MIDNIGHT Bride The CEO's TEMPTATION

When Crystal told Nancy her idea, her eyes widened, and she shook her head. "No," she said, "I cannot involve Noah in this matter. I do not want to involve anyone else in this unless we must."

"Fine." Crystal sighed and said, "We will only use Noah as a last resort. Anyway, we also have Nathan, and if I can get word to Vic, we might find that we have more options than we realized; if he will help, that is."

"It shouldn't be a problem." Nancy giggled, and her cheeks turned red. "I can tell that he has a crush on you. If you play along with it for a few days, he is sure to go along with whatever you say. As for your father, with a little bit of help, we shouldn't have any problems having him transferred to Kuerto. After all, you are his next of kin."

Suddenly, a servant came running down the hallway. When she saw them, she stopped, and without taking a moment to catch her breath, she said, "Miss Smith, there you are. I have found you at last. Nathan is still refusing to eat. Will you come and talk to him?"

****

Eric had already watched the video of Crystal bathing Nathan, so it came as no surprise to him that she had returned to his bedroom. He could not understand why Crystal was visiting Nathan. She had begged him to rescue her from his clutches. But now she seems more interested in him than she is in me - Eric thought, and it infuriated him to the point where he wanted to kill his rival.

He looked down at the vial of dr*gs in his hands and thought - Tonight, winner takes all! With one fell swoop, he planned to take possession of Crystal and have his revenge on Nathan.

Crystal sat on the sofa in Nathan's room, and she was flipping through her book. She did not need to look up to feel the heat of his eyes on her. She sighed deeply, her heart fluttered, and she cursed her traitorous body. He had treated her badly, and she knew that he was in bad shape. Nevertheless, she was drawn to him. Finally, she closed the book. "Have you had enough?" she asked him.

He took a bite and chewed, and it took him a few minutes to swallow. It was just porridge, so she suspected he was stalling. "I could never get enough of you," he replied.

"How long are you going to be eating that bowl of porridge? "Crystal asked impatiently. 

"I am an injured man," Nathan whined. "I am going as fast as I can."

Crystal doubted that was true. "Eat faster!" she hissed. "And quit staring at me."

Nathan smiled, and he continued to stare at her as he slowly ate.

"What the Hell are you looking at?" Crystal yelled.

"You," Nathan replied. "How did you sleep last night?"

"I slept fine," Crystal replied. "What do you care about?"

"Didn't you enjoy your husband's caresses last night?" Nathan asked.

Crystal scowled. "You are so annoying." What she wanted to do was drop the book on Nathan's head. "And unless we torture you, what we do in bed is none of your business!"

Crystal could not find the words to describe Nathan's childish, possessive behavior. "I am someone else's wife now," she continued. "Why can't you get that through your thick skull?"

"It must be on account of how thick my skull is," Nathan replied in a tone that was intended to make a joke of her and her question. "Now, where is my puppet?"

"I'm working on it," Crystal replied. "Don't rush me."

"Fine, then." Nathan patted the edge of the bed and asked her to sit with him. "I have something that I want to give you. It's a reward for taking such good care of me."

Crystal was immediately suspicious. As far as she knew, he had no possessions. "Give it to a servant and let them bring it to me," she insisted.

"Do you have to be so defensive?" Nathan smiled and said, "In my weakened state, you have nothing to fear from me."

Crystal remained hesitant, and her distrust showed on her face.

"Come on," he urged her on. "What are you waiting for?"

Crystal put down her book and walked slowly over to him. Then, when she reached him, he took her by the arm and pulled her into his embrace. He tried to kiss her, but she pulled away just in time to stop him.

"Nathan, what are you doing?" she gasped as she realized that he had been playing possum all along. He was nowhere near as weak as he had made himself out to be. 

"That's your reward," he replied. "Do you like it?"

"I don't care for your stupid reward," Crystal replied angrily. "And you damn well knew that I wouldn't, so knock it off and let me go."

"You're lying." Nathan tightened his grip on her and said, "You do want me."

"You may not believe it now, but you will once you're watching me fuck his brains out right in front of you!"

Crystal's words stung him, and when she pulled away, this time, he was unable to stop her. "You c-can't d-do that," he muttered. "It's inhumane..."

"Whatever. Tell it to the pigs. Maybe they will care!" She grabbed his mostly empty bowl of porridge, and as she headed for the open door, she said, "Have a good rest."

Nathan shouted for her to come back, but she paid him no mind.

****

Wolf fell in love with Nancy almost immediately, and he was happy to wait with her in the kitchen while Crystal took a bath. She had just finished feeding him, and now she was sitting beside him stroking his fur.

Suddenly, a servant walked in. She looked at Nancy and said, "Just an F.Y.I.: Paul has returned, so you may want to be on guard."

Nancy scratched behind Wolf's ears. "I'm not worried," she replied. "I have Wolf." As if to prove her point, Wolf barked twice and scampered into the living room. He was only gone for a second, though, when the sound of a gunshot echoed through the castle.

No! No! No! No! No! - thought Nancy - He wouldn't dare... Or would he...?

Wolf was whimpering when he stumbled back into the kitchen, and his fur was matted with blood. A moment later, Paul appeared, and he had a shotgun in his hand.

Nancy jumped to her feet and stepped between Paul and Wolf with her arms crossed beneath her breasts. "You are a brute!" she hissed. "Only an unloving monster would think about hurting an animal!"

"Unloving?" Paul scoffed. "You need to take a look in the mirror. You are the only one in the room that would hurt a pregnant woman?" 

"Michelle set me up," Nancy shouted. "And if you were thinking with your brain instead of your p***s, you would see that."

Paul smirked. "You tried to feed me to a crocodile!"

"I warned you about the crocodile," Crystal reminded him. "It's not my fault that you were too stupid to heed my warning."

Paul was getting angrier by the minute. He looked at his rifle and then at Nancy. "You deserve to die for the things that you've done," he shouted, and there was murder in his eyes.

Suddenly, Wolf appeared at Nancy's side, and he began to bark frantically.

Paul smiled as he nudged the dog with the barrel of the gun. Before he could pull the trigger, though, Nancy grabbed the barrel and pulled it up so that it was pointing at her chest. She said, "You can shoot him, but you'll have to shoot me first."

Paul nodded and said, "So be it."