A chill crept up Evelyn Grant’s back.
She trembled and instinctively took two startled steps back.
Preston Keaton seemed to find her small retreat amusing.
Here in The Mid-Levels, in Veridia—his domain—she had nowhere to run, yet she was naive enough to think she could escape his grasp.
‘But I’m six years older than her.
She’s just a girl.
I should be more tolerant.’
His expression softened slightly, and his tone became much gentler, like that of an adult indulging a child.
“Going to Corvin with Sophie Keaton?
That does sound like a plan you’d come up with.”
Hearing his words, Evelyn felt her blood run cold.
The panic of having her plan exposed was written all over her face.
The corners of her eyes reddened against her will, making her look frail and pitiful.
“Can’t I go?”
Her small, rosy lips opened and closed.
She clearly had no cards to play, she was trembling before him like a little quail, and her voice was laced with unconcealed fear.
“My job is to be Sophie Keaton’s makeup artist.
Of course I have to go where she goes.”
So naive, trying to reason with him.
So fragile, as if he could crush her completely with a single squeeze.
‘She’s still just a girl, after all.’
Preston Keaton waited with unhurried, patient calm for her to finish.
When she fell silent and looked at him, aggrieved, a dark, sinister light flickered in his eyes.
“But Sophie Keaton already flew to Corvin tonight.”
He added nonchalantly, “And took your little assistant with her.”
As if struck by a blow, Evelyn’s face turned deathly pale.
She denied it instantly, “That’s impossible!”
‘Sophie Keaton would never abandon me like that!’
‘And June Jacobs would never do that either!’
Preston Keaton’s expression remained unchanged, cool and serene.
“It’s the truth.
If you don’t believe me, you can go upstairs and look.”
Evelyn bit her lower lip.
A feeling of utter helplessness washed over her, as if she’d been doused in ice water.
‘What’s the point of looking?
If he said it, it must mean Sophie Keaton and June Jacobs are really on a plane to Corvin, leaving me here all alone in Veridia, under Preston Keaton’s control.’
A bitter, aggrieved feeling surged into her eyes.
Her eyelids drooped, and large tears began to stream down her face.
She was genuinely heartbroken and lost.
The emotions overwhelmed her in an instant, and she lost control.
She didn’t sob aloud but just stood there, quietly and pitifully crying, looking as if she’d suffered some terrible injustice.
It was a sight that would stir a tender, protective feeling in anyone’s heart.
And a certain dark, unspeakable emotion.
Preston Keaton’s jaw tightened.
His dark, heavy gaze was fixed on her.
He narrowed his eyes, and the cold white light tracing the sharp, deep-set contours of his face made him look all the more predatory.
The man coolly beckoned to her.
“Come here.”
Evelyn acted as if she hadn’t heard him—or perhaps she had, and this was her small act of rebellion.
Tears streamed down her face in silent succession.
Her already-red eyes made her look like a little rabbit, her stubbornly thin frame trembling.
Preston’s patience ran out.
He crossed the distance in a few long strides, easily seizing her wrist.
He forcibly pulled her into his lap, pinning her in place with a hand on her slender waist.
His voice deepened.
“What are you crying for?”
‘It wasn’t as if Sophie Keaton had never cried in front of him.
She’d picked up the idea somewhere that tears could soften a man’s heart.’
‘It was just irritating and loud.’
‘But she rarely cried in front of him anymore.
Preston Keaton had taught her that tears didn’t soften a man’s heart; they only made him call for Wyatt Walsh to come in, grab her by the collar, and toss her out.’
‘He didn’t like people who cried all the time.’
But a single, scalding tear from this young woman sent his emotions into turmoil.
He frowned, the line of his brow sharp and severe.
His tone was anything but gentle.
He dismissed the flicker of emotion as mere impatience and said coolly, “It’s already been decided.
Crying won’t change anything.
Sophie Keaton isn’t coming back this month.”
The young woman sobbed on his lap.
A single, crystalline tear clung to her long lashes.
Perhaps the wave of indignation had passed; her nose and eyes were red, and she looked like a delicate, battered flower.
She kept her head down and whispered, “Why?”
Preston Keaton only said, “Be a good girl.
Stay in Veridia.
I won’t restrict your freedom, but I expect to see you whenever I’m back at The Mid-Levels.”
He reached out, tilting her chin up to look into her tear-filled eyes.
His patience finally returned, and his voice softened.
“The terms of the contract won’t change.
You’ll come to Veridia and stay for ten days every month.”
“…”
Evelyn fought back tears.
“The fifty million Veridia Dollars…
is that what you’re paying to keep me, Mr.
Keaton?”
‘No wonder the pay was so high.
No wonder the money came so easily, even though Sophie Keaton was only in Veridia for three days a month at most, and sometimes I didn’t even have to do any work.
So there was another reason.’
‘His target was me from the very beginning.’
‘And I walked right into this trap myself.’
“I don’t like that term,” Preston Keaton said, his index finger curling as he nonchalantly wiped a tear from the corner of her eye.
“The fifty million is still your salary for the makeup job.”
His voice was a low murmur by Evelyn’s ear.
“Baby, even if I didn’t use work as an excuse to get you to Veridia, I have countless other ways to make you mine.”
Preston’s grip on her wrist tightened slightly.
“What I want, I get.”
His casual tone sent a terrifying, bone-deep chill through her.
Evelyn froze, her entire body going numb.
Aboard a private jet back to Corvin, Sophie Keaton and June Jacobs used the in-flight Wi-Fi to send a flood of messages to Evelyn Grant.
“My older brother forced me onto the plane!
*sob* I’m so sorry, Evelyn!
I don’t know what’s gotten into him, but you know how he is—what he says, goes.
We were supposed to fly back with you tomorrow…
I’m really, really sorry, Evelyn.
Please don’t be mad.
I truly had no choice.”
“Evelyn, a thought just occurred to me…
I’m not sure if I should say it.”
“I’m not a kid anymore.
And even though I’ve never been in love, I can see things…
My brother…
is he…
into you…?”
She didn’t dare type the rest.
‘Her brother had been an ascetic for so many years.
Forget a girlfriend; he didn’t let any woman get within arm’s reach of him.’
‘But he let Evelyn move into The Mid-Levels…’
‘She should have realized it sooner.
But at the time, the thought hadn’t crossed her mind—or rather, she hadn’t dared to even consider it.’
But tonight, her brother had ordered them with a stone-cold expression, “You two are going to Corvin tonight.
Don’t tell Evelyn Grant, and you are forbidden from taking her with you.”
He’d even had their electronic devices confiscated, and they’d only just gotten them back.
He must have been afraid they would tip Evelyn off.
After he’d gone to such great lengths, the most impossible idea began to surface in her mind.
Her hand trembled for a long moment before she finally managed to send the message to Evelyn.
Evelyn closed her eyes and simply replied.
“I’m not angry.
See you next month.”