Take My Breath Away

Everyone thought Stephanie had no clue what was going on between Carlos and Debbie, but Stephanie was no fool. Successful men like Carlos usually took a mistress, sometimes more than one. But a mistress was one thing. She didn't care about that, as long as she would be Mrs. Huo someday.

The waiter's words made her realize how wrong she was.

'I'll kill that bitch! Carlos is mine! No one else deserves a woman like me!' Stephanie vowed to herself.

Before everyone was finished eating, Carlos and Debbie left the private booth earlier than the other guests. His excuse was that he would drive her home.

Elmer was the last one to leave. He had to settle the bill.

Sitting in his seat, he wept when he saw the total—12 million. But it was too late to weasel out of it. Besides, if he refused to pay, Carlos would be offended. Given the choice of angering Carlos or paying a ton of cash, he chose the latter. So Elmer paid the bill with his credit card, still weeping.

He wiped his eyes after the cashier swiped his card. He learned two things tonight: Don't mess with Debbie. Don't take advantage of her, or Carlos would take his revenge in spades.

Debbie missed Piggy, but she was too tired to see her. And she had to get up at 5 a.m. for a photo shoot. The commercial was important, so she asked Carlos to take her back to Champs Bay Apartments.

When she got out of the car, Carlos handed her a file envelope.

"What's this?" she asked.

"Open it when you get home," Carlos replied.

She took the envelope and was about to walk toward the elevator when she remembered something. James had been laying low lately. He was quiet, too quiet. "Did you do that background check on James?" she asked.

"Yeah. Don't worry. I'll handle him," Carlos said.

"Can I ask you something?" she queried.

Carlos stepped out of the car and stood close to her. "Sounds like you can't get enough of me. How about we take this ins

a lesson. No one could bully his woman.

"I didn't use you. You decided to go there yourself," she denied stubbornly.

"That part was true. But how about the booth? Why did it have to be my private booth? Didn't you use me to get back at Stephanie?"

Debbie gave an embarrassed smile. "You knew?"

"Almost immediately after you hung up, Stephanie called right after you did. You heard her plans, and decided to beat her to the punch. Am I right?" Carlos asked.

'He's good, ' Debbie thought. But still she didn't want to admit she did anything wrong. "Yeah. So? You feel bad for her?"

Carlos hugged her and kissed her forehead. "Yes, I feel bad. I feel bad for you."

"Huh? Why?" Debbie didn't understand. She won. Why did Carlos feel bad for her?

Caressing her cheek, Carlos said, "But I'm also happy. You did all that for me." He knew that Debbie only did it to keep Stephanie away from him.

She cared. So even though she tricked him, he wasn't mad. On the contrary, he felt quite happy.

"Such an egomaniac," Debbie commented.

Carlos didn't drive off until he watched her enter the elevator.

Once she was back in her apartment, Debbie opened the file envelope curiously. Inside was a red certificate.

On its cover, it said, "Property Ownership Certificate."