The Royal cruise ship sailed steadily across the boundless sea.
On the cruise ship’s top deck, An Lan stood before the floor-to-ceiling window of her Mediterranean-style room, but she had no heart to admire the view.
A week ago, her Master had been in a car accident. Before she died, she told An Lan a secret she had kept hidden for twenty years.
An Lan was the true heiress of the An family in Yuncheng.
The girl now raised in luxury by the An family was an impostor.
When An Lan learned the news, she could barely contain her excitement. She was so happy that she hadn’t slept well for several nights.
Her Master had raised her well.
But ever since she was little, she had envied other people for having the love of their birth parents.
On top of that, three days ago, she had found half a jade pendant at the scene of her Master’s car accident.
A dragon totem was carved into it, and the craftsmanship was exquisite. Her father’s name was engraved on the back, appearing only when the pendant came into contact with water.
She suspected that her father had something to do with her Master’s death.
Her Master had raised her through countless hardships, teaching and guiding her. An Lan couldn’t let her Master’s death remain unexplained.
An Lan had to go back and find out what had happened.
She had mailed the token her Master gave her before she died to the An family. Within half a day, the family had sent someone to collect a DNA sample from An Lan.
Two days later, they sent someone to pick her up.
A series of noises from outside the living room interrupted An Lan’s thoughts.
She came back to herself and was just about to leave the bedroom to see what was going on when the entrance door suddenly burst open!
A group of bodyguards in black rushed into the room.
“Search! Take her out as soon as you find her!”
They were here to kill her.
An Lan immediately locked the bedroom door.
She listened closely to the commotion outside.
The thud of military boots against the floor was perfectly synchronized. Their search was methodical—they had clearly been trained.
There were too many of them. She couldn’t fight them all.
Her room was at the far end of the top deck, so calling for help was out of the question.
The bodyguards outside began pounding on the door!
An Lan went to the floor-to-ceiling window and glanced at the deck below.
Judging the distance, she figured the fall wouldn’t kill her.
The instant the door gave way, she leaped out!
She hit the ground, rolled once, and came to a steady stop.
She looked around, saw that the floor-to-ceiling window was open, and darted inside.
Someone upstairs shouted, “Boss! She’s over there!”
“Get her!”
A group of them jumped down after her in perfect unison.
An Lan had planned to cross the living room and get out of there.
Instead, she crashed straight into the owner of the room!
He seemed to have just come out of the shower. A towel was wrapped around his lower body, and his build was tall and lean, with broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and eight defined abs. His sharply cut face looked as if it had been carved by the gods.
The pursuers rushed into the living room after her.
It was too late to run.
An Lan grabbed him and pulled him into the bedroom with her.
Outside the door, the search continued in an orderly fashion.
Soon, the familiar sound of pounding on the door came again.
An Lan pressed her arm against the man’s throat, pinning him to the wall.
“Help me get away.”
The man drawled, “Is that a threat?”
The pounding grew louder.
An Lan had nowhere left to go.
She pulled out a compact pistol and pressed it against the man’s waist.
“Help me get away!”
For an instant, the man’s expression visibly froze.
A chill glimmered in his eyes. “You can point a gun at me, an innocent bystander, but not at your enemies?”
“I can’t let them see what I can do.”
“Help me get away, and I’ll owe you one.”
“Otherwise, we’ll both die here today!”
The man’s lips curved as he looked her up and down.
She looked about twenty, but she certainly had nerve.
A trace of admiration entered his gaze.
Instead of getting angry, he smiled. “Put the gun away.”
Just then, the door burst open!
The man took control, pinning her against the wall as he put away the pistol, which had no round chambered.
Then he bent down and kissed her.
He bit and tore at her lips, as if in retaliation.
“Mm…” A strong taste of blood spread across An Lan’s lips. She whimpered in pain.
The man held her so tightly she couldn’t move at all.
The bodyguards swarmed in and surrounded them.
At that moment, alarms blared throughout that deck of the cruise ship.
Dozens of armed bodyguards rushed in and surrounded the intruders.
An Lan wanted to see what was happening, but the man’s tall frame blocked her completely in the corner.
He had also bitten her lips to shreds.
The pain nearly made her faint.
But she didn’t resist again.
This was the price she paid for threatening an innocent bystander with a gun.
Besides, he had genuinely helped her.