Trouble in Paradise

"Mrs. Hawk, are you so eager to throw yourself into my arms?" Nicholas asked mockingly.

The lingering warmth from my bath couldn't warm me up. The cold fabric of his suit pressed against me, and I shivered violently.

I looked up at him, my body trembling from the sudden temperature change. "Who let you in? You promised not to come to my house uninvited!"

He didn't respond. Instead, he grabbed my wrist firmly. With a push, my back was pressed tightly against the cold wall.

"Nicholas Hawk, what are you doing?" I struggled.

He slightly lowered his head to the perfect angle and stared at me with cold eyes. He pressed his lips into a restrained line, combining danger with handsomeness. However, I couldn't admire him.

As soon as our eyes met, he pressed his lips against mine urgently and harshly, I could taste alcohol. His breath, warm and intoxicating, fanned over my face instantly.

The strong scent of alcohol was overwhelming, making me feel tipsy for a moment.

This was a scene I had fantasized about many times. imagined us kissing from the moment we entered the door, stumbling toward the bed, undressing, and kissing all the way.

If we really couldn't wait, the sofa would do. But it had never happened. Maybe it was because Claudia was always home, or maybe because he simply didn't care to touch me, or both.

He was drunk and unusually forceful when his hands wandered around and lifted my bath towel. I snapped out of it and stomped hard on his foot, Otherwise, I had no doubt he would have taken me right there with the door wide open. We pulled apart, and I noticed the half-burned cigarette butt on the floor, already crushed by our chaotic

movements.

I couldn't understand him. Shouldn't he be busy finding ways to absolve Claudia? How did he have time to come to me?

"What's wrong? Are you hiding a man in here? Why won't you let me kiss you?"

He pushed past me and headed straight for my bedroom, still in his shoes. My place wasn't as big as Coral Villa, and he scanned it with ease.

"Nicholas, are you here to catch me in the act?"

Without responding, he just stood there staring at me. Then he smiled indifferently.NôvelDrama.Org: text © owner.

"No, Mrs. Hawk. I know you never hide your men. Even when I was around, you would flirt with other men. Now that I'm not here, I wouldn't be surprised if you had someone hidden in the house."

As he spoke, he reached into his pocket, pulled out a cigarette, and lit it right in front of me.

The evening sun shone through the window, casting a lonely shadow on his back. For some reason, it gave me a strange feeling of melancholy.

I lowered my eyes, feeling an uncontrollable surge of bitterness in my heart. There was an indescribable feeling of jealousy.

Nicholas didn't like to drink, and he rarely smoked. But today, he was doing both. Was he so troubled because the evidence against Claudia looked bleak?

"Nicholas, coming to me won't help. No matter what you say, and no matter how your family or my mother pleads, I won't let this

go."

The ash from his cigarette fell onto my tiled floor, but he couldn't care less.

He took another drag before saying, "Claudia brought a friend over the other day, and we were fighting. She was in a bad mood, so she complained to her friend. "What happened was her friend's doing, not hers. She didn't even know her friend wanted to stand up her. It was just a childish prank."

As he spoke, the thin smoke escaped his mouth and filled the air, making me feel suffocated.

I looked at him expressionlessly and asked, "So, are you here to plead for her? I told you, I can't-

for

"No!" he interrupted me. "I'm just telling you. This has nothing to do with Claudia. I'll take care of it before our parents find out. I advise you not to say anything to them too."

He stood not far from me, speaking about Claudia with a calm and lazy tone, as if discussing the weather. It was infuriating. For me, every word he said was pushing us further apart.

I looked at him. "So, you firmly believe Claudia is innocent. If the same thing happened to me, you'd say I was responsible for someone's death, and that my career should be over "Nicholas, what do I owe you, really? If I do owe you something, tell me how to repay it so you'll leave my

life forever."