Chapter 5
Apparently, when a person reached a certain level of speechlessness, laughter became the only functioning organ left.
Even with her head splitting open, Harlow still let out a short, incredulous laugh.
“Mr. Emerson, don’t flatter yourself. I was given a sedative, not an aphrodisiac. And I don’t want to sleep with you either.”
“…”
“I meant, can you turn around so I can put my clothes on?”
“…”
The silence went beautifully, painfully awkward.
Cillian pressed his lips into a hard line and turned his back to her.
Harlow scrambled off the bed and hurried into her clothes.
In that brief silence, a violent pounding suddenly came from the room next door.
“Harlow Gideon! You bitch! I knew you couldn’t stay faithful. You actually came here to cheat? Open the door! Open it right now!”
Felix Lowell.
“Adulterers, get the hell out here! I want to see what kind of man dares touch my wife! Open the door! You two filthy cheaters, come out!”
A man’s furious roar and a woman’s scream soon erupted from the next room.
Harlow understood everything in an instant.
From Delilah drugging her to Felix staging this loud public “catching her in the act,” the whole thing was a filthy trap Felix had set. Something must have gone wrong in the middle. By some mistake, she had been sent to Cillian Emerson’s room instead.
Cillian understood just as quickly.
He walked to the wall adjoining the next room and listened for a few seconds. A cold curve touched the corner of his mouth.
“Your husband went to an impressive amount of trouble to make sure you leave the marriage with nothing.” He emphasized the words your husband with surgical cruelty.
In all the years Harlow had been married to Felix, she had never once felt that husband and wife were supposed to share honor, shame, fortune, or ruin.
But in that moment, she felt humiliated because of him.
And afraid.
If she had been sent to the correct room, Felix would be standing above her right now, playing moral judge while holding the knife he had planted himself.
Next door, Felix quickly realized he had caught the wrong people.
“What the hell is going on? Where is she? Didn’t you say Harlow Gideon was in here sleeping around? Where is she? Where is she?”
The noise outside paused for a few seconds.
“It was this room.”
“Could she have been sent to the wrong one? Is it next door?”
The footsteps, thick with rage, moved toward Cillian’s room.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Felix began hammering on Cillian’s door.
Each brutal pound landed against Harlow’s heart like a drumbeat.
“Open up! Harlow Gideon, get out here! You cheating slut, get out here!”
Harlow panicked. Felix was arrogant, violent, and used to getting his way. Once he decided he wanted this door open, he would tear it off the hinges if he had to.
She could not be “caught” like this.
Absolutely not.
Harlow looked up at Cillian.
“Help me,” she said softly.
Cillian had been dragged into trouble by mistake, and a flicker of impatience sat between his brows. But his expression stayed calm.
Almost indifferent.
He did not answer. He did not move toward the door. He simply watched her.
“Why should I help you?”
“I’m in your room. We’re in this together now.”
“I didn’t touch you. I’m not your lover. Even if he barges in, he can’t do anything to me.” His tone was relaxed in the most infuriating possible way. “You, on the other hand, entered my room without permission. That constitutes trespass. Potentially a civil claim.”
The words dumped over her like a bucket of ice water.
“Harlow Gideon, if you don’t come out, I’m breaking this door down! I’ll let everyone see exactly how you sneak around behind my back!”
Felix’s certainty sharpened with every second the door stayed closed.
On one side stood her rabid-dog husband.
On the other stood the ex-boyfriend enjoying the view from the edge of the cliff.
Harlow was trapped.
Fine.
Fine, fine, fine.
If they all wanted to force her, then nobody got to walk away clean.
She thought for only a few seconds before striding straight to Cillian. Rising onto her toes, she hooked both arms around his neck and, before he could react, pressed her mouth hard against the exposed skin at the side of his throat.
Not a light touch.
A desperate, all-in, bruising pull of her mouth.
Cillian went rigid.
He could feel the damp heat of her lips against his neck, the faint sting of her teeth, the delicate scent clinging to her skin. Whatever he had expected her to do, this had not been on the list.
“Harlow Gideon! Are you insane?”
Cillian shoved her back, but it was too late. A fresh red mark bloomed quickly on his skin.
“You didn’t touch me,” Harlow said, breathing hard from the force of it. A strange flush colored her cheeks. “But I touched you. Congratulations, now you’re my lover. So, Mr. Emerson, either we get caught together, or you help me. Your call.”
She met his eyes, the corner of her mouth curving into a bleak, provocative smile.
Cillian lifted his hand and lightly touched the place she had kissed.
“Very good.” His voice dropped, rougher than before. “Harlow Gideon, you’ve got nerve.”
“Open the door! Open it!”
Outside, Felix’s voice grew more impatient.
Cillian gave Harlow a look, signaling for her to wait in the bathroom.
Harlow nodded and hurried inside.
Cillian turned and walked toward the door with measured steps. The pounding had not stopped. He pulled the door open in one clean motion.
Felix Lowell had just lifted his foot to kick it. When the door opened, his leg froze awkwardly in midair.
Cillian glanced at Felix and the two men behind him who were holding up phones, very clearly recording. “Gentlemen. Is there a reason you’re making this much noise outside my room?”
Felix had not expected the door to open on a man like this.
More importantly, this man did not look even slightly panicked at being “caught.”
“I’m looking for my wife!” Felix craned his neck, trying to see inside. “Harlow Gideon, I know you’re in there. Get out here!”
Shouting was apparently not enough. He tried to push into the room.
Cillian lifted an arm and blocked him.
“Mr. Lowell, entering my room without consent would be trespassing.”
Felix’s eyes narrowed. He looked Cillian over again. “You know me?”
“I had the privilege of seeing you at last year’s Global Business Forum.”
That kind of forum was not something ordinary people attended. Felix had only gone because of his father, tagging along to feel important among people who actually were.
Clearly, the man in front of him was not ordinary.
Felix’s aggression eased by a notch. “And you are?”
