Ch. 286..290: Fatal Kiss Of The Vampire Chapter 286-290
Chapter 286: She Thought Being Betrayed By Him
Kylie sat cross-legged on her bed, staring at her phone, unaware that she’d bitten through the skin on her lower lip. There was a sense of foreboding at the sight of the anonymous video shown in her email’s inbox. After a moment, she gathered her courage and opened it up.
Dora’s bedroom appeared on the screen. At first, it was empty, but Dora quickly came into view. She was wearing pajamas, and it wasn’t long before she climbed into bed. She looked like she was ready for sleep. As she made herself comfortable through, a tall figure suddenly entered the scene. His entire body could be seen, but his head was out of the frame.
The man leaned over Dora and kissed her on the back of her neck. As he did so, Kylie caught a look at his hair. It was cut short, like Ethan’s. Until she knew for sure who the man was, though, she refused to believe that it was Ethan. That being said, she was holding the phone so tightly that her knuckles had turned white.
She wanted to turn away, but like a car crash, she could not.
After a few movements, the man began to take Dora’s clothes off. As he did this, Dora’s hands roamed his back, and she kissed his neck. Once her pants and panties were off, and her shirt was open, he began to kiss her neck, clavicle, breasts, and nipples.
As he kissed her, he played with her breasts, squeezing, pinching, and kneading them while he ran light circles around her areola. His hand found her cunt, and as he rubbed her clitoris, she began to moan. “I am yours,” he gasped. “My body, soul, and cock; they all belong to you.”
Hearing those words, Kylie began to cry. Those were Ethan’s words, and that was Ethan’s voice. As soon as she recognized the voice, she shut the video off. She had seen enough. The point had been made. She’d trusted Ethan, but he’d betrayed her!
Kylie couldn’t make heads or tails of what she’d seen, though. She thought that she’d taken good care of his needs but, perhaps, he’d always loved Dora more, and she’d just been a substitute. Kylie dropped her phone to the floor and began to tug at her hair, one or two threads at a time. The pain was immediate, sharp, and distracting. When she was younger, she’d been a cutter. Through the process of healing, she’d become a puller, and then she’d no longer had any need to self-harm.
The need was upon her once again, though, and it shamed her. By the time she’d pulled out a good patch of hair from the back of her head, she was bawling. Her tears were like a flood of water bursting from a dike. The torrent was so strong that she could barely see.
Suddenly Kylie realized that everything in her life was a charade. Ethan had never belonged to her. He had always cared about Dora more. His future was with Dora, not her. The life that she’d assumed would be hers had only been wishful thinking. The more she thought about it though, the more she saw the warning signals that she’d missed.
For one, Ethan had spent an unexplainable amount of time with Dora. She felt stupid, and it made her angry to think that she had been taken for a fool – and proven to be a fool!
Kylie jumped out of bed and pulled down a suitcase from the top of the wardrobe. As she looked at everything that she wore through, and she realized that none of it belonged to her. Her entire wardrobe belonged to Ethan. Kylie sighed, dressed, grabbed her phone, and headed out the bedroom door. Just as she reached the hallway, she remembered the necklace that was around her neck. Ethan had said that it was a symbol of his love for her and that she would die if she took it off.
Kylie snorted as she recalled his words. Without thought, she ripped it off of her neck and threw it on the bed. Surely, when he saw it, he would get the message she was sending.
On her way out, she sat down with Lucy and gave her a large sum of money. During the time that they’d known each other, Kylie had come to see Lucy as a mother figure. She hugged Lucy and said, “Work is getting so busy that I won’t be able to come home at night. I may not be back for a long time. Please take the money as a bonus for all that you’ve done for me.”
At first, Lucy refused the money. She said, “I am a simple woman. I have no use for such a large sum.”
“You will take it!” Kylie commanded. “If not as a bonus for helping me, then take it as an advance payment for taking Pupu. Where I am going, she cannot go.”
Lucy had no choice but to put the bills in her apron pocket, so that is what she did.
With tears in her eyes, Lucy said, “You can rest assured that I will take good care of Pupu and, when you return, we will be here, anxiously waiting.”
***
By the time Kylie stepped out of the front door, Dinah was waiting for her. She was a good friend. When Kylie called and said she needed help, she didn’t ask questions, she simply came.
Kylie wiped the tears from her eyes but, when she got in the car, Dinah could tell immediately that she was hurting. She asked Kylie if she was okay. Kylie said that she wasn’t, but that she didn’t want to talk about it – at least not yet – and Dinah respected her request.
As the car pulled away, Dinah looked at Kylie and said, “I went to Anna’s house earlier, and you will never guess who is staying in her guest room!”
Dinah seemed excited to be able to tell her something that she didn’t already know, so she played along. “Who?” she wondered.
Dinah’s eyes went wide, and she said, “Ken White is staying in Anna’s guest room. Can you believe that? I wouldn’t have, except that I saw it with my own two eyes. I can’t believe that, after he’d treated her so badly, she welcomed him into her home. She must have some reason that I am not privy to!”
“Perhaps it wasn’t Ken,” Kylie suggested. “Perhaps it was someone that looked like Ken…”
“How could that be possible?” Dinah laughed. “Ken opened the door for me. He was wearing big pink pajama trousers, which made me very happy. As you know, he is very well built. I get wet just thinking about it!”
Kylie’s eyes rolled. “If you say it was him, then I believe you,” Kylie replied, “but it doesn’t explain what he was doing there, at the hospital earlier that day, or if he is somehow linked to Khloe’s death…”
“Did you ask Lord Ethan for advice?” Dinah wondered. She knew all about Ken and Kylie’s past, and how it had always been a thorn in Ethan’s side. Thus, it was reasonable to believe that, were Kylie to help Ken, Ethan wouldn’t be happy – but Kylie didn’t care about what Ethan’s thought; not now at least.
“I didn’t, and I won’t!” Kylie replied sternly.
Chapter 287: Could You Forgive Me?
Once Dinah was alone, she phoned Ethan. She was Kylie’s friend, but one thing Kylie did not know was that she was Ethan’s employee first. When he answered, she told him everything that had happened and asked him to tell her what to do next.
“Let her do whatever she wants,” Ethan replied, “but I want you to follow her around the clock to make sure that she’s safe.”
Once Dinah was off the phone with Ethan, she called Stephen and relayed to him everything that Ethan had said. “What’s going on?” Stephen wondered. “Lately, everything seems to be going crazy, and Kylie and Ethan have been acting very strangely!”
“I don’t know,” Dinah lied, “but I do know what you’re talking about.”
“Why don’t you and Kylie come to my place?” he wondered. “It would be safer than anywhere else you might go.”
“Why didn’t I think of that?” Dinah laughed. “If we did that, I would be able to see you every day without violating Ethan’s instructions. Kylie is back on set today, but when she is done, we will go straight to your place.”
The blind girl had always admired the killer’s chief, Quintus Anthony, who liked the female knight, Larissa, and not her. During a duel, the blind girl once plotted against Larissa, which had caused Larissa to be scolded by her chief.
Kylie stepped onto the set prepared to begin up on the cliff, but she was quickly informed that they would be using a body double to finish her scene. Hearing this, her face turned red, and she began to curse out anyone with any amount of authority.
“Sally doesn’t mind using a double for dangerous scenes,” the director pointed out. “Why are you making such a big deal about it?”
“She is older than I am,” Kylie scoffed. “Anyways, are you holding me back at the request of Mr. Benjamin?”
The director turned away suddenly and refused to look Kylie in the eyes. “It has nothing to do with Mr. Benjamin,” he lied.
“There is no real danger in this scene,” Kylie insisted. “Therefore, if it is not because of something that Mr. Benjamin said, you must be doubting my skills as an actress. Is that it?”
The director increased his grip on the script, and he said, “You are crossing a line right now. I am the director here. You are not. If I want a stand-in, then we will use one. If you don’t learn how to take instructions without throwing a fit, you will get a reputation for being hard to work with. Certainly, you do not want to be the next Jennifer Love Hewitt. The director spoke Hewitt’s name with scorn as if it came with a curse.
“Furthermore,” he continued, “do not forget that I could let you go and recast your role at any time!”
“I understand,” Kylie said, “and I apologize.”
While on her break, Kylie overheard two crew members gossiping about a new male stand-in that was quickly gaining notoriety. Apparently, he was so handsome that he was already sexually harassed. “He is like a fantasy, straight out of one of my dreams,” the first man said as he sighed.
“He is definitely extraordinary,” the second man agreed. “I heard that he is picky about which jobs he will take, though. He has made it clear that he never wants to be more than a stand-in, and he never wants his face to be shown on camera.”
The more Kylie listened, the more curious she became. His specifications were definitely strange. Once she had heard enough, she put down the script and went in the direction of the dressing room.
Because of the limited amount of space, all leading actors shared a dressing room, and, on the way in, she ran into her make-up artist. “Miss Finch,” the make-up artist wondered, “Is everything okay? Do you need a touch-up?”
“No,” Kylie laughed. “I just left something inside.”
“Shall I help you look for it?” the make-up artist wondered.
“Don’t worry about it,” Kylie replied. “I may not have even left it in here…”
Once inside, Kylie was surprised to see the stand-in that she’d just heard so much about. He had his back to her, but he had his shirt off, and, by that alone, she could see that he was gorgeous. As she entered the trailer, she began to look all around her while muttering to herself, “Now where did I leave my earring… It must be here… somewhere… I am certain that this is where I last saw it…”
As she searched the trailer, she got closer and closer to the stand-in, and an idea popped into her head. She took off one of her earrings and threw it at the stand-in’s feet before shouting, “Oh, here it is!”
Kylie stepped quickly behind the stand-in and bent down to pick the earring up but, before she was in front of him, he purposely kicked it under the dressing table. She couldn’t believe it. He has done it on purpose!
Bottling up her anger, she crawled under the table to pick it up. Just then, she saw that the stand-in had gotten up and was heading towards the door – and all she could see of him was his back…
As Kylie walked back to the set, she put on her earring and regained control of her emotions. With his back to her, she saw the stand while talking to the director, and she got the sense that she knew him somehow. Then, just before the shooting began, the director called her over. “I’ve changed my mind,” he said. “You are back in the scene.
Kylie grinned happily, and she thanked him profusely.
“Was I wrong to save you?” the blond woman asked with tears in her eyes. “Quintus Anthony, am I wrong to like you? Am I wrong to want to be a hero like you, with you?”
Being blind, she didn’t know that he had his back to her.
The blind woman raised her hand and tried to grasp the man’s sleeve. She couldn’t find it though, and, after a few seconds, she brought her hand back down to her side. There was a self-deprecating smile on her lips as she said, “If… if I’m hurt in the same way… could you forgive me?”
The camera panned slowly behind her.
Quintus Anthony turned his head. He looked her in the eyes, and at that moment, the scene was ruined. The part of Quintus Anthony had been given to the stand-in for this particular scene, and the stand-in was none other than Ethan Parker!
Kylie gasped and fell out of character the instant she saw him.
“Cut!” the director growled.
Chapter 288: Nobody Can Bite You But Me
Kylie looked at Ethan in contempt, and she shouted at him: “What the fuck are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at work or back at Dora’s apartment, banging her brains out?!?!?”
Ethan looked at her, and he asked her if she’d forgotten what he’d previously told her. His voice was deep and slow, and the way that he said things, they always sounded believable.
Kylie turned her eyes away from him, and she said, “I refuse to hear your excuses. You obviously like Dora more than you like me, so let me go. You had no right to come here and harass me. This is my place of work!”
Ethan stepped forward suddenly, and he grabbed her, pulled her to him, and kissed her. The minute he touched her, she tried to pull away, but he held her tightly. The minute his lips touched hers, though, an electric current ran from her toes to the ends of her hair. His steely arms wrapped around her waist and he pulled her closer to his body – and, against her better judgment, she kissed him back.
The director had already called cut, but they hadn’t stopped, and as he began to curse them, he let the scene go on. As she moved away, his mind was a disturbing wash of conflicted emotions. The kiss had been nice, but he, as a person, was not nice. She could feel how hot her face was, and she found her embarrassment embarrassing. She turned away from him, swallowed hard, and tidied her hair.
She thought to herself. I will not give this man the opportunity to hurt me again!
In contrast to Kylie’s hurt anger, Ethan seemed to be calm as a cucumber. He brushed his sleeves but seemed no worse for wear. Turning his back to Kylie, he resumed his place on set. The director motioned for them to start the scene.
“Was I wrong to save you?” the blind woman asked with tears in her eyes. “Quintus Anthony, am I wrong to like you? Am I wrong to want to be a hero like you, with you?”
Kylie found it hard to stay in character, now that she knew who the stand-in was. Every line that she said reminded her of everything Ethan and Dora had done in the video. Tears welled up in her eyes. Her lips quivered. She took a step forward and tried to pull Ethan’s sleeve, but her hands paused in the air longer than they should have. Then, instead of lowering her hand, she took his hand into her own hand.
There was a self-deprecating smile on the blind woman’s lips as she said, “If… if I’m hurt in the same way… could you forgive me?”
Her expression never changed, but the grip on his hand increased in increments. If it hurt him, you wouldn’t have known it by looking at him. His expression remained calm, in character.
Looking at the blind woman’s angry eyes, Quintus Anthony’s eyes darkened, and he covered her hand with his own. The blind woman froze. She hadn’t expected him to do that.
“Why did you take your necklace off?” he wondered.
They had gone way off script and, at first, the director was going to call the scene. Before he did, though, it occurred to him to see where the scene went. Perhaps something will come of it, he thought to himself.
An ironic smile formed on the blind woman’s lips. “Yes,” she admitted. “It was not the right size.”
“Forget the size,” Quintus Anthony said. “Tell me if you liked the necklace.”
Kylie looked up at Ethan with a blind girl’s expression, but her nails dug into his hands.
“It was nothing to me,” she scowled. “You really let me down.
Ethan wrapped his arms around her waist once again, and he pulled her close so that her breasts were touching his chest. He offered her a sly and mischievous grin. His lips parted, and she could see his teeth.
“Enough!” Kylie hissed as she pushed him away. She glared at him for a moment, and then she turned her head toward the director. “Isn’t it about time you called this scene,” she wondered. “I am practically being assaulted here!
Suddenly, the assistant director came to give Ethan a look and said, “You are wasting our time. You don’t even have lines! You are the most unprofessional stand-in that I have ever worked with!”
Kylie crossed her arms as she watched Ethan step aside to fix his hair. Even now, it was as if he were the center of the universe. Even as the Assistant Director yelled at him, he casually dismissed his complaints.
The assistant director turned to the director and said, “Where did you get this guy from? He’s not good at acting at all, and he doesn’t follow directions. We could send him home and use one of the lighting guys. Even that would be preferable to this guy!”
Kylie turned to the light man and asked him if he wanted to act as a stand-in, and he agreed on the spot. In fact, he was overjoyed at the proposition!
Suddenly the Assistant Director felt Ethan’s eyes on him. It was a death glare if he had ever seen one. Without warning, Ethan’s eyes fell upon the light guy, and it only took a moment before the poor guy began to stammer. “Ac.. ac… actually… I don’t think I am qualified to be a stand-in.” As the man said these words, he looked very sad. He looked like a man who’d just received news that his children were dead.
Seeing what had happened, Kylie dragged Ethan off set and demanded to know what he was up to, and what he wanted.
“What do you mean,” he replied innocently, “It’s what you want that matters.”
She was so angry that she bit hard on her lower lip. As soon as she did, though, Ethan pinched her chin. “Nobody can bite you but me,” he said, and then he kissed her gently on the lips. Fortunately, there was no light in the position where they were standing, so no one else could see what they were doing.
Kylie pulled away from him. “Fuck you,” she hissed. “I will not play second string to a mistress. I will not. Now, please leave. This is my place of business, and you are embarrassing me in front of my co-workers.”
He reached for her again, but this time, she managed to dodge his hands. His hand caught only air. He looked down at his hands, and he clenched them into fists. “Let’s go home and talk this over properly,” he suggested.
“Alright,” Kylie replied. She had hoped to escape him and return to work but, before she could, Ethan scooped her up, threw her over his shoulder, and carried her to his car…
Chapter 289: Solitary Confinement
The lighting man, who’d almost become a stand-in, was the first person to notice that Kylie was being kidnapped; and by the original stand-in, of all people. “Help!” he shouted. “Kylie is being kidnapped.”
The director turned in time to see the stand-in turning a corner. He had Kylie over his shoulder, and she was kicking like the devil. He put his hands on his forehead and sighed. He had hired the stand-in without even asking him his name. Now the stand-in had kidnapped their lead, and he had no idea where he’d come from…
As Ethan threw her into the car, Kylie cried, “Are you sick in the head? Do you need to see a doctor? Should we take you to the hospital?”
Ethan did not even look at her as he strapped her into the car. “Maybe it is you that is sick,” he replied as he started the car. “Every time I think that we have an agreement between us, you let your petty jealousy get the better of you!”
As soon as they were on the road, Kylie yelled, “Stop the car!” She tried to reach for the emergency brake.
“Are you trying to kill us?” he hissed as he batted her hand away.
“I told you to stop!” she roared. “You should have listened!”
Just being around, Ethan made Kylie sick; she couldn’t stop thinking about the video of him and Dora. They had had an agreement, but he had reneged on it long before she had.
Instead of stopping, Ethan increased the speed of the car. They approached a red light, but he speeds right through it. Soon they heard the sound of police sirens, and it wasn’t long before they were on their tail. A loudspeaker screamed at them: “Pull over immediately! Stop at once! You are in violation of the law!”
Ethan watched the police through the rearview mirror and grimaced. The police had never been a friend of his. In his heart, he was an Anarchist, and he was often heard saying, “We don’t need a government. As grown adults, we should know how to govern ourselves, and if anyone gets out of line, let the mob put them back in line!”
Ethan pushed the gas pedal to the floor, and Kylie was pushed back in her seat. Seeing that they were approaching the highway and that Ethan was distracted, she grabbed the emergency brake and pulled it back as hard as she could.
The tires gripped the road hard, and the car spun left, did a complete 180, and hit the guard rails. Kylie took the bulk of the trauma as glass shattered inward, impaling tiny splinters into her face. For a second, she felt Ethan pulling at her hair. She could hear him yelling, but she couldn’t make out what he was saying – and then she passed out.
Ethan had his hands wrapped around Kylie’s neck, and it wasn’t until he looked up that he realized that he’d gone too far. The car was surrounded by police officers, and they all had their guns drawn. He had let his anger get the better of him again. “Let the girl go!” one officer was shouting, “Or we will be forced to shoot!”
Ethan let Kylie go, and he raised his hands up in the air. “I’m coming out,” he yelled. “I have my hands in the air. I have no weapons. There is a girl in the car. She needs help. She isn’t breathing.”
As soon as Ethan stepped out of the car, one of the police officers cracked his baton against the back of his head, and he fell to his knees. He gave a signal, and his partner grabbed his arms, twisted them behind his back, and threw a pair of handcuffs on him. Together, they pulled him up on his feet, pushed him towards their car, and shoved him inside.
When Kylie opened her eyes, she recognized the crystal lamp above her head and the dazzling necklace that she’d left behind. Her vision was fuzzy, and her head hurt. The last thing that she remembered was hitting the rails on the highway. She sat up slowly and moaned. She touched the back of her head and was not surprised to find that it was swollen.
“Why am I not at the hospital?” she whispered.
Lucy grabbed her phone and walked to the door. She gave it a couple of twists, but she could not open it. She was locked in. “Help!” she cried.
After a few seconds, she heard someone run-up to her door. “Kylie,” Lucy cried. “I am so happy to hear that you are awake and doing well. I am so sorry that you are locked up. Who would have guessed that Ethan would have used is one call from prison to blackmail the ambulance driver into doing this to you? I am so sorry. There was nothing that I could do to stop it…”
“Don’t worry,” Kylie sighed. “I know that this is not your fault. If anything, it is my own fault for having such bad taste in men…”
Kylie went to the window and saw a lot of men in dark suits in the yard. They all looked very serious, and two groups of four were constantly circling the house, doing rounds. Most carried pistols. She frowned. Ethan has really called in the big guns this time, she thought, as she slowly lost hope of ever living a normal life again.
Kylie went back to the bed, sat down, and pulled out her phone. Much to her dismay though, he had cut all of her services. He had even changed the Wifi code so she couldn’t even go online. “This is worse than prison,” she cried. “This is SOLITARY CONFINEMENT!”
Not bothering to undress, Kylie went into the bathroom, stepped into the shower, and turned on the cold water; turned it on as cold as it would go. Feeling thirsty, she turned her head up to the showerhead and filled her mouth. She swallowed hard, and the ice-cold water burned as it went down.
When she could bear it no more, she turned the water off, stepped out, and –dripping wet – she walked toward the balcony. It was already Autumn. The wind was cold, and it hit her soaking wet body like a wrecking ball hit an old condemned house. I was a good analogy, she thought, for Ethan had similarly condemned her, and her body was trembling all over.
Kylie looked down at the men as one of them emerged. It only took her a moment to recognize him, and at first, she assumed that her mind was playing tricks on her. “How can Ethan be here?” she whispered. “I thought that he was in prison…”
Once he was below her, he looked up. Obviously, he knew that she was drenched; he assumed it was a suicide attempt. He appeared to be thinking hard, and after a moment, he turned and walked back to his men. Using grand hand gestures, he gave his men their orders.
A moment later, a team of six men ran to the shed. She could hear some banging inside, and it wasn’t long before they returned with ladders, pulleys, and all manner of gear. They hauled them under Kylie’s window and built a makeshift lift. A long extension cord was drug out and attached to a giant heater. The men pulled up the lift, and very quickly, the heater was blowing very hot air into her room – and it wasn’t long before she was completely dry.
Kylie’s face was suddenly spat by a huge Cheshire’s grin. Ethan had made her his prisoner, but as long as he was one hundred percent committed to maintaining the status quo, she had more power than they had realized. She thought about the lengths that he’d gone to get her dry, and she wondered what else she could do to throw a monkey wrench into his plans.
Kylie knew that Ethan was a jealous man and that he couldn’t stand the thought of other men looking at her with lust, so the next time she approached the balcony, she whistled at the men until she had their attention. “My heroes,” she purred lustfully. “I might have died, but your strong men saved me!”
Slowly, Kylie began to undo the buttons on her shirt. She knew that Ethan had given them directions to turn away if something like this were to happen. As ordered, they looked away, but as her shirt hit the floor, she caught them stealing glances. She undid the clasp on the front of her bra, and as her large breasts billowed free, a few of the men desperately covered their eyes with their hands. They knew what Ethan did to men who coveted his wife.
While they were distracted, she began to look for ways to escape. Looking around, she felt her hope slipping away. She was just about to give up her act when something quite average caught her eye, and spoke to her…
Chapter 290: Escape
Kylie had kicked off her pants, and just as she slipped her fingers into the bands of her panties, the man closest to her dared to peek. He watched as she slid her panties to the ground and stepped out of them between two fingers. He watched as she began to touch herself. First, she ran her hands through her hair. She took the elastic out and shook her hair free, and, as she did this, her breasts also shook – very fetchingly.
She touched her breasts and brought her nipples to her mouth to suckle. It wasn’t until she winked at him that he realized what he was doing and how much trouble he’d get into if he was found out. He gasped and quickly slammed his eyes shut. His whole body began to tremble, and that was when worse came to worse. His hand slipped, and he fell, pulling everyone below him to the ground with him.
By the time they fully recovered, almost ten minutes had passed. The man who had caused the accident looked up in dismay. “She’s gone!” he cried. “Somebody go and find Lucy!”
Lucy hurried to get the key to open the door, and the guards confirmed that Kylie was not in the room. One guard went to the balcony and found a sheet tied to it. Looking at it, he couldn’t believe that the men on the ground had missed it.
Ethan had just stepped away, and when he heard that Kylie had escaped, he was furious. “Well,” he hissed, “look around the villa and be sure to find her!”
Within minutes, Kylie was humming a tune as she escaped the property. She had been hiding in the wardrobe. The sheet had been a decoy. Kylie couldn’t believe that they’d fallen for it, and she found the whole scenario hilarious.
As soon as she crossed the street, she was able to access her neighbor’s Wifi, but she didn’t know who to call. If she called Dinah, she would tell Ethan where she was. If she called Anna, she was afraid that Ken would find out and that he would tell Ethan. She thought about it for a moment and then she called William.
Kylie was hiding in the bushes, and when William arrived, she rushed out and jumped into his car as quickly as she could. “We need to get out of here quickly,” she shouted. “I just saw Ethan, and he looked angry!”
“Where to?” William wondered.
“Take me to church!” she ordered.
“William frowned. He said, “If you’re running from Ethan, is this a good way to go and hide?”
“Just do it!”Kylie hissed. “I know what I’m doing.”
“Alright, alright,” William muttered as he merged into the highway and headed in the direction of the church.
When the chief of the guards saw that Ethan had returned, he walked straight for him. Ethan was heading for the house, though, and he seemed to have no interest in talking to him, so he followed him into the house and up to Kylie’s room.
Ethan looked around Kylie’s room. He looked at the bedsheet that had been tied to the rail and saw immediately that it was a ruse. The way that it was tied, it never would have supported the weight of a person. He looked in the wardrobe next and could tell by the way that it was disheveled that this is where she’d hidden. Kylie had hidden in the wardrobe before, and this had probably been the first plan that had popped into her head.
He turned to his chief and asked if he had the surveillance footage. He did, and he presented Ethan with the DVD. The chief open’s Kylie’s laptop, and Ethan inserted the disk. “I have trimmed the video,” the chief said, “to the moment that she escaped.”
Ethan sat at Kylie’s desk and watched in dismay as Kylie casually slipped out the side door. It was as if she hadn’t had a care in the world. Just before she stepped out of view, she turned to face the camera, and knowing full well that he would see it, she smiled and popped up her middle finger.
As William pulled up to the church, he turned to face Kylie and said, “Are you sure that you want to marry me?”
Kylie frowned, and she said, “I asked you, didn’t I? And you said yes, didn’t you?
“I thought you were joking…” he muttered. “Of course, I would love to marry you, but I am afraid of what Ethan would do to me!”
Kylie punched him in the arm and said, “If you are a real man, then you will marry me. A real man never goes back on his words.”
“If what you say is true,” William sighed, “then I suppose I am not a real man. I would rather be a sissy boy than a dead man!”
“Fine,” Kylie hissed, “then the least you could do is find me a place to live!”
William pulled the car back onto the road, and after a few minutes, he looked at her and asked her if her fight with Ethan had been as bad as she was making it out to be.
“It’s none of your business!” Kylie snapped. “If you had married me the life you said that you would, I would have answered all your questions. As it is, though, you are a coward, and you do not deserve my explanations!”
“Can’t you cut me some slack?” William cried. “If I had known that you were serious, I obviously would have given you a different answer. Ethan scares me. I would never dare defy him in the way that you’ve asked me to!”
William took Kylie to his second home. It was very well furnished, but there were no servants. Kylie looked around the house, and then she said, “Shouldn’t you go and look after your grandma?”
William looked at her and said, “If you are okay here, then that is what I’ll do.”
Before he left, she warned him about her sleepwalking problem and asked if there was a house line. He said that there wasn’t, but he gave her the Wifi password and showed her where his computer was.
“You should pick up some groceries after your visit,” Kylie said. “I will cook us a meal and, afterward, maybe we can play some computer games.”
William picked up his phone and said, “I don’t usually do grocery shopping. I will call my agent. He is the one who shops for me.”
William was about to make the phone call, but Kylie grabbed the phone out of his hands. “Are you stupid?” he wondered. “The more people that know that I live here, the more trouble there’ll be. You need to shop for yourself while I’m here.”
As soon as William was gone, Kylie called another man. She told him where she was and reminded him of what he’d promised to do if just such an occasion arose. “He has gone too far this time,” she added. “I will not return to him, nor will I forgive him!”
When William returned, he had two to-go containers filled with mutton hot pot soup. He smiled as he showed it to her. “Your favorite!” he exclaimed. Kylie took a deep breath, and she smiled for the first time since he’d refused to marry her.
After the hotpot was eaten, they cleared the table and began to discuss the computer games. William ran upstairs, brought down his laptop, and connected it to his desktop computer. “Let me know when you’re too tired to play anymore,” William warned her. “I could play all night!”
They were playing World of Warcraft, and their first mission lasted until three o’clock in the morning. They had teamed up with two elves from Nova Scotia, and they payout had been well worth the time. “Another mission?” William wondered.
“I am too sleepy,” Kylie yawned. “Let’s continue after we wake up in the morning.”
Just as William was turning off his computer, his phone buzzed. He looked at it and saw that he’d received a text message from his agent. It said, “I can’t believe that you’ve opened up your home and your life to Kylie. If Ethan is looking for her – and he is – then you could be in some real trouble. At the very least, you should have told me what you were up to. People saw the two of you at the church. They know that you are married!”