Yong Liwei carefully lowered his phone as he looked at her with wide eyes.

She bit her lower lip, fighting the urge to walk away.

'No, Mengjie. Don't run away.' She scolded herself inwardly. If she took another step further and left him behind, her questions would remain unanswered and it would just haunt her throughout the days. She inhaled sharply, building up the courage she needed before she turned and faced him. The first question that escaped her lips was, "were you lying to me the whole time?"

He didn't have to ask her if he heard his conversation upon hearing her words. It was obvious enough that she heard them. "No, I'm not," he said dryly.

She furrowed her brows in annoyance. How could he still lie in front of her when she just heard everything earlier? The audacity of this man to lie on her face!

"I didn't lie," he repeated then continued, "I only kept certain information away from you."

Lu Mengjie couldn't argue back when he put it that way. So that was the main reason why he wouldn't tell her what was bothering him. He kept his mouth shut, keeping things from her. She heaved out a sigh, and as she did, for some reason, she somehow ended up calming down from the turmoil that erupted inside her earlier. He was right. He didn't lie but he only held back things from her so now, an opportunity finally showed itself for her. She wanted to know the truth.

"Now that I caught you, you have to give me the answers that I want."

Yong Liwei became quiet. She was trying to read him. His face gave nothing away despite the fact that he was looking at her. Instead, he calmly kept his phone in his pocket before he began approaching her. "Shouldn't you be scared instead?"

She unconsciously raised a brow at his question. "Why should I be?"

The blank expression on his face finally broke as his lips curled upwards. "You're alone with a man. A man stronger than you. Someone who can hurt you in any possible way." The shrewd smile aiming at her somehow sent chills down her spine. It was as if he had suddenly turned into a different person.

Was this the side he was showing to Tian Ruyi? If it was then she could understand why she would always end up turning like a mouse, running away from its predator.

The sudden hostility his body was emitting made her want to escape him but… she was not going to do that. She faced him without breaking eye contact. His icy eyes glimmered dangerously but not once has she thought of turning away. The girl who woke up from her coma was someone timid and weak yet this time, she was standing tall in front of a dangerous man, bravely, slowly coming back to who she really was in the past.

A soft chuckle escaped her lips as she replied, "hurt me?" She tilted her head on the side, exposing her neck. She smiled as she said, "go on then. I'd like to see you hurt me further than this."

The man stopped just right in front of her. With the moon shining behind him, he looked more esoteric but at the same time, sinister than she could ever imagine. He was like a demon lord who was about to unleash his power. It was going to be a sight to behold when she imagined it happening.

Yong Liwei locked her under his firm gaze. His domineering presence was enough to send anyone running for their lives but she was different. Maybe it was because somewhere inside her, she believed that this man was never going to hurt her… she hoped.

The man stared down at her, his eyes landing on her neck. Something flashed in his eyes but it disappeared as soon as it came, not giving her a chance to recognize it. He slowly raised his hand, wrapping his slender fingers around her neck. He didn't tighten his hold; he was not trying to choke her. He stroked her faint Adam's apple with his thumb.

Lu Mengjie remained still, keeping her eyes locked at him, waiting for him to speak up.

"I can easily break this frail neck of yours."

"Then do it," she taunted.

He laughed but it never reached his eyes. He looked at her, amused. "I can never." He finally released her neck. "Not when you are carrying my child."

She exhaled, not realizing that she actually held her breath for a moment. She almost thought that he was going to do it when he laughed but he left her unscathed.

"Yours?" She scoffed. "I'm pretty sure that I heard you say that you are infertile."

"Not completely, hence the possibility that you can still be pregnant with my child. Can you believe it? I only have a 7% chance of impregnating a woman. That's why back then, I did remind you to take pills just to make sure. Seven is not zero. And yet here you are, the lucky woman who got pregnant."

She pressed her lips together. Lucky indeed. Of all the women in the world, she was the person who got pregnant by him. "Then why do you keep looking at me as if there's also a possibility that you can't be the father?"

"Because there's another man," he simply said.

Another man…? She furrowed her brows in confusion. "What do you mean?"

He shrugged. "You were kidnapped, Mengjie. Either you slept with someone else before that or you were raped," he answered straightforwardly. Not even holding back with his ruthlessness.

Rape…

Her heart began to raise, her hands became sweaty. Could it be possible?

"Then… are you actually saying that you are not the person behind what happened to me?"

Silence filled the room as Yong Liwei gazed down at her for a while until he broke his stare when he turned away from her, heading towards the bed. "Maybe I am. Maybe I'm not."

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AN:

Once again, let me remind you. There will be NO RAPE in this book. Everything will be revealed soon as we are coming to an end for the FIRST VOLUME of the book. Do comment and give this book a review if you're enjoying the thrilling moments of the story. Reading your comments and reviews inspires and it fuels me to write more chapters since it lets me know that I have readers who are loving and reading the story. Reading comments and reviews fires me up to continue whenever I'm contemplating with the story plot because as you already know, work also takes up most of my time. As I always say, please become my inspiration for this book