The moment the door closed behind Darren, Elena finally managed to pull her leg free.
She took a few breaths, then glared at the man across from her.
The look had absolutely no intimidation behind it. To Richard, if anything, it seemed more like a tiny, tempting brush teasing at the fire already burning inside him.
“What are you looking at?”
Richard lifted the absurdly expensive glass of Romanée-Conti and took a small sip, his deep gaze unabashedly fixed on her.
“This is simply returning the favor, Miss Hayes. Why are you acting so wronged?”
“I—” Elena took a breath. “I never said I felt wronged!”
“Oh?” Richard raised an eyebrow. “Then what’s with that expression?”
“I was just looking at you,” Elena said, quickly making something up. “It’s just because you’re, um… ridiculously handsome and always so well put-together.”
Richard couldn’t help laughing.
“…Thank you?”
Elena nearly rolled her eyes again.
“Are you full? Can we go?”
“Mm. Let’s go.”
Richard didn’t tease her any further.
They both stood.
Elena was about to walk around the table toward the door when her eyes accidentally fell on Richard’s long, straight legs.
She suddenly stopped.
The warm, dim light of the private dining room fell over him from above.
On the perfectly tailored trouser leg covering his left calf was a faint, crescent-shaped gray-white mark.
A shoe print.
The one she’d left behind earlier.
Elena: “…”
She was wearing a new pair of sneakers today and had only changed into them that morning. But she’d walked around campus for most of the day, so the soles had inevitably picked up a little dust.
And the trousers in front of her had a subtle sheen to the fabric, with an immaculate drape that made the quality obvious.
She didn’t know much about luxury fabrics, but even she could tell these trousers were made from the kind of material that couldn’t simply be tossed into a washing machine.
Elena felt a little awkward.
She stood there for a moment, then pointed at Richard’s leg.
“Um… Mr. Sterling…”
Her voice was barely above a murmur.
Richard stopped and followed her gaze downward.
There, on the trousers—tailored by one of London’s finest Savile Row houses and made entirely by hand from rare baby alpaca fiber—was a very obvious shoe print.
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Richard’s eyebrow lifted slightly.
Of course, he knew exactly how it had gotten there.
That little kick beneath the table had felt about as threatening as a kitten’s paw.
But the evidence she’d left behind was remarkably clear.
Richard looked at the girl standing in front of him, her eyes darting everywhere except at him.
The faintly wicked amusement returned to his eyes.
“What’s this?”
He knew perfectly well what it was.
“A souvenir from Miss Hayes?”
Elena opened her mouth, then hesitated.
She looked down at her own jeans and found no obvious mark on them.
Besides, the clothes she was wearing had been given to her by Richard in the first place. Even if she’d somehow gotten them dirty, there wasn’t much she could say.
“It was an accident!”
She stumbled over the explanation, still feeling a little guilty.
“I didn’t mean to… And besides, if you hadn’t kept holding me there, it wouldn’t have happened!”
Richard lowered his eyes to her.
His already handsome features were sharply defined, giving him an intimidating presence even when he said nothing.
Elena swallowed.
“Fine. What do you want me to do? If you really want, give them to me, and I’ll have them cleaned before I give them back.”
She probably couldn’t afford whatever the cleaning bill would be right now.
Still, it was only dust and dirt, not some impossible stain. Surely it wouldn’t be that difficult to deal with.
Of course, in principle, trousers made from fabric like this would probably need to be handled by a specialist luxury garment-care service.
“Oh?”
Richard’s eyes immediately filled with deeper amusement at the way she’d phrased that.
He didn’t look angry.
Instead, he suddenly took a step forward, closing the distance between them.
He leaned down, bringing his handsome face close enough that she could feel the warmth of his presence.
The faint scent of oak mixed with the rich aroma of wine, surrounding her without warning.
“Give them to you?”
His low, slightly husky voice carried a dangerous hint of amusement.
He deliberately emphasized the words.
“You mean you want me to take them off?”
Elena: “…”
Her brain stopped functioning for a full three seconds before she finally understood what he meant.
How could someone like this even exist?
A man with his status could say something so shameless with such a calm, matter-of-fact expression.
“You!”
Elena couldn’t hide her embarrassment.
“You could just… do it somewhere I don’t have to watch. No. Forget it. We’re not having this conversation anymore. Do whatever you want.”
Seeing that she looked ready to flee at any moment, the dangerous edge in Richard’s eyes gradually faded, replaced by the faintest trace of amusement.
“All right.”
He dropped the teasing act and returned to his usual calm, composed demeanor.
“It’s just a little dust.”
Elena breathed a sigh of relief.
Then she realized he’d been deliberately enjoying her helpless reaction.
Her cheeks puffed up again, and she followed behind him in a huff without saying another word.
They walked out of Le Rêve together.
The car door closed behind them, shutting out the cool early-autumn night air and the noise of the street.
As soon as they got into the car, Richard’s assistant, Robert, handed him a tablet already connected through a secure, encrypted network.
Richard took it and immediately slipped back into work mode. His long fingers moved quickly across the screen as he reviewed a progress report on a cross-border acquisition.
When he worked, the atmosphere around him became noticeably heavier.
He was intensely focused and utterly severe.
Elena quietly curled up on her side of the back seat, keeping herself as unobtrusive as possible. She even kept her breathing as quiet as possible, afraid of disturbing the man who seemed to have a hundred things demanding his attention.
The city lights outside the window streaked past, gradually becoming less familiar.
As the car headed toward Westwood, Richard suddenly lifted his eyes from the tablet and turned toward her.
“Do you have class tomorrow morning?”
“Huh?”
Elena blinked, then honestly shook her head.
“My first class is at ten.”
“Mm. Do you want to go back to your dorm?”
At the question, Elena hesitated.
It wasn’t just that she was perfectly happy to spend more time with Richard. Even without that, she didn’t particularly want to return to the dorm tonight.
Her roommates had probably already seen the videos or heard about what had happened on campus during the day. If she went back, they would undoubtedly start asking questions.
She could handle them, but her personality was different from the original Elena’s, and she didn’t want them noticing anything strange.
Besides, she was genuinely tired.
She didn’t have the energy to deal with all of that tonight.
Richard noticed both her hesitation and her reluctance.
He didn’t ask another question.
He simply turned his gaze forward and said to the driver,
“Take us to Westwood.”
Traffic in the city was terrible at this hour. Even a luxury car belonging to someone like Richard couldn’t simply glide through it.
It took more than half an hour before they finally turned onto a quiet, tree-lined road.
There was noticeably less traffic here.
A little farther ahead, a guarded entrance came into view.
Through the window, Elena could clearly see the towering headquarters of the Sterling Consortium beneath the deep blue night sky.
The skyscraper was an imposing landmark, standing silently beneath the stars.
A few minutes later, the Rolls-Royce passed through a grand black wrought-iron gate decorated with intricate patterns.
Elena looked out through the window.
What lay ahead was less a mansion than an extraordinary private estate hidden within the heart of the city.
The first thing she saw was a shimmering private lake.
Expansive landscaped grounds surrounded it, with elegant pavilions and winding waterside terraces. Several pale-stone bridges crossed the water, illuminated by discreet ground lights that made the entire estate look almost dreamlike.
The entrance to the mansion’s first floor was partially concealed among mature bamboo and evergreen trees.
Above it, the second and third floors were built around staggered terraces and irregular geometric structures.
Large walls of one-way, bullet-resistant glass reflected the glow of the moon.
To own an estate like this—with a private lake and landscaped grounds—in one of the most expensive and central parts of the city—
It was clearly no longer a matter of simply being wealthy.
It represented influence, privilege, and a level of status that very few people could ever reach.
Even Elena, who had never belonged to that world, could understand what it meant.
“It’s beautiful…”
The words slipped quietly from her lips.
Richard heard her and the corner of his mouth lifted slightly.
After they got out of the car, they walked into an enormous luxury living room with ceilings rising more than ten meters overhead.
Richard casually handed his suit jacket to the butler who came forward to greet them.
The older butler’s eyes widened when he saw his employer arrive with a young woman.
But he said nothing.
He simply waited quietly for instructions.
Richard turned toward Elena.
“The guest rooms on the second floor are cleaned every day. Pick whichever one you like.”