Enthralled and Entangled

Chapter 2

Four years later, I left Herland. I returned to my hometown and moved into an old house that came with a garden.

It was raining and the cold wind was blowing outside the old house. The rain pelted on the flowers and the trees. The garden looked rather desolate with all the fallen petals and leaves scattered on the ground.

I set a bottle of freshly warmed milk on the table and looked at the gray sky outside the window, unable to calm the uneasy feeling in my heart.

This was my fifth day back here, but my heart was still filled with anxiety.

Four years ago, I slept with a stranger whom I met in a bar then went to study in a university alone in Herland. There, I found out that I was pregnant with that stranger’s child.

Not only was that man great in bed, he was also fertile enough to impregnate me on that only night we spent together.

I gave birth to this child while I was studying in university. She was a very cute daughter and I named her Sofia.

Sofia was very sweet and obedient. We had a lot of fun together.

We lived peacefully in Herland for four years and only returned here because I graduated a month ago.

Now that I was back, I kept thinking about that man.

He did not know that I had given birth to his child. I wonder what would happen if he found out about it? Would he take her away from me?

The more I thought about it, the more uneasy I became.

“Mommy!” Sofia came over to me. She reached up with her chubby hand and tugged on the hem of my blouse. “Is my milk ready?”

Sofia was a very beautiful child. She had the same hair color as I, but a pair of blue eyes.

She was smarter and prettier than other children. Sometimes I wondered to myself if she was an angel that God had given me.

I snapped out of my thoughts and quickly bent down to hand her the milk she wanted. “It’s ready, baby.”

“Thank you, Mommy!” Standing on her tiptoes, she took the bottle and planted a kiss on my cheek before making for the couch. There, she lay down and started sucking on her bottle.

I leaned against the table and watched her chubby cheeks moving as she sucked on the bottle. In that instant, all my worries were gone.

She was always well-behaved and understanding, so it was not exhausting to take care of her. I cherished her as much as I cherished my life.

Sofia is three years old now, just the right age to start schooling at a nursery, so we have quite a lot of expenses to think about.

In order to provide for her, I got a job at a news agency through my highschool friend, Darianna. Today is my first day of work.

After the rain let up, I sent Sofia to the nursery then drove alone to the newspaper agency in the afternoon.

The receptionist who came to greet me was a young woman with black hair.

She brought me to Darianna’s office and informed her, “Miss Darianna, Miss Riannon is here.”

I looked inside the office and saw a blonde woman coming toward me. She was none other than Darianna, a very famous journalist in this newspaper agency. It had been a few years since I last saw her and she had changed a lot. She looked like a very competent career woman in that flattering black pencil dress which showed off her great figure.

As soon as Darianna saw me, a smile bloomed across her face and she pulled me into a hug. “It’s been awhile, Ria. How have you been?”

Although it had been a long time since we last met, she did not act like a stranger. I returned the hug too. “I’ve been great and I’m truly grateful for this opportunity.”

Darianna released me and gave me a smile. “I didn’t do much. You deserve a good job like this, Ria.”

As soon as she finished speaking, an assistant came over and handed her a document. She quickly skimmed through it then told me, “You came just in time. I have a very important interview today. Come with me and help me take notes.”

“An interview this soon?” I was a little surprised to be involved in an interview when I was only on the first day of my job. I thought all I had to do was report to work today.

Darianna gave me a meaningful smile. “We’re interviewing a bigwig today, I need your help.”

“A bigwig? Who?” I followed behind her out of the building. Curiosity filled my heart.

This was my first time interviewing someone since I graduated, so it was nerve-wracking for me.

We exited the building and Darianna explained to me while getting into the car, “He’s a very wealthy noble in our area, young and handsome to boot. You probably don’t know this since you were overseas for the past few years, but the number of women who want to climb on his bed can probably form a queue long enough to reach all the way to the next country. Consider both of us extremely lucky to be able to meet him today.”

I faked a smile in response, suddenly losing all interest in this so-called bigwig. I was more concerned about successfully conducting this interview.

After all, it would directly impact my future in this agency. At this point, nothing matters to me more than keeping this job in order to raise my daughter.

Darianna led me to the entrance of a luxury club.

It was much more luxurious than I expected. A row of bodyguards wearing sunglasses stood at the entrance. All of them had a serious look on their intimidating faces.

I stood in front of them, staring at them in shock. It would seem that this bigwig we were about to meet was no ordinary man.

Darianna pulled me along and said, “Let’s go. It’s almost time for the interview.”

I snapped out of it and followed her into the club.

The lady at the reception brought us to the first floor, where our interviewee was.

Darianna and I were asked to wait in the waiting area outside the door.

I sat on the brown leather couch and watched people passing by. I was feeling a little nervous and my hands were already clammy with sweat.

As the interview drew nearer, Darianna seemed even more nervous than I was. She kept pacing back and forth in front of me. I was already feeling quite dizzy just by looking at her.

After some time, the door finally swung open.

A man covered in blood was dragged out of the room.

He hung his head as he was led away from the room. His bloody face was beaten beyond recognition and he kept mumbling, “Please forgive me, Mr. Braydan! I won’t do it again! Please spare me, Mr. Braydan!”

He sounded terrified, as if he had just seen the Grim Reaper. Every word that came out of his mouth was filled with despair.

Shocked by what I saw, I quickly looked in Darianna’s direction.

She immediately pulled me along and whispered in my ear, “This person we’re meeting is a vicious man and he has a bad temper. Watch what you’re saying when we’re in there. Otherwise, I can’t guarantee that both of us will walk away from here unharmed.”

I took a deep breath and nodded, but I also started to regret this.

If Darianna had told me that earlier, I would definitely have sat out this interview. After all, I had no intention of losing my life over this as I still had a child to raise.

Despite my reluctance, I was still pulled into the office by Darianna.

Both of us walked down a long hallway, led by a bodyguard in a vintage suit.

The walls of the hallway were covered by oil paintings, I could not help but stare at them.

All of them looked bizarre. There were paintings of beautiful women, the moon on a dark night, and vicious giant wolves.

One of the giant wolves in the painting had a piercing gaze. When I looked at it, I felt like it was staring right into my soul.

The eerie feeling made my skin crawl. I quickly looked away, then picked up my pace to catch up with Darianna.

At the end of the hallway was a brownish-red door, which was guarded by two bodyguards in black on both sides.

They had sunglasses on and looked very fierce. I was even worried that they might suddenly pull a gun out of their chest pocket and shoot both of us.

I stayed close to Darianna and she grabbed my hand. Her hand was clammy with sweat too. It turned out that she was also frightened.

The bodyguard placed his hand on the door handle and said, “Miss Darianna, the interview is only ten minutes, please use your time wisely.”

“Got it,” Darinna hurriedly answered him. She let go of my hand, straightened up and looked straight ahead.

The bodyguard then pushed the door open.

We were immediately greeted by the stench of blood. My chest tightened at the unpleasant smell.

I stood behind Darianna and looked inside the room while holding my breath.

All I saw was a puddle of blood on the floor. I looked a bit further up ahead and saw a man in a navy suit. He was seated in his leather chair, calmly wiping his hands on a handkerchief. The blood on the handkerchief must be from that person we saw in the waiting area earlier.

He was facing the side wall, but I could see that he was a muscular man with broad shoulders. Although his face was not visible, I was still slightly intimidated by his aura.

He had the aura of a king.

My knees buckled and my legs felt like jelly.

It was at this time Darianna went up to him and introduced herself. “Good day, Mr. Braydan. I am Darianna, the journalist from the newspaper agency. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to conduct this interview.”

I stood beside her, feeling a little overwhelmed. I clutched the notebook in my hand, steeled myself and looked up.

The man slowly turned around in his chair to face us, and looked in my direction with his deep, blue eyes.

His handsome, well-defined face had a cold and gloomy expression on it.

I was startled by how familiar that face looked. I must have seen him somewhere before.

But where?

I tried to recall my memories, and the image of an erotic body came flooding back.

Him?! The man I had a one-night stand with four years ago?!