Chapter 3 The Gift
992 Words
"Don't get the wrong idea. I'm not a bad guy. I've been kidnapped," he said, sounding genuinely distressed.
Noticing Mia's stunned expression, he seemed to catch on.
"If it's you... well, maybe I could consider being this gift."
He raised an eyebrow and eyed Mia's figure, deliberately drawing out his words.
"Are you kidding me?" Mia was shocked and turned to leave, but something made her stop. She turned back.
"What did they tell you? What did they want you to do?"
Her pleading gaze was like a silent prayer as if she hoped that reality wasn't as she feared.
"You don't want to know. I swear to God!" he replied, his tone serious.
"They told me to give you a great night. Make sure you enjoy the gift so much that you'd want to disappear on your own. They even said..." His hand slid up Mia's thigh as he flashed a seductive smile.
"Enough!" Mia shouted, using all her strength to push him away.
She had never seen herself as someone no one wanted. 'Cameron didn't love me, but why did he have to treat me like this? Did he really think I would just endlessly forgive him? Did my love, my dignity, deserve to be trampled on so cruelly? To be humiliated like this?'
"Oh, God, someone helps me. It's bad enough Santa forgot me, but even this beautiful lady wants nothing to do with me," the man quipped, shrugging dramatically.
Mia, who had been crying, couldn't help but let out a chuckle at his humor.
After helping him untie the ropes, Mia headed for the door.
'What is going on? Why is the door locked from the outside?!'
She tried the handle repeatedly, but the door wouldn't budge.
Recalling the strange laugh from the woman who had left earlier, Mia realized things weren't as simple as they seemed.
Seeing the light fade from Mia's eyes, he joked. "Hey, gorgeous, I didn't even get your name. Can you tell me?"
"And you? What's your name?"
"Brandon. I work here at the hotel."
"I am Mia. Just abandoned by the man I loved."
Mia slowly relaxed as their conversation continued, opening up about her story.
By the time she finished, Mia's wavering resolve had turned into determination.
'So, even Cupid's arrows can miss sometimes. Not all lovers are meant to make it to the end. A complete stranger is willing to listen and comfort me. Yet my husband couldn't even bother to be home for our anniversary or my birthday.'
As their conversation faded into the night, Mia's exhaustion caught up with her, and she fell asleep against his shoulder.
Brandon gently picked her up and laid her on the bed, carefully tucking her in.
Then he quietly walked over to her phone, dialing a number quickly.
"Yes, Hatton Hotel, 19th floor. Hurry up."
Ten minutes later...
"I'm so sorry, Mr. Rogers. I had no idea it was you. Please forgive me..."
"Shh..." He raised a finger to his lips, gesturing toward the room where Mia still slept.
The manager immediately lowered his voice, backing out of the room with exaggerated caution.
Outside, the security team quickly brought in a leather sofa, and Brandon casually took a seat in the center.
He swirled the glass of whiskey handed to him by his butler, his expression unreadable.
Brandon Rogers, heir to the Rogers family fortune, had been raised with the discipline of royalty and had only recently stepped into the public.
The Hatton Hotel belonged to the Castillo family, and the two families were collaborating on a real estate project.
If a scandal between the two families leaked out now, the stock prices would plummet, and people might boycott their products.
"Mr. Rogers, Mr. Castillo, clarify that it is all a misunderstanding," said Cameron's butler, Gino, stepping forward to explain.
"Oh? A misunderstanding?" Brandon put down the glass, picking up a lighter and fiddling it casually between his fingers.
"We deeply apologize, sir. Please let me explain. We intended to send this man as a gift, but our people mishandled the situation and kidnapped you instead. We never meant to offend you. Here are the guards who restrained you and the man we meant to send. Please, you can do with them as you please."
Gino said, gesturing for the men to be thrown before Brandon.
Then, he bowed low, holding out a casino transfer contract with both hands, offering it to Brandon.
Brandon narrowed his eyes, rhythmically tapping the lighter as if unaware of the people standing before him.
Gino, growing more anxious with each passing second of silence, stammered, "Mr. Rogers, this is just a misunderstanding. Please don't take it to heart."
Brandon's disgusted gaze fell on the fat man lying bound on the floor, whose belly bulged like layers of swimming rings and whose ugly face and shifty gray eyes were unbearable to look at.
"A misunderstanding? So, kidnapping the heir of the Rogers family is no big deal, huh? Alright then, Mike, go and bring me Cameron. Let him experience it for himself. After all, it's no big deal." Brandon's sneer echoed in the room before he strode away.
Gino broke into a cold sweat, hurriedly chasing after him. "No, that's not what I meant, Mr. Rogers... Please, let me explain..."
The hallway returned to its usual quiet as the two groups disappeared.
When the sun finally filtered through the windows, Mia stirred awake, rubbing her sore forehead as she pieced together the events of the previous night.
'A handsome man has been tied up and looked vulnerable. Then, I fell asleep beside him. But that didn't matter anymore.' Mia chalked the whole experience up to the emotional toll of deciding to divorce. 'Now, it could go to hell along with my doomed marriage.'
She pushed down the bitterness rising in her chest, forcing herself to get dressed quickly and leave the hotel with her head held high.
- Writer
