The drive from Manhattan, New York, to Malibu Beach took nearly an hour.
Potts held the steering wheel with one hand, while using the other to tug at the Hermès silk scarf around her neck.
The edge of the scarf rubbed against the skin on the side of her neck, bringing a dull ache that was impossible to ignore.
This was the mark Linus had left in the office last night.
Even after applying a thick layer of concealer, it remained glaringly obvious, forcing her to cover it with the scarf.
The car’s Bluetooth screen lit up.
Caller ID: Star Umbrella Corporation, Betty Ross.
Potts pressed the answer button.
“Dr.
Ross, the legal process for the patent licensing is complete.”
Betty’s voice came through the speaker.
Compared to her crisp efficiency when they first met, her voice now carried a lazy, relaxed quality, tinged with an unabashed, sultry warmth.
“Understood.
I’ve also emailed you the mass-production standards for the primary serum.”
Betty paused for two seconds on the other end, the rustle of papers audible in the background.
“I hope Stark Industries’ production lines can keep up with the schedule.”
“The boss just personally…
‘inspected’ the results of my work in the lab.
He is extremely strict about efficiency.”
“Don’t disappoint him, Potts.”
Betty placed heavy emphasis on the word “inspected.”
Potts’s heart tightened.
She couldn’t stop her mind from flashing back to late last night, when Linus had pinned her against the desk and kissed her so possessively.
Was this man currently in another lab, treating his Chief Biological Officer in the same or perhaps an even more scandalous manner?
“I will get it sorted out.”
Potts quickly ended the call.
She took a deep breath, suppressing a strange wave of irritation and jealousy, and parked her car outside Tony’s luxurious oceanfront villa.
…
Dark clouds blanketed the sky, and the sea breeze carried heavy moisture—a torrential downpour was imminent.
Stepping out in her high heels and carrying a briefcase filled with urgent documents, Potts expertly punched in the passcode and headed straight for the underground lab.
The moment the lab doors slid open, a deafening mix of metal screeching and heavy metal rock music blasted out, vibrating painful waves against her eardrums.
Tony Stark was shirtless, wearing grease-stained cargo pants, leaning over a workbench to weld a silver-white robotic arm.
His eyes were bloodshot, and his complexion had an unnaturally sickly, pale hue.
Potts stepped closer, her gaze falling on Tony’s chest.
Around the arc reactor, which usually glowed with a pure blue light, dark gray-black veins crawled outward like withered branches, stretching all the way to his neck.
Potts walked forward and set her briefcase on the table.
“Tony, turn off the music.”
“What is that on your chest?
Are you poisoned?”
Tony roughly threw down his welding torch.
“Jarvis, mute.”
He grabbed a tank top and pulled it on, covering the black veins.
“Poisoned?
This is artistic texturing.
What are you doing here?
I said I didn’t want to be disturbed.”
Potts pointed at the documents on the table.
“The investor conference is this afternoon!”
“Linus Vance brought the rapid regeneration technology on behalf of Star Umbrella Corporation, which managed to temporarily stabilize Wall Street.
But you are the CEO!
You need to personally sign these funding agreements and military inquiries!”
At the mention of “Linus Vance,” Tony reacted like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, his temper exploding instantly.
“Don’t mention that damn Asian upstart to me!
He shorted my company while I was gone, and now he’s acting like a savior?”
Tony slammed both hands onto the table.
The looming threat of death from palladium poisoning, coupled with sleepless nights of experimenting, had pushed his sanity to the brink.
“I’m not signing!
Stark Industries doesn’t need anyone’s charity!”
“I’m going to build something greater than any weapon!”
Potts’s eyes reddened as the accumulated frustration of the past days boiled over.
“Is this charity?”
“Tony, face reality!
The shareholders out there want to depose you!
If it weren’t for Star Umbrella’s funding and technology holding us up, you wouldn’t even have the money to buy this scrap metal!”
“What on earth is wrong with you?”
Tony’s eyes were bloodshot as he pointed a finger directly at Potts’s nose, roaring.
“Shut up!”
“This is my lab!
That is my company!
I am Tony Stark!”
“You’re just my assistant!
You get paid by me to run my errands!”
When those words left his mouth, Potts froze.
Her lips trembled as she stared at the man in front of her—someone who would throw his life away for his experiments, someone who threw all his worst tantrums at her.
The once-brilliant, high-spirited tech genius had reduced himself to a tyrant lost in his own little world.
Potts’s voice was frighteningly raspy.
“Fine.”
She didn’t cry.
Instead, she was unnaturally calm.
She slowly pulled back the document requiring his signature and tucked it back into the briefcase.
“Mr.
Stark, since I am merely an assistant who runs errands, then I’m sorry, but I quit.”
Potts turned on her heel and walked toward the stairs, her high heels clicking as she left without looking back.
Behind her, Tony violently trashed the parts on his workbench, sending them clattering to the floor.
“Get out!
All of you, get out!
None of you understand what I’m doing!”
Potts burst out of the villa.
Outside, the skies opened up, and heavy raindrops pelted her, instantly soaking her custom gray business suit.
She pulled open the car door, climbed into the driver’s seat, and pressed the ignition button with trembling fingers.
The engine let out a few dull clicks and completely died.
The intense electromagnetic interference pulse radiating from inside the villa had fried the car’s electronic motherboard half an hour ago.
Potts collapsed over the steering wheel and finally broke down, sobbing uncontrollably.
Nobody cared whether she lived or died.
Tony treated her as an emotional punching bag, while the shareholders treated her as a scapegoat.
On this freezing coastal highway, she was left utterly stranded like an isolated island.
Just as she was crying so hard she could barely breathe, a flash of stark, pure black caught her eye through the rain-streaked window.
A highly understated, bulletproof black Maybach had stopped about ten meters ahead of her, though she hadn’t noticed when it arrived.
The car door opened.
Linus Vance, clad in a bespoke pure black suit, walked toward her with long strides, holding a massive black umbrella in one hand.
The downpour was deafening, filling the world with nothing but the roaring sound of rain.
Linus reached her car and pulled open the driver’s side door.
The wild wind swept rain into the cabin, but his umbrella remained perfectly tilted, shielding Potts from the deluge.
Potts looked up, her makeup smudged by a mixture of rain and tears.
“How are you here…”
Linus looked down at her disheveled state and didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, he turned his gaze to the coastal road ahead, muddy and washed out by the heavy rain.
Due to a landslide, a massive boulder weighing seven or eight tons had crashed onto the center of the road, completely blocking the path back.
Linus spoke in a calm, steady tone.
“The road is blocked.”
He handed the black umbrella to Potts.
“Hold this.”
Potts instinctively grasped the handle.
Without even covering himself, Linus turned and strode toward the giant boulder.
The torrential rain pelted his suit, but it was as if the water had hit a unique energy field; it couldn’t penetrate the fabric even a fraction of an inch, sliding harmlessly off the pitch-black Vibranium material.
Sitting in the car, Potts stared blankly at the man before her.
Linus kept one hand casually in his trousers pocket, not even bothered to unbutton his jacket.
He extended his right hand and pressed his palm against the surface of the seven-to-eight-ton boulder.
Then, he gave it a gentle push forward.
Accompanied by a low, deafening rumble, the colossal rock—which would have taken a bulldozer hours to clear—tumbled over and plunged off the edge of the cliff into the churning sea below.
The path was cleared in an instant.
Having finished, Linus lightly brushed off nonexistent dust from his palms and walked back to the car.
Standing beneath the umbrella again, he remained perfectly composed, his breathing even and relaxed.
Potts’s fingers wrapped around the umbrella handle froze entirely.
She was an executive who believed in science, but this scene completely shattered her understanding of reality.
This man wasn’t just capable of commanding the financial markets; he himself was a terrifying force of nature that transcended normal human limits.
Linus leaned down, slipping his large hands under Potts’s arms and behind her knees, completely ignoring her soaking-wet clothes as he imperiously scooped her out of the driver’s seat.
Finding her feet off the ground, Potts instinctively tried to wriggle free.
“Linus…”
Linus’s voice easily cut through the roaring thunder.
“Don’t move.”
He carried Potts to the Maybach, opened the back door, settled her into the spacious, soft leather seat, and slid in beside her.
The door closed, shutting out the howling wind and rain completely.
The car’s heater was running at full blast.
Linus took off his completely dry black suit jacket and wrapped it naturally around Potts’s shivering shoulders.
The warmth lingering on the jacket, along with his pleasant woody cologne, immediately enveloped her.
Potts clutched the edges of the jacket tightly.
The profound hurt she had suffered under Tony was instantly supplanted by this man’s domineering, unyielding protection.
Linus leaned back against the seat and looked at her sideways, his tone carrying unvarnished mockery.
“For the sake of some scrap metal, he threw you out into this storm alone.”
Linus reached out with his long fingers, brushing the wet hair away from her face and tucking it behind her ear, his thumb grazing her cheek.
“Your loyalty was misplaced, Potts.”
Potts’s eyes welled with tears again.
She lowered her gaze, her voice barely a whisper.
“I quit.
I’m no longer Stark Industries’ assistant.”
Linus chuckled softly.
He cupped the back of her neck with his hand and pulled her closer.
“Since that broken house can’t contain you, let’s go somewhere else.”
His eyes swept over her slightly trembling red lips.
“Come to my place.”
“We have a lot of matters concerning you that we need to sit down and discuss in detail.”