CEO’s Seduction Trap

Leila replied calmly, “My relationship with Mr. Ramirez isn’t at that level.” She couldn’t deny her relationship with Mason. Many people had seen them together on that business trip, and Mason had even intervened to help her with Mr. Brown.

Mr. Brown chuckled knowingly. “I see.”

After ending the call, Leila called the company to request time off. With everything prepared, she opened the navigation and headed towards Hunter’s hometown.

As she drove, Leila texted the unknown number Hunter had used: [Do you really have information about my dad?]

Hunter replied instantly: [Why would I lie to you?]

Leila responded: [Okay. But fifty thousand isn’t a small amount. Give me two days to prepare.]

Hunter, thinking Leila had fallen for his trick, readily agreed: [Sure.]

Closing her phone, Leila’s expression remained indifferent.

Hunter’s hometown was a small county town located several tens of kilometers away from the center of the county. Upon arrival, Leila first found a printing shop and had all the scandalous details about Hunter printed, complete with images and text. She then placed these materials in the trunk of her car and went to a small restaurant to have a meal.

After replenishing her energy, Leila waited until 2 a. m. When she saw that the few households in the village had all turned off their lights, she took out the printed materials from the trunk and stuffed them into the door cracks of Hunter’s relatives’ homes. With everything done, Leila got back into her car and headed back to Neo City.

Leila thought she had executed her plan without anyone noticing, but little did she know that Mason had already received the news.

At 2 a. m., Mason, who hadn’t slept either, sat by the hospital bed, peeling an apple for the “disabled” Caleb. Caleb’s head was no longer bandaged, so he could speak, but his upper body still couldn’t move freely. “Your woman seems to have quite the ruthless methods. Eye for an eye, huh?” Caleb remarked.

Mason remained expressionless. “Is it wrong to seek justice? Should she just let others bully her?”

“Admit it, she’s your woman now?”

Mason paused his apple peeling. “Someone stabbed you. Do you want to retaliate yourself, or do you want me to do it for you?”

Mason’s analogy hit close to home, and Caleb took a bite of the apple Mason offered. “I get it.”

“What do you understand?”

“I get it. You seem naive, but you’re actually quite cunning.”

“Why didn’t Shirley kill you?”

At the mention of Shirley, Caleb grew furious. “I’d be fine if you didn’t bring her up. The moment you mention her, I can’t help but get angry. ”

“She’s just too cautious.”

“Cautious of me? If anything were to happen between us, it would definitely be her forcing on me.”

Mason teased, “I advise you not to have such dangerous thoughts. Judging by your injuries this time, if she really forced herself on you, you’ll die.”

Caleb choked at the remark, shivering all over.

When Leila returned to Neo City, the sky was already bright. After a night of turmoil, she should have been physically and mentally exhausted, but perhaps because she had never done anything like this before, she felt strangely energized. She took a bath, relieving her fatigue, and as she relaxed, drowsiness crept in. She fell asleep straight through until the afternoon.

When Leila woke up, she found over forty missed calls on her phone. Eight of them were from Shirley, while the rest were from Hunter.

Leila decided to call Shirley back. As soon as Shirley answered, she eagerly asked, “Leila, was it you? Did you do it?”

Still groggy from just waking up, Leila replied, “Do what?”

Shirley exclaimed, “Don’t you know? Hunter got beaten up today. Not only that, he also got fired from his newly hired company, and his scandal has spread to all his relatives in his hometown. Tsk tsk tsk, their family’s reputation is in tatters now.”

Shirley’s excitement left Leila feeling perplexed. She knew about what happened in Hunter’s hometown, but she had no idea about the other two incidents Shirley mentioned.

Seeing Leila’s lack of response, Shirley teasingly said, “Are you so happy that you’re speechless?”

Leila snapped back to reality and asked, “How did you find out about all this?”

“In this world, there are no secrets that can’t be uncovered. Let me tell you, my cousin, you know him, right? The one who works at The Ramirez Group and is about to become the one impersonated as your boyfriend.”

Leila suppressed a laugh. “I remember.”

Upon hearing Leila’s response, Shirley continued, “Hunter has a distant cousin who is interning at The Ramirez Group. It turns out that this girl wanted to join the Ascend Group with Hunter before, but Hunter’s mom bullied her.

Now that Hunter’s incident has spread throughout the family, this girl told a few friends about it, and it just so happens that my cousin is one of her close male friends…”

“That’s quite a coincidence.”

“Indeed, truth is stranger than fiction.”

Leila vividly remembered how Hunter looked when she first met him. He was wearing an old yet neatly ironed white shirt and a pair of faded jeans.

She never imagined that in just a few years, Hunter would become the person he is today.

As Shirley was explaining, her office door was knocked. She excused herself and promised to send Leila some photos of Hunter’s beating later.Belongs to (N)ôvel/Drama.Org.

A minute later, Shirley had already sent the photos.

Among the dozens of pictures, Leila recognized a familiar face in the seventh one – Daniel.

In the photo, Daniel stood at the mouth of an alley, wearing sunglasses and covering his mouth with a handkerchief, his expression clearly showing disgust.

Leila zoomed in on the photo to confirm her suspicions. It was indeed Daniel.

Recognizing Daniel and realizing that the alley was in front of her residential area, Leila knew that some things were happened when she was out.

Leila took a sharp breath as she looked at the photo, pondering for a moment before sending a message to Mason: [Did you beat up Hunter?]

Mason replied: [Awake?]

Leila was puzzled by how Mason knew she was sleeping. She was about to ask when his next message came through: [Hungry? Let’s grab dinner together?]

Leila wanted to confront Mason face to face about this: [Where are you?]

Mason replied: [Downstairs, I’m outside your house.]

Seeing Mason’s response, Leila was momentarily stunned. After a moment, Mason sent a voice message. His deep, magnetic voice resonated through her phone: “Come to the window and wave to me?”

Normally, Leila wouldn’t listen to Mason’s request to wave to him. But today was different. She had so many questions and needed answers.

Leila walked to the window and looked down.

In the courtyard, Mason, in his blue shirt and suit pants, leaned against the car door, smoking.

Perhaps sensing something, as Leila looked down, Mason happened to look up.

Their eyes met through the window.

Leila came down to the courtyard about ten minutes later. She hadn’t put on makeup, just tied her hair back casually.

Mason glanced at her, seemingly unconcerned whether she wore makeup or not. He closed his phone, flicked the cigarette ash from his lips, and asked in his deep voice, “What do you feel like eating tonight?”

Mason’s tone was so familiar as if they were old friends.

Leila relaxed a bit and took a shallow breath before saying, “There’s a noodle shop across the street that’s pretty good.”

Mason raised an eyebrow. “Noodles?”

Leila replied, “There’s only that noodle shop nearby that tastes good.”

Mason said, “Can’t we pick a restaurant further away?”

Leila glanced at the time. “It’s late, and I still have a project proposal to work on tonight. If we go too far…”

Before Leila could finish her sentence, Mason chuckled lightly and got into the car. “Let’s go.”

Watching him get into the car, Leila spoke up, “Mr. Ramirez, the noodle shop is just across the street. We don’t need to drive.”

Mason turned back, “Walk there?”

Leila spoke truthfully, “Driving would actually be further.”

Mason chuckled at her words. “Let’s walk.”

Five minutes later, the two of them appeared in the noodle shop across the street. Mason, who had been smiling just moments ago, now had a serious expression on his face.

Leila often came here for meals, and the owner recognized her, so he greeted her with a smile. “The usual?”

“Yeah, but two bowls this time,” Leila replied.

“Sure thing,” the owner nodded.

After talking to the owner, Leila turned to Mason. Upon seeing his expression, she couldn’t help but chuckle.

Mason, not showing any emotion, asked, “Is the treatment at Nova Group that bad?”

Leila understood what he meant, but she didn’t respond. Instead, she grabbed a tissue from the nearby box and began wiping the table.

It was evident that Mason wasn’t satisfied with the environment here.

After just a couple of wipes, Mason reached out and held her hand, taking the tissue from her. Leila withdrew her hand and asked, “Did you send someone to beat up Hunter?”