Love Behind the Facade

When Willow woke up, she found herself lying in the mansion’s bed.

From the living room came shrill, pained cries. With great difficulty, she got out of bed and opened the door a tiny bit to see Andrew standing at the center of the living room with the beggars lying by his feet.

Andrew had a knife in his hand as he said coldly, “Which hand did you use to touch her?”

Terrified, the beggars trembled. They did not dare speak.

Andrew sneered. “Looks like you used both hands to touch her.”

The knife went down and stabbed straight into one of the beggar’s hands, who cried out as his blood instantly dyed the floorboards red.

The others were horrified and cried out.

“Left!”

“Right!”

Without hesitation, Andrew ruined their hands.

His friends stood by the side and watched him with complicated faces. “Do you really need to go that far? Didn’t you agree to Eve’s plan?”

“Exactly! Eve pretended to have a sprained ankle so that you could take her to the hospital. That’s how you got a reason to leave. We then excused ourselves and found a group of beggars to force themselves on Willow. No one else was in the club, so no one would answer her cries for help. If Rias Warma learned that some beggars took advantage of his beloved sister, he would be devastated. Why did you suddenly go against the plan and run back? You nearly beat those beggars to death! It’s been a long time since you’ve been so bloodthirsty. You were far too wild back there.”

Hearing this, Willow felt all her strength drain from her, and she nearly collapsed.

She simply could not believe that the beggars were part of their plan.

Eve had whispered to Andrew’s friends, and Andrew’s friends had whispered back to him.

Andrew said nothing and watched coldly as the beggars were dragged out.

His friends stared at each other. It only made Andrew’s expression turn even more dour.

Finally, one of his friends was unable to hold it in any longer. “Andrew, have you really fallen in love with Willow? If you’ve forgotten, I’ll remind you: she’s your rival’s sister! You’ve been fighting against Rias for years! If you’ve seriously fallen in love with his sister, you’re going to—”

The words made Andrew’s expression darken like a thundercloud. He kicked the tea table, and his voice was laced with rage.

“I don’t like her! If I ever did, I’ll cut my own head off so that Rias Warma can kick it! Happy now?! Get out of my sight! Don’t talk to me for the next few days!”

Once he chased the people away, Andrew walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window and lit up a cigarette.

The smoke curled around him and made his expression look especially somber.

He sucked in a deep breath. The smoke took a trip through his lungs before it wafted back out.

His thoughts were a mess as he recalled how Willow had looked when she was pinned down. Her despair and pain stabbed into his heart like knives.

He could not understand what he felt toward Willow. In the beginning, he had indeed approached her with the sole purpose of using her to seek his revenge on Rias.

So, why did he feel like spilling blood when he saw her being treated that way?

She should not look like that.

Whenever she let him embrace her, she was always so demure. Her eyes were filled with love, and she was like a tamed kitten.

Yet, that day, all that was left in her eyes was fear and despair.

He did not dare think further about this. All this thinking was only making him feel more suffocated inside.

Halfway through the cigarette, he suddenly remembered that Willow did not like the smell of smoke. With a frown, he snuffed out the cigarette on an ashtray.

Then, he tip-toed to the bedroom to not wake her up.

The sound of his footsteps made Willow shut her eyes. She held her tears back as she pretended to sleep.

Her heart raced as she clutched the blankets tightly. She was worried that he would notice she was only pretending to sleep.

Andrew stood by her bed and observed her for a moment before he caressed her head and left.

Over the next few days, Andrew did not go to the company and spent almost every day keeping Willow company.

He spent a lot of money buying all sorts of jewelry for her. Every morning, he gave her a bouquet of flowers. He even cooked for her.

But the sight of the presents on the table brought Willow no joy.

She knew that Andrew was trying to make her happy, but her heart was already as dead as a doornail.

No one talked about what had happened that day, but everyone knew that Willow was unhappy.

She smiled less, and her expression always seemed sad and dull.

Eventually, Andrew was unable to keep his composure. Once, after dinner, he held her in his arms and asked softly, “Babe, I’m sorry for failing to protect you. Could you try to forget about that day? You can ask me for whatever you desire.”

Willow looked into his eyes and whispered, “Whatever I want?”

Andrew nodded. “Whatever you want.”

After a beat of silence, Willow finally said, “I want to know your phone’s password.”