Laura’s POV 133
“What did you say?” My heart shook.
Kevin straightened up and smiled, “Our itinerary was all arranged in advance, even if Mr. Cameron knew where we were staying and what our route was … But that day was an unexpected event, no one could have predicted it in advance. You say, how could Mr. Cameron appear by the side of you like a godly soldier and save you out?”
Yeah!
I can’t believe I never thought about that.
I was only surprised by Cameron’s appearance, but never pursued how Cameron could suddenly appear there? Yes, he’s so powerful, it’s not hard for him to find someone.
But the problem is, it’s Alcostan! How can it be that easy to find someone?
And as Kevin said, it was just another one of those unexpected things that happened that day.
I was confused.
Kevin looked at me and smiled, “I’ll whisper it to you, you don’t let anyone know.”
“What the hell is going on?”
He pointed to my neck.
I didn’t understand what it meant, and he gave me another wink, and I snapped to the fact that I had been wearing the shell necklace. Rushing to take it out, Kevin just smiled.
“That’s why.” He gestured for me to take it off, then he took it in his hand and gently broke the shell open … I was stunned that there was a tiny black chip inside!
“Other people keep pearls inside their shells, you’re good, you keep trackers in your shell!” He laughed.
I suddenly did not know what to say, my hands were trembling slightly.
This necklace, I wore it for six years …
So, in these six years, every moment of my whereabouts did not escape Cameron’s eyes?
No wonder … no wonder every time I was in danger, Cameron would appear at the first time, no wonder he was there whenever I needed him …
I bit my lips tightly, fine beads of sweat were secreted on my forehead on the tip of my nose, my scalp was a little numb, for a while I couldn’t describe my feelings.
“What’s wrong?” Kevin looked at me, “You suddenly look so ugly.”
“Kevin …,” I asked him, “How did you know I had … in my necklace?”
He paused and said, “It’s like this … We are, after all, a United Nations working group that is organized and disciplined. On this trip, there are also staff members who are especially responsible for personal safety. Even if we encounter an unexpected situation, they should be the ones responsible for your safety. But in the end it was Mr. Cameron who carried you back …”
“Suddenly there was such an extra person like him, the working group had to interrogate him. That’s what we do, I hope you understand.”
I nodded, “So …”
“So once you ask, you ask.” He said, “Mr. Cameron was quite cooperative, not as grumpy as the legend says … And he has been concerned about your health and safety. Laura, it’s obvious that he really likes you … ”
“Okay, stop it!” I interrupted him.
The heart fluttered and hurt.
The plane broadcasts about to take off, I forced a smile and said to Kevin, “It’s about to take off … Can I trouble you to go out and see? Cameron is still smoking outside.”
“Good.” Kevin agreed faintly.
He got up and headed out of the cabin.
I closed my eyes and leaned back in my chair for a moment.
I didn’t say a word to Cameron until the plane landed at Jerez State.
As soon as I left the airport, I saw Rafael waiting for me. He naturally took my bags from me, looked at me meaningfully, and whispered, “Let’s go.”
After getting in the car his face was still ugly, cold and stiff, and he didn’t say a word to me the whole time, didn’t even look at me, kept looking out the window.
He was definitely very angry about this time.
His assistant sat in the front and turned back to me with a smile, “Ms. Laura has had a hard journey, President Rafael has already arranged a hotel room, you should go and rest first.”
“Hotel?” I was stunned and looked at Rafael, “Not going home?”
Until then he was willing to turn his face slightly, and said expressionlessly, “I still have some official business to deal with, I’m afraid I won’t be able to make it in time if I send you home, so I’ve booked a room for you in that hotel near my office first. You go to rest for a while, eat something, if the energy is okay, a little later I let someone send a set of evening dress over, you accompany me to attend a banquet.”
I got a big head when I heard about the banquet, “Can I not go? I … I’ve been flying too long and I’m still dizzy and want to get a good night’s sleep. Besides … you don’t have to pick me up if you can’t get me home in time, I can get back on my own …”
Rafael jerked his head around to look at me, his eyes radiating a sharp light, the corners of his mouth hooked up in what appeared to be a sneer.
“That banquet at night, it was my banquet for directors, producers and investors. Heh, Laura, do you know how much money you’re going to lose if you quit halfway through that movie?”
I was dumbfounded.
His assistant hurriedly said, “Don’t worry Ms. Laura, President Rafael has already taken care of all the compensation for you.”
“Thanks …,” I looked at Rafael, “But I’m really tired, I want to go straight home.”
“Go home?” Rafael’s voice lifted, “Back to that home you and Cameron used to have?”
“Heh,” he grunted softly, “Laura, you think you’re just going to lose money for this mess? That director’s power can’t be underestimated, even George has to be courteous when he meets him! If you say you won’t do the movie, do you think the showbiz industry is your family?”Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.
“It’s easy to lose the money, but we have to make up for it, don’t we? You’re not going to this banquet, do you think it’s appropriate?”
“I …”
“Heh, Alcostan!” he stared at me hatefully, “It’s nice to relive old dreams, isn’t it?”
My face burned hot for a second.
“To the hotel!” Rafael growled lowly, “You better behave, I might still have a way to bail you out and you won’t be out of the loop!”
I closed my eyes, my head aching. I didn’t want to argue with him.
Just went to the hotel as if he was holding me hostage, and he left as soon as he pushed his luggage towards my room. I couldn’t think of anything else, I took a good shower and slept first, which I slept through and woke up at six in the evening.
I remembered that Rafael had said there was a party in the evening.
I rubbed my head and sat up with a strong grip, freshened up and ate something briefly, the tuxedo hadn’t been delivered yet.
I was a bit puzzled and was debating whether to call Rafael or not when suddenly the doorbell rang.
Opening the door, Rafael was standing in the doorway, his eyes staring straight at me, his face not normally ugly.
“What’s wrong?” I let him in, “Don’t you have a party tonight? What took you this long.”
“The party was canceled.” He sat down and lit a cigarette.
I frowned and was about to open the window when he pulled me back.
“What’s wrong?” His eyes were sharp, “You can stand the smell of Cameron’s smoke, but you can’t stand the smell of mine?”
“Rafael!” I pushed him away as hard as I could, inadvertently touching his injured left shoulder, he stifled a grunt and bent over with a slightly pained expression.
I softened for a moment, my feelings conflicted again at the thought that he had gotten hurt for me.
“Is everything alright?” I went over to help him and sighed softly, “Rafael … Can we be calm and talk?”
Rafael quieted down and sat sullenly on the couch, a soft hum escaping his nose.
I sat down next to him, suddenly feeling that even at such a close distance, the two of us were still far apart.
There was no sound for a long time.
Rafael suddenly sneered, “Aren’t we going to talk? Talk. Why don’t you talk?”
I licked my lips and took a deep breath, the words lingering in my throat for a long time. “Rafael, let’s just … postpone the wedding.”
“What did you say?”
“I’m saying,” I raised my eyes to his, “that this is not the right time for us to get married.”
He stared at me for a long moment, the look on his face going from shock to mockery. He slowly hooked the corners of his mouth, the slight sneer full of distrust.
“Heh, first the wedding was postponed, then delayed indefinitely, and then our engagement was automatically canceled, wasn’t it?”
“Rafael …”
“I didn’t realize that what I used to deal with Fryday originally, you’re now using against me!”
I had nothing to say but respond with silence.
After a while, I told him softly, “Rafael, it’s really not a good time for us to get married. Think carefully about what’s been happening for a while … Could we walk into a marriage without any burdens?”
“We still lack an understanding of each other.” I said, “We both need to calm down.”
“Calm down?” He raised an eyebrow and snapped his eyes at me, his eyes sharp as blades, “Heh, you do need to calm down! One trip to Alcostan, and you’re already too groggy to tell the difference! You probably can’t recognize who your fiance is anymore!”
He moved closer to me, almost face-to-face with me, his eyes like torches. “Laura, from the moment we started getting along until now, I’ve put you first in everything! You say I can’t let go of Becky, but have you ever let go of Cameron, I don’t care about your past with Cameron, and I’m willing to treat your daughter as if she were mine, so how far do you want me to go? Why do you need to use Becky as an excuse to cover up your heart’s weakness, to cover up the fact that you can’t forget Cameron at all!”
“You …”
I stared at him in stunned silence for a moment. Every word he said was like a needle in my heart, a pain I had to face.
I also more clearly see a reality, he is right, I simply can not forget Cameron. my marriage with him, destined to be a tragedy.
I paused and laughed softly, “Since you put it that way, you’ve already seen through me, Rafael, I don’t want to marry you. I can’t let go of Cameron, but I don’t want to be Becky’s double either!”
“Finally forced the truth out of you, did you?”
Rafael’s right hand squeezes me violently, and his left arm slowly lifts up, and I seem to be able to hear the cackle of his shoulder blades rubbing against the steel spikes inside of them against each other …
My heart tightened as the thought popped into my head: why didn’t Carter’s bullet penetrate my body that day? If it had hit me, I wouldn’t have had to owe him this extra burden.
“Laura,” he stared at me, his eyes slightly red and his voice raspy, “this arm of mine, it’s ruined forever.”
“…”
“You said you’d be my left arm.”
“Rafael …”
The guilt at the back of his mind tickled so easily.
Rafael looked grim, but there seemed to be fire blazing in both eyes, and I felt a man’s desire emanating from there … It was a domineering desire for exclusivity, an evil desire that would rather destroy than let anyone else have it.
I felt danger rapidly approaching me.
I pushed him away violently, a wave of panic running through me. I stared at him with wide eyes, he looked like he had suddenly changed, changing from his usual gentle and considerate behavior to a hideous and arrogant one. He pressed me onto the sofa in one go, with just one hand he was also very strong. I struggled desperately, but to no avail, our body sticking without a gap …
He started kissing me roughly and ripping my clothes off.
“Rafael!” i was so scared i almost hissed. I pounded him and hit him, even kicked him with my feet, but he didn’t budge. He had turned into an evil aggressor.
“Don’t do this … you calm down!” I grabbed his hand and tried to stall for time, “Rafael listen to me, I’m not really trying to delay the wedding … it’s just, it’s just that as soon as I get back, I’m sure I’ll have a lot of work to do, let’s just change the date okay … ”
“Laura!” he snarled glaring at me, “Stop playing games with me … Do you realize that you’ve worn out all my trust and patience with you!”
“What were you and Cameron doing in Alcostan, huh? You’ve got a lot of nerve, stacking a green hat this high on top of my head and treating me like a monkey!”
He threw me a slap so hard that I was dazed, my ears buzzed, and blood flowed from the corner of my mouth, then the other half of my face … He rode on top of me and just hit me left and right, slapping me a dozen times, and for a moment I was as if I had plunged into hell, and my nose and mouth were full of the taste of blood.
The only remaining consciousness is to beg for mercy.
I kept begging him, begging him to stop hitting, but he was getting more and more energized, pulling up my hair and slamming it into the cabinet … The heartbreaking pain attacked my whole body, and I lay on my back on the carpet, and suddenly a mouthful of blood was coughed out.
“Rafael …” I held on to the last of my strength, “please don’t fight … I was wrong, I was wrong! I’m the one who wronged you, I …”
“You bitch!”
He raised his foot and viciously kicked me in the waist.
I instantly looked like I had scattered my bones, writhing on the ground like a mass of mollusks.
His cold laugh came from above my head, and it gave me the creeps. I barely lifted my head, and my afterglow caught a glimpse of him removing his clothes piece by piece …
“What are you doing?”
He slammed down behind me, his big hands reaching under my skirt and ripping off the inside in a few tugs …
“Don’t, Rafael … don’t!” I cried, “No, don’t do this!”
“Then what do you want?” He gave my hair a hard yank, “Laura, I was just too good for you once upon a time! Women like you, the better I treated you, the more you stepped on my head … just like that, so you can give me a good bitch!”
“No …”
“We will soon be married, after marriage, you still do not give me to fuck? Heh …” he sneered, “I’m just bringing our wedding night forward to today!”
“Don’t …”
Desperation and panic slammed into my heart.
A deep sense of humiliation rips my dignity to shreds.
His hand reaches out in front of him, and I take the opportunity to bite the back of his hand hard, and he yells out in pain, hitting me while cursing the bitch. But he couldn’t use the strength in his left hand, and his right hand couldn’t move because of my bite.
I had a sense of near-death despair, I thought that even if I put my life on the line, I couldn’t let him get away with it, so I didn’t know where I got the strength from, and I bit the back of his hand bloody.
“Laura, you bitch!” He roared, struggling to pick up an ashtray on the table with his left hand.
At that exact moment, the doorbell rang sharply.