair of extremely vicious illegitimate twins. Just because they were jealous that she once had a perfect fiancé, they wanted to take her life.

"That person tried to bribe my secretary to steal confidential company documents, and coerced several nightclub hostesses with threats and bribes, instructing them to inject me with massive amounts of drugs in bed, preferably while extracting my secrets. Stupidest plan ever, right?"

Linnea was very surprised. In the information her best friend Cora had obtained by hacking into the intelligence network, that person and his subordinates had only done one thing, drugging Caius. Cora was one of the world's top IT hackers.

"Of course." He glanced at her, seeming unsurprised by her slightly odd reaction, and was happy to explain. "He didn't succeed. Therefore it wouldn't be recorded in whatever intelligence network you might check."

Linnea trembled all over again. Why did this man keep seeing through her tricks? Had the computer the company configured for her when she joined already been implanted with surveillance equipment?

"I wouldn't check any intelligence network." She insisted on emphasizing.

"Alright, we don't need to discuss those insignificant people anymore for now." But he no longer pursued this topic, muttering, "If I'd known that bastard would mess with my bed partner's head, I should have poisoned him with rat poison at his coming of age party..."

"So now, what should we do?"

He stood by the bed, gripping Linnea's sweaty palm, looking down at her.

Linnea's mind raced.

What to do? Continue fulfilling her secretarial duties, contact his family doctor for him, prepare hangover soup, and find a bed partner who could handle his performance?

Of course not!

Right now, Caius seemed very interested in her. But this was most likely just the combined effect of alcohol, aphrodisiac, and the thrill of killing, which allowed him to temporarily ignore reason and let primitive male desire occupy his brain.

But after? She dared to believe that if nothing happened between them, when Caius woke up tomorrow, he would definitely have someone dispose of her just like he disposed of his illegitimate half brother.

She had to do something, both to protect herself and for her revenge plan.

She had gone through so much trouble to get close to Caius, and not just to be a secretary!

Linnea made up her mind.

She caressed his wrist, met his burning gaze, and asked in a low voice, "You have severe mania, don't you?"