Erica shouted at the men who were watching her, "Hey, I want to go to the bathroom!"
"We will accompany you," one of the men replied casually. He nodded at the man standing nearby. The sound of footsteps echoed in the otherwise quiet yard as both men approached her.
Disgust reflected in her expression at the thought. She shook her head and spat out, "I won't use your bathroom. I'm going to my house!"
"Bitch, are you looking for trouble? If this bathroom sickens you, don't go at all!" one of the men yelled.
Fury coursed through Erica, and she slammed her hand on the table. "Who the hell are you to call me bitch? Do you believe that you can stop me? I don't care what you think or say. I'm going to the bathroom in my house now!"
A screeching sound filled the room as Erica pushed her chair back and stood. Without giving the men a chance to respond, she marched toward the door.
The commotion alerted Pike, who rushed into the yard. His brows shot up in astonishment, and he shouted, "What are you doing?"
The man who was about to hit Erica replied at once, "Pike, this woman is making trouble. She insists on going to the bathroom in her house."
"That's not worth all this noise. You five can go with her and make sure she stays out of trouble!" Pike ordered impatiently.
"Yes, sir!"
With a victorious smirk, Erica walked out of the yard. The five ruffians hustled to keep pace with her as she headed for her home.
A few moments later, they passed a dark alley. Erica, who was ahead of the men, suddenly turned, pointed in a direction, and exclaimed, "Hey, look! What is that?"
Reflexively, everyone looked in the direction where she had pointed. "What?"
When the men didn't see anything unusual, they frowned and turned to question Erica. However, she was gone. With widened eyes, they searched for her. Someone yelled when they saw a figure run into a nearby alley. One of the five men, who was bald, cursed, "Damn it! You two go back and report to Kirk. The rest of us will chase her!"
"Yes!"
Erica's heart beat wildly in her chest as she sprinted through the alley, scaled a wall, and disappeared into the darkness.
Before long, chaos erupted in the quiet village. Several people led by Pike separated into different groups to search for the woman.
At the entrance to Tow Village
Two black Bentleys sped down the access road to the village. As soon as the cars stopped, a well-dressed man got out of the first car and jogged to the back door of the second car. When the window of the back seat rolled down, he said, "Mr. Huo, we have reached."
The man in the second car took advantage of the moonlight to examine the shabby surroundings. A deep frown marred his handsome features. 'Is Erica living in this poor village? She might want to experience some hardship, but why did she have to make my sons suffer as well?'
Just then, a figure jumped out from the side and stopped in front of the cars. She stared at the two cars like a startled wild animal. Of all the things Erica thought she'd come across on this road, two luxury cars were not it!
In fact, the people of Tow Village were so poor that no one had a car. Even if there were one, it would be a shabby car that would be worth very little. No one could afford such a brand-new car here.
Erica didn't have to rack her brain to figure out why these cars were here. She mumbled a soft, "Uh-oh." She only knew of one person who would make such an entrance!
At this time, several beams of lights shone in her direction. "I saw someone over there. Hurry up!"
The shouting reminded her of why she had been running. Without overthinking, Erica bypassed the car and ran to the side.
But, she found that she had taken a wrong turn. A dead end lay ahead, and she had nowhere else to go.
She spun on her heels only to bump into something hard. She had intended to backtrack her way to the cars, not fall into a man's arms. "Oomph," she mumbled as she steadied herself.
Almost instantly, Erica was enveloped in a familiar cold aura and pleasant scent. When she opened her eyes, she saw a suit jacket that most definitely was not something that people here could afford.
She gulped and slowly raised her head.
Just as she had suspected earlier, the deep eyes that gazed at her intensely belonged to none other than Matthew, the man she had missed for so long.
The voices of her pursuers became louder as they got closer and closer, but she forgot about escape. She even forgot to breathe!
The man took a step forward, and Erica stepped back. She gulped. He smirked. The pounding of her heart was so loud that it drowned out all other sounds. He took another step forward. 'This is a dead end. I can't run, ' she thought.
Forced against the wall, she had nowhere to go. Her heart raced as she whispered, "You, you... Mph." His lips were pressed on hers.
The familiar scent and kiss overwhelmed her a split second before his strong arms enveloped her.
For over three years, he had searched for this woman. Now that he had found her, all Matthew wanted to do was show her how much he had missed her. And then, he wanted to punish her for tormenting him.
"Pike, someone is over there!" Several beams of lights shone over the luxury cars.
Pike and his companions were stunned as they rushed to the front of the two cars.
Although they had some money, they seldom saw such luxury vehicles.
Owen glanced at the kissing couple. Then, he took out a carton of expensive cigarettes from the car and approached the gangsters. "I'm sorry, everyone. We passed by Tow Village and decided to rest here. We didn't mean to disturb you. This is a little gift for you. I hope you will accept it!"
Pike's flashlight shone on the cigarettes in Owen's hand, and his eyes suddenly lit up. 'Oh, my God, I've seen this brand of cigarette on the Internet once. It was priced at thousands of dollars per carton!' Pike thought as greed coursed through him.
He took the cigarettes at once and pretended to warn, "Get out of here after you've rested!"
Owen nodded and said, "We'll be leaving soon!"
Just as the men turned to leave, someone in the group shouted, "Pike, there are people over there!"
Several flashlights were shone on the dark wall in the alley. A man pressing a woman against the wall and kissing her passionately came into everyone's view.
Owen cleared his throat and walked to them immediately. He blocked the lights with his body and said, "Sir, they are my master and lady. They just want some intimacy in the dark night. Please don't disturb them!"
When Pike heard that Owen mention "master" and "lady," he understood that they were wealthy people. He didn't think of Erica, as his mind was focused on the expensive cigarettes in his hand. So, he just nodded, "Okay. Let's go quickly. Don't disturb the young couple's romantic moment!"
A few minutes later, the driver got out of the car and whispered to Owen, "How about we find some food for Mr. Huo?"
Although he was not looking at Matthew and Erica, Owen knew that his boss wouldn't stop what he was doing anytime soon. He knew that it was better to give them some privacy. So he agreed, "Let's all go." He wasn't worried about leaving the couple alone as no one from this village was a threat to Matthew.
Hearing the assistant's words, the men Matthew had brought along immediately dispersed.
In the quiet night, Erica gritted her teeth and pulled away. Her cheeks were flaming from the emotions coursing through her. She blushed and said. "Matthew, stop. This is not the right place..."
'How could Matthew want to sleep with me here?' she cried in her mind.
Despite her objections, Erica was so excited that she couldn't stand it!
The man didn't seem to hear her protest and continued his advances.
They hadn't seen each other for over three years, and he had already thought of all the ways he would punish his woman hundreds of times in his mind. Now that he had finally found her, how could he let her go?
Even if it were daytime now, it wouldn't stop him from making love to her!
In this way, the couple who hadn't seen each other for so long released their longing for each other.
Before Erica could recover from the shock, she was silently punished by the man.
After a long time, Matthew carried the woman into the car and tidied her up. Without saying a word to her, he got out of the car and called Owen. "Come back."
Soon, Owen and the bodyguards returned with some food. "Mr. Huo."
Matthew, who was smoking in front of the car door, ordered without raising his head, "Let's leave."
"Yes, Mr. Huo."
'Leave?' Erica snapped out of the daze that had fogged her brain. She immediately opened the door and staggered out of the car. "I won't go!"
Matthew glanced at her coldly and said to her the first sentence since they met again. "Are you insane?"