At the Pearl Villa District
As soon as they arrived home, Erica was ready to crash. She kicked off her shoes and ru okshed upstairs like a freed husky.
By the time Matthew changed into his slippers, Erica had already disappeared at the corner of the stairs.
When he got up the stairs and reached the third floor, there was pin-drop silence. As he pushed the bedroom door open, suddenly a figure jumped out of the corner and shouted, "Ha!"
Matthew leapt in the air as he had not expected that, and his heart palpitated nonstop.
Erica felt overjoyed as she realized that her trick had worked.
The man closed his eyes in resignation, gnashed his teeth and snarled, "Erica Li!"
"What? I'm going to bed!" Erica disregarded his anger and ran for the bed. Every time she laid eyes on the bed, she found it harder to keep her drowsy eyes open.
She unbuttoned her coat and hurled it on the sofa, closely followed by her sweater and trousers.
It was almost as though Matthew wasn't standing in front of her the whole time. Perhaps she trusted him so much that she had no problems of sleeping in the nude even when he was there.
Matthew's eyes darkened as he watched this scene unfold before his very eyes. The girl threw the last piece of clothing she had on the sofa and quickly jumped into bed.
'How could she fall asleep just like that? I don't know how she can be so carefree and frivolous!' Putting his tie aside, Matthew went straight to the bed and sat down. "Erica?"
Erica opened one eye and looked at him. "What?"
Grabbing her hands, he leaned over and kissed her luscious red lips.
A few minutes later, the sound of someone crying in the bedroom was heard. "Didn't you say that you would respect my boundaries? You promised that you wouldn't force me. What do you call pressing me down now and not allowing me to resist? You are a liar!"
Matthew loosened his grip on her wrist, kissed her on the corner of her eyes, and said nothing.
"I want an apology! Don't try to take advantage of the fact that I've had a few drinks. It'll take more than a couple of drinks to get me drunk. In fact, I'm very sober right now!" Although she wasn't particularly good at drinking, Erica was able to handle her liquor better than most women. She never had trouble sleeping after a night out and unlike her mother, she wouldn't ask for Wahaha after drinking.
Matthew wiped the tears from the corner of her eyes and whispered in her ear, "Don't cry. I like you so much that I want to treat you like this..."
Erica's mouth was agape in shock and bafflement.
"I don't believe you!" She knew he was just bluffing. Erica would be incredibly stupid to believe what Matthew said in bed.
'I can't believe he's trying to get me to sleep with him after he got Phoebe pregnant! Why is he acting like such an irresponsible man?'
Matthew remained silent. Which was more important, dignity or getting laid? Did he even have to think about it? Of course, the answer was getting laid!
Without any explanation, Matthew kissed her again.
Suddenly, just as Matthew was starting to lose control over his desires, Erica, who was shivering with fear, bit him on the shoulder.
When the man stopped because of the pain, she took the opportunity to push him away and ran into the walk-in closet.
When everything returned to peace, Erica sneaked out of the closet fully clothed. When she passed by the bedroom, she saw Matthew standing in front of the window with his back to the door, wearing only a pair of boxers.
He had a figure to die for! All of a sudden, Erica felt pangs of remorse. Why didn't she touch him just a few more times just now when they were in bed?
As soon as he turned around and saw Erica staring at him, she panicked and turned around to run away.
'She seems a little drunk. If she goes out like that at this hour...' Thinking of this, Matthew immediately grabbed his silk robe, put it on, and took the elevator downstairs as fast as he could.
When Matthew found Erica, she had already climbed onto the wall of the villa, leaving behind the only criminal evidence—the rope.
Without even looking at him, Erica jumped onto the big tree just outside the wall and slid down the tree. Then, she ran away.
Matthew called in for help and asked as many people as he could find to help him locate Erica. Before long, however, he received a call from Erica.
As he watched her name on his phone screen, Matthew wondered why Erica was calling him. After all, she was not one to give up so easily. As such, he concluded that it must have been something really urgent, or else she wouldn't have called him.
Thinking of this, he immediately slid the answer button. Before he could say anything, Erica's panting voice came from the other end of the line. "Matthew, help!"
It was just as he had anticipated. "Where are you right now?"
"I'm... I'm running and there's a few people chasing me."
Matthew asked again, "Which road are you on?"
"I don't know. I'm not familiar with the street names of Y City!" Fortunately, Erica was a fast runner, or she would have gotten caught a long time ago. Unfortunately, she was running out of energy.
Matthew asked the driver to pull over first. "Is there any landmark around you?"
"A landmark? Oh, I ran past our family's office building."
'Our family...' Erica deliberately said the words "our family" so that he would rush to her rescue. This was just moments after she ran away from him. "What else?"
She answered breathlessly, "A pharmacy, a supermarket... Why aren't these guys giving up yet? And... Ah! I got it! I'm near my school!"
It had taken her so long to recognize the neighborhood her own school was in. Matthew felt defeated, and he ordered the driver to turn around without hesitating. "Go to Mrs. Huo's school now!"
It took about ten minutes before he found Erica standing and gasping for air, while four men were approaching her, just a mere ten meters away. Three of those men were so tired that they were rolling on the ground while one of them was barely standing straight.
Matthew got out of the car and pulled the woman into his arms. "Why didn't you just call the police?"
The moment Erica saw him, she wrapped her arms around him with excitement. "I wasn't thinking right. My mind went blank and the first person I thought of was you."
Matthew was pleasantly surprised to hear that. What Erica had just said now was more heartwarming and real than ten insincere apologies she had given him in the past. The man sighed inwardly, and his eyes returned to their usual cold selves as he glared at the men in front of him.
Although the distance between them wasn't a lot, under the dim lights on both sides of the road, Matthew could only vaguely make out a blonde-haired man in his twenties.
When the other three men who had been lying on the ground saw Erica's rescue party, they helped each other up and shouted at Matthew, "Hand that woman over to us!"
Erica snuggled in Matthew's loving embrace and raised her head to look at him. "I caught them dealing on the streets." Erica's misfortunes just wouldn't give her a break! Just before she could hail a taxi and make her escape, she accidentally bumped into this group of thugs engaged in some kind of illegal activities at the end of the bridge.
The poor girl was spotted staring at them and that was enough to warrant her capture.
Matthew put his arm around her shoulder and gently patted her on the back. "I see."
The four men on the other side began to approach the outnumbered couple with confidence. "Do you hear me? Hand her over to us!" one of them demanded.
Matthew stood still, completely disregarding the man's words as he kept patting on Erica's back.
Despite the advantage in numbers, the men felt a sense of apprehension when they looked at Matthew's soul-piercing eyes.
Suddenly, Matthew said, "I dare you to say that again!"
The men looked at each other in utter bafflement. Frightened by Matthew's cold eyes, they contemplated their next course of action. "Ted, why don't we just let it go?" one of them whispered.