Filed to story: A Second Chance with My Billionaire Love
“Why are we stopping?” Halston asked challengingly, narrowing his eyes. “H Group’s influence stretches across the globe, so it’s high time we give something back to our customers.”
“You’re crazy, Halston Guajardo!” Flossie screamed in exasperation, her eyes welling with tears.
“What do I have to do for you to free Jovan? How about I set you free, and let you strip me naked for the world to see?! You can torment me any way you want, and once you have your fun, you can let him go!”
She was almost hysterical-nothing got through to him at all, and she was really at a loss!
“You just want payback, don’t you?!” She cried maniacally.” Fine, I’ll strip then!”
Halston stared at Flossie, who was on the verge of a breakdown.
“I won’t tell you where Jovan is even if you were naked,” he told her evenly. “Because I have no idea where he is.”
He finally admitted the truth since things were getting out of hand. With the ridiculous thought processes that Flossie’s mind appeared to be prone to, one of them would soon be driven insane!
Flossie was half-undressed and froze right then. “What are you talking about? What do you mean you don’t know where he is?”
“He never stays put like you, and I guess he’s now actually missing. It only begs the question of why you came to me at all,” Halston replied, leaning back against his seat with an impassive look, staring at her contemptuously as if she was an idiot.
“How could you not know?! When that explosion happened, the chauffeur clearly heard the person who abducted Jovan say, ‘Mr. Guajardo sends his regards’! And there is no other Mr.
Guajardo except you!”
“Why me? There are plenty of Mr. Guajardos across the globe,” Halston sneered. “Moreover, why are you so sure that the chauffeur was telling the truth? What if he was trying to frame me?”
He had no idea why someone would pin the blame on him, but this was not unprecedentedhe certainly was used to being scapegoated, especially with the multitude of rivals he had in
Beach City!
“That makes sense,” Flossie was calm enough to agree with Halston’s insight-she knew him well enough to tell that such a crude move was not his style at all…
In fact, it happened to fit Jovan’s style. Was it possible that Jovan had arranged his own abduction?
However, Flossie quickly shook her head-that was impossible, since Jovan was not that nonsensical despite his crafty nature.
And what could he have hoped to achieve-did he want to drive a wedge between her and
Halston? There was already no sentiment between them whatsoever, so Jovan did not have to go that far.
It just doesn’t make sense!
“If it wasn’t you, then why’d you leave this note for me?!” Flossie cried out in agitation, and whipped out the piece of paper that she had been carrying around. “This is obviously your handwriting! ‘You reap what you sow. Come to me if you want him back.’ Obviously it means
I should meet you if I want him back. What do you have to say now?”
Halston glanced at the note, and admitted, “I did write the note, but I wasn’t referring to
Jovan.”
“Not Jovan? Then who?”
“Quinton. That’s your biological brother, no?”
“My brother… You mean you’re the one behind what happened to him?!” Flossie tensed up immediately-it was really one bombshell after another! She had just been worrying that there was no clue as to who her brother’s assailants were, only for this man to admit it!
“How dare you hurt my brother! I should skin you… and it’d still serve you right!” Flossie was absolutely furious. She searched the whole car and finally found a swiss army knife. She picked it up and pressed the blade to his neck. “Where’s my brother?!”
“Are you going to kill me if I refuse to tell you?” Halston asked with a vague smile, fearless even as she stared at the knife in Flossie’s hand.
“I won’t kill you-but I’ll skin you and watch you bleed! You’d wish you were dead… unless you return my brother!” Flossie was not joking-Quinton was her flesh and blood, a progeny of their parents. She would never allow anyone to hurt him!
“You seem more agitated,” Halston pointed out, still unfazed.” Does that mean your brother is more important to you than your own partner?”
“Yes!” Flossie readily admitted to it. “Family is more important than anything. If you lay a finger on him, I won’t hesitate to kill you.”
“What if your brother hurts the love of your life?” Halston pressed.
Flossie frowned, but said with a cool glare, “If that does happen, I will die with my beloved, and let my brother live!”
She had no chance of knowing back then that it was an exchange that would become very relevant years down the line!
Nonetheless, Halston calmly said, “Quinton is being punished for his own misdeeds. He challenged us by destroying our merchandise-our retaliation is just, if only to make him understand that some rules are not meant to be broken.”
“I can admit that his methods can be radical, and I will compensate you for any losses you’ve sustained. We can talk about this, as long as you agree to release him…” Flossie was convinced that problems solved by money were no problems at all. Moreover, Quinton had been impatient for results over the last couple of years, so he had repeatedly sabotaged H
Group’s business operations. It was no different from trying to steal food from a lion, and was basically suicidal.
It was just a matter of time that Halston’s retaliation reached Quinton, and Flossie felt humbled since Halston had the moral high ground… even though she had Halston tied up, and a knife pressed to his neck.
“Really? We can talk about this?” Halston sneered, gesturing at his hands restrained with his own necktie. “Is this how we’re going to do it?”
“Well… I didn’t want to tie you up, but you were getting frisky. Who knows what would happen if I didn’t restrain you?” Flossie retorted with righteous indignation.
She took a moment to calm herself, and gingerly touched his hair, saying, “Be good now-l’ll free you, but the condition is that you have to release my brother. Okay?”
“Free me, and I’ll think about it.”
“No, you have to say yes!”
“You have to free me for me to make the call.”
“Is that a yes?” Flossie’s eyes lit up, surprised that Halston gave in despite him being as stubborn as an ox.
“A gentleman’s word is golden. Don’t go back on it!” Flossie warned him. “I’ve tied you up once, and I can certainly do it again.”
“Cut the crap and free me already!” Halston snapped impatiently-he had never suffered so much in his life!
Flossie trusted promises, and quickly freed Halston, seemingly unafraid of his retaliation.
It was just like she put it—she had restrained him once, and that meant she could do it again.
“There’s nothing womanly about you at all!” Halston sighed emotionally, flexing his wrists that had almost been dislocated. He was actually skilled in martial arts, even winning the school championship for four years running- only to end up completely restrained by a woman.
If word of that ever got out, he would die of embarrassment.
Flossie said nothing, however, and suddenly leaned closer to him.
“What are you doing?” Halston tensed up, sliding backwards and pressing himself against the car door. He tried to get out, only to realize that he had locked it himself.
What had he done to deserve this?!
“I’m warning you, don’t do anything stupid. We can talk about this…” He stared at Flossie warily as if she were a beast -he did not want to be tied up again!
Flossie rolled her eyes, speechless. How much of a coward could he be? Was she even that scary?