Mr. Vagrant & Miss No Money

"I didn't leak any of the family's business secrets. The massive losses of the company have nothing to do with me; it was her!" Isabella's eyes were slightly red as she defiantly stared at her father, Carlos, her fingers pointing at her stepmother, Regina.

She had heard with her own ears how her stepmother colluded with an insider to embezzle ninety million from the family business. But before she could report it, her stepmother preemptively accused her, framing her for the crime. But she had no evidence, and her father didn't believe her at all.

Now, she just wanted to gamble with her fate. Would her father choose to believe her, considering their father-daughter relationship all these years?

But...

'Smack!'

Father's slap came down hard, causing Isabella to fall to the ground. Half of her cheek immediately swelled high and red, with a trickle of blood at the corner of her mouth.

"Get out, just get out of here! The Riveras don't have a daughter like you!" Carlos pointed angrily towards the door, roaring, his veins bulging on his forehead.

Regina, the stepmother, walked over gracefully, soothing her father's heaving chest with a gentle smile. "Don't ruin your health over this. Isabella is still young and naive. Don't bother with childish matters."

Carlos was furious. "Young? She's 19 already! You spoil her too much. She almost caused our Rivera Corporation to collapse, and now she accuses you!"

Spoil her?

Isabella coldly chuckled at her stepmother's hypocritical and despicable face.

She knew Regina's goal was to make her father hate and despise her, to thoroughly disappoint him, and to push her out of the Riveras. This would allow her stepbrother and stepsister to openly inherit all of the Riveras' wealth.

Her stepsister Cynthia, who had always watched from the sidelines, smirked with schadenfreude, changing her demeanor, timidly grasping her father's hand, pleading with a worried expression. "Dad, please don't be angry. It's my fault for not stopping Isabella earlier. Otherwise, that incident wouldn't have become public knowledge. But she's still your daughter and my sister. Can't you forgive her and let her stay?"

Carlos shook his head. "Cynthia, you're too forgiving. Every time she messes up, you cover for her. She needs to face the consequences of her actions!"

Isabella glanced at her stepsister's fake expression and shivered.

Cynthia was referring to the scandalous photos of Isabella with several men in a hotel that had made headlines. It was Cynthia who had tricked her into going to the hotel, taken and manipulated the photos in secret, and leaked them to the media. This tarnished Isabella's reputation, brought disgrace to the Riveras, and enraged their father, who believed the photos were genuine. Yet, Cynthia managed to evade any blame for the incident.

The sickening act put on by this mother-daughter duo made Isabella feel nauseous.

Isabella rose to her feet, her eyes burning with anger as she stared at her stepmother and stepsister. "Stop pretending. Remember, what goes around comes around. The burden you placed on me, which led to my mother's death, I will repay it to you sooner or later."

Despite her delicate appearance, her voice carried an undeniable sense of menace. Her stepmother and stepsister trembled inexplicably.

Then, she turned to her father, her tone icy. "Dad, I pity you for marrying such a conniving woman."

Her words only fueled Carlos's rage. "You show no remorse. Your mother and sister have been defending you all along, yet you curse them."

With a burst of fury, Carlos lunged forward, grabbing Isabella and dragging her toward the door. "You've brought shame upon this family, nearly bankrupting Rivera Corporation. From this moment on, I disown you. You are no longer my daughter, and you are forbidden from ever mentioning the Riveras again! Get out!"

Bang!

The heavy gates slammed shut.

Isabella stood alone in the raging storm, wiping blood from her lips. The darkness of the night seemed to swallow her whole.

She lifted her face, letting the rain wash over her swollen cheeks.

"Don't cry, Isabella," she whispered, fighting back tears. "One day, the truth will come out, and those who have wronged me will face their reckoning."

She gazed into the endless downpour, thinking of the old house left to her by her deceased grandmother. It was her only sanctuary now.

...

In the suburbs, after stepping out of the car, Isabella hurried toward the dilapidated old house before her.

This was the place where her grandmother had given her a warm childhood, shielding her from misery.

Ouch!

Suddenly stumbling, she was tripped by something underfoot, losing her balance and plunging heavily into the muddy water on the ground.

It hurt!

Grimacing, she rubbed her knee and sat up, instinctively turning back to see what had caused her fall.

At first glance, it seemed harmless, but upon closer inspection, she was immediately frightened and let out a loud scream.

What had tripped her wasn't something, but someone lying on the ground.

"Oh my god, is he dead?" Isabella's hair stood on end as she cautiously crawled closer, her heart racing. But the person moved slightly, and his long, cold fingers grasped her ankle firmly. "Don't leave... help me..."

It was a young man's voice, deep and magnetic, with a slight huskiness, akin to notes flowing from a cello.

Strangely upon hearing this voice, Isabella felt her panicked heartbeats gradually calm down. She carefully examined the man lying on the ground. He was drenched all over, covered in mud, and his pants were dark, seemingly stained with blood.

Glancing around, there was only the endless curtain of rain.

Her grandmother's house was in a remote suburb, so how did this person end up here alone?

Isabella had no choice but to take out her phone and dial emergency services.

"Hello, emergency center?" Before she could finish her sentence, the man suddenly knocked her phone forcefully into the muddy water.

Isabella was stunned, quickly retrieving it, only to find the screen had turned black.

She yelled in frustration, "What are you doing?!"

"I won't go to the hospital." The man's voice was low, his tone icy.

Annoyed and helpless, Isabella retorted, "You're injured, but you refuse to go to the hospital? In this heavy rain, are you just going to lie here at my doorstep?"

"Then take me to your home." The man's tone was decisive, with an intimidating force that brooked no argument.

Isabella bit her lip. His bleeding leg must be genuinely injured. In such a heavy storm, leaving him here would practically be condemning even a healthy person to half-death.

If tomorrow morning, there was a dead body lying at her doorstep...

Thinking about this scenario, Isabella's heart wrenched. She couldn't just watch him die at her doorstep.

Forget it, she surrendered. Let's just bring him home first.

Reluctantly, Isabella helped him up.

The man staggered to prop himself up, his long arm resting on Isabella's shoulder.

She found him really tall. Her slender figure was almost engulfed by him, her shoulder colliding with his solid chest, a faint, refreshing coldness entering her nostrils, pleasant to smell.

***

The room was suddenly illuminated when Isabella switched on the light.

The man lay on the bed, his eyes tightly shut, the glaring light shining on his face.

Isabella was instantly captivated.

She shouldn't be staring at this time, but this man was just too handsome.

His wet hair hung over his forehead, but it didn't detract from his handsome brows and eyes, his straight nose, and smooth lips... His facial features melded together, flawless and perfect.

Despite his pale complexion, it somehow accentuated his handsome face with a sickly beauty.

Although his clothes were smudged with mud and stained with blood, they couldn't conceal the powerful aura emanating from him, making Isabella inexplicably feel that he exuded a noble king-like temperament.

Suddenly, she noticed something sticking out of his chest pocket, and she was curious. She pulled it out and found two soggy pieces of paper.

The papers were soft and damp. Isabella gently peeled them apart and carefully identified them. One turned out to be a shelter card, but the critical information like the name was already soaked and blurred.

A shelter card? Was he a homeless man?

Isabella pursed her lips and looked at him again.

How could a homeless man be so good-looking and have such charisma? His clothes were dirty and torn, but it was evident that they were of considerable value.

Or perhaps, he used to be a big shot, but went bankrupt, so he ended up alone and helpless, eventually wandering into a shelter.

Considering his current situation, Isabella thought her speculation wasn't impossible.

In that case, he was also quite pitiful. Like her, homeless and injured.

Isabella shook her head, then carefully unfolded the other piece of paper.

This piece of paper crumbled at the slightest touch, and after piecing it together for a while, she could vaguely make out a hospital diagnosis, with 'leukopenia' written in the diagnosis section.

Is Leukopenia similar to Leukemia?

No wonder he refused to go to the hospital. A penniless homeless man must owe the hospital a huge medical bill and fled from it.

A surge of immense sympathy welled up in Isabella. She felt that being kicked out of her home was already miserable, but compared to the man in front of her, it was nothing.

At least she was physically healthy, had a place to stay, and still had the opportunity to strive for a better future.

When a girl's compassion overflowed, she would become exceptionally gentle.

Lying on the bed, Lucius naturally had no idea that Isabella had already drawn conclusions about him. So when he opened his eyes, he saw this lovely and beautiful girl frowning, staring at him with pitying eyes, like an abandoned kitten or puppy.

He couldn't help but feel a tingling sensation on his scalp.

Lucius's wound throbbed painfully, and he felt warm liquid continuously flowing out of it. And this woman had brought him home, but now she was just foolishly looking at him. Did she want to watch him bleed to death?

He furrowed his brow and laboriously lifted his hand, pointing to the wound on his leg, his voice hoarse, "Quick, bandage it."

Isabella snapped back to reality, feeling the sharpness of his gaze, and quickly exclaimed, bending down to check his wounds.

Only then did she realize that he had several large and small wounds all over his body, with blood seeping out from his shoulders, back, and legs. Especially the wound on his leg was the most severe, with blood soaking through his pants, staining them red.

Was he hit by a car? But his body was covered in dirt, making it look more like he had rolled down from a mountain and got scratched up.

They all looked very painful!

Isabella sucked in a breath, hurriedly stood up, rummaged through the cabinets, found some medicine, and began binding his leg with a bandage. As she did so, she muttered to herself, "Let me stop the bleeding first. You've lost so much blood, you need to go to the hospital tomorrow."

"No need!" Lucius straightforwardly refused.

Isabella sighed and turned to look at him, earnestly persuading, "I know you have no money. But which is more important, money or life?"

Seeing the transparent expression on the girl's face that seemed to say, 'I knew it all along,' Lucius was stunned for a moment, and a hint of a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

No money to go to the hospital? Hmm, this reason was not bad.

After bandaging the wound, Isabella suddenly paused, panic-stricken, and exclaimed, "Oh no, why is the blood flowing even more?"

Lucius lowered his head to look at his legs, which were hastily wrapped into a large mummy. She hadn't even properly wrapped the wound; instead, due to the pressure of the bandage, more blood flowed from the wound.

He felt speechless, propping himself up and saying disdainfully, "You didn't bind it at the wound site. Quickly take it off."

"Oh, okay," Isabella hurriedly removed the bandage, struggling to unravel it. But the more she tried, the tighter it became, ending up as a tangled mess that couldn't be undone.

Isabella glanced awkwardly at Lucius.

More blood flowed from the wound, making Lucius frustrated. He questioned her with his eyes: Are you trying to help me?

Feeling guilty, Isabella stood up anxiously, saying, "I'll get scissors." However, as she stepped forward, she slipped and fell onto Lucius.

He groaned in pain, his face turning pale.

Covered in wounds and now crushed by her weight, wouldn't she crush him to death?

"Sorry, sorry..." Isabella propped him up, quickly getting up, almost on the verge of tears.

This foolish woman!

Lucius gritted his teeth in frustration. "Cut open the pant leg."

"Okay..." Isabella felt extremely guilty, her voice barely audible.

She cut along the pant leg, revealing bloodied skin, but still no sign of the wound.

Lucius watched nervously, fearing she might cause further harm.

Isabella couldn't help but think, his leg is really long.

Even after cutting open the entire pant leg, the wound still wasn't visible. As she neared the end, more and more blood flowed from near the thigh.

Isabella's hands trembled. The wound was at the root of the thigh.

To bandage it here, she had to cut open his entire pants.

So she had to cut off the waistband entirely.

Inside, shorts were revealed. Isabella accidentally glanced and immediately blushed.

But seeing the bleeding wound on the inner side of the thigh, she ignored her embarrassment and wrapped it with a bandage.

Because of her earlier mistake, this time she was very careful. To prevent any errors, she stayed close to him.

The girl's unique faint fragrance filled the air, momentarily captivating Lucius.

Strange, he didn't feel repelled by this girl at all.

Isabella knelt between his legs, her delicate hands gently touching his skin, like a gentle breeze over a lake, causing ripples.

Her soft and plump body inadvertently touched his leg, her warm breath occasionally blowing onto him, tickling...

Lucius inexplicably shuddered. He didn't expect this slender-looking girl to have such a figure.

Damn it, a surge of heat rushed to his lower abdomen... He involuntarily reacted to a woman for the first time, and in such an inappropriate situation.

Lucius quickly pulled his clothes down to cover.

Luckily, she wrapped it very carefully and didn't notice his change at all.

The girl furrowed her eyebrows, her rosy lips tightly pursed, appearing stubborn yet cute.

This stubborn look, paired with her beautiful face, was quite amusing and adorable to Lucius. He almost couldn't resist reaching out to pinch her.

This time, the bandaging was very successful, and the bleeding stopped quickly.

Wiping the sweat from her forehead, Isabella breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "What's your name?"

***

Lucius was stunned, staring at her for a while before answering, "I don't know."

"Ahem, you don't know?" Isabella was choked by saliva, seeing him so serious, it didn't seem like a joke.

Did he have amnesia?

She suppressed her ominous feeling and patiently coaxed, "Think about it, how did you get injured? Why were you lying at my doorstep? Where did you live before?"

Lucius looked at her blankly, rubbed his forehead in contemplation for a while, and finally realized, "Oh right, I remember now."

Isabella finally relaxed and comforted him, "Don't rush, take your time."

Lucius looked at her innocently and replied, "Before, you tripped over my head, and I woke up. But now I really can't remember why I was lying in the rain."

In other words, he blamed her for his amnesia because she tripped over his head.

Isabella widened her eyes, clenched her fists, and shouted angrily, her voice ninety degrees higher, "You liar, are you a scammer?!"

Not only did he have amnesia, but now he's also blaming her!

Indeed, one should never meddle in other people's business. She really wished she could throw him out immediately.

Seeing trouble brewing, Lucius quickly pretended to groan in pain, clutching his head. Then, he conveniently fainted.

Isabella couldn't move him and was hopping mad.

Lucius closed his eyes and calmly thought: Anyway, I'm injured, it's pouring outside, it's the middle of the night, this little girl won't kick me out. I'm right to be injured!

This really hit Isabella's weak spot.

Even if he was a scammer, she couldn't leave someone with a serious illness and nowhere to go out in the stormy night.

So the next day, when Lucius woke up, he found that Isabella had also carefully treated the other small wounds on his body.

The girl curled up on the sofa, sleeping heavily, obviously exhausted.

Seeing the blood-stained clothes he changed out of, Lucius frowned, his gaze becoming unusually sharp.

Yesterday's injuries looked scary, but fortunately, they were just superficial wounds and not serious.

Who was trying to harm him?

Flashbacks of those thrilling scenes flashed through his mind:

The unconscious driver, the out-of-control brakes, the car rushing towards the cliff, the car exploding...

Life and death were on the line, he relied on his agile skills to jump out of the car, narrowly escaping death.

Collisions, rolling down the hillside, scratched and stabbed by sharp rocks and bushes.

Not daring to stay, he forced himself to walk, fainting in the pouring rain.

Until he met her...

Lucius shifted his gaze to Isabella's sweet sleeping face, his dark eyes shining like stars in the night sky.

His disappearance and presumed death were such big events that his family wouldn't openly search for him to avoid causing chaos, but the whole City would surely be turned upside down.

The people in the family who tried to harm him hadn't surfaced yet. If he showed up, it would definitely alert them. It would be even more difficult if the mastermind hid again, even more dangerous.

It's better to let them think he's dead. It's not only safe but also a way to lure the snakes out of their holes.

Having made up his mind, Lucius smirked, glancing at Isabella, "The more he look at this girl, the more pleasing she is. She's the best choice. He'll stay here from now on."

Suddenly, Isabella opened her eyes, catching his sneaky glance, and asked without any hint of subtlety, "Scammer, you seem quite happy, don't you?"

Lucius didn't avoid her gaze but calmly replied in front of her, "No, no, no, I-I'm just... in pain all over!"

Isabella looked astonished. She couldn't believe there was someone in this world who was shameless enough to take advantage of others and then act cute.

She walked over, arms crossed, one hand under her chin, staring at Lucius with a half-smile, half-smirk. "If you were honest with me and told me you were wandering around, sick and homeless, I might have sympathized with you and even taken you in."

Lucius, hearing this, thought these reasons were too good to pass up and hurriedly nodded. "Yeah, homeless with a terminal illness, and then you kicked me and made me lose my memory."

Isabella's eyes narrowed, she gritted her teeth, and leaned closer to him. "But you're pretending to have amnesia and scamming me to take advantage of me. No way." Then she pointed outside to the bright sunshine. "You can leave now. The weather is nice today."

Lucius didn't say anything, his pitch-black eyes silently staring at her, his expression resembling that of a wounded child.

Being looked at like that, she began to feel guilty. Why did she suddenly feel like she was some heartless, cold-blooded creature, kicking out a poor guy who was sick and homeless because of her?

His eyes seemed to say, "Are you really going to kick out a poor guy who is sick and homeless because you kicked him silly?"

Isabella pursed her lips, finding it hard to utter another eviction order.

Seeing her bowing her head in silence, Lucius felt delighted. He blinked his magnetic eyes, acted like a sick baby, and said, "I'm thirsty. I want some water." Then he pretended that his wound hurt a lot and that he couldn't move.

A strange sense of guilt arose in Isabella. It was indeed too heartless to force a severely injured patient out to fend for himself.

Lucius didn't speak anymore. Leaning against the pillow, he gently breathed, furrowing his eyebrows slightly. His unparalleled handsome face matched with a pitiful expression, making him seem like a charming and delicate patient, a charming yet vulnerable sick beauty.

Watching him, Isabella's heart raced, almost causing her nose to bleed. She felt an impulse to pounce on him.

No wonder they say looks are justice. This man was indeed a demon, bewitching people's hearts.

Isabella unconsciously brought a glass of water and lightly blew on the rim before bringing it to his lips.

Lucius was very satisfied with her performance. He couldn't help but smile, "I got injured and lost my memory because of you. You'll have to compensate me well in the future."

Isabella suddenly snapped out of her infatuation. Wait a minute, he's the one who pretended to be injured for sympathy. Why should I compensate him?

Damn it, this guy just played his pretty boy card on her, and she fell for it!

The flames of anger surged in her heart. Isabella took a deep breath, stood up, and angrily threw off his blanket, shouting, "Get out!"

The next moment, they were both dumbfounded.

He was... completely naked!