In the grand Daniel Hotel,
the window wall of the deluxe presidential suite was acutely open. The evening was lovely under the
starless night sky, and its silence was flustered by the saturated neon light.
Ryan wore a draping black silk bathrobe with a loose belt tied around his waist. He held a glass of red
wine in his hand and gazed at the somber heavens above with a faint smile on his face.
He had caught up with everything he needed to know about Anne. His smile stretched gradually from
ear to ear when he realized that he had a rare opportunity within his reach.
"Anne, I knew you would come back to me one day." His expression was menacing yet attractive as his
face was painted with a bloodthirsty intention.
His father was the head of a small scale company, and that did not satisfy his skyrocketing ambitions.
He needed more support to attain his goal.
Anne couldn't provide this handy financial power in the past, so he neglected the idea of being with her,
but things had changed to an exceeding extent. She now owned ten percent of the shares of the AN
Group.
It had been recently revealed that she was the daughter of the L Group as well. If he could put a ring on
her finger, his influence in the industry would be powered to dominance. With this partnership, the other
ordinary rival companies and even the AN Group might make a run for their money from his leverage.
"Invite Anne to the South Night Hotel tomorrow." Ryan made a quick phone call and hung up
immediately.
It was the season of dry spring in A City, but today was oddly cloudy. The roads were quite moist even
without the showers from the heavens.
Anne looked distinctly fairer in her vintage high heels and lilac turtle-neck sweater. Paired with dark
crimson lipstick, she looked like a sultry queen on the city streets.
In the NY Hotel, a waiter greeted her as soon as she walked through the glass doors on the reception,
and she was courteously lead to a private room right away.
The room was ill-lit due to the gloomy weather. Even if the lights were on, the ambiance still gave a
melancholic feeling. Anne smiled upon seeing Ryan drinking a glass of red wine, but his presence gave
a peculiar sense of alienation to her.
She was close to Ryan before, so when she saw him like this, she felt an inkling of surprise.
"There you are." Ryan smiled and placed his glass on the table.
"Hey, what's up?" asked Anne pleasingly.
In her heart, Ryan was a dear friend.
He unfolded a napkin and seemed to wipe a non-existent schmear on his lips.
"I heard that you have encountered some difficulties lately." Ryan suddenly pivoted his head. The
moment he saw Anne, his eyes were filled with wonder and awe.
Sure enough, Anne was a goddess in disguise. Her beauty, complemented by her fierce temperament,
gave people a warm sensation that was not to be misconstrued.
"Yes, I've been dealing with something lately, but I'm perfectly fine. I can handle it on my own," said
Anne with a reassuring smile.
"We have known each other for quite a long time now, so I think you have the right to know my
sentiments for you," said Ryan.
His numbing eyes contradicted his sweet words.
"We are good friends. We used to be, and we are still now if that's what you mean," said Anne with
precaution as she had a bad feeling about where this conversation was leading to.
Ryan grinned in irony. "You're more than just a friend to me, Anne. If you agree to marry me, I can help
you punish Kevin and take back your child. What do you think?"
His smile seemed to be strange, but Anne could tell that he was different from the Ryan she knew
before.
"No, thanks. I'm fine on my own. I'll give it a thought, but thank you." Anne lowered her head as she
spoke.
Ryan was painfully persistent and said, "You do have a way to take your son back, but can you treat
him? I heard that the only way for your son's survival is that you bear another child to be his compatible
donor, am I right? Anne, I'm the only one who could help you. Only I can compete with Kevin, and you
know that. You have to listen to me."
As Ryan stepped on the pedal of determination, anger fumed from Anne's heart like a smoke-filled
muffler.
"What do you mean?" She was so infuriated with his rude persuasion.
However, Ryan was poised and unbothered by her displeasure. He said, "Why are you so riled up
now? Anne, you must think things through. It's clear that you have no choice but to marry me! Are you
planning to lock horns with Rose over a man? She is loved by everyone, and you are a disgrace to
others!"
What Ryan exclaimed was the harsh reality, but Anne found it ridiculous. She did not expect that he
was such an audacious person.
"I have always regarded you as my dearest friend, and this is how you talk to me?" asked Anne in
disbelief.
Ryan left the glass of wine and walked towards Anne with a disdainful coil on his lips. "You do treat me
as your best friend, but I don't treat you as mine. You have always and will be my destiny."
Suddenly, Anne was petrified and wondered why he thought so.
When they were young, she had a wonderful relationship with him. He always came to her aid when
she was most vulnerable, and she started to feel something special for him. But after some time, Ryan
ended up with another woman from a well-known family.
She was naive back then, so she didn't think about it too much. But now, his confession was her least
expected words to come from his mouth.
"You want to know why I tell you this now and not before?" Ryan looked at her with contempt.
He did like her a lot in the past, but she couldn’t bring to the table the much significant power and
property that he wanted. She was practically insufficient, so he couldn't be with her.
Later, when she married Kevin, Ryan's chances became slimmer and slimmer. Kevin was a paragon.
Not only was he the richest man in the city, but he also happened to win Anne. Ryan lost the courage
to court Anne because Kevin could marry her regardless of her value.
Wasn't that enough to prove his lack of prowess?
He was not a man to succumb to reconciliation, so he was more eager to take back Anne this time.
Ryan glared at Anne as her heart was filled with fear and agony. She never thought that the day would
come when her best friend, whom she cared for all this time, would think of their relationship this way.
"Ryan, are you serious?" asked Anne as she nibbled her plump lips.
She didn't want to believe many things in life. If someone didn't like her, she would just shrink her social
circle an individual shorter. She thought it was best to consolidate and lessen the people around her,
but she didn't expect that the person she had always respected would offend her with such a tone.
"Anne, marry me. I don’t mind what happened to you in your past relationship. As long as you hand
over your shares, I will walk you down the aisle and save your son from his death," said Ryan.
He sounded insanely arrogant as if she was a profitable investment.
Anne stared at him with menace for a long excruciating time until she grinned.
"I didn’t expect you to be such an asshole, but you are right. Among the few people that could save me,
you are indeed my first choice," said Anne in a serious tone.
It was undeniable that the KIA Group had been slowly climbing up the ranks and gained more influence
as time went by. Although Ryan didn't secure many benefits between the feud with Kevin, the failed
partnership didn't give him a big loss either.
If she granted her shares to Ryan, it would definitely affect the operation of the AN Group. The strength
of the KIA Group would immensely increase, and it would become a huge threat to the AN Group.
But Anne knew better, she was wise enough to not entrust the fate of her son and herself to the greedy
hands of Ryan. He was a puny individual who could stomach giving out insults to get what he wanted!
Ryan thought that he had everything in the bags as he smiled and nodded in agreement with her.
"But even if you are the king of the world, I would never consider marrying you!" Anne exclaimed.
Ryan looked at her in bafflement. He regained his grin and said, "I never expected you to love Kevin
this much, but I don’t care. It doesn't matter if we are married or not. Just give me your shares, and I
would still handle everything for you."
"No way!" Anne yelled firmly to prove that her stand was absolute.
Although Anne was not used to losing her sophistication, she despised people who would frame her
from behind the most.
"I'll give you three days to think about your child's chance of survival and the humiliation you have
brought upon yourself. If you agree with my proposal, I will avenger you from all this suffering, and
Kevin won't be able to pose any kind of threat to you anymore. Once you've made up your mind, come
to me."
As he spoke, Ryan scurried to take the business card from his pocket to give his address to Anne.
However, when she snatched it right off his fingertips, she looked at him dead in the eyes and said,
"There's no need for this, Ryan. I was so wrong about you. You can go back to whatever hell you came
from! From now on, I don't know you because I don't have a friend like you!"
When she realized that her most trusted companion had betrayed her, Anne felt her heart crumble into
shards, but she also thought that maybe he wasn't even her friend in the first place. He valued her
because she was of very good use to him. From this experience, she would never let herself live up
with the pain again just because she had mistaken someone else as trustworthy in the past.
"Well, you're still quite the tough jewel I expected you to be." Ryan's voice was hoarse, and he gazed at
Anne with a piercing look as if he wanted to see right through her mind because he couldn't fathom
why she had such an indomitable temperament.
Despite all this, he was still hopeful that after she figured it out, she would be wiser to know whether it
was better to cooperate with him or watch Kevin marry someone else.
Ryan walked out of the room, and Anne suddenly fell on her knees. She might have won the battle, but
she lost the power to claim victory.
Her eyes were dilated and frozen as if she was being suffocated.
After quite some time, she regained her stance, but the cold still lingered in her smile. It almost
stretched to the extents of her temple, but nobody would decipher what was going through her
thoughts.
The outdoors seemed to have been dim because of the stubborn gloomy weather. She stood still and
looked out of the glossy window. The day was so dull that it made it hard for her to breathe some cheer.
She just paused there like a sculpture engraved with an endless quantum of sadness. She could not
compose herself because her body seemed to be on the brink of collapse. Her strong statuesque was
crumbling in an instant.
Two harrowing hours later, the closed doors of the room abruptly swung open. With a flash of Ian's
silhouette, he looked at Anne like a knight in shining armor heading to save his princess.
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