His Conquest. His Enemy. His Addiction.

Why?

Chapter 2

Why?

Tori Nathan.

My heart jumped to my throat when I came face to face with Kaius Ravensworth. I suddenly felt so self-conscious as his eyes traced my naked body. Wrapping my arms around myself wasn't helping anything.

“I just asked you a question, didn't I?” His eyes had found mine now, and he gave me a heated look. “Why are you half naked? And how did you have access to my room?”

I gulped, trying so hard to get myself in control. This wasn't a time to care about things like this. My sister was in a hospital bed right now, and she was going to get rejected if I didn't bring the deposit before daybreak.

I steadied my breathing and took my arms off my body. “I'm sorry, sir. I must have gotten into the wrong room.”

My hands found my clothes and I started putting them on as fast as I could.

“Wrong room?” His voice hardened, and I heard the glass of whiskey clinking against the glass stool. “How, then, did you get the key card to my hotel room? You know I could have you arrested for privacy violation, or any other thing?”

No. No. He couldn't do this. I mean, he was capable of doing something like this, especially after what happened earlier in the morning. But, not now. Not when Lily needed me.

“I swear to you, sir, it was a mistake.” I racked my brain for something to say, but nothing was coming in.

Was this a setup by Holland? Was this something else? My phone buzzed on the sofa and I jumped to pick it up, thinking it was a call from one of the doctors. My face fell slightly when I discovered it was from Holland.

“Where are you?” I could hear the anger in his voice when I picked it up. “I have been waiting for the last ten minutes, and you haven't arrived. Are you sure you really care about your sister? Or was this all a joke, Tori? Don't you want the money again?”

His voice was so loud that I was sure that my boss was listening in. I turned slightly to see, and yes, Kaius was listening. If he hadn't heard anything else, I was sure that he had heard the last part because Holland had almost screamed it into the phone. Kaius had an indecipherable expression on his face.

Holland ended the call immediately before I could have the chance to speak. He was my only hope. I wouldn't want… I dialled his number again, waiting for it to ring.

“Is this what you're into, now?” Kaius c****d his head to the side, his lips curling up into a smirk. “I didn't think the self-righteous Victoria Nathan would besmirch herself this way. All for money.” I could hear the disgust in his voice.

I could have given him a nasty reply, but I wasn't ready for a back and forth argument when I had something more important to do. Besides, even as I stood in front of him in this hotel room, I risked losing my job and I wouldn't want that. Lily's life still depends on my salary.

“It's great that you can confirm that I stepped into the wrong room, sir.” I pasted a fake smile on my face, ignoring his words as I pulled the dress up while struggling to zip it. “I must have switched it when I bumped into one of the two people in the elevator. I'm really sorry for the inconvenience.”

I gathered my things into my bag and stepped into my heels again, at least it gave me a small boost of confidence after losing more than half of my dignity in front of this man.

“Just like that?” He chuckled slightly and took out his phone to dial a number. “There has been an intruder in my room, Leonardo Sanchez. Is your security this incompetent? And to think this is the first time I'm lodging here, why would I want to invest in your establishment when this is my first experience?”

His words were crafted immaculately, and his eyes did not leave mine as he said.

“No need to worry about going anywhere. You'll be arrested in the next few minutes, and I promise you that I'll be pressing charges.” He raised the glass from the table and cheered me with a small smile on his face.

“No sir, please forgive me. I can't be in jail. I have something to…" A lump formed in my throat and my eyes watered.

“Why did my company hire you, first of all?” He turned around immediately, coldly dismissing my plea. “If word got out that one of the staff of my company was sleeping around for money, what would that say about my company? Your salary is more than enough—”

The moment those words left his mouth, I felt pure blind rage. What did he mean? Paid us enough?

“You call two hundred dollars enough?” My voice was extremely low, my anger was bubbling just below the surface. “In a company as big as yours? And not only that, you cut our wages over little mistakes, and we end up going back with almost nothing at the end of the month! Do you think that if I was paid well, I would be doing this? Our department heads are getting paid twenty times more than we are, and they barely do anything except boss us around!”

If I got my full salary, I wouldn't be doing this! I wouldn't be here! Lily would have a higher chance of survival and my debts would be cleared away.

His pupils contracted for a few seconds before his expression returned to the cold one I always knew. He began taking slow steps towards me.

“Your salaries are cut just so you can learn and improve next time, Victoria,” The way he said my name sent shivers down my spine as his cold dark eyes pierced my full brown eyes. “And about your salary, I don't know if you are trying to defame my company with these lies, but the lowest amount of salary paid is a thousand dollars. A vast difference from two hundred dollars. Or, did you mean to say two thousand dollars?”

“Do you want receipts? I can show them to you! For the past three years working in your company, I go home every month with less than two hundred and fifty dollars! My sister wouldn't be so sick up to the point of getting rejected from a lot of hospitals if my salary was up to that amount you mentioned. So, forgive me for always lashing out at your lousy management in the company, but I have to do what I have to do so that my sister can survive this night! I'm sure you wouldn't understand my pain because lack of money can only be a rumor in your life and not a reality!”

I was heaving and trying to catch my breath when the door was forcefully opened and a group of men clad in black security clothes burst in.

“Search everywhere for the intruder!” A deep voice commanded and everyone saluted.

I turned to Kai again, this time with a heavy heart and pleading eyes.

“You can arrest me some other time, sir. But I need my sister to live. You have easy access to where I live and everything. I can't run from you. I—”

I heard heavy footsteps behind me.

“There she is! Protect the boss! Arrest her!” The thick voice shouted commands again, and they all began moving towards us.

Tears were already streaming down my face as I looked up to Kai to call them off. Lily needed me now.

“How much? How much do you need?” He said in a low voice after a while, his expression remained unchanged.

“Huh?” I was taken aback by his question.

How much did I need?

“For your sister, I mean.” He said calmly. “Which hospital is she? I would put a call across immediately.” He turned towards the head of security and held up a hand, telling him to back off me.

"Rosewood hospital," my voice came out as barely a whisper, and he just nodded and texted a string of messages on his phone.

I was still rooted to the ground in shock, and an unplanned question fell from my mouth.

“Why?”

Why would he go out of his way to help me? He was the cold-hearted boss of the Ravensworth corporation, and he did not care about people, only his company mattered. People meant nothing to him. Why did he want to help me?

His gaze intensified, and his eyes darkened, as if he was having an internal conflict with himself.

His jaw tensed, and he finally spoke in his cold voice, “Leave, immediately.”