CHAPTER 9: CHAPTER 9: I ADMIT I’M HERE TO SEDUCE YOU

Raina nodded and walked in the direction Aunt Rivers pointed.

Reaching the room Aunt Rivers indicated, the door was ajar, and Raina could enter directly.

Inside was a bedroom.

The decor of the room exuded a cold and hard atmosphere, suggesting someone was living there.

Raina didn’t think much of it, found the bathroom, and pushed the door open, only to run headlong into someone inside.

"Ah!"

The collision hurt Raina, "Sorry, I didn’t know someone was in here..."

Instinctively, Raina wanted to distance herself and was about to retreat.

"Wait a minute." A cold voice rang out, "Who are you?"

"I am..." Raina lifted her aching head to explain and suddenly locked eyes with a pair of deep, cutting eyes.

Seeing this very familiar handsome face, Raina’s heart skipped a beat.

It’s over.

It turned out to be The Hell King Hawthorne.

Raina’s legs gave way, almost making her unable to stand.

The collision caused the big black frame glasses on Raina’s face to fall off, exposing her unhidden face to the air.

"It’s you!" Elias Hawthorne’s dark pupils slightly contracted, his gaze sharp and deep, clearly recognizing Raina as the woman from M Country, "How did you sneak into the Hawthorne Family? Speak!"

Raina: "I..."

Raina swallowed nervously.

Is she exposed?

In an instant, a hundred and eight ways she could die flashed through Raina’s mind, each more tragic than the last.

What should she do?

Should she take the chance while Elias’s men are not here, knock him out, and escape?

Or should she kneel down, beg for mercy, and confess her crimes?

Elias looked at Raina’s agile eyes flickering, immediately realizing she was being cunning, with a smirk appearing at the corner of his mouth.

Taking another look at her attire, Elias’s face instantly darkened.

"You’re the new piano teacher?!"

"What?" Raina was bewildered.

Elias’s face was grim: "You’re somewhat better than those other women, but you should never have exploited Baby’s feelings."

A hint of harshness flashed in Elias’s eyes.

Raina blinked, "Did you misunderstand something?"

Although he was attractive, had a great body, and perfectly fit her aesthetic, she wasn’t so brain-dead as to be blinded by lust.

Physical allure was nice, but one needed to be alive to enjoy it.

Elias’s mouth twisted into a sardonic smile: "Misunderstanding? You wouldn’t want to say this is a coincidence, that you didn’t know this is my house, didn’t know I was bathing, and you didn’t deliberately enter my bathroom..."

Elias advanced aggressively, and Raina retreated step by step until backed into a corner.

The man’s hot breath sprayed onto her face as she looked at the freshly emerged figure before her, tearful and helpless.

"Would you believe me if I said I just came to borrow the restroom?"

"Do you think our current position is convincing?"

Elias’s voice suddenly turned low and husky, his gaze sweeping toward his chest.

Her hand was still fondling his chest...

"Alright, alright, I admit it. I came to seduce you!" Raina hesitated for a moment, then confessed boldly.

In truth, she had no choice but to admit it.

Admitting was less damaging than revealing the disguise.

Compared to being discovered by The Hell King Hawthorne as the one who tricked him out of a forty billion treasure, it was better to maintain the misunderstanding of being a woman attempting to seduce him for status.

Having thought it through, Raina transformed from weak to proactive, a charming smile curving her lips, she wrapped her hands around his neck...

Raina made a bold move, and the next second her hand was restrained.

Elias’s face turned terrifyingly gloomy, with a hint of a storm brewing, and squeezed out a word through gritted teeth: "Get out!"

A glimmer of amusement flashed in Raina’s eyes, and she swiftly made her escape.

As Raina left the Hawthorne house, a car was already waiting outside.

Seeing Raina emerge, the window rolled down, revealing Claire North’s exquisite and bold face.

Raina’s face instantly chilled.

She opened the car door and entered.

The window closed, sealing away outside disturbances.

"I’ve done as you asked and went to the Hawthorne Family. It’s your turn to fulfill your promise and tell me my son’s whereabouts?"

Raina’s voice was unusually cold. Three days ago, Claire suddenly appeared before her, revealing to Raina that she hadn’t been pregnant with twins, but triplets.

Besides Casper and Shea, she had another son.

However, he was taken away by Claire as soon as he was born.

Claire used Bobby’s whereabouts to coerce her into a false marriage, leading to today’s scene.

"Why the rush? Once you marry into the Hawthorne Family cripple, I’ll naturally tell you where your son is." Claire said, though she had no intentions of letting Raina off so easily.

Seeing Raina’s surprisingly delicate and strikingly beautiful face without makeup, Claire’s eyes flashed with jealousy, but what did beauty matter if she could only marry an impotent cripple and become a stepmother.

Speaking of that cripple from the Hawthorne Family, Claire’s eyes were full of disdain.

A week ago, the Hawthorne Family proposed, asking specifically for her hand.

Her father, Gideon North, wanting to climb the social ladder with the Hawthorne Family, insisted on marrying her off to Elias Hawthorne, even though she already had a boyfriend.

Everyone in Southgate knows Elias Hawthorne, known as The Hell King, is said to be horribly ugly, wheelchair-bound, impotent, and has a son of unknown parentage, marrying him means living as a widow.

Claire, of course, didn’t want to marry him, and left home in anger, coincidentally running into the recently returned Raina at the airport, immediately hatching the plan to have Raina take her place.

Originally, afraid the events of five years ago would be exposed, Claire didn’t want to mention the child, but now Raina was as stubborn and immovable as a rock, unlike the girl who could be easily manipulated with talk of a debt of gratitude.

Ultimately, she had to use the child’s news to threaten Raina.

And sure enough, Raina compromised.

"Even if you won’t tell me my child’s whereabouts now, at least let me see him or hear his voice."

Raina didn’t expect Claire to immediately divulge her child’s location, only hoped to get as much information as possible.

"Raina, you have no bargaining power." Seeing Raina silent with a sullen face, Claire continued, "Don’t act like the victim here, I’m doing you a favor. Look at you, an illegitimate daughter of a country bumpkin, dropping out at eighteen after delivering two dead babies. Without my favor, how could you marry into a family like the Hawthornes? Even though Elias is disfigured, an impotent cripple and pervert, the Hawthornes are powerful, you marrying in as the Young Madam is a blessing."

So should she be grateful?

And maybe thank her entire family too?

Raina looked at Claire, full of arrogance and self-satisfaction, a hint of ridicule playing on her lips.

"If it’s so great, why don’t you marry him?"

Furthermore, disfigured, crippled, impotent?

The handsome, overwhelmingly masculine man flashed in Raina’s mind, she really wanted Claire to see what she missed out on.