Chapter 4

Kimberly returned to her apartment and looked at the pile of belongings. The dimness in her eyes deepened.

She wanted to cry, but there were no tears.

He had told her to move out.

He had made her bring a gift all the way to his sweetheart.

He had watched coldly as his sweetheart joined hands with others to humiliate her.

In the end, she had expected something from him.

Even if she had never expected him to marry her, she had still expected at least basic respect.

Now he would not even give her that.

So all those days and nights had only been him craving her body.

A man with more money than he could ever spend reached down and grabbed a ruined girl from the gutter.

If he had not treated her as a substitute, then what else could he possibly have wanted?

Kimberly shook her head, refusing to keep thinking.

She needed to wake up.

She opened a random show on her phone and began cleaning the apartment.

Everything he had given her went into its own separate pile.

When she finished and was about to shower, her phone rang.

William.

After a brief hesitation, she answered. Her voice was utterly calm.

“Mr. Carter, it’s late. Do you need something?”

His displeasure came through the receiver.

“Didn’t I tell you to move to Crestwater Estate? Where are you?”

Kimberly frowned.

He had gone to Crestwater Estate?

He had already driven her out. Why did he care where she went?

And that slight drunkenness in his voice, the fact that he had gone there in the middle of the night... what exactly did he want?

Kimberly answered softly, “Thank you, Mr. Carter, but it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to go to Crestwater Estate. I’ve found somewhere to stay myself.”

There was silence on the other end.

Even through the faint sound of his breathing, Kimberly could tell he was angry.

She was about to hang up when he asked, “Where did you move?”

Kimberly hesitated.

His voice turned colder. “Are you telling me, or am I checking?”

Kimberly closed her eyes and bit her lip.

“The small apartment I rent.”

The call ended immediately.

Kimberly looked around the little apartment, just over five hundred square feet, and an ache spread through her chest.

It was close to Carter Group.

During lunch breaks, she could not exactly go to William’s private rest room, so she had rented this place for herself. Sometimes, when William was away on business, she stayed here as well.

He soon noticed and asked where she had gone on the nights she did not return to the villa.

After that, he came here often too.

Half an hour later, the fingerprint lock sounded.

William pushed the door open.

He took off his trench coat as he crossed to the small sofa and sat. His long legs spread slightly, his back resting against the sofa, his gaze roaming over her without restraint.

Kimberly met his eyes.

He had been drinking. The corners of his eyes were red, and anger burned beneath the color.

After a pause, Kimberly walked to the other side of the coffee table.

William’s cold gaze cut toward her.

“Throwing a tantrum?”

Kimberly lowered her eyes. “No. I wouldn’t dare.”

“You wouldn’t dare?” William tugged at his collar and stared at her. “Looks to me like you dare plenty.”

Kimberly said nothing.

She did not know what he was angry about.

She had not cried or caused a scene. He told her to leave, so she left. What else did he want?

William raked a hand through his hair in irritation and ordered, “Move to Crestwater Estate tomorrow.”

An ache pressed into Kimberly’s chest.

Before this, she had never really felt the inequality between them.

Even though she had always been obedient, she had also felt he respected her in his own way.

But now, hearing that commanding tone outside of work, her chest felt tight.

She steadied her breath. Her voice remained soft.

“Thank you, Mr. Carter. But I feel steadier living here.”

William gave a soft, mocking laugh and stood from the sofa. He approached her step by step.

“Steadier?” he asked. “So living at my place before wasn’t steady enough?”

Kimberly stepped backward until he had forced her into a corner with nowhere left to go.

She did not dare look at him. Her gaze shifted aside, and she answered gently, “That’s not what I meant...”

Before she could finish, he hooked a finger under her chin.

His clean scent came with the faint edge of alcohol. Kimberly’s eyes moved slowly over the sharp lines of his face, but she still could not tell what he intended to do.

Or what she had done to anger him.

William suddenly said, “Someone tells you to drink, and you reach for the glass? What, were you planning to go into allergic shock so I’d feel sorry for you?”

Kimberly almost laughed from sheer anger.

Had she not refused?

Wasn’t his silence exactly why those women dared to push again and again?

If she had not owed him, she would not have delivered that velvet box at all, much less drunk anything.

If she had not owed him, her palm would already be on his face.

Kimberly raised her eyes slightly. Her face remained obedient.

“Mr. Carter has been kind to me. I couldn’t be ungrateful and embarrass the woman you love.”

William’s heart clenched sharply. His gaze grew darker, more ominous.

It swept over the pale column of her neck, over the messy marks he had left there.

The next second, he kissed her hard.

A strong arm slid around her slender waist and pulled her into him with domineering force.

Kimberly could barely breathe under the kiss. She hit him and pushed him, but nothing worked.

His kiss grew hotter, his hands more reckless.

Only when his mouth moved to her earlobe did she finally find air.

“Let go of me...”

William paused. Then his teeth caught her earlobe, his voice hoarse.

“What? Last night was fine, but tonight isn’t?”

Kimberly lifted her eyes to him.

What did he mean?

Hadn’t his woman already come back?

Why was he still coming here in the middle of the night to lose his mind?

Unless...

He still wanted to keep this shameful arrangement with her.

Kimberly struggled harder, but he pinned her against the wall and continued kissing her.

Panic sharpened her voice.

“Mr. Carter, what I owe you, I’ll repay slowly from now on. Please don’t treat me like this again.”

William’s body went rigid.

His lips lifted from her collarbone almost immediately.

Kimberly looked at the face so close to hers. A layer of mist gathered in her eyes.

His hand closed around her slender throat, thumb and fingers bracketing it. His eyes were bloodshot as he stared at her.

“Then remember this debt well,” he said. “You’ll be paying it back slowly for a long time.”

William picked up his trench coat and left.

Kimberly stood frozen for a long while before she walked to the sofa and sat.

The tears finally broke free.

...