Take My Breath Away

Chapter 18: Kneed

With a sneer, Carlos stopped what he was doing and pressed his head against hers. "You are too young to be doing this. Are you this desperate for money? How much is one night?"     

Money was the least of his problems. Even if he stopped working at that very moment, he would still have enough money to spend for the next 300 years.     

For a moment, fire spewed out of her eyes. Clenching her fists tightly, she took deep breaths to refrain from losing control. She forced a smile. It was a faint one, and in an instant, it was gone. With her disheveled hair and her ragged breathing, Carlos found it enticingly beautiful.     

"100 million," she said through gritted teeth. The light in his eyes grew colder. "Are you kidding me? You?"     

Never in his wildest dreams did he imagine that he would have to spend a dime, let alone a million, just to sleep with the woman he so despised.     

Ironically, some time later, when the time came that he did want to sleep with her, she would not even so much as spare him a glance. He just did not know that yet. He was, possibly for the first time, caught in such an odd dilemma.     

Debbie smiled wanly. "Mr. Huo, hear me out," she said.     

But he shook his head once. "I'm done with talking. Let me see if you're worth it," he countered. Whatever it was that she wanted to say, Carlos already knew that it was not worth hearing. Thus, he was not stupid enough to let another word escape her mouth.     

'Damn!' Debbie cursed internally. 'You evil man!'     

Trying to maintain her smile, Debbie wrapped her arms around his neck. In the dark, their bodies appeared to fit perfectly like a puzzle as she pulled his body close to hers. The air in the room was so tempting. For a moment, Carlos seemed to be consumed with lust again. With her lips dangerously closing the gap between them, Debbie had him right where she wanted. Suddenly, she lifted a leg and kneed him in the groin.     

Groaning, Carlos closed his eyes in pain and bent down on the floor beside her.     

This time, the glint of happiness in Debbie's eyes was genuine. 'Did you really want to take advantage of me? Hah! Not going to happen, ' she thought. "Mr. Huo," she remarked, "I was trying to tell you that, even if you were to give me a hundred million..." She paused, and then flashed a scornful look. "...I would not sleep with you." Debbie fixed her wet dress casually. Then, she looked down at the man, and said, "See ya."     

When she turned to leave, however, Carlos grabbed her by the arm, his pale face filled with pain. With a raised eyebrow, she shoved his hand away, opened the door, and disappeared from his sight.     

At the moment, the lady with a smug face might feel great about what she had just done. But in the future, if and when she would meet Carlos again, she might as well escape as fast as she could. Why? Because he was not going to forgive her without a payback.     

Not far from the room, Curtis, Colleen, and Jared were biding their time with some security guards. If Debbie had stayed inside any longer, Curtis would have had to break in to get her. Fortunately, just as he was about to make a move, the lady in question emerged from the room.     

"Debbie!" Curtis called.     

"Tomboy," Jared said, relieved. He advanced towards her, and pulled her into his arms. "Thank God, you came out. We were going to break the door open!" Then, it dawned on him. He examined her carefully, and asked, "Did Carlos hurt you?"     action

"No," she answered casually. 'If only you guys knew that he's the one who's hurting right now, ' she thought, gloating inwardly.     

Suppressing a smirk never felt more difficult for Debbie than that particular moment. She cleared her throat, and glanced at everyone.     

They were simply relieved to hear her reply. So much so, no one noticed she was stifling a laugh.     

After taking one look at Debbie, Colleen took her into the lounge to change her clothes. Once the young university student was all cleaned up, Colleen and Curtis escorted Jared and her off the cruiser. They felt it was necessary in case they found themselves in trouble again.     

"Have a good rest when you're back. I'll talk to Carlos later," Curtis informed her. Although he did not know what transpired in the room while they were alone, he was certain about one thing. After what Debbie did at the party, Carlos would not just forget it, and it would cost her.     

"Thank you, Mr. Lu, and Colleen. I'm sorry I ruined your party," Debbie apologized. It was not until then that she started to feel terrible for ruining the Lu Group's party. Once again, she fell prey to Carlos' insensitive words which led her to react irrationally. Now she realized that she should have just ignored him.     

"Don't worry about it. I'll take care of it," Curtis declared genuinely. "Now, go back and have some rest."     

"Thank you, Mr. Lu. Good night," Debbie replied, giving a rueful smile.         

As soon as they got in, the Mercedes slowly drove away. When the car was no longer within sight, Colleen interlocked arms with Curtis, and asked, "Curtis, why didn't you just tell her the truth?"     

The memory of an utterly confused Debbie played in his mind. He could not help but find it funny. "It's not the time yet," he answered.     

Shrugging, Colleen replied grudgingly, "Fine."     

With her hand in his, they went back to the party.     

Much later, when Curtis found Carlos, the latter was having a smoke in the dim room while staring at the dark sky through the window. Despite noticing Curtis step in, the man neither moved nor spoke.     

"Carlos, she is young. Don't be mad at her."     

The man's silence was the only response he got, because, secretly, Carlos was still in a lot of pain. By the looks of it, Carlos surmised that Debbie had not shared the most recent stunt that she had pulled on him.     

After a pregnant pause, Carlos began, "I'm not mad at her. Not even a little."     

Poor Curtis. He did not even sense the sarcasm in his tone. The man nodded in relief. Turning to look outside once more, Carlos took another drag on his cigarette.     

The ZL Group was more than efficient with the investigation. Within two short days, Gail's actions were discovered.     

As a result, she was expelled, with no chance of returning again. In addition, because of the high-reaching influence of the Economics and Management School of Y City University, no other school would ever admit any students who were expelled from it. This meant that the days of Gail as a university student was officially over.     

The incident was quite sensational in the university. Debbie, however, was not as surprised as the others. Making a video and playing it at the launch of the new products by ZL Group sounded pretty much like Gail's style.     

The foolish girl brought it all on herself when she tried to ruin Debbie's life.     

However, as much as Debbie wanted to see the girl punished for her actions, she thought of her aunt and uncle-in-law who were likely devastated by the news. With a helpless sigh, she decided to pay them a visit and console them.     

When she did enter the house, however, it was just as she had assumed. Sebastian Mu, Gail's father, was in a huge fit of fury. "Look at what you've done! How did I have such a dumb daughter as you?" he bellowed. "Thanks to you, not only is your future ruined, but now you've put my company in jeopardy as well! It's bad enough that you constantly pick on Debbie. But this time, you chose to mess with Mr. Huo!"     

One of the housemaids brought Debbie into the living room. Due to everyone being caught up in the moment, no one noticed her presence. On the couch, Gail was weeping with her face covered with her hands. Beside the distraught girl was her mother, Lucinda Nian. Gaunt and miserable, Debbie's aunt had her head propped in one hand. The long green overcoat made her look paler than usual.     

After letting out a sigh, Debbie called Sebastian Mu lightly, "Uncle."     

The older man stopped berating his daughter upon hearing her voice. In a matter of seconds, his facial expression turned from anger to guilt when he saw Debbie. "Oh, Debbie, how long have you been here?"     

At the same time, Lucinda Nian woke up from her thoughts. Eyes growing wide with recognition as she turned to look, the mature woman got to her feet and walked to her niece. She took her hand into her own lovingly, looked at Debbie up and down, and asked her out of concern, "Debbie, how are you? Did Mr. Huo..."     

Even though Lucinda Nian did not finish her question, Debbie already knew what her aunt really wanted to ask. Both her aunt confession of love to Carlos as well as what happened on the cruiser had reached the ear of practically everyone in the upper-class world.     

Shaking her head in response, Debbie was about to say something when Gail cut in, "Why are you here? Did you come to mock me? You Know what! Get out! You're not welcome here!"     

"Gail Mu, shut up!" Sebastian Mu yelled, boiling with anger. Being spoiled had made his daughter become such a disrespectful and ungrateful girl. Deep down, he felt like he was to blame for having enabled her bad behavior to go on neglected for too long.     

The stern expression on her father's face caused Gail to lean back, her head lowered timidly, but the look she shot at Debbie was a resentful as ever.     

'It was her fault that Mr. Huo was furious at me and got me expelled. Why do I have to sit around and watch her grovel for my parents' attention?' Gail thought to herself.     

By now, Debbie was used to Gail's irrationality. So, she ignored the death glare that was boring holes into her face and walked over to Sebastian Mu. Tugging at his sleeve, she began, "Uncle, don't be mad. I'm actually here because I was worried about Auntie and you."         

Truthfully, Debbie was more concerned about his health. Ever since she was little, she knew about Sebastian Mu's high blood pressure and myocardial infarction.     

Looking a little worn out, Sebastian Mu sat back on the couch and let out a long sigh. 'When will Gail ever be a good girl like Debbie?' he thought. If his daughter could even be half as good as his niece, that would make such a huge difference.     

While Sebastian Mu appreciated Debbie's concern, Gail did not like being further painted as a bad daughter. "Debbie, save your hypocritical flattery! They are my parents!" She yelled, standing up with clenched fists.     

"Your dad is dead and your mom abandoned you...Ah!"     

The moment Gail's harsh words left her mouth, she was struck with a stinging slap in the face.