"Keep your voice down. Someone might hear us."
Edward had his hand tight around her waist, clearly up to no good.
There were footsteps shuffling outside. Carol bit her lip, a mocking smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. "You're literally in my room in broad daylight—what, scared someone in the house might actually catch us?"
On the surface, she was just his assistant. His step-sister. But behind closed doors, that label didn't mean a thing.
Tonight was the Dawson family dinner. Mr. Timothy Dawson Dawson had hinted there'd be an announcement, so everyone was back. And yet Edward was still lingering here, wasting time fooling around with her.
Carol tried to stay composed, but as the teasing dragged on, she finally broke. "Enough."
"Oh? Already giving up? When did you get so soft, huh?"
She squeezed her eyes shut, digging her nails into his arm without thinking, leaving a trail of red marks.
Edward dipped low, lips brushing over her earlobe with maddening slowness. "Is this the only way to get you to behave?"
Still clinging to the last of her calm, Carol snapped back, annoyed. "What are you even rambling about again?"
Since the day things started between them, she'd never once gone against what he wanted. What was with the crap now?
"Then explain last night." His grip tightened on her waist, forcing her to tilt her head back. His voice was low and hoarse. "I asked you to come to the hotel. You didn't show. Worse—what, thought sending another woman in your place was a good idea?"
"I only did it... because I thought that's what you liked," Carol whispered, voice raspy.
She'd once caught a glimpse of the girl's photo in the pocket watch he always carried—probably someone he'd been hooked on before booze got the better of him.
"Carol, haven't I told you? Stop guessing what I'm thinking."
Just then, the door handle rattled. In that tense moment, Carol's eyes went wide.
"Carol..."
It was her mother, Sophia.
Right as she was about to push the door open, Carol shouted in panic, "Mom—don't come in! I'm... I'm changing."
Edward had that smug smile on, brushing his lips against her bare skin blatantly.
Outside, Sophia hesitated. "What's taking so long? Everyone's here already."
Carol inhaled, about to say something, but Edward suddenly moved lower. Caught off guard, she gasped out loud. "I—mmph..."
Sophia's voice grew sharp through the door. "Carol? What on earth are you doing in there?"
Carol lowered her gaze and saw that smug little smirk tugging at Edward's lips. She pinched her arm hard, trying to snap herself out of it. Right then, her mom's voice came again from behind the door—
"By the way, have you seen Ed? His grandfather's been looking for him just now."
How on earth could Carol admit Edward was literally all over her?
"Haven't seen him."
Sophia was about to head off when she paused, as if remembering something. "Oh, there's a gift box in your wardrobe. I picked out a dress for you—it's Ed's favorite style. Make sure to put it on and look pretty. You know how to catch his eye, right?"
Carol frowned, and she could feel Edward's entire aura drop a few degrees.
The moment the hallway fell quiet again, Edward gripped her chin, eyes glinting with a sneer. "Catch my eye? Your shameless mom really knows her way around that game better than you do."
That instantly snapped Carol out of it.
"Don't you dare—"
She didn't get to finish before he cut her off with a cold snort. "Am I wrong though? My dad once swore he'd never take another woman after my mom. Funny how your mother managed to make him break that promise, dump my mom like trash, and strong-arm the family into marrying her. No wonder he ended up dead in that car crash—you can thank your mother for that."
Each word was like falling into freezing water for Carol. Her voice came out icy cold. "Edward, don't dump a man's mistakes onto a woman."
After her parents divorced, she and her mom moved into the Dawson family through marriage. Her stepfather Raymond had treated her well, like his own daughter. But not long after marrying her mom, he died in a car accident.
From then on, the whole Dawson family saw her and her mom as cursed, blaming them for everything.
"You're something else, Carol," Edward murmured darkly, leaving a trail of bruises on her neck. She slapped at his hand that was still running wild. "Quit it. We need to go down. Everyone's waiting. I don't wanna get chewed out again because of you."
"So what if you do? Don't forget, you came to me first. This game doesn't end until I say so. You don't get to walk away."
Five minutes later, Edward, cigarette dangling from his lips and belt freshly buckled, finally zipped up but had already stripped Carol down bare.
She held onto the wall, barely able to stay up on her feet, hurriedly throwing her underwear and clothes back on.
"Hurry it up. Aren't we supposed to be heading down? Or do you want the whole family waiting on you?"
He was clearly getting impatient. She scrambled to toss her outfit together as fast as she could.
A few minutes later, the two of them came down the stairs one after the other. Every set of eyes turned to them at once, each glance filled with shock... and a suspicious kind of knowing.
