Chapter 2

Nate looked down at me with an intense scrutiny, as if trying to confirm something.

Chris, noticing his silence and misinterpreting it as dissatisfaction, hastily added, "Mr. Adams, Juliet is still a virgin. She will definitely please you."

To prove that what he said was true, he even reached out his hand to try and pull off my thin silk nightgown.

Before his hand could even touch me, Nate grabbed his wrist.

"Get lost." Nate's voice was deep and hoarse, conveying an unmistakable command.

Chris was stunned.

Nate tossed Chris aside like he was throwing away trash. The force was so great that Chris stumbled and crashed into the wall.

Cathy let out a short, sharp scream.

The atmosphere in the room turned tense and strange.

Nate continued to stare at me.

More precisely, he was staring at the necklace I was wearing around my neck.

It was a small platinum pendant shaped like a raven holding an olive branch.

It was a gift my father gave me on my 18th birthday.

Nate crouched down, leaning in closely to examine the barely visible family crest on the pendant. His breathing grew heavy.

Chris climbed back to his feet, his face a mixture of confusion and panic. "Mr. Adams, what are you doing..."

"Shut up!" Nate suddenly turned around and roared at him.

The intense aura of violence emanating from him instantly turned Chris and Cathy's faces pale.

Nate turned back to me, his eyes shifting from confusion to fear.

He cautiously extended his hand, as if wanting to touch the pendant, but hesitated.

His fingers stopped very close to the pendant, trembling slightly.

Chris was completely confused.

He couldn't comprehend why this mafia boss, who could shake an entire cruise ship, would look at my necklace as if he'd seen a ghost.

In a moment of sheer folly, he made an even stupider decision and pointed at me once more. "Mr. Adams. Is there something wrong with that necklace? I'll take it off right away. She's just the daughter of an ordinary family. It must be a fake she bought from a small store. Don't be fooled by her."

He thought he was helping Nate, trying to distance himself from me.

Little did he know that, with those words, he had just sealed their fate for both himself and Cathy.