Chapter 5: Chapter 5

Rufus spent the entire night drunkenly talking about his sweet baby Rita, his little poison.

It was all Candice could do to keep from punching him.

The next morning, Rufus’s mother brought some herbal medicines to the door before the sun was even fully up.

Since Candice couldn’t seem to get pregnant, his mother worked hard to solve the issue. She brought dates soaked in cow urine, chicken boiled in Chinese herbs, and every other sort of infertility cure.

Candice couldn’t take it anymore, so she bluntly told her the truth. “Rufus and I won’t be able to have a baby…”

Rufus heard his name and knew something was wrong. His mother wasn’t stupid. He had just woken up in the study, and when he saw Candice he angrily asked, “What are you doing?”

His mother had come in and spotted the bedding. She lifted the blanket up as she chastised him. “You don’t even sleep in the same room. How could she get pregnant?”

Rufus instantly wilted under her glare.

788 Vouchers

“What has Candice done for you to treat her this way?

His mother bristled in anger. “Break up with your mistress right now and treat Candice right, or you’re no son of mine!”

Rufus hung his head, not saying a word.

When Candice’s father found out that Rufus had been cheating on his only daughter, whom he had used as a stepping stone to his career, he turned his back on them. But Rufus’s mother was more reasonable. Candice knew that Rufus’s parents couldn’t control him, but their pressure did force him to behave for a few days.

Unfortunately, the peace didn’t last long before Rita hooked her claws into him again.

Nancy informed Candice that Rufus had taken Rita to a hotel. On the way they went to a pharmacy and bought a bottle of sixteen male enhancement pills. It seemed that Rita had a large appetite that he couldn’t satisfy. The overdose might very well claim his life.

The moment Candice stepped out of the hotel elevator, the other elevator nearby slowly opened, revealing Byron.

He calmly looked at her, then headed straight for room

That was Rufus’s room.

If it had been anyone else, Candice would have been sure that the two of them did it on purpose. But knowing who Byron was, she was sure that Rufus didn’t have the means to hire him.

She quietly followed from several feet back. She could smell his top–end cologne, a mixture of ebony and rosewood. The scent seemed to walk the line between indulgence and restraint, seductive yet detached.

Just like Byron himself.

Just like sunlight was real, her desire was real.

Candice woke from her daydream and saw he was on his phone. A woman’s voice came through from the other end, sounding breathless. “I’m not feeling well, so I won’t be at your party tonight.”

“Okay.” Byron’s reply was as cold as ice.

Candice thought he must have also come to catch the adultery in the act. Her mind calmed a little.

Just as he reached room 2209, Byron turned around and knocked on the door of 2211 across the hall.

Enos pulled open the door.

The police are on their way…

he saw Candice and his expression became complicated. “You said there wouldn’t be a next time, yet you still got a room with her?”

Byron lit another cigarette. “I’m her primary physician.”

“What’s wrong with her?”

He took a long drag of his cigarette, his Adam’s apple rolling. “Her husband.”

Enos took out a room card and swiped it through the lock on room 2209. Candice immediately barged in.

Rufus was rolling on the bed with Rita in his arms, dripping sweat all over the sodden bedding. Caught in the act, he quickly pulled a jacket over to cover Rita’s nudity. “Candice, what are you doing here?”

Candice slammed an unopened box of condoms to his chest. “I came to deliver another box.”

Rufus shrank back. “This isn’t what you think.”

Rita also panicked, getting off the bed and trying to embrace Byron. “Byron, forgive me… he threatened me!”

Candice had been mentally prepared to catch them in the act, so her mind was steady. She even had time to consider Rita’s words.

The man she had cheated on Rufus with didn’t seem to have a bad background.

When Rita had been the queen bee, she wanted more honey. But after being rejected, she settled for returning to Rufus.

Perhaps it really had been Byron.

Rita was pressed against Byron with his right arm in her grasp, but he didn’t spare her any attention. He sized up the other man. “So you’re Rufus.”

Rufus was stuck between the two of them. “You know me?”

It was hard to read Byron’s face in the dim light. “I’ve read your medical records. You have a serious problem with dead sperm,”

Rufus didn’t understand. “Dead what?”

Byron was calm. “You’re infertile.”

Rufus was embarrassed at being exposed by a stranger. “Where did this quack come from? Are you trying to jinx me?” He rushed forward to start a fight, but Candice pushed him away with a hiss of anger.

“Haven’t you had enough? You’ve been lying to me for three years! Don’t you think you’re disgusting? I do!”

Rufus stumbled, confused, and looked at Candice.

Byron freed himself from Rita and straightened his shirt as he returned to the doorway to smoke.

Compared to Rufus’s fury, Byron was quite gentle. But he was also completely ruthless, leaving no room for errors.

“Why are you pretending? Didn’t you have fun that day?” Rufus finally showed his true colors. “I found a man who is a fitness trainer for you, with plenty of stamina. I may have cheated, but you did too. Do you really feel so entitled to make a scene?”

Candice hadn’t expected him to play that card. She picked up a water bottle, ready to fight, when his phone suddenly

rang.

Rufus answered the call, and his expression changed. “Called the police? She wasn’t my wife?” He disconnected the phone and grabbed Candice by the hair. “Who were you with at the

hotel that day? You really dared to cheat on me, Candice!”

Candice felt like her scalp would come off in his grip and she kicked furiously at him. “You have the nerve to ask that after hiring someone to frame your wife for cheating?”

Rufus slapped her across the face. “Bitch! Who’s the cheater here? Was it that Patrick Cruz who likes you?”

Candice froze, subconsciously glancing toward the doorway where Byron held his cigarette. He was an old player who was unlikely to involve himself in trouble of her sort, much less help her.

The door across the hallway opened again, and Enos tilted his head at his friend. “Do you care?”

“No.” Byron’s tone was calm. “Do your job.”

“Rita’s done you dirty. I’ll teach her a lesson,” Enos said.

The fight in the room turned fierce. Rufus was still naked, and Candice threw his pants into the hallway. Rufus came past Byron to retrieve his clothes, his face covered in snot and tears.

Byron frowned and moved out of the way for fear that he would get hit too.

Candice wouldn’t have been able to get such an upper hand in ordinary circumstances, but Rufus was determined to protect Rita while she cowered behind him.

Candice swiped at her tears and looked at Byron. “I didn’t mean to bump into you.”

Byron knocked the ash from his cigarette and looked away. “I know.”

Candice didn’t usually show so much emotion, but now she was crying uncontrollably. She felt truly done with Rufus. She couldn’t take it anymore.

“Doctor Wilson, do you have any medicine that would make Rufus impotent for life?”

Byron was too lazy to answer such a crazy question.

It didn’t take long for the two cops who arrived shortly after to detain Rufus. The woman who had been raped by the man he had hired to frame Candice had pointed his room out to them.

One of the officers stepped into the room and pointed straight at Rufus. “You again? I’ve arrested you three times. this year for whoring.”

Since Rufus had such a record, Rita was also taken away for

investigation of prostitution.

Candice sat on the hotel stairs, listening to them the whole time. It turned out that before he hooked back up with Rita, Rufus had been hiring prostitutes. She was so undesirable that her husband would rather spend money than touch her.

She lifted her head and looked at Byron. “I’m not as good as Rita, am I?”

Bryon gave her a long look, wondering if she was drunk again. “She’s more feminine than you.”

Candice moved in front of him, forcing him to look at her. “Is she curvier? Prettier?”

Since she was blocking his way, Byron simply leaned against the wall and played with his silver lighter. His whole body was at ease, his expression frivolous.

She had an intriguing flavor.

That night at the bar, he had noticed her. The same energy that had nearly driven away his control had returned to her.

Byron had seen all kinds of women. Some were wild, others inexperienced, and others gentle. There were so many sorts.

But her charm was her purity, and it was intense.

Byron was an indifferent man, and men like him usually hooked up with fierce women. But Candice didn’t have any of the skills to make him stumble, so instead he was falling for her.

With the handprints still livid red on her face, he didn’t have. the heart to be cruel. “She’s not as good as you.”

Candice blew her nose and dropped the tissue on the ground next to his white leather shoes. “So it was you that Rita chased after.”

Byron lifted his foot and stepped around the trash. “She’s too ambitious. I find her disgusting.”

“So you did come here for her.”

Candice understood without needing him to explain further. Byron had been willing to expose Rita’s scandal in person so that she wouldn’t be able to bother him again in the future.

In the eyes of rich and powerful men, women can be divided into three categories: those who are around for fun, those who are worth marrying, and those who cannot be touched.

Women like Rita stayed firmly in the first category. It didn’t matter what her history was, because she was just around

for entertainment, meat to pair with the wine.

Rufus may have put her on a pedestal, but to Byron she was nothing more than a worker.

But Candice couldn’t help but admire Rita. She had clung to Rufus while doing everything she could to win Byron. When that failed, she drove Rufus to a divorce so that she could still keep one of them.

“How many years have you been dating?” Candice asked Byron.

Byron put away the lighter. “I don’t touch secondhand goods.”

Candice choked at his odd statement.

Byron suddenly leaned over and wrapped his arm around her waist. She shivered, feeling alive from head to toe. “But you‘ re different. You’re the original thing.” She could feel his hot breath in her ear.

When Byron had touched her, he hadn’t known if she was a virgin or not. But he had taken her anyway.

So if a man desired something strongly enough, he would take it no matter what else he told the world.

Right then, the elevator opened with a chime. Candice turned to get in, waiting to see if he would follow. He didn’t, so she pressed the button for the first floor and went down alone.

Byron needed to leave too, but he deliberately didn’t follow her in. He didn’t have any issue with passing the time with a beautiful woman, but Candice was too inexperienced and didn’t yet know how to tease him.

He didn’t like women who were too enthusiastic or too boring. The itch for Candice had been completely extinguished today.