EVERLY!!!!!

He ordered her, and Everly stared at him in perplexity, before snapping back to reality.

"Oh…yes yes. I will go do that now!" She frantically nodded her head, and he let go of her wrist.

She rushed into the bathroom, toward the bathtub, where she breathed heavily, trying to calm herself down.

'Gosh! What a freaky man!'

She thought, forgetting that he could hear her thoughts.

Valerio, who was standing outside, narrowed his eyes with an indifferent expression on his face.

He turned around and ambled toward his bed.

He picked up his phone, and with Siri's help, he dialed Alex's number.

[Master] Alex's voice resounded on the other side of the phone.

"The girl, I need every piece of information on her within 48 hours." He assigned, and obediently, Alex accepted the assignment.

"Don't leave any information out." He added, before hanging up the call.

He let out a soft breath and strolled towards the bathroom.

He walked inside, towards the bathtub, and stopped, unsure what Everly was still doing.

She should be done with filling the tub by now, no?

A slight frown ensued on his face, and he tilted his head to one side.

"What are you doing?" He asked, and Everly, who was trying to set the flower petals into the water, flinched in shock, having not heard him come in.

According to what she saw on the list, he never takes his bath without the very good-smelling red petals inside of it.

"Uh, I was trying to pour the petals into the-"

"Be fast with it." He cut her off and walked over to the ceramic block near the bathtub to sit.

He sat with his legs crossed and arms folded, and Everly, who could feel the tension in the air, cleared her throat as she returned to setting the petals into the water.

She did this for about one to two minutes, and Valerio, who was already irritated by the fact that she was so slow, proceeded to berate her, but she immediately stood up with a smile on her face before he could.

"Done!" she announced.

Having no other choice, Valerio swallowed his words with his lips slightly apart.

He stood up from the block and stepped towards the tub.

He proceeded to unzip his pants, but noticing that Everly wasn't leaving, a bit of bewilderment ensued on his face.

He turned around to face her, and his right brow arched.

"I thought you didn't want to see me naked?"

He asked, and confused, Everly fluttered her eyes at him.

"Wha-"

"You were afraid of undressing me earlier, yet here you are standing to watch me undress. Are you perhaps confused, Everly?"

He asked, and stunned by the deep European accent he used to mention her name, a wave of adrenaline sped down her spine.

Oh, my words...

She exclaimed in her head.

Taken aback by the fact that she pretended not to hear his words, Valerio grabbed the zip of his pants and unzipped it.

He let it fall with a neutral expression on his face, and Everly's eyes instantly dilated to the point that it looked as though her eyeballs would pop out.

She screamed internally, and slowly, with her hands trembling, she began to take a step back until her body hit the door.

She hurriedly stepped out, her face flushed, and heavily slammed the door shut.

She rested her back on the wall, and with her hands closing her eyes, she screamed at the top of her voice, causing Valerio, who was about to step into the water, to flinch.

He quickly turned his head, unsure why she screamed so loudly, but that was not really what made him flinch.

When she screamed, he didn't hear just one voice, but two.

One was more....animalistic, while the other was more human.

His face crinkled in a deep frown, and feeling that it may have been just his imagination, he shook his head and stepped into the tub.

He relaxed inside of it but became annoyed when he realized that he couldn't get rid of the voice.

'It's just my imagination.'

He thought to himself and proceeded to take a bath, but when he looked for his sponge and soap in the usual spot where they always are, he couldn't find them.

Knowing immediately that it was definitely Everly who removed it, anger immediately bubbled inside of him.

"EVERLY!!!!!"

He yelled her name, and Everly, who was still leaning against the wall, jolted in fear.

'Y-yessss." She answered, and with her body trembling a bit, she gulped and grabbed the door handle.

She pushed the door open and stepped inside to see Valerio staring at her with dark shadows above his eyes, showing just how enraged he was.

"Where are my soap and sponge?!" He asked in annoyance, and an awkward smile formed on Everly's face.

"Oh, it's beside the tub. I thought you could reach it there more easily." She explained with a soft smile on her face.

Valerio shut his eyes and let out a frustrated breath.

"Come here." He wiggled his finger at her, and Everly darted her eyes around before slowly walking towards him.

"Lean forward." He ordered her, and the instant Everly leaned towards him, he gripped her harshly by the hair and pulled her face so close to his that she could feel his hot breath smacking her skin.

Her heart thumped so heavily within her that she couldn't even tell if it was from fear or something else.

"Listen very carefully to me! Never move anything in this house without my permission. I organized everything by myself, and you cannot imagine how much it irks me when things are disorganized. Be aware that this is your first and final warning."

He warned, and she frantically nodded her head.

"Yes, I understand." She replied in a trembling voice, and he let go of her hair.

She quickly stood up from the floor and proceeded to rush out of the bathroom, but Valerio's voice had her halt her step.

"Put it back to where you took it from before I throw the sponge at your obnoxious existence!"