Enthralled and Entangled

Chapter 3

I had never been so shocked in my life, not even when I found out that I was pregnant.

I was even starting to doubt my own memory.

How could that man be Mr. Braydan?!

Darianna said that Mr. Braydan was very popular among the ladies. Why would a man like him go to a bar alone to get wasted?!

A mistake. This had to be a mistake. It had been four years since that incident. My memory must be a bit fuzzy.

I looked away from his face and remained calm. As Darianna conducted her interview, I silently jotted down the important notes beside her.

As I scribbled away in my notebook, the memories of that night grew clearer and clearer in my mind.

His naked body. His lustful gaze. His charming face in the morning light. All of it was still vivid in my mind. My hands began to tremble.

The resemblance was uncanny! There was no way two people could look that much alike in this world!

I did not make a mistake. That man was Mr. Braydan! The father of my child!

After realizing this fact, I fell into a panic.

What should I do?! If Mr. Braydan found out that I had secretly given birth to his child, would he treat me like the man we saw out there earlier? Would he shoot me a few times and then have someone drag my bloody body out of his office?

No, I could not let this happen!

The more I thought about it, the more frightened I got. My hands trembled even more.

I prayed that he would not recognize me and kept repeating Sofia’s name in my heart. My baby, my Sofia! I must return to her safely!

“Ria!” Darianna’s voice suddenly reached my ears. “Did you get all that?”

Her voice startled me and snapped me out of my own spiraling thoughts. I tightened my grip on my pen and nodded. “I got all that.”

I looked up at Darianna after I replied to her, but accidentally glanced at Mr. Braydan.

He happened to look in my direction too. His handsome face was calm and collected as he quietly stared at me with his blue eyes. His gaze was distant and gloomy, but also sharp and piercing at the same time.

I hurriedly lowered my head. My hands started trembling again as beads of cold sweat formed on my forehead. My legs turned stiff, but I suddenly had the urge to bolt out of this room.

Fortunately, Braydan did not seem to recognize me. He shifted his gaze away from me, then to Darianna and answered her question seriously.

Now that the danger was lifted, my heart gradually calmed down. I was only hoping for this interview to end soon. Time ticked away, but Darianna added another question in the last minute of this session.

“Mr. Braydan, can we end this interview with a personal question? You’re young, wealthy and surrounded by countless women. Have you already found a potential future wife among them?”

My legs nearly gave way when I heard her question. I gripped my pen tightly and cautiously looked toward Mr. Braydan.

Darianna was definitely asking this question for herself. When we were on the way here, she had expressed a lot of interest in Mr. Braydan’s private life.

At this point in time, I was praying that she would hurry up and finish this interview.

When Mr. Braydan heard her question, he suddenly looked in my direction again.

His stern gaze resembled that of a falcon that had taken aim at its prey. Under his scrutinizing eyes, I felt as vulnerable as a rabbit in an open field—defenseless and frightened.

Why was he looking at me like that?!

I lowered my head and tried to avoid his gaze. My nervousness was off the charts.

“Yes,” Mr. Braydan slowly uttered. His voice was deep, husky and very sexy.

The memory of that night came flooding back again, and I failed to keep a straight face.

There was no denying that he was an extremely alluring but dangerous man.

Darianna was very excited when she heard his answer. With a smile on her face, she probed further and asked, “You’ve piqued my interest, Mr. Braydan. What kind of woman is your potential future wife?”

Mr. Braydan did not answer immediately. He slowly got up from his chair, walked past me to a table near me and poured himself a cup of coffee.

The stifling air in the room was now filled with the aroma of the coffee. I felt like I was being crushed under the weight of a boulder. I subconsciously held my breath, as if doing so would make me invisible.

With a cup of coffee in his hand, Mr. Braydan approached me but took a seat on the couch next to where I was standing. He casually placed his left hand on the armrest, his fingertip accidentally touched the hem of my blouse.

My breath caught in my throat. I lowered my head even more as I let out a shaky breath. I was so nervous that I could not even move my hands. My heart pounded against my ribcage like a bass drum, as if it would break out of my chest at any moment.

If this continued any longer, I would not be able to work properly.

Thankfully, Mr. Braydan leisurely sipped his coffee and answered Darianna coldly, “I have no obligation to answer that question of yours.”

There was anger in his voice, and an air of danger immediately filled the room around us.

My nervousness got to a point where I could no longer control myself and reached out to grab Darianna.

Darianna quickly apologized then hastily ended the interview, “Thank you for letting us interview you, Mr. Braydan. Today’s interview was a success. I will send someone over as soon as this is published in the newspaper. Have a nice day.”

“Bye,” Mr. Braydan responded softly. His anger immediately subsided.

With this, Darianna hurriedly dragged me out of the room.

I was immensely relieved that this interview was over and let out a long sigh. I tried to move my stiff legs faster as we walked toward the front. There was only one thought in my mind right now—I had to leave here as quickly as possible.

At this point, we were practically running down the hallway which was filled with oil paintings. The vicious wolves in the paintings on the wall seemed to be staring at me as if they were alive. They were gazing at me the way Braydan did just now.

No, I must be hallucinating because I was too nervous. I must get out of here as soon as possible.

I closed my eyes and shook my head, trying to clear the haze in my mind as we rushed toward the exit of the club.

By the time we were out of the club, it was already dark outside. The bright crescent moon was high in the evening sky.

I stood under the moonlight, panting heavily.

“Luna…” The word that Braydan uttered to me when we were making love back then suddenly rang in my ears.

What did he mean by Luna…?

Braydan was a really strange man.

“Ria!”

Darianna probably thought that I was too nervous at my first assignment. She rushed over to me and assured me, “Don’t worry. Mr. Braydan won’t take that to his heart. Our interview today went very smoothly.”

I got into the car, still panting heavily. My body could not stop shaking.

Darianna continued chattering in my ear, but I could not listen to a word of it. My mind was filled with Braydan and Sofia right now.

The way Mr. Braydan looked at me during the interview was very strange, I was not even sure if he had recognized me.

I was really panicked and scared.

What should I do? Braydan was a ruthless man. If he knew Sofia was his daughter, he would definitely do anything to take my child away from me!

I can’t let him take away my Sofia!

Sofia is my baby, she’s my everything!

I silently swore in my heart that no matter what would happen in the future, I must keep Sofia a secret from him. He must not know about her…