"Boss, that quick little deal just wrapped. One hundred million. I already wired it to you!"
"Boss, why aren't you replying to my messages? You busy?"
"Boss, what are you even doing? Don't tell me you've got some other favorite puppy outside?!"
Aurora Hale let out a helpless little laugh. This Blake Whitmore guy was seriously too much. She'd only ignored his messages for one minute, tops.
"Yeah, I'm busy. Busy getting married."
...
Three days later, Aurora Hale's wedding day arrived.
Her groom was said to be in terrible health, so terrible he couldn't even show up to the ceremony.
With that deliberately ugly face on, she was sent straight into the Mercer estate under her stepmother's smiling, fake-sweet gaze.
The whole manor felt deserted, cold and quiet like nobody actually lived there. A man claiming to be Butler Zhou received Aurora Hale and led her toward the bridal room.
Before coming here, she'd already heard a few things about her so-called new husband.
Ethan Mercer.
A branch descendant of the Mercer family, the number one of Yecheng's four great families.
Rumor had it that he'd been bedridden for years. Sometimes icy as hell, sometimes irritable enough to make people want to run. The only reason he was marrying now was for good luck.
Because he was basically dying.
No woman in Yecheng was willing to marry him, so the engagement fell onto the Hale family. Her stepmother had happily taken the bride price, then tossed this "great blessing" onto her, the so-called country bumpkin who'd just come back from the countryside.
Aurora Hale honestly didn't care.
A sickly husband was perfect. He wouldn't get in the way of what she needed to do.
"Young Madam, Young Master is inside. You may go in now."
The butler stopped in front of a door. After lowering his voice to remind her, he opened it, nudged her in, and shut it behind her.
The moment she looked up, all she saw was darkness.
Aurora Hale's breathing caught, and her expression changed slightly. She pinched her palm hard and steadied herself. Her nose quickly picked up the strong smell of medicine in the air.
No lights.
She guessed that this so-called invalid must be too gaunt and miserable-looking to face people, so he simply refused to turn the lights on. Frowning, Aurora Hale reached out and carefully felt along the wall, trying to find the switch.
"Ah!"
Before she could touch it, a large hand suddenly clamped around her wrist and yanked her forward with shocking force.
"I've been waiting in bed for my wife for ages. What are you dawdling for?" A low, sexy voice rang out in the dark.
"What?!"
Aurora Hale's heart skipped hard. Instinctively, she raised a hand to block him, but then it hit her—
This was the bridal room.
So the person holding her wrist right now could only be...
Aurora Hale instantly relaxed her strength and let the man scoop her up and toss her onto the bed.
In the darkness, she didn't see the flash of scrutiny in his eyes.
The bed was soft, so soft she sank right into it. The next second, a solid male body pressed over her.
Warm breath spilled onto Aurora Hale's neck, making her whole body go rigid. Heat spread upward from that one spot in a rush.
"So fragrant."
The man's cold, husky voice sent goosebumps racing all over her skin.
"Call out."
"Call... call what?"
Aurora Hale still hadn't processed what he meant when a large hand slid along her waistline and pinched the soft flesh at her side.
"Ah~"
She couldn't stop the sound that escaped her.
It came out soft and winding, unexpectedly sweet.
In the dark, Ethan Mercer froze for a beat. That voice sounded weirdly familiar. Like he'd heard it somewhere before.
"Not bad. Keep going."
He pinched her slim waist again.
Outside the door, an old man with sharp eyes and a strong frame was shamelessly eavesdropping. The moment he heard the commotion inside, he instantly felt that holding a great-grandson was no longer just a dream. Beaming to himself, he left in high spirits.
Meanwhile, under Ethan Mercer, every pore on Aurora Hale's body felt like it had exploded.
Wasn't the man she married supposed to be some weak, half-dead invalid?
Then who the hell was this?
This guy had way too much strength!
The awkward position, the dangerously intimate air, the heat and pressure everywhere—Aurora Hale gritted her teeth and quietly moved one hand toward the back of her waist. In the darkness, a faint cold gleam flashed.
If this man dared touch her for real, then he could forget blaming her when her hand moved faster than his life.
But the next second, the weight on top of her suddenly disappeared.
Click.
The lights turned on.
Aurora Hale lifted her eyes and crashed straight into a face so stunning it almost didn't look real.
The man in front of her was around six foot two, maybe taller. Broad shoulders, narrow waist, deep-set eyes, a high straight nose, thin lips with a clean, almost unfairly perfect shape. Then her gaze dropped lower—
Aurora Hale's face instantly burned red.
This guy... this guy was only wearing a pair of trousers!
Something was seriously off.
From everything she'd found, Ethan Mercer was supposed to be gravely ill. Even if he wasn't bedridden all year round, there was no way he should have a body this good.
Or a face this absurdly good-looking.
Aurora Hale pressed her lips together and put on a timid expression. "Who are you?"
Ethan Mercer lounged against the headboard with lazy ease, one long arm resting casually along the edge of the bed. The corner of his lips curved in amusement.
"My wife got all cozy with me just now, and now you don't recognize your own husband?"
Aurora Hale went silent.
While she was staring at him, sizing him up, Ethan Mercer was also looking her over.
This woman the Hale family had temporarily switched in had a long scar on her left cheek, twisted across her skin like a centipede. Her nose bridge was covered in freckles. On her right cheek sat a dark red birthmark the size of a fist. Put together, the whole face was downright unbearable to look at.
Only those eyes, bright as stars, didn't belong with that face at all.
Interesting.
So she had secrets too.
Ethan Mercer's gaze was far too intense, scorching enough to make anyone nervous. Aurora Hale lowered her head.
"I didn't say I don't recognize you."
She kept her head down and stammered out an explanation, "I... I was just scared because you moved so suddenly earlier."
But after she finished that bit of acting, no response came for a long while.
Aurora Hale frowned, confused, and slowly looked up.
Then her face changed.
