Andrew stared at her with a puzzled look. She smiles sweetly and gazes into his eyes, but he can’t shake the feeling that she’s planning something else. She smiles as enchantingly as she can.
“Can’t you understand why it’s important to me?” Leilani asks.
“Do you think you can escape like that?” Andrew asks.
“I won’t,” Leilani answers immediately, “I said I would stay here and care for your heart, and I mean to keep my word. Your heart belonged to Charles Meyers, so it’s precious to me.”
Andrew smiles, pleased that Leilani finally believes him about the heart. As he eats, he looks at the many beautiful women at the table. His heart hammers happily in his chest, and he realizes it beats only for Leilani. He finds the presence of the other women annoying, and he wishes he could get rid of them.
“Are you going out, Miss Peters?” one of the women asks, “A bra happened to strike my fancy recently, but I feel embarrassed asking a bodyguard to bring it to me.”
“Me too,” says another, “A new line of skincare products also strikes my fancy.”
“Write it down,” Leilani orders a bodyguard.
The man immediately opens a notebook and begins to jot down the women’s requests.
“Look how excited they are,” Leilani says, winningly, “Can you promise me I can go out now?”
“Yes,” Andrew says, smiling craftily, “But only if I can go out with you.”
He gestures to the bodyguard, and the man reaches into his pocket and passes something to Andrew. Andrew opens his hand and reveals a pair of silver handcuffs. Leilani frowns—there’s only one way to use handcuffs. Andrew smiles at her expression and snaps one of the cuffs around her wrist. Then he snaps the other around his.
“Aren’t you happy?” he asks, “You get to go out, and we can spend some time together. Win-win.”
Waylen stares at the photos and feels his heartbreak all over again. In one photo, Leilani peels an apple and feeds it to Andrew. In another, Andrew kisses her on the forehead. He knows he shouldn’t look at the pictures, but he can’t help wanting to know about her. Waylen presses his hand into his chest as if to claw out his aching heart.
“She could be pretending to be happy, but it’s almost impossible to force her to do something she doesn’t want to do,” Waylen thinks sadly, “And God she looks so happy.”
“Mr. Bamford, Mrs. Bamford’s phone is turned on,” Robert says excitedly.
He was hoping Waylen would be happy to hear the news, but Waylen’s expression doesn’t change in the slightest.
“Has Waylen suddenly stopped caring?” Robert wonders, “Ever since Leilani left, he checked his phone constantly in the hopes that Leilani’s location will appear. When he’s not staring at pictures of Leilani, he’s staring at his phone.”
“Sir, we have a lock on her location,” Robert continues, “Should we send a team to get her?”
“No, that won’t be necessary,” Waylen says emotionlessly.
“I can send people to get her, and I can even imprison her here, but she looks so happy with him,” Waylen thinks sadly, “I could move the whole world to get her back, but she still wouldn’t love me. It’s pointless.”
A new picture appears on the tablet. Without even glancing at it, Waylen throws the tablet to the floor. Cautiously, Robert approaches and glances at the tablet. He widens his eyes.
“Mr. Bamford—” Robert interjects.
“Get out!” Waylen roars.
Robert jumps and runs toward the door. Before the door is fully closed, Robert speaks.
“Mr. Bamford, Mrs. Bamford is nearby,” he says.
Though he hates disobeying Waylen’s orders, he’s more afraid of Waylen’s wrath later if he finds out that Robert didn’t tell him. Waylen raises his head, and there’s a new glint in his eyes.
“Come back here,” Waylen orders.
Robert pushes the door open and approaches Waylen.
“Where is she?” Waylen demands.
“Based on the background in the most recent picture, they’re in the shopping center.”
“They?” Waylen snarls.
“Um, yes,” Robert stammers, “Mrs. Bamford and Mr. Clifford.”
Waylen narrows his eyes and immediately leaps up from the bed. He’s determined to see just how happy they look with his own eyes. Until he has a report telling him that Leilani has lied, he’s willing to nurse a little bit of hope.
“Send the hairstylist in here at once,” Waylen orders.
Robert nods and rushes to carry out Waylen’s order. He can’t help but wonder at the sudden transformation in his boss. Waylen rarely has his hair cut or styled, but he seems determined to look his best. He’s like a warrior preparing his suit of armor.
“Wait a minute!” Waylen shouts, “Bring Leonie Summers!”
Robert quickly nods his head. He knows his boss wants to save face. If Mr. Bamford arrived at the shopping center alone, it would be incredibly embarrassing for him. Before Robert can send a message summoning her, Leonie walks out of one of the drawing rooms.
Leonie happily smiles when Robert explains what Waylen wants. She’s not in the house by coincidence. She’s the one who has been sending the photos to Waylen from the hidden IP address.
As the bodyguards clear a path through the crowd, the shop assistants gather outside the stores to gawk. They’ve never seen so many bodyguards before. The entire shopping center looks like it’s involved in some sort of military exercise. The assistants and the crowd feel nervous and scatter out of the path.
Some of the shoppers start to panic and scream. When they see Andrew and Leilani, they calm down. Leilani is clearly unhappy, and she tugs at the handcuffs and looks at the ground as she walks.
“Why have they handcuffed?” one shopper asks, “Are they filming some sort of police show?”
“How could they be filming? There’s no camera!” replies another, “I think they’re lovers. Have you ever heard that some lovers like to be handcuffed to each other? They want to be together all the time. I think it’s romantic.”
“The man is so handsome,” gushes a shop assistant, “The woman is beautiful too, but why is she looking down?”
“She may be shy,” answers another.
Leilani feels both shy and embarrassed. She hates all of the whispering voices.
“Please ask your bodyguards to leave,” she asks Andrew in a low voice, “We’re just shopping. We don’t need so much security.”
Andrew holds his head high and advances with long, confident strides. He seems to enjoy all the attention they’re receiving.
“Don’t you think it’s great?” he asks with pride.
“No, I don’t think it’s great,” Leilani mutters. “Don’t you know that influential people are likely to be attacked in public places? A person like you must have a lot of enemies, and this shopping center leaves you exposed. Any sniper could get an easy shot at you.”
Leilani knows that an attack is unlikely—the bodyguards are mostly there to prevent her from escaping—but she wants to unsettle Andrew.
“What a joke!” Andrew scoffs. “But, I always imagined you wanted to shoot me with a submachine gun instead of a sniper rifle.”
“You’re not wrong,” Leilani snaps back. “Though you don’t have many virtues, at least you know yourself well enough.”
Leilani looks around at the shops, selects a designer lingerie store, and drags Andrew toward the door. She knows that most men feel uncomfortable in lingerie shops, and she hopes Andrew will resist.
“Ruby asked me to buy her underwear. Are you coming in with me?” Leilani says and flashes him a sour grin. “If you’re too embarrassed, unlock the handcuffs, and I’ll go in by myself.”
Instead of unlocking the handcuffs, he enters the store, leaving her trailing in his wake. Andrew glances around the store and hooks a lacy pair of underwear with his index finger. “I’d like to see you in this later,” he whispers.
Leilani snatches the underwear out of his hands and puts it back on a hanger. “I’m afraid your heart couldn’t stand it,” she says. “As you know, I don’t care if you die, but I’d like the heart to survive.”
Andrew laughs loudly, and Leilani catches several blushing shop assistants looking over at him. Once upon a time, she would have been attracted to Andrew too.
Now she fights the urge to stuff a pair of underwear in his mouth to smother his intolerable laughter. But he’s so perverted, and he might actually enjoy it, she thinks.
“Stop laughing and help me pick something,” she says.
It’s essential that she buys something he likes, but she doesn’t know where to begin. She browses racks of see-through lace and skimpy mesh. Andrew is such a playboy, and I bet there’s nothing in this store he hasn’t seen before, she thinks. What will arouse a man as jaded as him?
“I like this one,” Andrew says, pointing at the lace underwear he showed her earlier.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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