Back in S City, Harper felt like she had traveled through time.


    The wedding;


    The sea voyage;


    The disappearance;


    The confinement.


    She had only spent a little over a day at Tranquil Haven Ind, but it felt like a century had passed.


    She walked down the street, and people kept ncing at her face with curiosity. Fiona and Walter had both left marks on her left cheek. Overnight, her face had swollen badly. Harper held her face with one hand and hailed a taxi with the other.


    As the taxi stopped in front of her, her phone vibrated with a message from ze-


    [I’m so hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry…]


    The word “hungry” repeated for about two hundred characters.


    ‘His bottomless pit of a stomach was always hungry.’ Harper sighed. Just as she got into the taxi and gave the address for Sky Harbor, ze’s call came through.


    She reluctantly answered, hearing ze’s perpetually displeased voice, “Didn’t Dn say you were back?”


    “Uh, I just got back,” Harper replied wearily, her voice tinged with exhaustion.


    “Why didn’t you call me?” ze yelled, clearly annoyed.


    “Why would I call you?” Harper blurted out without much thought, her face reflecting her confusion. She was back, why would she call him?


    ze was momentarily speechless on the other end, “Fine, whatever! Harper, you’re doing great!” he snapped before abruptly hanging up.


    Harper stared at her phone in bewilderment. ‘Why was he angry again? He really had a short fuse.’


    …


    N. E. Group.


    ze sat back in his chair, visibly annoyed.


    Damn woman. She came back and didn’t even bother calling him. And she had the nerve to sound so righteous!


    She had guts!


    Last night, he had to rush back to thepany for an emergency. He even saw she was worried about her family, so he didn’t ask her toe with him. He left Dn and the bodyguards with her and came back alone on the yacht.


    And what did she do? Not a word of appreciation, not even a call to let him know she was back!


    “Bang!”


    ze mmed his fist on the table, lips pressed tightly together, anger flickering in his eyes. He was going back now, right away, to give her a good lesson.


    Sky Harbor.


    As ze pushed open the door, a tantalizing aroma of food wafted out from inside. This woman really knew how to appeal to him.


    He nced into the kitchen and saw Harper standing at the counter, sweating profusely and , unable to conceal her exhaustion.


    On the dining tabley tes of steak and pasta, all very tempting. ze stood in the doorway, silently observing her.


    Suddenly, she leaned forward, clearly exhausted. ze’s eyes widened in rm, and he immediately rushed in, “Harper!”


    There was a hint of panic in his voice that he hadn’t even realized.


    “Ah?” Harper quickly stepped back to avoid bumping into the hot stove. Her face flushed red with embarrassment. She steadied herself and looked up at ze.


    Seeing that she was safe, ze subtly breathed a sigh of relief. Then, he mockingly remarked, “I’ve never seen someone cook themselves into a pot before.”


    Suddenly, ze’s gaze hardened as he stared at her face, “What happened to your face?” his voice turned icy.


    Harper reached up to touch her swollen cheek, “It’s nothing.”


    “Who hit you?” ze’s voice was chilling. Who dared to harm his woman?


    “I identally bumped into something,” Harper brushed her hair aside, hiding the swollen half of her face.


    “identally? Harper, you’re so clumsy,” ze snorted coldly.


    “It’s time to eat,” Harper said cautiously, watching ze’s expression, afraid he would get angry again about what happened earlier.


    Surprisingly, ze nced at her and said nothing, simply walking over to the table and starting to eat with relish.


    After finishing their meal, ze began making phone calls while Harper sat in a chair, resting.


    As time passed, she started to feel bored. She looked at the man beside her.


    ze sat there, his hands flew over the keyboard, making low, rhythmic sounds.


    She nced at his face. His eyes were fixed on theputer screen, sharp and focused.


    So this was what he looked like when he was serious.


    “Why are you staring at me?” ze asked, his eyes fixed on the screen, hands still typing away.


    Harper turned her head, about to stand up and leave, but then heard zemand, “Come over here.”


    “What?” She didn’t react in time, and before she knew it, he grabbed her and sat her down on hisp.


    “I’m disturbing you like this,” Harper said uneasily.


    “You staring at me is more disturbing,” ze said, wrapping his arms around her and continuing to type on the keyboard.


    Harper sat stiffly on hisp, feeling ufortable, “Should I go sit on the couch?” she suggested.


    “Stay put,” ze said domineeringly.


    Harper looked at theputer screen, filled with lines of code she couldn’t understand, “What are you doing?”


    “I’m making a virus,” ze said.


    “A virus? I thought you were working on the mobile system,” Harper said, puzzled.


    ze’s fingers continued to move rapidly across the keyboard, his voice low and sexy, “I’m creating a virus to attack N. E.’s mobile system.”


    “What?” Harper looked at the screen in astonishment.


    ‘He’s not sick, is he? He made the mobile system, and now he’s making a virus attack it? Is that interesting?’ she thought.


    “The N. E. security system was almost hacked. I need to ensure our security system is one hundred percent perfect, without any ws,” ze said, with a hint of paranoia.


    “So that’s it,” Harper realized. “You left Tranquil Haven Ind to deal with this?”


    “Yeah,” ze responded, continuing to type.


    Harper turned to look at his profile and found him surprisingly… handsome when he was focused on work. Perhaps it was his perfectionist nature that made the mobile system they used so wless, with hardly any ws.


    ‘If he wasn’t so mean, torturing me all the time, I might appreciate him as a serious man,’ she mused.


    “I said, no staring at me!” ze suddenly stopped typing and red at her. He quickly pinched her chin and leaned down to capture her soft lips.


    “Mmm…” Harper instinctively tried to move back, but he held her firmly in ce.


    His kiss was passionate, lingering… Gradually, she felt the change in his body, his firm bulge pressing against her. Could he be thinking of … here?


    Just as she thought he might lose control, ze pulled away from her lips, his eyes filled with desire, his voice husky. “If I didn’t have work to do, I would have fucked you right now.”


    Harper breathed a sigh of relief.


    She could only sit there, staring at the iprehensible code on theputer screen in front of her.


    Her eyelids grew heavier and heavier until they slowly closed, and she drifted off to sleep. Unaware, ze continued writing the virus. When he finished, it was early morning. He nced down at the girl in his arms. She was fast asleep, leaning against him, her mouth slightly open in aical expression.


    A tender smile tugged at ze’s lips, unbeknownst even to himself. He reached out to smooth her long hair, gazing deeply at her face. His fingertips brushed against her swollen cheek, furrowing his brow.


    He picked up his phone and dialed, “Dn, get me some bruise-healing cream.”


    “Yes, Master.”


    About ten minutester, Dn delivered the cream to him.


    ze brushed aside Harper’s hair from her face, dabbed a bit of white cream onto his fingers and gently applied it to her face, massaging it in softly.


    “Mmm…” Harper felt the pain even in her sleep, furrowing and letting out a soft hum.


    He gentled his movements even more.


    After a moment, she even seemed to smile slightly in her sleep.RêAdt??St chapters at Novel(D)ra/ma.Org Only


    ‘Was she dreaming?’ ze watched the smile on her lips and suddenly felt an intense curiosity about what she was thinking at that moment.


    …