Chapter 3
I stood pitifully outside the bedroom, opened my phone, and waited a few seconds.
Only when I saw a seven-digit deposit hit my account did I finally manage a smile and walk in.
"One day apart and I'm already dying to see you," I said.
Marcus was decked out in a perfectly tailored suit and diamond-studded cufflinks. His gold-rimmed glasses rested on his angular nose, prayer beads looped around his wrist. He did carry that air of quiet, unshakable restraint.
He sat on the sofa reading, his gaze landing on me. "Go take a shower."
If I wasn't mistaken, the book in his hands was mine. The last man who'd slept with me used it as a coaster.
I cursed Marcus a few times in my head, grabbed a nightgown, and headed to the bathroom.
Marcus was top-tier, just like his friends. He had a great body and stunning looks. It was my first time seeing his face up close.
When he leaned over me, his nose was sharp, lips sexy, and lashes ridiculously long.
The sexual tension was off the charts.
At night, he had me pinned beneath him. If his hand hadn't gotten snagged on the handcuffs built into the headboard, I might not have burst out laughing right then.
Right now, Marcus was half-curled up, his face dark.
"You usually play with this stuff?" he snapped.
He clearly had no idea things got this wild in the villa before.
He moved, and the cuffs tightened even more.
I poked my finger and acted all surprised. "Did you forget? You bought these.
"You don't need me to unlock them for you, right?"
I straightened my bathrobe and blinked innocently. "You said you had a surprise for me a couple of days ago. So this is it? You're gonna make me blush."
Marcus's face got even darker.
His buddy gave his wife a big gift at his newlywed villa. He got the gift, and now he couldn't get rid of it.
"Guess you're not in the mood to play with me tonight," I said.
I fought the urge to crack up, wiped away some fake tears, stepped over him, and slipped on my shoes. "I'll go sleep in the guest room so I won't bother you. I'm not scared to sleep alone, really."
"Wait." Marcus gritted his teeth. "Do me a favor."
Of course, I didn't help him unlock it.
I tossed his phone to him.
I didn't really want to give him the phone, but if he died and blamed me, and I ended up in jail, all that money in my account would get snatched by strangers.
I held all that wealth. Why should anyone else get to lay their hands on it?
Marcus grabbed the phone and called for help.
Half an hour later, a luxury car rolled up outside the villa.
I went to open the door, and the wind outside chilled my neck.
Nathan Quinn's breathing got heavier when he saw me.
He was the sixth man who slept with me.
Last night, in the pitch-black room, he threatened to make me cry my eyes out today. Tonight, he showed up under the moonlight to unlock Marcus. Bet they were both grinding their teeth during that call.
On the stairs, I lost my balance, and Nathan caught me by the waist in a flash. "Careful, baby," he said.
Once I steadied myself, I shot him a look. "What did you call me?"
He quickly let go and cleared his throat. "I mean, Vivian."
The guy who used to toss me around and call me "baby" nonstop couldn't even look at me now. He must feel so bitter now.
I didn't call him out. "So, do you sell that kind of stuff?"
"What?" he asked.
I pushed open the bedroom door. Marcus's face was still dark, stuck on the bed. His hands were cuffed to both sides of the headboard, chain clinking as he gripped it.
I pointed at the cold chain on his wrist. "That thing."
In the dead silence between Nathan and Marcus, my cluelessness really made me stand out.
I was only a broke girl from a small town in their eyes. It was natural that I didn't know anything about this.
Nathan grabbed the manual and got Marcus out of the cuffs.
The two men stared at each other, speechless.
My phone rang, breaking the awkward silence.
When I hung up, I said to them, "I've got a client who wants her nails done. Gotta run."
Once a person possessed excessive wealth, they grew to crave unusual life experiences. It was nothing more than the rich pretending to endure hardship for their own amusement.
I opened a nail salon.
Business wasn't great, but I had a few loyal clients.
Marcus clearly had something to say to Nathan, so he tossed me the car keys and told me to drive myself.
On my way to the basement, I could faintly hear someone fighting upstairs.
"You're being way out of line," Marcus snapped.
"You're the one who wanted to live a life of restraint. How is this my fault?" Nathan shot back.
Who won or lost didn't matter to me.