1.21

"Are you alright?" He asked, clearly confused.

So he hadn't heard my conversation just now.

I scrambled to pick up the phone and hung up the call.

"Yes," I muttered, clutching the sheet around me tighter.

What do I do now? Confront him?

But I was in the middle of nowhere, in his ancestral home, surrounded by the Fu clan. 

He had been lying to me over and over. Proclaiming his love for me, when he knew that the girl he supposedly loved was dead. Yet he didn't care. 

Why?

"You look a bit pale," he reached to touch my forehead causing me to accidentally flinch.

"Luna," he frowned, then steered me to sit on the bed whilst kneeling on the ground before me.

"Who was on the phone just now?"

My brain scrambled to come up with an answer. "Su Meng."

"Why do you look so bad, did you fight?"

Thank you Mr. Liar for coming up with the perfect excuse.

I did my best to put the acting I had practiced into gear. 

"Yes," I bit my lip, " she's angry with me for leaving the company."

He sighed, stroking my arm, "it'll be alright, she'll understand eventually. Even if you've regained your memories, with the Mo clan after you, it's not safe."

I nodded. Just keep talking.

"Just give her some time, she'll come around, she loves you a lot."

Again, I just nodded, letting his tongue wag.

"I have a very important case I have to deal with, will you be alright? Nanny Han is trustworthy, you can rely on her, so don't be shy."

"I will."

He stood up and kissed me firmly on the forehead, "just wait patiently, I will do my best to hurry home, then we'll come up with a plan together with Rui and Meilin okay?"

"To figure out who wants me dead?"

He nodded, "don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you, we'll live a long life and have many grandchildren alright."

Who wants your grandchildren?

"Alright," I replied regardless of my inner cursing.

He seemed somewhat reluctant to part, but still, he did. Once I was certain he was gone I couldn't help but slide off the edge of the bed and curl up into a ball as the tears I'd held in for so long came out tenfold.

***

Gazing at the floating lanterns, my mind ran blank as music played from my phone on the stool beside the bathtub. I lifted a glass of red wine to my lips, trying to soak away my troubles under the bubbles.

It had been almost a week and I had not heard a word from Jianyu or Lixin since. A week for all the negative thoughts to escalate inside me like a snowball to an avalanche.

What was his motive? Why was he pretending to be in love with me? What did he want from this body?

The music abruptly stopped as an incoming video call showed up on the screen. 

Putting the glass down, I lifted the phone, somewhat in a drunken daze. CEO Jiang. I was not sure if I was depressed that he had called or if Jianyu hadn't.

His annoying face showed up on the screen, he was sitting on an armchair, wearing only a navy bathrobe that hung open exposing his muscles. I could swear he had angled the phone perfectly on purpose. Bastard.

"What do you want now?" I growled, feeling all the pent-up rage inside of me wanting to just burst out.

"Have I caught you at a bad time dear?" He chuckled, making me realise the phone was angled a little too low, if not for the bubbles he would clearly see my breasts. I swiftly moved it up so only my face was exposed. 

If I did not know better, I would've sworn this bastard had video called me right now deliberately. Though I bet he was just trying to show himself off. What made him think I'd just come running to him because he'd exposed Jianyu's lies?

There were millions of eligible, single males, just as handsome as these bastards. I'll just get a divorce, move abroad, and maybe find myself some sunny surfer. My mind wandered at the idea of finding a nice tropical seaside to live my days idly by.

"Are you alone?" He asked, rudely interrupting my pleasant dreams.

"Yes."

"Have you thought about what I said before?"

I gritted my teeth, trying my best not to smash my one and only way of contacting the outside world inside my new prison Jianyu had left me in.

"What does he want with me?"

"Come back to me and I will tell you," he smiled smugly.

Oh, System please help me now before I fly into a rage and end this pitiful life.

"Got you," System replied, flooding my body with a peaceful lull.

"If you're not going to tell me then I'm hanging up."

His smug smile turned bitter as he straightened up in his chair, "there are three major Taoist clans. Jianyu is the Fu clan heir, but because of him inheriting the Wu clan gift, it also makes him the Wu clan heir also."

"Oh," So he had both the Fu and Wu clans backing him.

"You are the Mo clan heir…"

"They want to merge the clans?"

"Yes, your child will inherit all three."

I recalled him asking me to come off birth control the night before he took me to get married. 

"Fucking bastard." Though I swore, my voice broke and came out in a pitched whimper.

"Luna," his desperate cry came through the phone as it fell to the floor beside the bath.

My knees rose to my chest as I held them tightly, weeping, uncaring that he was calling for me still.

I trusted him. I almost thought I could love him. There was just something about him that made me want nothing more than to merge with him and never part.

Yet it was all a lie.

He just wanted power. 

Sobering up with the System's help, I calmed down and climbed out of the bathtub, uncaring if Lixin saw me or not, and wrapped myself in a towel before picking up the phone again.

"Come back to me, dear, I'll take care of you, I'll find the one who put that mark on you and get rid of it, I'm perfectly capable of burning all three clans down to the ground for you."

His desperate plea only aggravated me further. Why did I have to rely on him to do all that? Why did I have to be so stupid and weak?

"I'll think about it," I muttered, hanging up quickly to avoid the excited expression at my words.

They're all bastards. They're all lying scumbags. 

My heart raced as I fumbled into some black sports gear.

"What are you doing?" System nagged. 

"I'm leaving."

"That soul is dangerous Host, you should be careful, he was not exaggerating when he told you his strength."

"I know."

"Young Madam," Nanny Han's voice called through the door, "I've made some supper, it's a bit warm tonight, I thought we could eat outside."

Throughout this week I had done my best to get close to nanny Han. Though I could not get through to Jianyu, she could get close to the people around him. I did not have Dr. Wu's number or Mo Meilin's. 

She had treated me warmly and seemed sincere, but I no longer trusted my own judgment. I truly thought Jianyu loved me, look how wrong I was there. 

After putting on a coat and trainers, I walked to the courtyard where she sat at the table waiting.

"Have you heard from Jianyu yet?" I asked. Her anxious expression told me all I needed to know before she could answer. "Forget it," I sighed and dejectedly sat to eat. 

We ate in awkward silence before she started to clear the table, "don't worry, Jianyu will be fine, sometimes these things happen when he's working a case."

I nodded, pushing up from the table without bothering to reply. What was the point anymore?

Pacing the room, I watched the clock tick closer and closer to midnight. My mind plotted the best method of escape.

I picked up my phone with a heavy heart and dialed the number I'd called repeatedly this last week.

It went straight to the answering machine.

"Jianyu," I hesitated, trying to tone down the anger in my voice, "I want a divorce. Unless it's to give me the paperwork, don't contact me again."

I hung it up, and tossed it onto the bed, before throwing myself down to scream into the pillow in frustration. The bastard, the fucking lying, two-faced bastard!

After venting to my heart's content I picked myself back up. 

Jianyu's courtyard was near the bottom of the mountain. Though I'd been kept here, I was at least allowed to wander, so long the guards or nanny Han accompanied me. I'd not once met with the other family members, but had taken note of where they kept the cars.

System assured me it could sense souls around me, so if anyone approached me, living or dead, it would warn me. 

Limbering up, I stretched my muscles, trying to build up my confidence. 

A tall tree was conveniently close enough to the courtyard wall at the side. I climbed it and warily moved along a sturdy branch that was closest to the wall. 

Two guards were at the gate door at all times, Jianyu was sensible enough to guard against his own family. It seemed he trusted that stepmother of his even less than I did.

Taking a deep breath I finally rose from my comfortable branch and jumped at the wall. My hands stung as they gripped onto the edge, then pulled my weight up to fall down the other side. Not my finest moment.

Dusting off the dirt from my backside I avoided the path and walked down the steep woodland, occasionally slipping down sudden dips, until I reached the wall that outlined the compound. I glanced left and right, trying to remember which direction the cars were parked in.

"Two people are coming from behind you," System warned me.

"Shit, System, help," I asked internally.

"Climb the tree and hold your breath," System replied, "I can hide your presence for a short while."

I did just that. The two guards passed silently. They were dressed differently from the two men who guarded the gates. In their robes, they looked like they had just walked off a tv set.

After waiting a while I followed the path they took.

Eventually, I reached a wall, I could hear the faint sound of a car engine on the other side. I climbed the nearest tree to take a look.

It was a walled-in carpark with well over twenty cars currently parked. Near the exit was a guard house with a light shining.

I watched as a guard, dressed similarly to Jianyu's men, parked a black SUV and then walked over to a gate that led to the path nearby me.

"Can you be helpful again?" I asked System, biting my lip with nerves.

The man happily whistled as he typed into his mobile, walking along the path. I held my breath again, to stalk behind him quietly.

Convinced there was nobody nearby enough to hear us, I jumped onto his back and wrapped my legs around his waist and my arms around his neck. 

He let out a grunt as he tried to flip me off, but thanks to Systems power boost he was unable to do so. He struggled to the very end.

"Sorry," I mumbled, searching his pocket for his car keys, and also found a keycard. Then I turned off his mobile to throw it into the darkness.

I paused for a moment, catching my breath, then pulled his body to also hide in the tall grass.

The gate to leave required the keycard, so I quickly opened it and wandered to the guard's SUV, and jumped into the driver's seat. I had never driven before, but Zhiyue had a license and I started the car using her knowledge.

Pressing down onto the gas a little harder than I should have in a panic, I used the remote on the key to open the gates and the SUV flung out of the compound like a bat out of hell.

Following the winding road, I continued to take whichever road led North, remembering we'd headed South when Jianyu had brought me here.

Just under an hour later, the car took a sharp turn to force it to take a different direction than I intended.

A chill crept up my spine as I suddenly realised the car was no longer under my control.