Chapter Fifty-Four: Why Make Things So Complicated? For the Sake of the Dance?

Countless flashlights were trained on me, and directly below was a pond, its murky surface betraying nothing of its depth. Yet, as if those beams of light could read my mind, they all converged on the water, and I let out a scream.

The sick bastard actually keeps crocodiles.

Seeing me scramble in, Luo Ange asked, “Giving up so soon? That’s not like you at all.” I leapt down, cast a glance at the door, and he took a sip of red wine. “Don’t bother,” he said, “You’re not leaving tonight.”

I was frantic. “You pervert, you’re cheating!”

He looked at me with a smile. “How unfair—I could say the same. You broke into my house to steal from me, and now you call me a scoundrel? If I handed you over to the police, what do you think would happen?”

I wasn’t afraid. “Then go ahead, call the police.”

He walked over, and I pressed myself against the wall in terror, clutching the curtains in front of me. “What are you doing? Don’t come any closer!”

He kept advancing. My voice and face changed with fear. “Picking on a defenseless woman—does that make you a man? If you’ve got the guts, let’s fight one-on-one.”

The menace in his eyes was unmistakable. I had no time to run before he seized me and threw me onto the bed.

I rolled over, but he pinned me down, fishing the cufflinks from my pocket and sneering, “If you wanted the answer, you could have just asked. Why go through so much trouble? Or is it that you’re nostalgic for last night?”

His fingertip brushed my lips, and I trembled as if under a spell. “Luo Ange, let me go. We can talk this through.”

His breath, tinged with wine, washed over my face. “Let you go? Since when have you ever seen me as a gentleman?”

I knew then there was no escape tonight. I could only blame myself—showing up like this, the would-be heroine, only to end up trapped. However you looked at it, it was a losing bargain.

His fingers traced slowly down my face, to my neck, then my collarbone. When he tried to go further, I grabbed his hand and pleaded, “Luo Ange, I know I was wrong. Please, let me go.”

He twisted my wrists above my head, pinning them there, his dark eyes fixed below my collarbone. I struggled—cursing was useless now. What should I do?

“Go take care of your urges with Lei Zhiyi. I…”

“Shh…” He silenced me, shaking his head. “Yi Lanshan, are all women like this? Wanting it but refusing to admit it. Weren’t you burning with passion last night? Or has a single night made you frigid?”

I was speechless with indignation. If not for your schemes and drugging me, how could I have lost my first time in such confusion?

A woman’s first time—how important, how dignified a moment—stolen by this pervert.

Even being trampled by a pig wouldn’t hurt this much.

I felt something pressing on me change rapidly, and terror shot through me as I shoved him away. “Fine, I am frigid. Go find Lei Zhiyi—she’s passionate enough for both of us.”

His eyes were as deep as the ocean, taking on a strange pale blue. I writhed, trying to escape his grasp.

He yanked open my collar, eyes narrowing at the red and purple marks between my collarbone and chest.

Sensing danger, I tried to slip away, but it was too late—he had already lowered his head.

I wished I could die. After hurting me, he’d even run away at the last moment, leaving Du Fanchuan in my bed so I’d think it was him I’d slept with.

His lips were like fire, searing and biting everywhere they touched. Worse yet, he started biting me.

The more I struggled, the more he restrained me, grabbing a tie from the nightstand to bind me to the headboard, then tearing my clothes apart.

I tried to kick him, but he pinned my legs, his breath growing ragged, his eyes glinting with a wild, unmistakable red.