Rachel answered, “Don’t worry. It’s only temporary.”
“I’m not. He lost his memories, so he doesn’t remember you.” Julian looked at Charlotte. “I’m just worried you might stick around for Charlotte in the end.”
Rachel stopped patting Charlotte’s back for a moment and hugged her tighter. Back then, she couldn’t even bring herself to look at the child after she was born, but now that Charlotte was in her arms again, it would be hard for Rachel to leave her behind again. “We’ll see how this goes.” Rachel tensed up. “Let’s finish what we started out first for now.” People died because of him. They need justice to be served.
Julian said, “Don’t just shoulder everything on your own. I’m always here.”
“Yeah, I know.”
Once she came to Justin’s place, Rachel sent Charlotte to her room before she went to crack the code of the safe box. There were too many possible combinations, since it was a six-number passcode. She stared at it for the longest time and tried two different ones, but they were incorrect. I only have one chance left. What will it be?
All of a sudden, she heard someone coming, and she panicked. She immediately closed the cabinet, but she couldn’t get out in time.
Justin came in a moment later. He went to the company just to take some documents, and he came back right afterward. As per his orders, Frankie looked into Rachel’s life overseas. He found everything he could, though Justin didn’t read it until now.
Before that night, he thought he was uninterested in his ex-wife, whom he was unfamiliar with. But when he heard Julian talking like he was Rachel’s boyfriend, Justin changed his mind, albeit inexplicably.
The next moment, the bathroom door slid open, and Justin was taken aback. “Why are you here?”
Rachel was drying her hair. When she met his gaze, she explained, “My bedroom’s bathroom is busted, so I used yours. You’re back early.”
“You’re using my clothes as well, I see.” Justin looked at her from top to bottom.
Rachel was wearing his white shirt. It was oversized, so it was enough to cover her thighs. Water droplets were still dripping from her hair, and it drenched her shirt.
Rachel answered calmly, “I’m just borrowing it. You aren’t that stingy, are you? I can just give it back to you.” She started unbuttoning the shirt.
Justin shot her a look and held her wrist. “No need for that!”
The pain on her wrist made Rachel frown.
“Are you always this bold in front of any man?” Justin asked coldly, as if something had triggered him.
Rachel paused and looked at him in surprise. “What are you talking about?”
“You left Charlotte five years ago. Who did you go overseas with?”
Justin’s question made her frown.
“Julian. You went with him.” It wasn’t a question. Justin was just making a statement, and he looked at her coldly. “A casual woman like you can’t be Charlotte’s mother. I can’t believe you seduced my
cousin.”
Rachel’s face fell. “You didn’t lose your memories. You lost your mind.”
“You’re denying it?”
“I know you lost your memories, but use your sorry excuse for a brain and think about it. We were divorced before I went overseas with Julian. There was a one-year gap between that. Nothing happened between us. Even if I did date Julian, who gave you the right to judge us? The queen? The Almighty Lord himself?”
Rachel had a point, but Justin-like the child he was-was furious. “So you are dating him.”
“God, I’m so sorry for saying he has a brain. Apparently he has none.” Rachel had nothing further to say, so she tried to break free of his grasp.
“Hey, answer me! I didn’t say you can leave!” Justin barked at her and tried to pull her back.
She gasped and slipped, falling down to the bed. “Ah!!”
Justin fell down on her, and a frown creased his forehead.
His face was inches away from her, and she could smell the faint scent of cologne on him. His pheromones were tingling her senses. Since it was late at night, she could also hear his breathing. The sound of his heartbeats suddenly made her calm down, and she said, “You got so worked up because you thought I was dating Julian? I swear we’re just friends, and we’ll always be-”
Before she could finish her sentence, Justin pinned her down and made his advances, pressing a kiss on her lips, cutting her explanation short. As their tongues entwined with each other, she could feel his heartbeat, warmth, and the palpable greed coming off him. It felt alien to her, yet oh so familiar. Everything was just like it was five years ago.
As Justin went deeper with the kiss, he slowly lost control over his lust. He seemed to know how Rachel’s body worked, but when he tried to remember it, there was nothing there. Shards of memories swirled around, and pain stabbed his mind, just like how it did every time he tried to recall something.
But it was different this time. The more painful it was, the more he didn’t want to stop. He wanted to go deeper, so he slid his hand down to the shirt’s hem and moved up her thigh.
Rachel gripped the sheets tightly, and she felt herself heating up. The flames of lust burned her nerves, and she closed her eyes.
Bzzt… Bzzt…
Suddenly, her phone started vibrating, and she opened her eyes, snapping out of her trance. A surge of strength welled within her out of nowhere, and she pushed Justin away. “Hello? What? I’ll be right there.” She held her phone. “I need to go. Something came up.”
“What is it?”
“It’s personal.” She picked her clothes up and left right away. Justin looked furious, but she didn’t notice it.
That was the first time a woman ever rejected him. How dare you, Rachel!
Rachel went straight from the villa to Jolly’s place.
When Jolly saw Rachel, she started crying. “You’re finally back. What should I do? The cops said I can’t
file a report unless it has been twenty-four hours since his disappearance. And Samuel’s nationality is going to be a problem. Should I just get my folks to handle this?”
“Now calm down and talk this over slowly.” Rachel calmed her friend down. “Samuel’s teacher called you, right?”
“Yes. His teacher said the summer camp’s just in the neighboring city, but Samuel’s gone from his room when they went to wake him up this morning. Where could a five-year-old boy like him have gone? He might have been abducted!”
