My innocent face was exactly why the Thorne family picked me to marry Landon Thorne. The moment the engagement news broke, Landon Thorne publicly vowed he’d torture me to death if I didn’t call it off. I raised an eyebrow, gave his physique a dismissive once-over, and scoffed, “If you don’t manage to kill me, it just means you’re not man enough!” The day after our engagement was announced, Landon saw me take down countless burly men. His cheeks flushed crimson, and his eyes practically glowed as he stared at me. “Hey, goody-two-shoes, those moves were awesome! Teach me, won’t ya?” I pulled a cigarette from my pocket and lit it. “I don’t teach guys who aren’t man enough.” By the third day of our engagement, Landon was practically bouncing, eager to prove he was indeed ‘man enough,’ and came looking for me. Just as he was about to leave his house, he saw me coming to break off the engagement. “I’m the fake heiress. The new real heiress is super sweet, perfect for Landon Thorne.” With that, I turned and walked away with a flourish. Landon practically skipped after me, insisting he only wanted to marry me. I, utterly disgusted, kicked him away and walked off like he was yesterday’s trash. His ‘precious wife’ was actually ditching him, even trying to hand him over to someone else! No way! He vowed to win her back and prove to her that he *was* man enough!
After calling off the engagement, I returned to the Davis family home. The moment I walked through the door, I saw a scene of joyful family harmony in the living room. “Is the engagement called off? You know everything you have now belongs to Chloe. If she weren’t so kind, you’d be out on the streets already!” My father gently served the girl beside him, speaking without even looking up. “It’s off. I know.” Just as I was about to head upstairs, he called out to me again. I thought he’d ask me to join them for dinner. After all, I hadn’t eaten anything all morning; they’d rushed me to go tell the Thornes that I was the fake heiress. “Chloe needs your room. You’ll just have to crash with Buster for a couple of days until the nanny’s room is cleaned out, then you can move there.” I took a deep breath, forced a bitter smile, and nodded. Sure enough, twenty-something years of supposed love, and it still couldn’t compete with the bond of blood. I turned and walked in the opposite direction, toward Buster’s little mansion. Buster is my German Shepherd. Because I loved him so much, I specifically built him a dog mansion. I never thought that spur-of-the-moment decision would lead to *me* living in a dog mansion. Buster and I lay on the same bed, looking at the piles of luggage nearby, a bitter feeling spreading through my chest. The tenderness and attentiveness my father showed that girl were something I’d never seen from him. With me, he was always so stern. He always told me, ‘You’re a Davis, you should contribute to the Davis family.’ Recalling the scene I’d just witnessed, a sharp ache in my chest made it hard to breathe. So, they *could* care about their daughter, *could* be gentle and protective! Maybe it was because we weren’t bound by blood that they had no qualms about seeing me as a commodity, to be sold to whoever offered the highest price. Lost in thought, a call from my colleague pulled me back to reality. “Captain Hayes, suspect spotted at 99 Green River Road.” “Copy that.” I hung up, sprang to my feet, and ran out. Usually, I’d climb over the wall to avoid questions at this hour. But now that I wasn’t their daughter, they wouldn’t care when I left anymore. My colleague had spotted the suspect inside an upscale bar on Green River Road. The music inside the bar was deafening. To hear anything, we had to lean in close to talk. As my colleague was briefing me, Landon Thorne stormed over. He inexplicably shoved my colleague away and swung his fist toward his face. Just then, my phone vibrated twice. Another colleague had sent the signal. I waved my hand, signaling my team to move. Landon, seeing this, burst into a furious rage. Fearing he’d alert our target, I delivered a swift chop to his neck, knocking him out cold. Before he passed out, I heard his heartbroken murmur, “Harper Hayes, you’re breaking off our engagement for *him*, aren’t you?!” With Landon unconscious, I dragged him into a private room next to the suspect’s. After the suspect was apprehended and taken away, I returned to the room and hoisted Landon over my shoulder. “Typical Captain Hayes, always so tough! Is that your fiancé? He looks a bit weak!” a nearby colleague teased. I shot them a glance, my lips pressed thin. “Don’t talk nonsense. He’s not my fiancé anymore. And hand me a cigarette, I’m out.” My colleague seemed to remember something and slipped a pack into my pocket. “Captain Hayes, some things are better left behind. And try to smoke less.” After saying goodbye to my colleague, I found a nearby hotel and settled Landon there. With my hands free, I lit a cigarette. As I exhaled a cloud of smoke, I remembered how he became my fiancé.
The news of an engagement with a major player from the city’s elite circles had completely blindsided me. Everyone in our circle knew Landon Thorne suffered from severe rage issues. Not long ago, he’d beaten some rich kid into the ICU just because the guy rolled his eyes at him. The guy was still there, barely clinging to life. And I, well, I was pretty much his match. But my parents were lightning fast with their PR, terrified that my true reputation would get out and lower my market value. So, the outside world thought I was a timid, cowardly, easily controlled goody-two-shoes. They say two powerhouses couldn’t coexist. With our personalities, either I’d end up killing him, or he’d end up killing me! But the Thorne family offered so much, my parents didn’t hesitate to push me forward. The day the engagement news spread, my parents lectured me all morning. To make me change my ‘bad habits’ and become a lady, they not only confiscated my treasured possessions and cigarettes but also put a limit on my bank card. I wasn’t the only one unhappy with this engagement. The Thorne heir was even *more* displeased than I was. While I was being driven mad by our etiquette teacher, he was smashing everything in his house over the engagement. I heard five or six house staff were injured, and he didn’t even spare his own father. When I saw that news, I bared my teeth and let out a laugh. The moment I laughed, the etiquette teacher’s ruler smacked my hand. “What kind of laugh was that? You should never show your teeth when you laugh.” I immediately wiped the smile off my face, adopting the prim and proper look of a good girl. My father, watching from the side, looked pleased. He dismissed the etiquette teacher and walked over to me. “Keep that obedient look. The Thorne family chose you because you’re ‘obedient.’” I nodded dismissively. “Go, take these gifts to young Master Thorne. Make a good impression on him. The future of the Davis family completely rests on you.” Make a good impression? Oh, I’d definitely make a ‘good impression’! To get it over with, I promptly sold the expensive gifts my father bought to Landon Thorne’s buddy at a tenth of the price, then had him take me to Landon. He led me to a private room in a bar. The noisy music of the bar couldn’t drown out Landon’s furious shouts. “That old man’s addicted to matchmaking! It’s not enough that he’s meddling in my brother’s marriage, now he’s meddling in mine! Saying he’s found me some ‘goody-two-shoes’ for a wife! Doesn’t he realize I might just play her to death?!” “Tsk, he wants me to go through with this engagement? Fine! Let’s see if I don’t torture her to death!” I pulled open the door to the room and stepped inside, carefully sizing up Landon Thorne. Just a skinny guy, and he thinks he can kill me? “Alright. If you don’t manage to kill me, it means you’re not man enough!” Landon, hearing the challenge to his manliness, grabbed a bottle and lunged to smash it over my head. I sidestepped, picked up a bottle myself, and swung it fiercely towards his forehead. “That’s not a very nice way to say hello!” *CRACK!* Just as the bottle was about to connect with his forehead, it swerved, smashing against the floor instead. Landon clenched his jaw. This was the first time in his life someone had provoked him like this. He raised his fist, ready to strike. The moment he clearly saw my face, his hand froze mid-air. “Is that… you?” Landon’s neck and ears flushed crimson. The man who’d been so violent and ferocious moments ago had transformed in the blink of an eye. “Oops, my bad! Are you okay? Did the bottle hurt your hand? Next time, don’t hit me with a bottle. What if it shatters and cuts you? If you want to hit me, just say the word, and I’ll stand still and let you do whatever you want.” He examined me meticulously from head to toe. Seeing no injuries on me, he let out a sigh of relief. His buddies stared blankly at Landon’s sudden personality shift, then one meekly spoke up. “Uh, Landon, didn’t you just say you were going to play her to death…?” “I was going to play *who* to death? …Wait, is she my fiancée?!” All his buddies nodded. “This is *perfect*! And I never said anything about playing anyone to death! Don’t slander me!” I blinked, momentarily unable to process what was happening. He knew me? And what kind of personality flip was this? He wasn’t going to kill me if I married him? What was going on? Remembering all this, a smile tugged at the corner of my lips. His face changed faster than a chameleon, almost like he’d studied method acting. It was… entertaining. The way he’d desperately tried to avoid our engagement was still so clear in my mind. Now, it seemed he was getting exactly what he wished for. After settling him in, I stood up to leave. But a burning hot hand gripped my arm tightly.
“Please, don’t go!” A whimpering sound, like a small, distressed animal, came from Landon. Trapped in a nightmare, he mumbled incoherently. He looked exactly like Buster did when he was a puppy. I instinctively patted Landon’s head, trying to make him settle down. Only after I did it did I remember he wasn’t a dog. Good thing he was still unconscious, or with his temper, he’d probably throw a fit. Suddenly, a strong pull on my wrist sent me tumbling onto the bed, caught off guard. Landon let out a muffled grunt as I landed on him. His eyelashes fluttered. I lay sprawled on top of him, and where our skin touched, there was an intense, burning heat. Perhaps it was nervousness, or maybe guilt, but my heart started beating inexplicably fast. Something hard pressed against my hip, jolting me out of my daze. “What’s that?” I muttered, reaching down to move whatever was digging into my left hip. The moment my hand touched it, the person beneath me went incredibly rigid, and the heat beneath my palm was astonishing. When I realized what I had touched, I instinctively recoiled, a flush of heat rushing straight up to my ears. “Harper, I told you I was man enough! Are you… satisfied with what you touched…?” Landon had woken up at some point, and his warm breath caressed my ear, sending shivers down my spine. I sprang to my feet, backing away several steps, my words stumbling out in embarrassment. “You, you, you… when did you wake up?” At my question, Landon clearly looked uncomfortable. His face was beet red, practically dripping blood. The man who’d been speaking so smoothly just moments ago was now stammering. “Just, just now… yeah, just now, when you landed on me!” Normally, I could see through his lies in a second, but at that moment, I had no mind to try and read the micro-expressions on his face. “Oh, I see. Well, um, sorry, I didn’t mean to. Anyway, I have something to do, so I’m heading out.” I admit, running away might be shameful, but I was afraid if I stayed another second, he’d ask something else. To be safe, it was better to retreat. Landon watched my retreating back, a part of his heart sinking. He pulled out his phone and opened his photo album. The woman’s silhouette in the album overlapped with the person who had just left. He’d taken that photo in a desolate wilderness in the Mojave Desert. His companions had deliberately abandoned him, driving away and leaving him alone on an empty road. He didn’t know how long he’d walked. The sky had turned pitch black, and sand swirled violently ahead. He thought he would die there. In his despair, a hand reached out to him. “Hey, get in. It’s not safe out here.” The woman’s melodious yet serious voice descended upon his world like a savior. He stared blankly as she pulled him into the vehicle. The SUV sped across the desolate highway, only the woman’s stern admonishments filling his ears. “Who gave you the guts to cross the Mojave Desert without permission? Are you thrill-seekers trying to get yourselves killed?!” “Do you have any idea that if I’d been a minute later, that tornado up ahead would’ve taken your life…?” The woman said a lot, and though he didn’t hear a single word, her voice and face were deeply etched into his mind. For the first time in over twenty years, his heart pounded violently for a girl. He was taken to a remote ranger station in the desert. After getting out of the car, he was left behind by the woman. It was then that he took that photo. He still remembered what everyone there called her: “Officer Hayes.” After that mission, I moved out of the Davis family home. As the Davis family watched me pull my suitcase away, my father off-handedly remarked,
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