The rainforest storm came fast and left just as violently.
Inside a ranger's hut deep within Kuranda, the flame of a dim kerosene lamp flickered, casting the shadows of two overlapping figures onto the rough wooden walls. The air was thick with the scent of earth, cold fir, and the intense collision of male and female hormones.
Sugar Valentine sat collapsed on the narrow cot. Her soaked, pale-yellow sundress had become as transparent as a cicada's wing, tightly outlining her graceful curves, which were trembling slightly from the cold.
As for Silas Thorne, he was half-kneeling in front of her. His expensive white shirt had long since turned into rags, discarded in a heap by his feet. He was bare-chested; the scratches on his shoulders were still seeping blood, but against the backdrop of his perfect abs and deep, defined muscular lines, the injury looked more like a badge of primal masculinity.
"Silas Thorne, go tend to your wound first..." Sugar's voice carried a trace of an undetectable tremor. She reached out her slender hand, trying to push away this man whose presence was overwhelmingly oppressive.
Silas grabbed her wrist in a backhand grip. His strength was immense, yet he precisely avoided her pulse point. He leaned in close, shrouding Sugar completely in his shadow. His voice was deep, like the lowest string of a cello. "Sugar, look closely. The person who saved you is me, and the person you played for a fool is also me."
"I didn't ask you to save me..." Sugar bit her lip. Her fox-like eyes flickered with restless light under the lamp. "It was Mr. Thorne himself who insisted on playing some 'jungle hunt.' Now that you're injured, are you really going to blame it on a weak woman like me?"
"A weak woman?" Silas laughed out of sheer frustration. The hand he had free suddenly plunged into Sugar's damp hair, cupping the back of her head and forcing her to tilt her face up. "A weak woman who can hack the Midnight Azure's defense system, swap phones right under my nose, and run three kilometers through a rainstorm? Sugar, do you have some kind of misunderstanding regarding your own description?"
The distance between them was so small that their breaths intermingled.
Sugar could feel the startling heat radiating from his chest—a dry heat that was entirely different from the dampness of the rainforest. In an act of defiance, she reached out and touched the bleeding gash on his shoulder, dipping her fingertip in it before intentionally drawing a red line across his perfectly shaped collarbone.
"Then what kind of compensation does Mr. Thorne think I should give you? Hmm?" Her voice trailed off with a rising, sultry lilt.
Silas's gaze darkened instantly to the point of looking like spilled ink. He suddenly exerted force, pinning her down onto the narrow field cot.
"This is the first punishment I'm giving you."
He leaned down, his thin lips pressing heavily against her collarbone. It wasn't a kiss, but a bite delivered with a hint of vent-up frustration.
"Hiss—it hurts!" Sugar cried out softly, her hands instinctively pushing against his chest.
"It's good that it hurts." Silas lifted his head, a spark of 'possession' burning in his eyes. "The second punishment concerns that chip you stole."
He pulled the micro-hard drive—the one countless tycoons were desperate for—from his pocket. Holding it between his fingers, he shook it in front of Sugar's eyes.
"Do you want it?"
Sugar's breathing became rapid. If she got this, she could fully complete her mission and say goodbye to this unpredictable man forever.
"As long as you can get it, I'll let you go." Silas gave a cold smile. He actually dropped the chip directly into the damp neckline of Sugar's dress.
The icy chip slid into the delicate valley of her chest. Sugar froze entirely.
"Silas Thorne! You bastard!" Her face flushed bright red. She reached out to grab it, but Silas pinned both of her hands down firmly.
"If you want it, take it yourself. But let me warn you, Sugar—the moment your hands leave my sight, I will assume you have chosen the third punishment."
Silas leaned down, his nose brushing against the side of her neck. His voice was hoarse beyond recognition. "The third punishment is making you miss that Flight 124. Sugar, in this hut, I have plenty of time to make you understand who your true master is."
The sound of the rain outside grew louder, as if it were going to drown the entire world.
Sugar felt his icy lips traveling down her neck. This extreme sense of pull and push made her feel as though she were suffocating. She had originally thought she was the hacker in control of the situation, someone who could vanish into the void with the hit of an 'Enter' key. But now, she realized she had fallen into an encrypted algorithm named 'Silas Thorne,' and she couldn't find a single exploit.
"Silas Thorne... don't think I'm afraid of you just because of this." Sugar grit her teeth, but the corners of her eyes were turning slightly red.
Silas stopped his movements and looked up at her. Seeing that hint of red in her eyes, the violence in his heart vanished instantly, replaced by a surge of pity that startled even himself.
He let out a soft sigh, his large palm cradling the side of her face as his thumb brushed over her lips.
"Sugar, just beg me, and I'll take you back to the marina."
Sugar stared dead at him. This once-insufferable tycoon actually had a sliver of humble longing hidden in his eyes.
"Beg you... to let me go home?" Sugar asked with a trembling voice.
Silas's expression instantly turned as dark as water. He abruptly lowered his head and sealed the mouth that never seemed to say the right things.
This kiss was different from the punishment earlier; it carried a kind of near-desperate tenderness. Between their lips and teeth, he let out a blurred growl:
"Beg me... to stay. As long as you're willing to stay, never mind a chip—the entire Thorne estate in Cairns is yours."
Sugar was completely lost.
What was supposed to be a gambit over a mission—how did it turn into a high-stakes gamble over the rest of her life?
Outside the hut, the rainforest trembled in the gale. Inside, two hearts collided at such high speeds that they finally, gradually, lost their rhythm.