1 Julian’s jaw twitched. Even the perfectly styled strands of his dark hair seemed to stand on end. He was speechless. "Fine," he finally ground out. "…In installments." He pushed the divorce papers towards me. "Can you sign now?" I stretched languidly, not even glancing at the papers, and stood up to walk towards the bedroom. "Blood first, then signature." [Tonight’s a major plot point! The main couple clears up their misunderstanding, and the female lead is flying back to the States!] [Hah, let’s see how long this bitch can stay smug! Her death clock starts ticking the second the female lead lands!] I paused at the door. Without turning back, I said, "My new Agent Provocateur set arrived. Wanna see?" "Yes—" Julian started automatically, then caught himself. "Not interested." From the sound of it, he was grinding his teeth down to the roots. As I reached the bedroom door, I glanced back at him one last time before closing it. "I got a collar and a whip, too." The door clicked shut. It immediately flew back open. Julian ran a hand through his hair, trying to mask the awkward flush on his face. His hands, hanging at his sides, were clenched tightly around the fabric of his trousers. Even in the dim light, I could see the tips of his ears were bright red. "Fine, I'll take a look…" I smiled. Wrapping him around my finger was just too easy. 2 "No phone tonight. No contacting anyone," I ordered, staring into his deep, turbulent eyes. My hands weren't idle; I tightened the rope. "You belong to me." The distance between us was just enough for him to enter, but not enough for him to take control. Julian was forced to tilt his head back, a choked, muffled sound escaping his throat. "Understand?" He nodded. [What is this, dog training? LMAO] [Come on, Male Lead, have some dignity! Your marriage was just a business arrangement! The female lead is your true love!] [Whatever, I’m here for the spice. Go on, Chloe, give the people what they want.] Only then did I loosen my grip. Like a beast that had tasted blood, Julian immediately flipped me over, pinning my arms. Our sex life had always been… explosive. If there was one thing I was satisfied with over the years, it was his inexhaustible stamina in bed. A real shame. Where else would I find someone so perfectly in sync with me? I pulled the silk sheets over myself, covering the view. The live chat in my vision exploded. [I paid for the premium subscription! Let me see!] [Chloe, I’m begging you, I’ll be your dog! Woof woof woof!] [Get in line, pal! Woof! I was here first!] You guys called me a bitch. You get nothing. After he was satisfied, Julian fell into a deep sleep. I reached for his phone, tentatively typing in the passcode—my birthday. It unlocked. "Dumb mutt," I whispered, lightly slapping his cheek. Forgetting a detail like this? If his precious "one that got away" ever found out, it would be another week of drama. I did him a favor and changed the passcode to her birthday before opening his messages. Sera: Julian, I’m divorced. Do you still love me? I glanced at the sleeping Julian. One of his hands was tangled in the strap of my lingerie, the other resting on his slapped cheek as he mumbled something about a nice scent. "Do you still love her?" I asked the empty room. "You must. Desperately." "Willing to agree to my ridiculous demand just to divorce me and run back to her." I casually blocked and deleted Sera’s contact. Sorry, Sera. It’s nothing personal. I’m not trying to stand in the way of true love, but my life is just a little more important. 3 When I woke up, Julian was lying next to me, an unlit cigarette between his fingers, fiddling with his phone. His brow was deeply furrowed. He must have seen the blocked contact. "Something's wrong," he said, his tone grave. "I think we had a break-in." I shot out of bed. The safe? Secure. My jewelry? Secure. My collection of limited-edition Birkins? All there. What would a thief take, a pair of Julian’s worn-out boxers? "What did they steal?" I asked, returning to the bedside. Julian had lit the cigarette now. He took a long drag, his expression complicated through the haze of smoke. "They didn't steal anything." "They changed my phone's passcode." I froze for a second. The chat went blank, too. Julian tossed the phone aside. The screen lit up: iPhone is disabled. Try again in one year. "I tried every passcode I could think of. Nothing works," he said, his eyes narrowing. "It must be someone from Vanguard Corp. Trying to cut me off from my clients to steal the Sterling account. They won't get away with this." He was brilliant, sure, but his one-track mind made him an idiot. "Just get a new phone," I said calmly. "And a new number. The old one has bad juju." Julian was used to listening to me. He nodded, grabbed his car keys, and bolted out the door. [That vicious woman! I can't believe she'd stoop so low!] [I kinda... ship it? Don't @ me.] When he got home that evening, he was sitting on the couch, looking troubled again. I sat down next to him with a blood-drawing kit, pulling a slip of paper from my pocket and waving it. It was Sera's new contact info. "Looking for this?" I cooed. "Give me some blood, and it's yours." [Useless Male Lead can't even remember his true love's number!] [Yeah, can’t remember her number, but he remembered every one of her sensitive spots last night, huh?] I put the full blood bag away and casually tossed the note at his feet. Julian snatched it up and immediately dialed. "We're sorry, the number you have dialed is…" [The female lead is already on a plane! She's coming back to crush the competition!] [Tomorrow, he's going to pick her up from the airport, they’ll clear the air, I can't wait!] [And she's gonna stay at his place, which is when the bitchy wife storms out and gets herself kidnapped! Yes!] 4 It was the dead of winter, frost feathering the windowpanes. I deliberately left the window open, letting the frigid New York air pour in, then cranked up the AC, aimed it right at Julian, and stole the only duvet on the bed. "C-cold…" he shivered. I lifted his pajama top, exposing his eight-pack to the cold. "I asked the doctor. You need to stay cold for your blood to replenish faster. Don't you dare pull your shirt down." Julian just nodded. The next day, he had a raging fever and could barely stand. The pile of used tissues next to him was mountainous. "I… I have to go get Sera…" I snatched his car keys. "I'll drive you." JFK was a swirling mass of people. Sera stood by the curb in a stylish cape, her eyes red and swollen. The moment she saw Julian, she threw herself at him. "How could you do this to me!" she cried, pounding on his chest. "Julian, if you don't love me, just say it! Why block me? Why change your number? Were you planning on never speaking to me again?!" Her tears flowed freely. It was a heart-wrenching sight. Julian, delirious with fever, just blinked. He didn't seem to process a single word. Instead, he pushed Sera away and stumbled into my arms. "Honey, I feel sick… I wanna go home…" I nodded at Sera, gesturing for her to open the car door. Sera was trembling with rage, her eyes shooting daggers that could kill. I sighed. "Miss Sera, you don't want to stand out here in the cold, do you?" She shot me one last venomous glare before yanking the driver's side door open. I helped Julian into the back seat. Shut the door. After a moment, I rolled down the window. "He won't let go of me. Guess you'll have to drive." [There she goes, provoking the female lead again. Enjoy it while it lasts, your days are numbered.] [Yup, the moment she's alone, it's curtains for her!] I instantly caught the key word. Alone. Fine. From now on, I was sticking to Julian like superglue. "Thanks for the ride home," I said, pressing a few hundred-dollar bills into Sera's hand. "This should cover your Uber. Keep the change." I hauled the semi-conscious Julian out of the car. A six-foot-three tower of muscle, and he felt as heavy as a sack of bricks. Getting him into bed was an ordeal. "No… don't…" Julian mumbled in his sleep, looking terrified. Tears welled in his eyes as his hands grasped at the air. "I'll complete the mission… System, please… don't hurt her…" I had no idea what he was talking about. I gently took his hand. "No one is going to hurt Sera." Thinking about my own impending doom, I couldn't help but sigh. "Julian, if I died… what would you do? Would you be scared? Would you miss me? Or would you just forget me?" He squeezed my hand back, still muttering nonsense. But the last thing he said, I heard with perfect clarity. "I love her. So, so much. If the ending is bad, please… take my life in exchange for her safety and health." A bitter pang went through my chest. So that's how much he loved Sera. Lost in thought, a tear escaped my eye and landed on his face, trickling into the corner of his eye as if it were his own. "Sorry," I whispered, and quickly left the room. 5 I became Julian’s shadow. I went with him to work, on business trips, hell, I even held his hand when he went to the restroom. I was terrified that a single moment apart would be my last. Soon, the gossip columns in New York were buzzing. Julian Vance and his wife were inseparable, attached at the hip. [That’s a savage move. Our poor female lead is probably crying her eyes out at home.] [Tonight, she’s gonna go get wasted. He’ll drive to find her, and on the way back, they’ll run over his wife who has conveniently run away from home. Finally, her exit!] A chill went down my spine. I looked at Julian, who was currently inhaling a steak, and an inexplicable rage boiled up inside me. I shoved his face straight into his plate. "Eat, eat, eat! Is that all you know how to do?!" You're about to kill your wife, you idiot! Julian was stunned. He shakily picked a piece of arugula off his nose, looked at the messy plate, then at my thunderous expression. "I was hungry…" he mumbled. I snatched his phone, unlocked it, and went to his messages. Just as I thought. Sera: I don’t believe you have no feelings for me, Julian. I’m giving you one last chance. Sera: I’ll be at Midnight tonight. If you don’t show up, we’re over for good. Julian: I'll be there. "You're not going," I said, my voice flat. For the first time, Julian’s expression turned serious. He took the phone back. "I have to." He pressed his lips into a thin line, his knuckles white where he gripped the edge of the table. A profound, unshakable sadness filled his eyes. "Someone will die if I don't." Thinking of his sleep-talking that night, my anger mixed with a sense of hurt. How could I tell him? If you go tonight, I'm the one who dies. But the only person he cared about was Sera. Julian turned his face to the window, his eyes getting a little red. "Wow, this steak sauce is really spicy…" I ignored him. After a long silence, I clutched my stomach and collapsed onto the floor, pinching my thigh hard to make the pain look real. "Julian… my stomach… it hurts so much…" He swept me into his arms and sprinted out of the restaurant. He floored it, running who knows how many red lights. In the passenger seat, I was secretly calculating. Once we were far enough away, I'd sit up and tell him the pain was gone. "I have a couple of things to take care of, you can head home first." I turned around and got into a police car. Once at the station, I went straight to the officer in charge. "I'd like to report a reckless driver." The NYPD worked fast. He ran the lights at noon; his license was suspended by the afternoon. If Julian was supposed to hit me with a car, I'd make sure he couldn't drive one. [Damn, that's cold-blooded.] [Hah, he'll just take a taxi. And she’ll still end up getting stabbed by a burglar at home. The end is near!] [The System makes its appearance tonight! The puppet master of the whole story! Kinda excited to see it in human form.] The System again. What the hell was it? If it controlled destiny, maybe it could change my fate. I pulled my hat down low and slipped into the club, Midnight.
? Continue the story here ?? ? Download the "MotoNovel" app ? search for "385404", and watch the full series ✨! #MotoNovel