MIDNIGHT Bride The CEO's TEMPTATION

Crystal glared at Nathan. "If you hit him again," she said, "I will shoot you!"

"Do you know what you are doing?" Nathan asked. He tried to grab the gun from her, but she stepped backward - she didn't shoot.

Nor will she - thought Nathan as he stood up and stepped toward her.

Crystal didn't give him another warning. Instead, she lowered the gun, aimed at his left thigh, and fired. The sound of the blast was deafening, and everyone's ears began to ring. The attack barely slowed Nathan, though. He stumbled backward a step, but once he recovered his balance, he resumed his approach.

Crystal adjusted her aim and shot him in his right leg. This shot brought him to his knees. It was loaded with Tranquilizer Darts, so there was little blood, but she was happy enough with the results. She didn't need him dead. She only needed him out of the way.

Crystal rushed over to Eric. She gave him a big hug and asked him if he was okay. He said that he was, but Nathan reached out to grab her feet when she went to help him off the ground.

The moment Crystal felt Nathan's fingers touch her ankle, she spun around and shot him in the hand. Nathan shrieked as he fell backward, and the next time he tried to get up, he could not.

Meanwhile, Eric's bodyguards were subduing Nathan's bodyguards.

Once Eric was on his feet, he walked over to Nathan and spat in his face. "I should kill you for what you did to Crystal," he said. "And I might still..."

Crystal looked at Nathan. He looks so pathetic - she thought. After what he had put her through on the cross, her heart was dead for him. "He can't hurt us anymore," she said disdainfully. "Let's just go."

As soon as Crystal's wounds were cleaned and bound, she gathered a few of her things, and Eric took her away from that horrible place. It was a short trip to the airport, and along the way, Crystal began to rummage through her backpack. She pulled out an exquisite tin box, put it in his hands, and said, "I heard that you like cranberry cookies, so I made some for you."

Eric was thrilled. He didn't want much. If he had his pretty, he was happy, but the fact that she had gone to the trouble to bake for him was almost too much to take in. He accepted the gift and held it in a way that suggested it contained much greater treasures than cookies.

Next, Crystal took out a purple frosted vial. "I learned about aromatherapy from Helen," she explained. "This is lavender. I really like the smell. Do you want to try it?"

Eric nodded, and she removed the cap so that he could get a good whiff of it. Almost immediately, he began to feel tired. He closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Crystal looked at him and sighed. She felt sorry about what needed to happen next. Since leaving the villa, she had realized that things weren't going to work out the way Eric had planned. He might be good to her, but she knew that Nathan wouldn't let her go so easily. He would find her, challenge Eric, and they would both get hurt in the end. That was not what she wanted. She just wanted to go to a strange place where neither man could find her, a place where she could live as an independent woman.

Along with the cookies and therapeutic oils, she had also brought the fake ID and the Passport that Serenity had procured for her. When she got to the airport, she purchased her plane ticket and contacted Nancy so that she would have someone waiting for her at the other end.

****

It was a sixteen-hour flight to Kuerto, and it was early morning when the plane touched down. Looking out the window, Crystal felt the joy of having endless possibilities wash over her. She hadn't slept well on the flight, but she felt positively energized.

Because she didn't have much luggage with her, she was able to pass through customs quickly and without incident. Of course, she had felt nervous about how well the fake Passport would hold up, but her worries had been for nothing, and Nancy was waiting on the other side. She was a smaller woman, but the giant sign with Crystal's new name on it was impossible to miss.

The last time Crystal had seen Nancy, she'd been fifteen or six years old, but she still looked the same. Nancy was only five years older than her, and Crystal thought that they would become good friends.

The older woman rushed forward and gave her a big hug. After chatting for a while, she drove back to her villa with Crystal in the passenger seat beside her.

Compared with the manor where Crystal had been imprisoned, Nancy's home was not very big. The decoration style was traditionally European, with elements of Kuerto throughout. There was no sign of a male presence, and Crystal asked Nancy about her husband, Paul.

"We are recently divorced," Nancy admitted. "I haven't told anyone yet, so I would appreciate it if you kept my secret..."

Crystal: "I'm sorry. I didn't know. And of course, I will keep your secret. Can I ask you what happened?"

"It is not a long story," Nancy replied. "And it would be better told over coffee." She led Crystal into the kitchen, poured them each a cup of coffee, and as they sat down at the table, she continued: "At first, Paul was truly kind to me. I thought that he truly loved me, but after we were wed, he told me that he only wanted me so that I could give him a child."

"That's awful!" Crystal exclaimed.

"It is," Nancy agreed. The room fell silent for a minute. She looked at her coffee, and as the steam washed over her face, she closed her eyes. "When we met, I was young and naïve, and he played me like a fiddle. But, unfortunately, the good times did not last long, and everything changed after Clark was born."

"Where is Clark?" asked Crystal quietly. She felt terrible about reopening these wounds. She hadn't even known about the baby, let alone all the grief Nancy had been through since they had last seen each other.

Nancy's shoulders were slightly trembling, and tears had welled up in her eyes. "He drove me out of my own home," she replied. "Then he took Clark away.... and that's the end of the story, I guess."