Chapter 43
Alad beams at me with his brimming, fucking smile filled with everything I despise—happiness. He witnessed Pandora and me coming back from the ship, and heaven forbid I have a damn smile because, yes, Pandora fascinates me.
Since my return, Astin—with his bland, emotionless look—has given me shit because he knows I can’t kill him until I find a better fucking replacement.
So, instead of doing something productive, like figuring out who Walsh is and what event he’s attending, they are both getting on my last damn nerve.
“We spent weeks hunting Pandora only for you to fraternise with the enemy,” Astin says, but he looks fucking bored saying it. “Amusing.”
“Does this mean we can stop this farce by wanting to kill each other and go home?” Alad says, perking up.
“No. Enough.” I groan. “Instead of putting all your thoughts into my time with a woman that has no fucking friends and needs a life for a moment, tell me more about Walsh.”
“You could fall for her,” Alad says, uncaring of the work Walkyer set us to do and the damn reason we are here.
I glare at him and say, “It wouldn’t make a difference. Now, about Walsh. What’s happening?”
With a sigh, Alad looks at his phone and says, “Mr Kendrick Walsh has a function on the twenty-sixth. It’s not a big function. In fact, it’s a function for couples.”
I arch a brow. “Couples function?”
“Yes. Only couples may enter,” Alad says.
“Likely to showcase the women and see how well they can present themselves in functions if they were to be sold to the highest bidder,” Astin says.
“Is everyone in on it?” I ask.
Alad shakes his head. “No. It’s broadcast as romantic, and whoever wins will get free tickets to this Love Island Resort earth elemny created.”
I fold my arms across my chest. “It’s likely where they break the elemny they bid on until they become submissive. They can showcase around others without them stepping out of line.” I make a face. “Disgusting. So, let’s destroy this trafficking scheme.”
“Very well. Without causing chaos, Astin and I will do the heavy work while you escort Pandora inside this function and entertain them.”
“Entertain?”
“Yes. You are the face. Therefore, they will keep an eye on you. While they keep their focus on you, we will find Kendrick Walsh and contain him.”
I tip my head back and grunt. “Why does it feel like another fucking setup? Fuck. She has no damn filter.” I twitch a smile. “She will get us kicked out if she opens her fucking mouth.”
“And you won’t?” Astin says.
Fuck me, I’m surrounded by Pandora Hart apologists.
“Get out of my sight. You both are getting on my damn last nerve.”
Astin turns toward the door and says, “Let’s leave the helpless romantic with his thoughts of Pandora, Alad.”
Alad closes the door behind him, leaving me with irritable thoughts. As much as I want to focus on the mission Walkyer talked to us about, my mind seems elsewhere as of late.
I tap my finger on the table beside me and eye the keys to Senri’s car. He allowed me to return to the ship without the paparazzi and fans swarming us. It’s a nice fucking car, and one I wouldn’t mind driving around again.
Fuck it.
I take the keys and leave the room. It doesn’t take me long to arrive at my destination. Light seeps from underneath the door, making me consciously aware that they’re awake. After I knock, the door opens, and Pandora’s brown eyes glance at me and then away.
“What’re you doing here?” she says.
The keys dangle on my fingers as I open my hand and twinkle them in front of her face. Pandora’s face illuminates, hungry for a thrill and to get the fuck off this ship of utter boredom. It’s testing my patience—no, Astin and Alad are testing my patience with every word they breathe about Pandora.
And instead of staying away from her…I find her.
Tendrils of smoke swirl at the tip of the cigarette when I lean against the railing and wait for Pandora to change. A T-shirt and panties won’t get her far without someone sexualising her.
A few minutes later, she comes out wearing my black shirt tucked into high-waisted pleated shorts. Her hair, which she usually ties back, falls into soft, loose black curls.
“Why do you keep wearing my shirts?” I ask casually as we head down the ramp and exit the ship.
She touches the fabric and says, “They’re comfortable. Alad bought me shirts that feel stiff, awkward, and thin. Yours, though, are warm and used. It’s nice.”
I eye her and then look away. She looks good wearing it. “Did you often wear Xavier’s clothes?”
“Huh?” She stumbles a step when we reach Tumul Hall Entrance. “Uh…never.”
I grimace. “If you were to kill me, would you go back to him?”
Pandora blurts a laugh. “I seriously doubt we’re together. He’s likely fucking his marked one, right?”
“He’s actually locked up in the cells with your friends,” I say. “I didn’t want them contacting you.”
Her arms wrap around her body, and there’s a wavering of disgust as her lip contorts, cringing when she’s in her thoughts. “No. I would never go back to him. Not after…”
Pandora hates Xavier, but not in the way most elemny hate someone. Behind the lack of emotional connection someone may have if they’re in a relationship with another, she holds repulsion toward him.
It seems Pandora is becoming easier for me to understand, but I also feel disgusted by the answers coming to me.
Pandora has no emotional connection to Xavier, but she feels a sense of hate, betrayal, and loathing toward him. He took something from her that he shouldn’t have.
He was the one who raped her. It makes sense. The way he spoke to his friends, objectifying her purity and how she felt, and when he took it. But the way she’s holding herself, protectively cradling her body, tells me it wasn’t a moment she wants to remember.
“I can kill him for you,” I say. “It will be as easy as breathing.”
She shakes her head and sighs. “No. All I want is to make sure he can’t fuck anyone else again.”
I twitch a smile. She’s psycho, but also, the thought excites me.
“Prince Reen,” she says as we leave Tumul Entrance and head toward the carpark. “Why did you ask me out tonight?”
“Bored. Irritated with everyone else around me. Curious.” My eyes narrow. “You make me curious to understand you, but I know you’re a creature of habit. You won’t tell me your secrets on your own… I have to earn them.”
Pandora skips ahead, turns to face me, and walks backward. “And how are you going to get them?”
A cruel smirk settles on my face. “I will tell you when we get there.”
“Ugh. You’re such a fucking clit-tease.”
What the fuck are these words, and why does she speak with such vulgarity?
The car lights flash as we get near it. A metallic crimson Bugatti Chiron comes into focus, and Pandora, like last night, swoons over it before she enters.
When I enter, the car hums to life, purring beneath the red leather seat. Driving away from the parking lot, I head towards the back of the Kingdom of Cloud to visit a place I’ve always wanted to go, but couldn’t because of my schedule.
Pandora gawks at her surroundings, which is one reason I can ease into my seat and get more comfortable. She’s the enemy, but I’m more relaxed around her than when I’m around anyone else. Despite knowing she will die, the woman seems unbothered.
It’s frustratingly fascinating.
Someone in her situation would cry, whining like a fucking mess, begging for a way out of it. But this woman lives for it and has had no qualms about being near me.
I eye her and then look away.
Also, she’s the only one who’s not afraid of me.
I turn left behind the Toshiharu estate. There’s a drive-in cinema. It’s one of the most common places Emmerton comes to whenever he enters the Kingdom of Cloud. He brings a woman, maybe two, or even a woman and a man, fucking them in the sunset.
No, that’s not the reason I brought Pandora here. I don’t fuck for pleasure. Never fucking have, so I doubt I know how to without breaking her. And I don’t want to break her yet. She’s my only form of entertainment.
We park near the back, where it’s darkest and less elemny to notice us. At first, I don’t want to leave the confines, but after seeing Pandora lean out like a fucking dog, I probably should give this creature the best experience.
I open the car door and hop on the bonnet.
A moment later, Pandora slides on it, pushing herself up with her palms until she sits beside me.
She tucks her legs up to her chest, wraps her arms around them and rests her chin on her knees.
A sparkle in her eyes reflects from the massive screen until she notices me staring at her.
“Why did you bring me here?” she asks.
Turning away from her, I lean back and wonder if I want to answer her question truthfully or keep what’s burning up inside me to myself.
“There’s something about you I can’t shake, and the more I ignore it, the more you consume my mind. So that’s why I brought you here.”
When I look back at her, she smiles. “Ah, so you are catching feelings for me! How fucking cute.”
“Pandora,” I sigh. “Keep this up, and I will strangle you.”
“Is that a kink?”
I face Pandora’s smug look. Raising my arm, I poke her on the forehead and say, “Enough. You’re an annoyance.
” I remove my hand and stare back out at the screen.
“I’m not falling for you because I don’t know how.
King Ragan trained me to kill shit, not to…
” My eyes narrow. “Like everyone else, you’re twenty-four years too late to fix who I am. ”
Pandora frowns. “It’s never too late to change.”
A look of frustration plagues her face as she turns to look at me.
Her smile, either cheeky, sly, or filled with happiness, tightens around the edges as if struggling with her emotions.
If I can guess, she’s thinking of her situation and the woman she was when she was underneath everyone’s strings, to whoever she wants to be now.
Pandora shifts until she’s staring at the large screen after I don’t have a follow-up question or answers to give. “What movie are we watching?”