Chapter 4 You fought hard

Marco looked up, terrified that they were going to get caught. So he did the next best thing and fled.

"Should we go after him?" White asked.

"Leave him be."

The man, who had no idea that he had been abandoned, hit Ariel in the face and swore,

"You bitch, you should act more submissive." He said but Ariel did not give up and kept struggling. "Stay still."

'I can't give in. Not until someone saves me.' Her thoughts kept reminding her.

"I'll teach you to be submissive in front of a man who still desires your filthy body." He raised his hand, ready to hit her once more but at that moment, his hand got caught in the hair. "Who...?" He looked back, only for his face to squeeze in with a single punch from an unknown figure.

As soon as Ariel saw that someone had finally come to her rescue. Even though she had not yet confirmed whether he was on her side or not, she felt relieved and went unconscious.

"Now, now. Didn't your mother teach you never to hit girls." Came the calm yet terrifying voice of a man wearing an expensive attire and an equally expensive coat hung on his shoulders.

Seeing who it was, the man immediately fell to his knees.

"Mis...Mister Raymond, this... This isn't... This isn't what it looks like." He stuttered. "It's not what you think."

"Oh? Then what exactly do you want me to think after seeing this scene?" He asked and slowly advanced his steps towards a stiff Ariel. "Is she dead?"

"N... No. How would I da...dare kill a person?"

"But you dared to rape her?"

"I didn't. Her boyfriend... Her boyfriend offered her to me. And I... I haven't touched her." He frantically shook his head in his defense.

"And why exactly did her 'boyfriend' offer her to you?" He asked with a soul piercing glare. "I don't want to know what dirty business you're up to and I don't care but do you know that your silly little affairs can ruin my company's image?"

"Please, forgive me just this once. I swear, I... I won't do it again."

"That's enough. Get him out." Raymond ordered and his guards took him out.

Then, he took a good look at the girl on the bed. Her cheeks were bruised and bloody. For some reason, she reminded him of the girl in the alley.

"You fought hard." He mumbled, staring at her without sympathy.

Honestly, it didn't matter to him if a stranger was caught up as a victim of such actions. It wouldn't have bothered him to intervene but for the sake of his company, which was at a critical point, he had to intervene.

Now, he had to dispose of that lowlife that was capable of repeating this action and putting his company's image in jeopardy.

He sighed, ready to leave but her face caught his attention.

"Wait a minute." He seemed to have caught on to more resemblance and looked closely, sliding her hair out of her face. Now that he looked closely, they did look alike an awful lot.

But he was still not certain.

'I guess now I'll liken her with every girl I come across passing through abuse.' He amusingly thought. 'But if I think about it, her lips, her nose and her eyebrows.... No, it was too dark that night and my vision wasn't exactly clear to make it out correctly.'

"Boss." His thoughts were interrupted by the sudden call of his assistants, White. "It's time to go."

"Alright." He took back his hand and cleaned it with a handkerchief. "First, get someone to take her to the hospital. It'll be a pity if she ends up with a disfigured face."

White was a bit surprised that he actually cared about such little things. But who was he to question his master's motives?

"Yes, sir."

Raymond Stein, the illegitimate child of the Stein family. A child who was born from an affair and tagged as a bastard, found his way in the world but just cutting himself away from that family was not enough to be left alone.

Simply bearing that last name, Stein, and having the blood flowing through his veins, were enough reasons for his step mother's faction to go against him and try everything in their power to get rid of him.

He didn't want his father's wealth, neither did he want to be recognized as a Stein nor gain his father's support.

All he wanted now... Was to crush every last one of those bastards that had it out for him. Well, the feeling was mutual on their side since they also wanted to crush him, along with the massive industry he had built on his own.

And thanks to that, he had a bit of trust issues.

"How's what I asked you to look into?" He asked.

"About the girl?"

"Yes."

"I dropped it on your desk this morning. Did you not take a look?" White asked. "I put it in a brown file."

"That was it?"

"Yes, sir."

"I can't go back to the office now. I'll take a look at it tomorrow so make sure to make it as obvious as possible. I might end up skipping it."

"Yes, sir."

"Also," he stopped walking, thinking deeply. "Send that lowlife to a subsidiary company. His skills are useful but I don't want him in my line of sight. He's disgusting. Get him as far away as possible." He instructed.

"Yes, sir."

White always kept a firm and straight face so it was usually difficult to guess what he was thinking. But as long as he did his job well and knew how to speak, there was no need trying to guess his thoughts.

"You won't betray me, right?" He suddenly asked and White answered calmly.

"That's right, sir."

Sometimes, it was almost too frightening how compliant he was. No questions asked even when he did not understand the situation. He was the perfect assistant and secretary.