Chapter 53 Anonymous Threat
The cold liquor splashed on Mason's face. He instinctively closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, they were burning with rage.
"Damn it!"
He swung his hand to hit me. I quickly twisted his arm back and used my body weight to pin him against the table.
Mason's face smashed into the corn chowder. He struggled violently. I pressed one hand on his shoulder while the other gripped the base of his right thumb. Mason finally managed to lift his face from the corn chowder and let out a scream.
Commotion came from outside the door. Ten seconds later, Adrian and Cole walked in. The four Soldati Mason had stationed outside had all been taken down by them.
"Keep guarding the door," I said.
"Yes!"
Adrian stood inside and closed the door, while Cole stayed outside on alert.
I signaled Adrian to search the room. He quickly found an empty bottle of aphrodisiac, an unopened syringe, a packet of drugs, and three hidden cameras.
This guy Mason didn't just want to assault me—he wanted to record it and blackmail me with the video.
I smiled coldly and pressed down hard with my right foot on the back of Mason's knee. His knees hit the ground heavily, and he knelt with his back to me.
"You bitch! How dare you do this to me! The Langford family won't let you get away with this!" Mason cursed with a twisted face. When my hand got a bit tired and I loosened my grip slightly, he quickly turned and threw an elbow at my stomach.
I'd heard that Langford family boys learned boxing from childhood. Mason looked thin, but he was actually quite agile, especially now with his rage at its peak—his attacks were particularly vicious.
I quickly stepped back to dodge. Adrian delivered a fierce side kick, knocking Mason to the ground.
Mason lay there, clutching his injury and gasping.
I squatted in front of him and pulled a ballpoint pen from my pocket.
I pressed the cap, but what popped out wasn't a pen tip—it was a needle.
The reflection of the needle caught in Mason's eyes. He asked with some fear, "What are you going to do?"
He tried to move away from me. Without hesitation, I stuck the needle into his neck and slowly pressed down on the cap.
"What is this?" Mason's voice was trembling. The liquid flowing into his body was ice-cold, but his body temperature shot up rapidly. Soon his entire face was flushed red.
"Aphrodisiac," I said, putting away the "pen" and returning to sit at the dining table.
Adrian took a bottle of red wine from the wine cabinet by the wall, poured a quarter glass into a fresh glass, and handed it to me.
I gave him a satisfied smile.
After sipping the wine to wet my throat, I remembered I hadn't finished what I was saying earlier.
"It's newly developed, the formula isn't perfect yet. The effects might be a bit different from regular aphrodisiacs," I told Mason.
Mason was already covered in sweat. He desperately reached into his pants, trying to relieve his arousal, but the moment his hand touched his penis, he screamed in pain.
"No, this is definitely not an aphrodisiac!" he shouted at me in terror. "What the hell did you inject me with!"
"It is an aphrodisiac, but the more you try to release your arousal, the more it hurts," I shrugged, saying irresponsibly, "Just a little side effect."
Just then, there was a disturbance at the door. Cole called out loudly, "Mr. Valeri, you can't go in!"
The door to the private room was kicked open.
Lucas appeared in the doorway.
The hem of his coat still carried the chill of the winter evening wind. His gaze swept over Mason's twisted, agonized face, and he froze.
Cole said, "I'm sorry, I couldn't stop him."
I waved my hand, not blaming Cole. Besides, Cole had warned me loudly. I was very satisfied with both bodyguards Gale had sent me.
"Why are you here?" I asked Lucas.
There was a dinner party hosted by some important person tonight. Gale had left in the afternoon, and Lucas must have gone too, but now Lucas was here.
"I heard Mason invited you to dinner. This guy is despicable—his usual method is drugging and raping people with aphrodisiacs." Lucas walked straight to my side. He glanced at the champagne bottle Mason had brought, then looked at me and pressed his lips together. "You didn't reply to my message."
Because I hadn't replied, he was worried about me, so he came specially?
A small ripple stirred in my heart. I said somewhat coldly, "I was too busy, forgot to reply."
Lucas grabbed my hand. His palm was large and warm, his body heat and firm pressure against my skin. My heart panicked, and I pulled my hand away.
"Is it because I used to never reply to your messages?" Lucas asked.
"What?" I thought for a moment before understanding. Lucas used to often not reply to my messages, or reply coldly with just one or two words. He was asking if I was deliberately not replying to get back at him.
"No, I was just too busy," I said with a frown.
Lucas didn't continue dwelling on this topic. He reached out to straighten the brooch on my collar, his tone both relieved and disappointed, with a touch of bitterness. "Looks like I'm late again."
He wanted to be the hero saving the damsel, but I could always handle crises on my own.
The less I needed him, the more he wanted to hold onto me.
I couldn't face his burning gaze directly, so I turned to look at Mason, who was curled up on the floor.
Mason's moans had grown much weaker. He no longer had the strength to curse at me, only begging for forgiveness.
I asked Mason, "Why did you target me?"
I admit I'm good-looking, but was that really the only reason Mason wanted to assault and blackmail me?
"Someone asked me to do it. They wanted to ruin your reputation," Mason said haltingly.
Right now his penis was hard as a rod—he'd never been this hard before, but he wished he could cut it off. Even if he just tried to rub it to relieve the arousal, the pain was unbearable.
I found an anonymous message on Mason's phone.
An unknown person had made a deal with Mason using dirt on John, asking Mason to abuse me, train me as a sex slave, and record the entire process.
The hidden cameras Mason had planted in the room must have been set up to complete this person's task.
My brows furrowed. Who was this person?
Why did they have such malice toward me?
This message was sent to Mason's phone last night, but Mason had arrived in Starstream City three days ago. This meant the person targeting me hadn't been planning long-term—it was a spur-of-the-moment decision.
A loud bang came. I snapped back to attention and saw Lucas punch the table hard.
He glared viciously at Mason's phone. "Find them! We must find out who this person is!"
I had someone open a room in the hotel, sent Mason there, and ordered him to be watched.
After finishing all this, Lucas asked me, "Going home?"
I nodded. After sleeping in the hotel for two days straight, I should return to the villa.
"I'll take you," Lucas said.
"No need, I have a car and a driver," I refused.
I didn't mind creating the illusion in front of the media that Lucas and I had a good relationship, but I couldn't accept him maintaining an ambiguous relationship with both me and Amelia at the same time.
That rose was beautiful, but ultimately it was a rose that would wither.
"Do you have to be this cold to me?" Lucas's eyes held suppressed anger. "I know you mind about Amelia. I said, just give me a little more time."
"I've given you time," I interrupted him. "I gave you three years, and all I got in return was the word 'divorce.' I've told you—when you chose Amelia instead of me, there was no longer any possibility between us."