Night had gone thick and heavy.
On the train, Vivienne Ashford was dead asleep when she suddenly felt a figure lean over her out of the dark.
Before she could make a sound, something hard and cold pressed against her throat. A man’s low, raspy voice dropped by her ear. "If you don’t want to die, keep quiet."
Vivienne didn’t dare relax for even a second. The thing at her neck was a gun.
Who the hell was this man?
Footsteps sounded outside the compartment, like someone was searching for somebody.
She noticed the man behind her was breathing unevenly, rough and unstable, and there was even a faint trace of blood in it.
They were so close their bodies were practically touching. She could clearly sense every change in him.
Her gaze shifted slightly. "You’ve been drugged... and you’re hurt too?"
The man’s eyes darkened little by little.
With the gun still at her throat, she had no way of knowing whether her move would be faster than a bullet. So she kept her voice calm and steady. "I can help get rid of the aphrodisiac in your system. I can treat your wound too..."
The light fragrance on her body was obviously a deadly trigger.
He clamped down on both her wrists. The man, his features impossible to make out in the dark, lowered his head and covered her lips, his voice pressed low. "This is the fastest way."
As if he wanted to swallow her whole, the man’s deep eyes flashed with a hint of surprise. But the shock vanished fast, sinking back into that bottomless darkness.
Late into the night, he placed a white tiger jade pendant by her pillow.
He looked down at the beautiful woman unconscious beneath him. His fingertips hooked a strand of her hair, and he brushed a kiss against it. "I’ll find you."
The next morning.
Vivienne frowned in discomfort. The second she opened her eyes, she jolted upright and saw a white tiger jade pendant lying on the pillow.
Damn it. That man had just left like that!
And what was with leaving this busted piece of jade behind?
She was about to throw it away, but then something crossed her mind, and her hand stopped.
No, she had to keep it. She needed to find out exactly who that man was last night.
Capital City, train station exit.
Vivienne dragged her suitcase out slowly under all kinds of strange looks from the crowd.
The butler waiting by the car looked around for a moment, then fixed his gaze on a girl dressed painfully out of date.
If it weren’t for the birthmark at the corner of her eye, he honestly wouldn’t have recognized her as the eldest miss the master had dumped in the countryside over ten years ago.
He stepped forward. His expression wasn’t exactly respectful, though there was a bit of surface politeness there. "You’re the eldest miss, right? I’m the butler the master sent to pick you up."
Vivienne put on a sweet, obedient smile and carried her luggage into the car.
When the car arrived at the Ashford residence, Vivienne followed the butler into the villa. The moment she stepped inside, she heard someone sobbing.
"Mom, I don’t want to marry Damien Whitmore!"
"Oh, Serena, stop crying. Your father didn’t say you had to marry him..." Diana Ashford was halfway through comforting her daughter when her voice stopped cold at the sight of Vivienne.
Gideon Ashford looked her over once and frowned.
A pair of yellowed sneakers. A cheap short-sleeved T-shirt that looked like it came from some roadside stall. Faded jeans washed so many times they’d lost all color. And a plain ponytail tied neatly behind her head.
If not for that birthmark, he almost wouldn’t have recognized her as his own daughter.
Even if he disliked this daughter’s appearance, he needed her now, so naturally he couldn’t be too cold. "Vivienne, you’re back. Come here and let Dad take a look at you."
She walked over to the sofa, but didn’t sit.
Gideon only took it as shyness and timidity, so he kept up a kindly face. "Dad knows you’ve suffered all these years. Your grandmother has passed, and I thought you’d be lonely all by yourself in the countryside, so... Dad wants to make it up to you."
Make it up to her?
A trace of coldness flashed through Vivienne’s eyes.
She had been born with a birthmark. Before her mother’s body was even cold, he couldn’t wait to bring Diana Ashford into the house. A year later, Serena Ashford was born.
Her biological father thought her birthmark embarrassed him. Since she was little, he only kept Serena by his side, doting on her in every possible way, while Vivienne, his other daughter, got nothing but disgust and neglect.
When she was five, he heartlessly threw her into the countryside for her grandmother to raise. For seventeen whole years, he never cared about her or her grandmother, not even once.
And now he wanted to talk about making it up to her?
Where was all that concern years ago?
Maybe sensing how distant she was, Gideon stood and walked over to her. He took her hand and said, "Vivienne, I know you resent me, but I had my own difficulties too. Just give Dad one chance, okay?"
Vivienne lowered her lashes.
Being this nice for no reason? Yeah, no shot. He obviously wanted something from her.
She put on an obedient, sensible look. "Okay. I don’t blame you, Dad."
Gideon was instantly thrilled inside, his face breaking into a smile. "I knew you were a good girl. You’re twenty-two now, right? It’s about time you got married. Dad just happened to find a great match for you. That family is big-time in the Capital. You just need to marry into them in your sister’s place."
