Bride of Retribution: Aloof Billionaire's Dominant Game

He reached out and pulled her over. Avery Jane quietly lay against his chest, his heartbeat steady and powerful. ”Avery, can’t you see how much I mean this? If I ever have a child, then that child can only be carried in your belly. The mother of my child can only be you.”

She had asked him not to lie, but everything he just said was completely sincere, without the slightest hint of deception, and the child in Evelyn Yates’s belly was definitely not his.

”But that woman with the last name Yan, I feel like I might know her...” She believed what he said, because she always could feel his sincerity. She wasn’t the kind of woman who was oblivious or ungrateful, but she still felt that something was off, though she couldn’t put her finger on it.

Joshua Hughes wished he could tear Donna to pieces and throw her into the sea to feed the sharks. Damn it, she’d actually talked to Avery Jane about all that. Now even the character ”Yan” had become a sensitive word.

He would not allow anything to trigger Avery’s memories. If Avery remembered everything, that would be a disaster akin to total destruction for him.

”Avery, it wasn’t easy for us to end up together, because my identity limits a lot of things. I don’t want to tell you too much about the family because I don’t want any distance between us. Things that are too complicated in a family background only make people feel annoyed. I don’t want you to have anything to worry about, so all those unnecessary things, just leave them to me. You only need to live the life you want in peace, just stay by my side like this.”

Avery’s fine white teeth, neat as little shells, lightly bit her lip. Joshua’s brows furrowed slightly. Maybe she already believed him, but there were definitely still plenty of doubts in her heart.

He had never imagined that one day Avery would suddenly forget her past. No matter how flawless a story he made up, if anyone really dug into it, there would be plenty of loopholes. It was just that Avery’s mind was simple; she hadn’t thought that far yet, hadn’t spotted too many suspicious points.

”I don’t know, I’m a mess, Joshua. I want to trust you, but so many things make it impossible for me to completely believe you, at least not until I remember my past...” Avery spoke in a low voice. She felt a little helpless, even though his heartbeat was so strong, even though his embrace was so warm.

”Avery...” Joshua could easily feel her slight resistance. Her petite body was a bit stiff. He let out a low sigh, his warm breath swirling over the top of her head. He stretched out his strong arms and held her tightly, pressing her against his chest. What on earth was he supposed to do?

Without her past memories, she was incomplete. But if she regained them, then the one who would become incomplete was him...

Avery didn’t speak again. Her long lashes drooped, covering her clear, water-like eyes, hiding whatever was going on in her heart from anyone’s sight.

He really wasn’t good at coaxing women. He’d never had any woman who needed him to coax, deceive, hide things, or worry about her.

Maybe this was retribution, payback for how heartless he’d been back then, sending away one woman after another.

Joshua lowered his head, wanting to kiss her lips, but Avery turned her head away, rejecting his intimate move. ”Avery, what exactly do you want me to do...” That feeling of being at his wits’ end, the frustration that made him want to tear his hair out, was driving him almost insane.

What more could he do? It felt like he’d already gone to the extreme, and it was still not enough.

Yet she just didn’t want to believe him so easily, because he always glossed over things vaguely. Even if he hadn’t had a child with some other woman, his past was still like a riddle to her. Now there was Donna, and who knew if some other woman would pop up in the future? He’d been such a playboy back then; who could guarantee that one day a woman wouldn’t show up at her door with a child in her arms, demanding that she hand back the title of Mrs. Hughes? She wasn’t trying to make a scene, nor did she want to be unreasonable. It was just that her intuition kept telling her that things were far from as simple as he made them sound. But she knew she would never get the answer from his mouth. So who was supposed to give her that answer?

”I want some peace and quiet for a couple of days, Joshua. You can at least give me that much freedom, right?” she murmured against his chest. Everything that had happened today was a bit too much for her to digest.

There was anger in Joshua’s eyes. He knew these issues had always been a knot in Avery’s heart, but it was a knot he could never allow to be untied.

In the end, the situation turned into something almost ridiculous. Joshua’s room was in the middle, with Donna’s next to it on one side and Avery’s on the other. Avery insisted on having her own room.

The sea at night was mysterious and passionate. Avery pulled the curtains shut and chatted with Emma White on the phone, because Joshua had said she absolutely could not go downstairs. So she and Emma could only entertain each other over the phone.

The two women chatted idly, in bits and pieces, when suddenly a sharp scream came through the line from Emma. ”Oh my God, Avery, do you see that? Fireworks, fireworks! I’ve never seen such beautiful fireworks in my life. Is this the company’s New Year blessing? This is way too extravagant!” It hadn’t been dark for long when suddenly a huge blossom of fireworks exploded in the ink-black sky...

Avery listened to Emma screaming in her ear. Emma was probably on the deck; Avery could hear cheers and exclamations in the background. She pulled open the curtains and was stunned by the beautiful scene before her. Huge blossoms of fireworks shaped like red roses burst in the sky. Avery opened the door and stepped out. Under such a vast night sky, above such an endless stretch of sea, these red rose fireworks still managed to be so majestic, so breathtaking. Clearly, a lot of thought had gone into this...

Huge blooms of fireworks burst freely right above her head, red with golden sparks, like strokes drawn by fairies across the night, flaring over and over without pause...

Joshua watched her from a distance as she stood there on the deck, the sea breeze blowing through her long hair. Under a sky ablaze with fireworks, she looked lonely and mysterious.

”Joshua, don’t treat me so well...” He wrapped his arms around her from behind, her back fitted against his chest. Avery’s eyes were moist. These breathtakingly beautiful fireworks were being set off just for her. One, two, three, blooming one after another. Avery spoke in a low voice. She felt the heart of the man behind her give a fierce jump. But the words that followed wouldn’t come out anymore. She didn’t want to say sad, painful things under a night sky like this. She could only speak to him in her heart: ”Don’t treat me so well, otherwise the day I find out you’ve lied to me, I won’t be able to bring myself to leave...”

The man behind her said nothing, just stayed with her on the dark sea, watching that grand fireworks display together...

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It was only a few days’ trip, and soon life slipped back onto its usual track. But Avery discovered that many things had begun to change. Two new colleagues appeared in her office—both women, with short hair, clear-cut and efficient. Even when she went to the restroom, one of them would always be there as well. And once she stepped out of the company, wherever she went, Joshua’s bodyguards would follow her, neither too near nor too far. There was always a faintly unsettling atmosphere hanging in the air. Joshua had been so busy lately that he was almost nowhere to be seen, because that big project involving all kinds of interests had already begun. It was the top priority of the year. Even though Avery wasn’t senior management, she could still tell from the documents she handled that this project was extremely important.

But what did any of that have to do with her? Those two female colleagues in the office hadn’t appeared out of nowhere. Was she in danger? Avery thought back to some of Joshua’s strange behavior on the ship. But why?

In the top-floor office, Alexander King was telling Joshua about the information he’d gathered over the past few days through all his contacts and intelligence networks.

”Joshua, this won’t be easy to investigate. Those four transfers all came out of your private account, which means someone has a clear grasp of your password. But money probably isn’t what he’s after, or else every cent in that account would have been emptied.” Alexander spoke with a headache. Modern technology had its pros and cons. The good part was that many things could be traced; the bad part was that lots of evidence and clues could also be wiped clean, like chalk on a blackboard being erased.

”In a way that’s good too. It’s a reminder for you to change all your passwords.” Alexander shrugged. Barely into the new year and bizarre things were already happening one after another. ”There’s a rumor going around that some business tycoon recently got possessed, picked up something evil, and almost died on a ship. Sounds like it’s all aimed at you. Didn’t you have a particularly ’spectacular’ time on that ship this year?”

Dark, dense shadows pooled in Joshua’s eyes, so thick they couldn’t be dissolved. He really must have been possessed, otherwise how could a perfectly good vacation have turned into such a mess? Even now, Avery still held a grudge in her heart, and he couldn’t do much to explain himself. All he could do was bury himself in work to numb the pain inside. She had a resistant attitude toward him, and he had no idea how to dissolve it. He could only wait for Evelyn to give birth as soon as possible and present that surprise to Luis Hughes. Hadn’t Luis always wanted the Hughes Family? If Evelyn gave birth to a boy, that would basically fulfill his wish.

”Who’s been saying all this?” There’s no smoke without fire.

”There’s a Taoist who’s been doing very well lately. Lots of people have gone to him for feng shui. Haven’t you noticed how the prices of some Buddha statues have skyrocketed recently, especially those gilded ones with a bit of age to them? They’ve been climbing and climbing. This Taoist claims he did a ritual and enshrined a Buddha statue for a young tycoon, saving his life. Joshua, I didn’t know you were into that sort of thing?” Alexander handed a document in his hand over to Joshua.