Chapter 1 Take What We Need

It was late into the night, and the lights inside the Lu family villa shone brightly, a stark contrast amongst the otherwise dark street.

As she stood in front of the windows looking out, Janessa Qiu made her last call to Rayan Lu. After a few rings, the call was abruptly ended, as she expected. She took a few deep breaths to steady herself before flinging the phone aside, unwrapping her bathrobe, and stepping into the steaming bathtub. She closed her eyes to rest.

The warmth of the water calmed her, and her eyelids soon grew heavy.

A few years back, her father passed away, and now, her mother was seriously ill. This made her Uncle Aydin started to cause trouble for them. She had been working a few days in a row and she was exhausted by now.

Before she could fall into a deep sleep, she could vaguely make out dull footsteps from outside the room. It seemed close by, but she couldn't bring herself to open her eyes and step out of the bathtub.

When she heard a muffled 'bang', she woke up completely and was suddenly alert.

"Who is it?" she called. Janessa quickly wrapped herself in her bathrobe and hesitantly opened the door with eyes wide open.

The bright light emanating from the hallway made it difficult to see the man's face, and she was terrified of the sudden noise he caused. When she finally recognized his face, her heart skipped a beat.

"Calm down, it's me!" the man drawled. His voice was low and hoarse, and she could smell alcohol from where she stood.

Janessa's tense body relaxed a fraction at the sound of the familiar voice. Out of instinct, she moved back into the bathroom. She warily looked at Rayan Lu, who was obviously intoxicated.

"I'm having a bath right now. You need to leave!" she ordered in a shaky voice. There was a hint of embarrassment in her words.

Rayan's brows furrowed as he looked back at Janessa with hazy eyes. His sharp features had an indescribable expression in them, different from the brooding and domineering expression he normally wore.

With every step he took towards her, Janessa's body coiled in tension, and her breathing soon grew ragged.

Even after all this time, she still couldn't forget what he had done to her on their wedding night. No one should ever feel that kind of pain in their lives.

Rayan swayed as he pulled off his tie and made his way over to the bathtub. He looked down at Janessa and sneered at her. His eyes traveled from her face onto the white, delicate skin of her neck, all the way down to her slender thighs. The vulgar smile on his mouth pulled wider.

"Is it really you? I could've sworn you moved out. Why did you come back?" He bent down at eye level with Janessa and assessed her with cold and fathomless eyes. He was so close to her that their noses touched, and the alcohol in his breath engulfed her senses.

Janessa's lips thinned and she tightened her hold on the bathrobe that covered her. "What do you want?"

When she looked into his eyes, she could see the panicked look on her face reflected in them.

After all their years together, she was still terrified whenever he initiated intimacy with her.

"Are you curious to see what I'm going to do?" The smirk on Rayan's face instantly fell. He clutched the back of her head tightly and bared his teeth at her. "Mrs. Lu, I believe I should be the one asking questions around here! Where have you been all this time? Answer me!"

Janessa shut her eyes tightly and trembled when he raised his voice at her.

She decided to humor him, and explained in a slow voice, "I had something to take care of in the company. I tried to call you, but you didn't pick up." She managed to sound calmer than she felt.

The malicious look in Rayan's eyes faded, and she could tell that he wasn't as furious as he had been moments ago.

He loosened his grip on her, and her eyes slowly fluttered open.

Rayan straightened himself and tossed his coat on the floor. As he unbuttoned his shirt at painstakingly slow pace, he held her gaze. There was a dangerous look in his eyes.

Janessa's heart pounded in her chest. She brought the bathrobe further around herself, to cover as much skin as possible. Her face flushed with embarrassment.

"How about you wait for me outside while I shower? Or would you prefer to shower first?"

Rayan scowled at her words, and he stared at her with stony eyes.

Janessa forced herself to raise her chin and straighten her posture, which sent goosebumps down her arms.

His shirt was unbuttoned halfway at this point, which revealed a strong clavicle that looked enticing under the soft light.

He stepped closer and closed the distance between them.

Before she could register what was happening, she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her shoulder.

He grabbed her neck and thrust her backward, which forced her to lean back. The back of her waist hit the washstand. She grimaced at the pain that bloomed at her hips, but she held back from saying anything.

"Did you think I wanted to be with you?" Rayan growled as he tightened his grip on her shoulder. He turned and looked at her with disgust in his eyes. "If it weren't for my mother's arrangement, do you think I would've chosen to be with you? Janessa, you're something else. How could you even manage to win my mother's heart? You're just a manipulative woman!"

Everyone knew the real reason why they were married, but no one had ever dared to voice it out loud.

This time, he was finally going to say it. What did it matter? There was nothing they could do to change the past.

Janessa scoffed at him, raised her chin, and looked back at him with defiant eyes. "We both know that all we do is take what we need from each other. You're not innocent in this either."

"Take what we need?" Rayan's eyes flashed with fury. He leaned over her ear and said through gritted teeth, "If that's what you think this is, I won't bother wasting another second with you!"

As he spoke, he wrapped his arms around her waist and propped her up on the washstand. He ripped her bathrobe open and kissed her passionately.

Janessa frowned at the way he dominated her. The anger and resentment that had been brewing inside of her suddenly threatened to burst out. She couldn't take any more of the humiliation.

As he continued to kiss her, she fumbled for something behind her and smashed it on his head.

Before she realized what she had done, he fell sideways and hit his head against the shelf beside him.

He attempted to brace himself against the wall to soften his fall, and slowly slid onto the floor. Blood trickled down his head and dyed the water on the floor red.

Janessa shivered as she watched him. When she finally came to her senses, she quickly jumped off the washstand in a hurry. The blood drained from her face as she moved him to turn his face upwards.

In only a matter of seconds, the blood gushed out and quickly soaked his shirt. No matter how many times she called out to him, he didn't respond.

Janessa quickly called the Lu family doctor, Gracie, with trembling hands as she stared at Rayan's limp body on the floor.

"Dr. Mo, Rayan is injured..."

Before she could even finish speaking, the person on the other end quickly hung up and rushed over in less than ten minutes.

When Janessa heard the knock on the door, she quickly wrapped herself in a bath towel and scurried to answer the door.

The doctor didn't even take a second glance at her. She immediately rushed to the bathroom with her medical kit in tow with a frantic look on her face.

Janessa stood frozen at the door as she stared at Rayan. "I tried to get the wound to stop bleeding, but it didn't work. I don't know what to do..." she explained in a shaky voice.