MIDNIGHT Bride The CEO's TEMPTATION

Helen smiled as she brought the phone to her ear and said hello to her Grandfather.

The old Davis: "Helen, have you settled down? How is everything? Are you used to living there yet?"

Helen: "I'm fine. Christine is here. Everything is good, so don't worry."

The old Davis: "Okay. I feel better knowing that Christine is there with you."

Helen: "Thank you, grandpa."

The old Davis: "Does Nathan treat you well?"

"Um..." Helen hesitated for a moment too long.

The old Davis: "Put him on the phone."

Helen paused for a moment, and then she handed Christine's phone to Nathan. "Here," she said. "Grandpa wants to talk to you."

Nathan accepted the phone but said nothing. He was waiting for the old Davis to speak first.

The old Davis: "Don't think that just because you are at the manor, I can't control you. If you dare to bully Helen, you will be punished. Furthermore, you don't want what happened to Rose to happen to Crystal!"

Nathan gasped. The old Davis had punished a girl named Rose by having someone shoot her in the head and feed her body to the wolves. His heart began to beat faster, and as he thought about Rose, all emotions left his face, and he snorted perfunctorily.

Suddenly, he was nine years old again. The great boar was bearing down on him, and he was bringing his rifle to his shoulder. He could no longer hear what the old Davis was saying. His words were nothing more than white noise.

Nathan screamed into the receiver: "Shut up, you old fuck!"

Everyone at the table was shocked. As far as they knew, nobody had ever talked to the Old Davis like that. It was unheard of.

"Watch your tone!" the old Davis shouted back. "People have died for less..."

Suddenly, Nathan smashed the phone against the table. It shattered into a million pieces, and Helen cried out in fear. Christine hugged her immediately, though, and said, "Don't be afraid. It's okay."

Nathan's eyes were shot through with blood. He looked at Crystal, and much to her surprise, he pushed her chair over. She shrieked as she fell with it, and when she landed, she began to cry.

When Vic saw this, he rushed forward, pulled out a bottle of medicine, yanked the cap off, and said, "Master, it's time to take your medicine." Nathan was out of his head, though, and when he saw the pills, he swatted them out of Vic's hand.

Vic cursed as the pills fell to the ground and scattered. Then he dropped an all fours and scrambled to pick two of them up. Once he had them, he stood up and shouted at Nathan to take his pills.

Vic thought that it was too late for a second, but then Nathan grabbed the pills,

shoved them into his mouth, and dry swallowed them.

The medicine took effect immediately, and Nathan was in control again. He had been subdued. They were all safe, at least for the moment...

Nathan looked at the shattered phone on the table with eyes filled with fear. He heard Crystal crying on the floor, and he looked down. "Wh-What h-h-happened?" he stuttered. His body was trembling, and he had one of the worst headaches of his life.

Crystal: "Don't worry. I'm fine. But I think you need to see a doctor..."

Nathan shook his head and said, "I won't." He knew that if he saw a doctor, he would be put in an institution, and he didn't think Crystal would be safe in the villa without him there to protect her.

"Are you sure that you don't need to see a doctor?" Crystal asked. She was distraught. She didn't know what the old Davis had said on the phone to make him so angry.

Nathan ordered the servants to serve the noodles, and then he turned back to Crystal. He rubbed her hair and said, "I'm fine, now that I've taken my medicine. I must have missed my morning dose. But don't worry. Everything is fine now, so let's eat."

Crystal nodded and said, "Okay."

Once the food was on the table, the servants cleaned up Nathan's mess, and nobody said anything for the rest of the meal.

Then, when it was over, everyone went their own way. Nathan and Crystal went to the stables. Elma took Helen back to her room, and Christine asked a maid to make a cup of coffee for her.

Once there was no one in the dining room, Christine bent down and picked up one of the pills that had been missed during the clean-up. She smiled as she wrapped it in a tissue and put it in her pocket.

***

One of the stable boys had prepared the horse-drawn carriage for Nathan and Crystal, and he helped her into it like a gentleman. This was the first time they'd taken the carriage out together, and Nathan had thought that Crystal would be tickled pink. But, instead, she looked sad, out of sorts, and in a world of her own. He let her be at first, but when her spirits did not improve, he said, "You are not looking well… What are you thinking?"

"I was thinking about Christine..." Crystal replied.

Nathan frowned. "What kind of relationship do you think I have with her?" he asked.

Crystal: "Who knows, you have so many little lovers, and now you are going to have a child..."

Nathan rolled his eyes and chuckled.

Crystal glared at him for a second. Then she punched him in the arm and shouted: "What are you laughing at?"

"You're jealous," Nathan replied. "It's cute. And funny."

Crystal crossed her arms beneath her breasts and looked out the carriage window.

"Forget it." She sighed and said, "I don't want to talk to you anymore."

For the next ten minutes, neither of them spoke, but Crystal could feel his eyes on her. Finally, she couldn't stand it anymore. She turned around and shouted, "Stop looking at me!"

Nathan smiled and said, "I can't help it. I want to imprint your jealous looks on my heart."

"I'm not jealous!" Crystal cried. "I wonder why I fell into the death trap, though. If Christine is one of your little lovers, it will make sense that she would want to make me disappear..." 

Nathan nodded and said, "I'll get to the bottom of this. As for Christine, she is my cousin. My uncle's daughter. Elena Laurent is her mother and also my aunt."

When Crystal heard this, her heart leaped for joy. When she'd met the actress at Air Cosme, she'd been so sure that the woman was Nathan's lover.. Never in her life had Crystal been so happy to be wrong about something.