The Devil's Favourite Obsession

As always, she was on her own. People would watch her from afar and pity her. But no one would step forward to help her... except Marion.

And nothing about today was different. Nothing about this humiliation was new.

She closed her eyes before she lifted her lashes to meet David’s eyes. Her eyes narrowed with contempt, then drifted to the faint red imprint of her fingers across his cheek, and one corner of her lips curved upward with dangerous satisfaction to spite him.

It worked like adding fuel to the fire when he felt nothing but insulted. He will make this bitch kneel, one way or another.

”If Cassian hears even a single word about how you treated me,” she declared, her voice steady despite the violent hammering against her ribs and the pain radiating through her wrist inside his crushing grip, ”I am not sure what he will do to you. You may very well curse this day for the rest of your life... the day you chose to collide with me.”

She made sure her voice carried across the entire lobby. She tilted her head. It was her time to intimidate him. ”He will strip away every layer of arrogance inside you until there is nothing left.”

David yanked her closer with a force that nearly lifted her off her feet. His face hovered inches from hers.

”Liar,” he countered, baring his teeth, followed by the short ugly laughter that came from men who believed power excused cruelty.

”I am certain,” Cixi continued, her tone mockingly sweet, ”that he will break your teeth one by one... slowly... so that you feel every single one being pulled, for daring to touch what is his.”

Technically, Cassian had told her she belonged to him until the debt was paid. So it was not entirely a lie. She did not know if he was alive or dead, but if his name could shield her from this man, she felt no guilt in wielding it.

”I am his one and only girlfriend.”

The words left her mouth before her brain could stop them. She could not believe she had just called herself his girlfriend.

The silence that followed was nothing like the one before. The earlier quiet had been cautious and measured; only intelligent people maintained when they did not wish to be involved.

This silence carried teeth.

’Girlfriend.’

Every smirk vanished. Every suppressed smile dissolved. Every guest in the lobby wore the same expression: disbelief.

The elite circles knew Cassian Crown’s reputation and his preferences in women. And this girl standing before them... She was too pale and blond for his taste.

”You think you can lie and walk away from it?” David threw his head back and laughed again, louder this time.

Yet Cixi did not retreat. She stood with her chin level and her shoulders squared, her wrist screaming inside his grip, but her face surrendering nothing. She did not even attempt to justify herself.

”What is going on here?”

The voice arrived with the chime of the lift doors parting. Her heels struck the marble in a steady and unhurried rhythm that echoed through the corridor.

She was tall, slim, and dressed in a fitted business suit, the colour of midnight. Her black hair fell in a straight, silky curtain past her shoulders, not a strand out of place, while her brown eyes took in the entire situation with the quick, trained assessment of someone accustomed to solving problems before they turned into scandals.

The Vice President — Emily Blanch

She stopped at the centre of the lobby’s current spectacle.

Her attention landed first on David’s hand clamped around Cixi’s wrist, then moved to the visible handprint branded across his cheek.

Her expression did not change. ”Mr Johnson,” she said evenly, her voice perfectly controlled, ”I would advise you to release the young lady’s hand.” It was not a request. ”If she chooses to file a complaint,” she continued calmly, ”the hotel will have no option but to submit the CCTV recordings.” Her eyes shifted deliberately toward the reporter still perched nearby, feigning disinterest. ”And we have members of the press present today.”

She paused, letting the implication settle into his bones.

She stepped closer than, lowering her voice just enough that only David and Cixi could hear.

”You already have several unresolved complaints attached to your name, Mr. Johnson. You would not want unnecessary attention while you are being considered for promotion.” Her tone carried neither warmth nor hostility. ”Negative publicity at this stage would not assist your situation.”

Then she stepped back with her perfect composure, as though she had merely adjusted a minor inconvenience.

Her focus turned to Cixi — the girl who had dared to claim she was Cassian Crown’s girlfriend inside Cassian Crown’shotel, in front of Cassian Crown’s guests. Emily would deal with her the moment David departed.

David’s eyes tracked across the lobby, pausing at each camera mounted in every corner. Their small red lights blinked steadily, recording everything.

Reluctantly, his fingers loosened, and Cixi pulled her wrist back immediately, cradling it against her chest. Pain still radiated through the bones, throbbing in time with her pulse.

David straightened his jacket. Adjusted his cufflinks. Then he fixed his gaze on Cixi one final time. His expression had settled into something far more dangerous than rage. It was patience. The calculated, unhurried patience of a man who never forgot a face and always collected what he was owed.

”I will not forget today,” he said quietly. ”And I will certainly not forget your face.” His eyes held hers. ”We will meet again.”

David’s eyes conveyed far more than his words ever could, and in that single look, he promised her consequences, retaliation, and a future filled with trouble. What he did not realise was that she had already been living in her own private hell for years.

As his threat hung between them, her gaze answered him with a silent challenge that required no voice at all—try me.

If someone had told her a week ago that she would stand like this, challenging a man like him, she would have laughed. Perhaps she really had gone mad. Or perhaps something had shifted inside her after that kiss. Perhaps some of Cassian’s recklessness had somehow transferred into her. Regardless of the reason, she realised she was unwilling to pull back.

David finally turned away, his posture rigid with injured pride, and walked toward the glass exit doors without looking back.

Cixi did not look away. She followed his movements like a predator memorising its enemy. Her body turned slowly with his movement. She did not blink until the glass doors closed behind him and his figure disappeared from sight.

Only then did she allow herself to breathe.

The atmosphere of the lobby seemed to change with his absence. The air felt lighter. Easier even, as though someone had opened a window in a suffocating room.

She had barely managed to take a proper breath of relief when a composed female voice behind her cut through that fragile calm with quiet authority.

”The company could sue you for using Cassian Crown’s name so carelessly in public,” Cixi’s spine stiffened. ”For spreading false claims simply to gain attention,” the woman warned her.

Recognising the voice, Cixi turned. Emily Blanch stood three paces behind her, her arms folded, her chin lifted. She had not taken Cixi to a private room. She had not pulled her aside into a corridor or behind a closed door. She had chosen to speak here in the centre of the lobby, with every guest, every staff member, and every pair of ears within range absorbing every syllable.