Chapter 211: Caught Fire
He stared fixedly at the two people flirting not far away.
Not far away.
Mia was panting lightly, dodging James's attempt to deepen the kiss. "Stop it!"
Seeing he was about to kiss her again, she bit his lip in warning, annoyed, not letting him get too wild outside.
This was never going to end.
"Okay."
James agreed.
Mia raised her hand and patted his shoulder, signaling him to put her down.
James moved to lower her, positioning her at just the right height, then tightened his grip.
Mia was speechless.
James pressed his lips to her ear, his voice hoarse as he said in a low voice, "Mia, you started this."
When Mia had been hanging on him earlier, she was positioned too high to notice.
Now that he'd shifted her, she could clearly feel it.
She looked at him, asking the ultimate question: "James, is sex all you think about?"
"Don't you want to?"
As James spoke, his burning breath brushed across her cheek, those desire-filled eyes so deep they seemed to hold a whirlpool, ready to pull her in.
Mia's face flushed and her heart raced under his heated gaze, her mouth going dry. She couldn't help swallowing.
She did want to!
"Upstairs!"
The anger in her heart had mostly faded anyway, and Mia had no intention of keeping James locked out anymore.
She wanted to, so they would.
Her legs wrapped around his lean waist again, her face buried in his neck as he carried her inside with long strides.
The two were so wrapped up in each other, eyes only for one another, that neither noticed Uri's presence.
……
Downstairs, Uri sat in his wheelchair, as if he were the only person left in the world.
Even though the two had left his line of sight, his gaze remained fixed.
The scene he'd just witnessed kept replaying in his mind.
The Mia he'd been longing to see again—he'd finally waited for her today, finally saw her.
After years apart, she was just as he'd imagined, grown even more beautiful, even more stunning than he'd pictured in his mind.
Every smile, every expression made his heart skip.
Uri had considered that after all these years, Mia might be dating someone.
But he never imagined that person would be James.
The man he hated to his core!
Uri's hands gripped the wheelchair armrests so tightly, just thinking about James made him want to grind him to dust.
……
James carried Mia through the entrance door with long strides.
The same James who moments ago had been worried about people seeing his awkward state, asking her to cover for him.
Once inside, carrying her, he headed straight for the elevator.
His face screamed impatience.
Moving from darkness into bright light, the heat in his eyes became even more obvious.
So intense she couldn't look directly at him.
"Take the stairs!"
Their position was too intimate. She couldn't bear being held like this and watched by others in the elevator.
James chuckled softly.
He carried Mia toward the stairwell.
With each movement, Mia's body grew softer.
She knew James was doing this on purpose.
From the first floor to the eighth.
Hard to tell who was being tortured more.
By the time they reached the eighth floor, neither could take it anymore.
As soon as they got inside, they were kissing.
Passion ignited instantly.
James successfully stayed over again.
But having learned his lesson from being banned from staying over for nearly a week, he was clearly smarter this time.
He knew there was a phrase called "knowing when to stop."
……
Downstairs.
Uri's expression turned cold.
His eyes full of gloom. If it were any other man, he would have gone right over.
His identity as a member of the Smith Family alone would be enough to make any other man feel inferior.
But the man with Mia was James.
He wouldn't allow himself to appear before James looking like this.
Four years ago, James had deliberately caused a car accident to seize the Smith Group inheritance from him.
That accident left him lying in bed like a living corpse for over four years!
When he woke up, he'd become this ghostly version of himself!
The accident didn't just damage his body—it destroyed his love life.
Because that day, he was supposed to confess his feelings to Mia!
That very day, not wanting to be disturbed by bodyguards, he went alone to meet Mia.
And that was the day James found his opening.
As he rushed excitedly to meet Mia, he was hit by a car.
He lay there for over four years, finally woke up, but his beloved Mia had been stolen by James too!
A bastard child, a piece of trash he'd trampled underfoot and bullied at will since childhood, dared to compete with him!
The Smith Group and Mia—they were both supposed to be his!
Four years ago, it was his momentary carelessness that gave James the opportunity.
This time—
What belonged to him, no one should even think about touching!
Especially James.
What James owed him, he would collect back with interest.
Though it was summer, Uri was shrouded in cold air, the joy he'd arrived with completely gone.
His gaze, filled with hatred, landed on the light that had come on in the eighth floor, and stayed there for a long time.
After who knows how long.
His vision grew increasingly blurry.
His eyes went dark, and his body slumped down softly.
"Mr. Smith—"
Orla was terrified, rushing to him with long strides.
Her eyes full of concern, she caught Uri, coordinating with the men in black emerging from the shadows.
They helped him into the car.
The car door closed.
The black Bugatti drove out of the complex, disappearing into the night.
The car sped all the way to the airport.
A doctor was arranged on the private plane. As soon as Uri arrived, he was carried onto the plane for a physical examination.
"How is Mr. Smith?"
After the examination, Orla asked anxiously.
"The situation is very bad. It would be best to arrange hospitalization."
The moment the traveling doctor finished speaking, Uri slowly opened his eyes from his unconscious state.
He ordered coldly, "Return to Marigoldia immediately."
He'd just woken up, and Imperial City was now James's domain.
Before he fully recovered, he absolutely couldn't let James know his true physical condition.
"Mr. Smith, you can't, your body—"
Orla's mind wasn't as complex as Uri's. She didn't understand his considerations; her heart and mind were filled only with worry for his health.
"What are you? How dare you disobey me?"
Weak yet utterly cold words came from Uri's mouth.
Not caring at all that they would humiliate, would wound.
In this world, except for Mia.
He'd never looked at other women, never cared about them.
Except for Mia, no woman deserved his attention.
No one dared disobey Uri.
Soon, the captain arranged the flight path.
Tonight's route had been reserved for them anyway.
After arrangements were made, an hour later, the private plane left Imperial City airport.
Uri's bodily functions hadn't recovered. He'd flown back to Imperial City overnight last night, then waited downstairs at Mia's for several hours.
His body had long reached its limit.
Soon, he lost consciousness again.
Orla knelt beside him, raising her hand to massage his head, helping him relax.
Until his furrowed brow gradually relaxed.
But Orla's hands didn't stop, moving downward, using gentle pressure that wouldn't disturb him, lightly massaging his leg muscles, helping him relax.
Only after massaging his entire body did she stop.
She looked at Uri's haggard, exhausted face, and slowly, that smiling face she'd seen earlier floated into her mind.
When she saw that girl's smile, her gaze couldn't move away.
This smile—she'd seen it often in the mirror.
Knowing Uri liked this kind of smile, she'd practiced it countless times in the mirror.
Finally, she'd perfected it to his satisfaction.
So this was what the original smile looked like.
The woman Uri loved and kept in his heart wasn't Amelia after all.
She couldn't figure out Uri's thoughts, but the one thing she knew for sure was this.
No matter who he truly loved in his heart, it could never be her.
……
The next morning, the plane landed at Marigoldia airport.
Uri was secretly sent back to the hospital.
Amelia, who'd been blocked from going upstairs at the hospital for the past two days, immediately rushed inside when she was finally allowed to see Uri.
Orla saw Amelia come in and immediately stood up and left.
"Uri—"
Amelia rushed over with red-rimmed eyes, looking wronged.
But when she caught sight of the thick stack of documents by the bedside, she froze completely.
These were all her files from Imperial City.
Uri knew everything about what happened in Imperial City?
Amelia panicked instantly.