My Darling, My Dearest

There were no other words to describe it. It was disgusting.

It was impossible for Rachel to stay polite. With a disgusted expression, she took up Lea's coat, stood up and walked out without saying a word.

"Hey!" the man called out, getting up to pull her back. He hadn't expected Rachel to act like this.

Rachel nimbly dodged out of his grasp. She turned around and sneered at him, and looking him up and down. "I've had enough of this," she said, with icy-cold hostility. "I don't want anything more to do with you. Don't you dare take a step closer."

"Damn it!" Several different emotions passed through his face as he stared fiercely at Rachel. "You bitch! You're going to regret this!"

Rachel clutched Lea's coat more tightly in her hand as she leveled her gaze with his. When he was out of sight, she took a couple of deep breaths to steady herself.

One of the reasons why she hated this place so much was that with so many people gathered together in one place like a can of sardines, it was easy to get on each other's nerves. What was more, when alcohol was brought into the equation it worked everyone up, making matters even worse.

Men who had lost their sober self-control had two things in common: They would behave more arrogantly, and they were raging with testosterone. ■3

After Rachel finally calmed down, she sat back with a sigh. She then raised her hand impatiently to glance at her watch.

The last time she came here with Lea, she had been approached by strangers countless times. She was only able to drive them away by rejecting them unambiguously.

They had not intended to go to a bar with that sort of bad crowd. Even though it was a fairly high-end bar, it was full of dodgy men.

It wasn't a good place to go if you just wanted to be left alone. No matter how classy the bar might appear to be, there was never any guarantee of classy customers.

There are always plenty of boors and morons in this world, the sort of losers who like to play toy with women whenever they find an opportunity to do so, as if they think that the world is theirs. Shortly after that unpleasant scene, Rachel ran into some more trouble.

It happened when Rachel went to the bathroom. Turning around, she sensed that something was wrong.

She lowered her eyes and hurried up. Unsurprisingly, someone behind her kept pace.

Rachel had no time to escape. She was blocked in the middle. She looked warily at the stranger in front of her and stepped backward.

He smiled stiffly and said, "Ms. Shen, don't walk backward. There's someone behind you."

Rachel turned around and found there was another man in black, at the end of the corridor. She was trapped.

Hearing that he addressed her by name, Rachel's face darkened. How did he know her?

She made a strong effort to calm down. "I'm sorry. What can I do for you?"

The man still looked coldly at her with his poker face. He forced a smile and said, "Our boss wants to see you."

"Excuse me, who is your boss?" Rachel put her hands in her pockets and fumbled for her phone. But unlike the old Nokia, she couldn't press the unlock code on this damn smartphone without looking at it. Why did these creeps want? Rachel was extremely nervous, and her emotion showed clearly on her face. The stranger saw it, and he said in a low voice, "Don't worry, my boss only wants to see you. He will do you no harm."

Rachel took a deep breath and looked at the man in front of her. "May I know your boss's name?" she asked. "It makes no sense for me to visit someone without knowing who he is." Surprise flashed through the man's eyes. He didn't expect her to have such a sharp mind in such a situation.

He kept silent for a while and said, "Our boss is Mr. Fu's friend and he doesn't mean to harm you. He just wants to ask you to have a chat with him."

Hearing that, Rachel's face became a little more serious. What the hell? Were they using her to get to Jack? ■3

She collected herself and said, "really? But I'm afraid I don't know Mr. Fu very well, let alone his friend.

Thank you for the invitation. I'm afraid this is rather awkward. I will inform Mr. Fu when I see him."

As soon as Rachel said that, there was a look of uncertainty on the face of the man before her. She knew that it was not a good day, and that it wouldn't be easy to get out of this.

As she expected, the man facing her slowly revealed his anger, staring at her rudely, and said, "Ms. Shen, don't make it difficult for us. We're just here to have a chat. If you cooperate, we promise not to do anything. I hope you won't make things difficult for me. I'm so sorry."

Rachel's eyes suddenly flashed with alarm when she saw the cold light of the man's knife. She pursed her lips as a shadow of fear crossing her heart.

At that moment, she made a surge of effort to be tough-minded. She knew she wouldn't get out of this by being weak.

She closed her eyes for a few seconds, and it occurred to Rachel that it was a waste of time talking with them or trying to be polite.

Rachel suddenly regretted that she had never learned any self-defense or martial arts. Fler brain raced for a way to save herself. She opened her eyes and said calmly, "Let's

ΛΑΪ

go.

She didn't believe a single word said by the man in front of her. She planned to shake him off ■3

and rush away from him into the crowd.

Unfortunately, her little plan was anticipated by the men around her.

When Rachel agreed to leave, the man behind her quickly came up. The two of them sandwiched her, one on the left and the other on the right. A chill crept up her spine. She tried to calm down and communicate with them. "What are you doing? I have been cooperating."

However, the men next to Rachel responded to her with a little expression of mockery, and they kept two sharp knives against her waist.

Obviously, they didn't believe her. "Please just cooperate with us," said one of them.

Rachel knew that if she showed any resistance,

both of them would kill her. Her intuition made her sure of this.

She really cursed herself for going to this bar. It was the worst mistake she ever made!

Holding her in their arms, they walked her towards the door. Rachel was still unwilling to give up. She had an idea of crying for help when they reached outside. However, they turned right and walked into a quiet corridor with few people.

It was a little far away from the noisy dance hall. Few people came there. There were just two couples talking in a low voices on the corner.

The strange sight of the men walking closely ■3

together with one woman between them seemed strange to the couples there. But when they saw the nonchalant faces of both men, they turned their glances away.

Rachel had no choice but to follow them stiffly and go up the stairs.

She didn't know where the two were taking her, nor did she know who their so-called boss was.

Rachel was still trying to pull herself together and calm down, so that she could find a way to get out of this situation.

They led her to a private room on the second floor. Before they entered the room, Rachel looked around to see if there was a sign hanging outside.

But there was no time to look carefully. The man behind her extended his long arm and opened the door. Then he led her into the room. When she went in, the lights from the ceiling lamps shot straight at her face. She involuntarily closed her eyes.

Just as they went in, the music stopped. When Rachel opened her eyes again, she saw several pairs of eyes staring at her.

They were like monsters dancing wildly in a cave. When they saw their prey enter the cave, they all stopped in unison and stared greedily at their prey.

The man behind Rachel gave her a gentle push, and her heart was pounding wildly. She walked forward, feeling more nervous with every step. Within just two or three steps, her back was already drenched in cold sweat. ■3

Several people were on the sofa, with the position of their bodies contorted and askew. The air was hard to breathe. With its mixture of perfume, alcohol, and smoke, it was like a suffocating poison. The lights in the room were already so dim, and more so when they even turned off the revolving lamp. From where Rachel stood, it was impossible to see their faces clearly.

However, she could intuitively sense their hostile intentions. Rachel was like a little animal that had accidentally fallen into a trap, so it was useless for her to struggle. She had fallen into their net. Rachel fidgeted slightly, but stopped moving forward. She stood stiffly and breathed heavily, looking warily at several people in front of her whom she couldn't recognize.

After a short while, the dangerous tension in the air was broken. In the dark, someone lowered his head and lit a cigarette. Then he played with a lighter and burst into laughter. "Is this the way how you treat our guest? It seems that this lady is scared. Come on, turn on the light."

The soft light was turned back on, and the room was lit up. There were about five or six people sitting on the sofa, who all looked at Rachel with inscrutable eyes.

Some smiled, some had poker faces, and some just observed the drama. Rachel fixed her eyes on the man on the far right, who had a cigarette between his fingers. ■3

The man who had spoken first in the darkness finally showed his face. What Rachel saw was a narrow face topped by a buzz cut, with a foxlike twinkle in his long and narrow eyes. He slowly stood up from the sofa.

He was tall and slim, similar to a model. Wearing a smoky gray sweater, his collar was unfastened casually, and the necklace around his neck slid down into the depths of the collar.

He gazed at Rachel with a mysterious smile on his face. He picked up the cigarette in his mouth and bent over to put out the cigarette in the ashtray.

The room was in dead silence, and the man's sudden voice was so abrupt.

He exhaled a light smoke from his mouth, glanced at Rachel, and walked over to her. He looked down at her with a contemptuous smile on his lips. "Ms. Shen?"