Enthralled and Entangled

Chapter 11

I jolted awake from the dream. My eyes snapped open but my mind went blank, as though I had lost my soul.

Upon realizing that it was all a dream, I felt so much better. That dream just seemed so real that I had a hard time distinguishing it from reality.

“What’s wrong, Riannon?”

I instantly froze when I heard Braydan’s voice, then turned my head to the side to look at him.

His face was flawlessly handsome as usual. It looked nothing like that terrifying wolf face in the dream.

The oil painting I saw that day must have left a deep impression on me for me to keep associating that wolf and Braydan together in my dreams.

My head felt a lot better after a short nap. I sat up from Braydan’s arms and assured him, “I’m all right, just had a nightmare.”

I looked out of the window and discovered that the car was still moving. Tugging the collar of my blouse, I wiped the cold sweat that clung to my skin and asked Braydan, “Are we there yet, Mr. Braydan?”

Instead of answering me, Braydan suddenly wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me back into his arms again. He roughly tugged the open collar of my blouse a bit wider and stared at my neck. His eyes narrowed as he pursed his thin lips like he was suppressing some sort of emotion in him, but his gaze hardened and turned frigid.

“What happened to your neck?” he asked.

The air in the car immediately turned cold. Panic started to set in as I recalled the teeth marks that Eddie had deepened on my neck. I hurriedly explained, “That’s what you left on me yesterday. I accidentally got it wet, so the wound is still quite fresh.”

It might be a lame excuse, but it was the best one I could find right now.

Braydan stared at me grimly as he caressed the teeth marks on my neck lightly. He narrowed his eyes at me, as if he could read me like an open book.

I hung my head and avoided his piercing gaze out of guilt.

Braydan was not mad, but his silence was suffocating me. I felt no different than a prisoner who was awaiting my trial, as I braced myself for the impending storm that would hit me soon.

The silence in the car was heavy and I could hear my heart pounding loudly in my chest.

In the next moment, a sharp pain suddenly came from my neck and caused me to cry out in pain.

Without any warning, Braydan suddenly bit down on the teeth marks on my neck.

His sharp teeth sunk into the existing teeth marks. Warm blood slowly seeped out of the wound.

My face turned pale from the pain as beads of cold sweat formed on my forehead. I could not summon any strength to push him away.

After a long while, Braydan finally released me then wiped my blood off his lips. “Be more careful next time,” he reminded me as if nothing had happened.

When I recovered from my shock, I touched the spot where he bit me and realized that the teeth marks had turned into a long wound.

Braydan actually ripped open the flesh there to cover up those teeth marks.

My hand could not stop trembling when I discovered the wound. I was appalled by Braydan’s brutality!

I stared at him with wide eyes, unable to fathom what kind of person he really was.

He merely took out a band-aid and put it over the wound he made on my neck.

“Where do you live? I’ll take you home,” he said.

“N-No need, I’ll go back myself,” I hastily refused him. Sofia was at home right now so I must not let him know where I lived and keep him away from her.

“In that condition? You want to faint on the streets for the second time today?” Braydan admonished me, not giving me a chance to refuse his offer.

After thinking about it for a moment, I ended up giving him a random address.

Braydan gave the driver that address and instructed him to bring us there.

The car moved along the road quickly. It did not take long for us to reach the address I gave them.

After I got out from Braydan’s car, I strolled around the area for half an hour before hailing a cab home.

When I got home, I was still ill at ease. I could not help but think that Braydan was acting too strangely today. He was obviously angry just now, but he just bit me then let me go.

Did I really successfully convince him with my lies?

I went to the bathroom and washed my face. Not long after that, I received a call from Arthur. He informed me that Braydan had allowed me to take the day off and only return to the office when I had fully recovered.

I was relieved to discover that Braydan was not as inhumane as I thought he was. Maybe he was not really upset with what happened today?

After a day of good rest at home, I felt much better. Aside from a little cough, I had pretty much recovered.

The next morning, I got up early and went to work as usual.

Mr. Braydan did not come today, so I returned to my office after preparing a pot of coffee.

When I was on my way there, someone suddenly grabbed my hand and pulled me to the stairwell.

I snapped my head up, only to find out that it was Eddie.

He was dressed in a gray suit today, looking sharper than usual. He looked at me in surprise and exclaimed, “What are you doing here, Ria?”

His grip on my wrist was tight and it hurt. I jerked my hand away and said, “I should be the one asking you that, Eddie. Why are you here?”

“Braydan is my first cousin, we have some ongoing deals so I have to come here from time to time.” Eddie glanced at the ID card attached to my lanyard and the look on his face immediately turned unpleasant. “You’re Braydan’s personal assistant?”

I clutched my ID card protectively and answered his question coldly. “Yes.”

Eddie suddenly grabbed my shoulders and pushed me up against the wall like he had lost his mind.

“Eddie, what are you doing?!” I yelped in shock.

He threw a glance at the stairwell door then warned, “You better keep it down, or everyone in the company will find out that you’re playing hanky-panky with your ex-boyfriend here.”

Hanky-panky? How bold of him to say that. If Braydan found out about this, we would suffer his wrath.

I immediately panicked and softened my tone. “Eddie, we’ve already broken up. What do you want with me?”

He smiled at me then playfulled said, “I’m trying to win you back, Riannon.”

Without even thinking, I told him flatly, “That’s impossible. I’m through with you. There’s no way we’re going to get back together.”

I had repeated this for too many times and my patience with Eddie had run thin.

Eddie suddenly laughed, then brought his face closer to me. “It’s impossible for us to be through with each other. Just wait and see, Ria. I’ll make sure you come back to my side.”

“Let go of me now, Eddie,” I warned him coldly.

Instead of doing that, Eddie crossed the line by grabbing the back of my head and trying to kiss me on the lips.

I hurriedly turned my head to the side to avoid his sudden kiss. “If you want me to resent you even more, then carry on,” I warned him.

Edddie froze in place, as if devastated by my rejection. After a good while, he finally released me. “You’re not Braydan’s girlfriend, right?”

I did not deny it. “That’s none of your business, Eddie.”

He looked at me with his soft and affectionate gaze, just like the way he used to when we were still in love. It was like I was all that he could see in his eyes. “I know you’re lying to me, Ria. Even if you’re Braydan’s girlfriend, I still won’t give up easily.”

Eddie reached out his hands and cupped my face gently. I could feel his fingers trembling slightly.

He had done this to me countless times in the past, but disgust filled my heart when I remembered that he had also done the same thing to another woman.

I quickly knocked his hands away and pushed him away from me. “It’s pointless, Eddie! Stop bothering me again!”

“Ria!”

Eddie tried calling out to me, but I pulled open the stairwell door and quickly stepped into an elevator that was filled with people.

Eddie chased after me, but gave up after seeing the crowd. I finally let out a long sigh of relief after squeezing myself further into the elevator.

Shortly after I returned to my office, I received a call from Mrs. Steve.

“Ria, someone came over to see you today.”

“Who?!” I had only been back for a short time. No one probably knew that I had returned aside from Darianna.

“Who?” I eagerly repeated my question.

“A young handsome man who claimed that he’s your ex-boyfriend,” Mrs. Steve said.

“Eddie?” I gaspeed. “When did he come?”

I just ran into him in the office. Why did he go to my house? Could it be that he had already discovered Sofia?

I could not help but worry.

“This morning. I heard him knocking on your front door as soon as I was awake,” Mrs. Steve replied.

“What did he do?” I quickly asked.

Mrs. Steve hesitated for a moment then said, “He was asking me if you lived here. I told him that you did stay here, but moved out a month ago.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Steve!” I nodded in satisfaction. I had specifically asked Mrs. Steve to say that I had moved out of there to prevent Braydan from finding me.

Mrs. Steve smiled and said, “Don’t worry about it, but that man was really persistent. He asked me a lot of questions before he left. Have you considered moving out for real though?”

If Eddie had found this place, he would certainly find out about Sofia. Since he was Braydan’s first cousin, he would definitely tell him about it. If that happened, then it would all be over for me.

“I’ll consider that but before that, I’ll have to ask you to keep Sofia at your place for now,” I told her.

“That’s not a problem. I love sharing my bed with Sofia,” she said happily.

I was really glad that Mrs. Steve was a wonderful person and very relieved to hear that she was willing to help me out.

Eddie’s sudden appearance here made me decide that I would resign from here. Before I could leave this country with Sofia, Mrs. Steve’s home should be the safest place to hide her.

I went to see Arthur before leaving work.

“Mr. Arthur, I would like to resign.”

He was busy organizing some documents and did not seem to be in the mood to entertain me. “I recall telling you that you’ve already signed a one-month contract with us, Riannon. Resigning before the end of your contract means that you’ll have to pay a large sum of money as penalty.”

I went in front of his desk and said firmly, “How much is the penalty? I’ll pay for it as long as I can resign from here.”