Chapter 10 The Devil's Grin

"A monster?"

Nehemiah leaned back on the sofa, knocking his hand gently against its backrest as his beautiful eyes narrowed in thought. A smile played on his lips. "Since you like monsters so much," he murmured to himself, amused at his own thoughts, "let me show you what real monsters look like, alright?"

As long as he wanted to, he could so easily change the rules of this city with a snap of his fingers.

As for the game, it had begun since Cara had slept on his bed that day. As long as Nehemiah was interested, this game he had with her would never end.

Nearby, his butler nodded to affirm his orders. "Yes sir," he intoned. "I will inform all the airports in A City to intercept Miss Cara."

With that, his butler bowed respectfully and left without a word, as silent as he'd come in.

When the butler was gone, Nehemiah continued to muse on the subject of Cara. 'It's really my first time meeting such an interesting girl, ' he thought. 'Most women struggle to gain a single ounce of my favor. But... not Cara. She truly is one of a kind.' He was right. She was unique among the women he'd met, totally incompatible with the materialistic society they both lived in. None of the other women were immune to this society, or to the mundane desires they had. Whenever they approached Nehemiah, these women only ever seemed to care for his immense wealth or his love and favor. He was their ultimate desire. But in this situation... Cara was the sole exception. A complete freak among others. He didn't know what she wanted. She didn't seem to want his money nor his love, not even his favor. All she wanted, it seemed, was to get away from him.

But in A City, was it really a good idea to play cat and mouse with a man like Nehemiah? The kind of man who had riches beyond what most people could think of, the most powerful man in their society?

He could find anyone living in this city. Anyone at all. And Cara knew that, but she still tried.

She truly was a fascinating creature.

With all these thoughts swirling through Nehemiah's head, a small, meaningful smile appeared on his lips. Gazing down at a crystal glass he held in his hand, he swirled it, and watched the scarlet droplets of wine cling to the glass' side. A thought formed in his head, clear amidst his vague thoughts about Cara.

He gracefully picked up his mobile phone and dialed someone, and was completely unsurprised to find the other person answer immediately.

From the other end, a voice answered, "Hello, hello, Mr. Nehemiah..."

There was evident excitement in the answerer's voice. Obviously, he hadn't expected Nehemiah to call him, and was eager to receive this call. As he received the call, however, he could feel his excitement mingle with anxiety, causing his voice to tremble a little. These two feelings did not feel good when churned together in the trembling mass of your heart.

"I will attend your daughter's birthday party tomorrow. Get the event properly arranged."

Nehemiah spoke calmly, without a single harsh tone in his dulcet voice, but there was still a clear undertone of threat. He simply had that kind of presence, even over the phone. It was the kind of voice that wanted things done, and done immediately and correctly the first time.

"It will be my honor to have you there, Mr. Nehemiah," cried out the other man in excitement. "I will arrange everything well, don't worry! I will not let you down."

On the other end, Nehemiah smiled crookedly. The other man, the one so excited about him attending a party, was actually a prominent business tycoon in another city. Yet even as rich and powerful as he was, the tycoon acted like a simple child, so eager to please in this simple phone call. It was amusing.

"Alright."

With that single word, Nehemiah hung up, confident that the other man would follow his orders.

Closing his phone as soon as the call ended, the other man snapped his fingers to summon his servants. When they arrived, he immediately set about ordering them. "Make the banquet tomorrow better. More elegant. More impressive. Raise its level, so to speak."

"Yes, sir." His servants bowed to him with respect.

"Tell my daughter to dress up tomorrow," he continued, a gleam in his eye. His staff bowed in affirmation. "She needs to dress as charmingly as possible to impress. Tell her that Mr. Nehemiah is coming."

"Yes, sir!"

Walter Wu thought about his daughter, the birthday celebrant. His daughter had been in love with Nehemiah for a long time now, but of course, she had no chance with him. She was one woman among many other beautiful women he'd met, nothing special to him. Still, old Walter Wu thought his daughter might appear desirable if she behaved properly and gracefully. If she could just become Nehemiah's mistress... the Wu family's business would skyrocket, higher than it ever had been.

Unfortunately for them, Walter's daughter and her entire family were nothing to the owner of the villa at Moonlight Bay.

Speaking of the villa's sole occupant, Nehemiah shifted his attention to a giant screen on the wall, which showed a woman rumpled-looking lying peacefully on the bed. A smile graced his lips, proud and elegant and utterly terrifying.

"You look absolutely terrible asleep," he chuckled, sneering at the slumbering woman.

Even as he mocked her, however, Nehemiah didn't seem to realize how sincere the smile on his face looked. No matter how insulting his tone got, it couldn't hide how real his smile was. That kind of smile was every woman's dream. It was the kind of smile any true photographer would kill to capture in the moment. A true kind of rare beauty.

Meanwhile, Cara was oblivious to everything unfolding around her, ignorant of the camera monitoring her every move. She slept soundly with a sweet smile on her beautifully disheveled face, drool slipping down her lips. It seemed like she was simply dreaming.

"What a charming smile," purred Nehemiah as he watched, still holding the crystal glass and swirling its contents. "Though I don't know if you'll still smile as sweetly as this when you see me tomorrow." He laughed, elegant and proud. "I'm looking forward to it."

As he smiled angelically at the vision of Cara on the screen, he could feel the devil's expectations and desires slowly fermenting in his heart.