Take My Breath Away

'Crying, making a scene and threatening to kill herself...This woman goes nuts when she's drunk, ' Matthew sighed inwardly.

He stood under the tree, hands in his pockets. He warned Erica coldly, "Fine. If you die, you won't be Mrs. Huo anymore. So go ahead—I'll grab Phoebe and we'll be married in no time!"

That was one reason why he hadn't done anything about Phoebe. The mere mention of her name could irritate Erica.

Erica lowered her head and glared at him. Her big eyes were full of anger. He knew this was going to happen. "You asshole!" she growled. "You want to make someone else your Mrs. Huo? In your dreams!"

Matthew was patient, his tone even. Now things were going his way. "Then get down from there. That way, you'll still be my wife."

"Get down? What do you think I am? A monkey?"

Matthew replied decisively, "No. Let me guess—you're stuck!"

Erica roared, "If you don't believe me, you'll have to come up here yourself. I can't get down from here!" She felt quite dizzy! She could see three Matthews waiting for her by the tree.

The man's lips twitched. He took two steps forward and stretched out his arms. "Just great," he said in a frustrated tone. "Jump! I'll catch you."

Erica was just too dizzy at this point. So she decided to unwrap one arm from around the tree. She hung by her other arm briefly, then scrunched her eyes tightly and dropped, confident Matthew could catch her.

It went worse than either of them intended. Matthew did catch her in his arms, but was knocked to the ground by the impact. She landed on top of him, and the man grunted, wincing in pain.

When he opened his eyes again, he saw the giggling woman. She was laying on top of him, hugging the poor man. "A little warning, next time?" he said between gritted teeth. "You almost crushed me." Last time she tried this, she jumped from the stone wall on the riverbank. It was about a meter up, and he caught her easily. She was easily twice that high when she climbed the tree.

As stubborn as ever, Erica said, "You said you were going to catch me, so I trusted you!"

Matthew didn't know what to say in return. How could he not catch her? If she slipped through his arms, or he didn't get to her in time, she'd be hurt. And that was something his heart could not bear.

The bodyguards held back their laughter and helped the two up. Matthew carried the woman in his arms and strode into the villa.

He set her down once they got inside. In an

bottle in his cellar.

He'd never let her know how much the bottle was worth. She didn't like to spend money frivolously, and he knew she'd be astonished at the price.

Erica filled an empty glass with red wine and handed it to Matthew. She leaned over him and lifted the glass to his lips. "Have a drink on me, Matthew. Come on, kiss me and show them how much you love me!"

"Them? Who's them?"

"Them! They're watching us!"

"Who's watching us?" Matthew was confused.

Erica looked around and made her voice sound mysterious, talking in a stage whisper. "We can't see them, but they can see us..." Then she lowered her voice, "You scared?"

Matthew was speechless. Who was the coward here? He held her waist tightly and continued, "You're wrong. I can see them."

"What? What do you see?" Her hand trembled, and the red wine spilled out of the glass, spilling on the back of her hand and splattering on his white shirt.

His shirt was already stained with blood and mud, and he was fighting his neat freak tendencies. Now there was red wine on it... "Let's head upstairs!" He had the overwhelming urge to change clothes.

"No! Tell me, what do you see?" She was extremely curious.

Matthew sighed heavily. Erica was trying to annoy him. And she was so good at it. He lowered his head and bit the woman's red lips. Heedless of her pain, he whispered, "I saw the black and white messengers from hell pass by our house, and a lot of female ghosts followed them. And a fierce ghost, its face green, razor-sharp fangs lining its mouth, floated in the air, searching for someone. I can also see baby ghosts crying out for Mommy..."