MIDNIGHT Bride The CEO's TEMPTATION

Eric cleared his throat, and three guards entered the infirmary. They carried each other with an electric baton. Crystal could tell right away what they were about to do, and she shouted for them to stop, but it did no good. All at once, they pressed the batons to his flesh, and he began to flail about. It looked like he was having a grand mal seizure.

"I don't think that he'll be putting up much of a fight now," Eric laughed.

****

Crystal felt like a shell-shocked soldier, and when Eric led her into the next room, she went along obediently. He sat her on the bed, and he began to treat her wounds.

There was a clock on the wall, and its steady tick-tock-tick-tock rattled her brain. She looked up at it and saw that it had been two and a half hours since she had stepped out of her car. Before long, the driver would notify Nathan. At that point, the shit was sure to hit the fan. He will use the GPS on my wrist to find me, but what about Carlos?- she wondered.

"Does Paul have Noah's antidote?" Crystal asked anxiously.

Eric's hands froze for a second, and then he said, "I didn't even know if Paul was still alive. I thought that Nancy killed him... unless he killed her…." He smirked.

Crystal's face turned white. She could not believe that Nancy would be stupid enough to go after Paul by herself.

"Do you still want to save her?" Eric asked. "If you submit to me, there are many things that I could do for you and for the people that you love. It is very selfish of you to shun me. You are lucky that I am such a good man. I could assault you and force a baby into you, but I want you to come to me of your own free will. How many men can say the same?"

Crystal was flabbergasted. "If you must blackmail me into coming willingly, then I haven't come willingly, have I? Why are you so intent on having me anyway? There are probably millions of girls who would love to be by your side. And do not tell me that it is because you love me."

Eric sighed and said, "You are my wife. Do you think that I would marry someone that I didn't love? And if you had not put up so much resistance, I wouldn't have had to go to such extremes to keep you with me..."

Crystal crossed her arms beneath her breasts. "You are making a big mistake," she said. "The more you hurt the people around me, the more I hate you. You may be able to force me into doing your bidding, but you will never win my heart this way!"

"Be that as it may..." Eric thought about it for a moment, and then he said, "If I cannot have your heart, your body will have to suffice. And who knows? Once we have a family, you may grow to love me. Do you think that you might love me... eventually?"

"I don't think so," Crystal replied. "After what you have done to Carlos, I feel disgusted just looking at you."

Eric frowned. "You can't mean that…."

"Of course, I do!" Crystal exclaimed.

"But what if I give Carlos the antidote?" Eric asked hopefully. "Would that change your opinion about me?"

"It would be a start," Crystal admitted, "At the very least, it would show that you have the capacity to empathize with someone, so I would be less disgusted by you."

Eric laughed happily. "You are the first woman to use your disgust of me to negotiate with me."

Crystal's eyebrows rose, and she thought- I did not realize this was a negotiation. "How about this?" she said. "If you give Carlos the antidote, I will give you one month to prove that you are a good man."

Eric's eyes lit up. He had hoped that she would give him her life, but he had known that it was unlikely to happen. This was an acceptable compromise.

"I have one more condition, though." Crystal looked him in the eyes and said, "I want you to stop trying to kill Nathan. I may have feelings for him, but I am with you."

"Sure." Eric shrugged. "I never wanted to kill him."

Crystal eyed him suspiciously. "But in Kuerto, you imprisoned him and abused him." 

Eric chuckled. "I was just having a little fun with him and punishing him. If I had wanted him dead, he would be dead."

"Well, he wasn't having fun," Crystal hissed.

"Now, if you want to have a child with me, you must let Nathan go and stop trying to catch him. No more traps. Do you hear me?"

"No more traps?" Eric laughed out loud. "Where is the fun in that?"

Crystal had a grave expression on her face. "If you cannot accept my condition, then there is no deal. Good men do not behave that way that you do, and I would not want my child to grow up in an environment full of hate."

"What about Nathan?"

"If you prove yourself to me, then I will put him out of my mind."

Eric was satisfied with her answer, and he said, "I can let go of the hatred, but will Nathan let go of his?"

"Are you really willing to put this behind you?" Crystal asked skeptically. She wanted to believe him, but she had her doubts. "If you do, then I will handle Nathan myself, and you will have to trust me."

"For your sake, I will let this grievance go," Eric lied. It was not in him to forgive and forget, but if he could placate her with false promises long enough to get her in a "Family Way," then she would be stuck with him, and he would be free to deal with Nathan in whatever manner pleased him. "Don't you believe me?"

"I don't know..."

He stood up. "Believe it or not, I would never think about killing him. I have been cruel to him in the past. That was because of what he did to Helen, but maybe he has been punished enough. By the end of the month, you will see that my word is good."

Crystal nodded absently and said, "We'll see..."

"Does this mean that you have finally decided to have a child with me?"

"I will tell you in three days," Crystal replied, "as per our agreement."

Eric scowled at her.. "I had hoped that you had forgotten about that," he grumbled.