His hand lay gently on her chest, in a loosely curled position. "..." His breath fanned across her earlobe, and Sienna Johnson suddenly rose from his lap. Discover more novels at NoveI-Fire.ɴet Adrian Desmond laughed. "Leaving your stuff behind?" "Sorry, I can’t afford the price you’re asking for this deal." Sienna sighed. If it was only a kiss, I could endure it, but Adrian’s earlier behavior suggested he wanted more than just a kiss. Adrian’s slender fingers gently skated across her bandaged hand, like a soft feather, causing a shiver. The look in Adrian’s eyes darkened, and his touch grew heavier. "AH..." Sienna cried out softly from the sudden pain. Her cry was like a kitten’s paw, gently scratching at Adrian’s heart—not painful, just a small tickle, yet leaving a deep impression. Adrian’s eyes flickered in the dim light. He suddenly opened his arms, pulling her fully into his embrace. "Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you." After a pause, Adrian continued, "Even if I wanted to, you wouldn’t be able to fight back." Suddenly, Sienna felt as if a tense string in her mind had snapped. "Adrian, what’s wrong with you?" Sienna’s forehead rested in the crook of Adrian’s neck, her warm breath gently fluttering over his collarbone. Adrian stiffened and tightened his arms slightly. Slightly uncomfortable, Sienna shifted her body, but it only made Adrian’s hold on her tighter. "Hey," Sienna deliberately raised her voice, squirming uncomfortably, "let me go. It’s time for me to leave." "The thing you say to me most often is, ’Let me go!’" That’s because you’re always holding me! "I’m the one who’s injured, not you. Why do you seem sadder than I am?" Sienna joked. Adrian’s voice came from behind Sienna’s head, sounding somewhat muffled. "As your ex-husband, one who still deeply loves you, seeing you injured ... it hurts you physically, but it wounds my heart." Sienna pursed her lips and gently pushed him away. "Like I said, it’s not a big deal. Actually, just applying some medicine would have been enough; there was no need for bandages. Grandma was just worried and insisted Dr. Clark wrap me up like a rice dumpling." "Right, right..." Adrian comforted her. "It’s not that big a deal. Isn’t it just a minor burn? It’s not like you’ve been roasted like a pig." "You’re the pig." She remembered that it was this man who had jumped into the water, holding her while her clothes were on fire, saving her from more serious injury. "Thank you for yesterday." "Stop laughing. You’ve helped me so many times, and all I can say is thank you. Anything else you want, I really can’t give. If... if you ever loved me, please let me go!" Surrounded by his warmth, Sienna felt a bit lazy and didn’t want to move. But she had a tough battle ahead; she couldn’t hide in a man’s arms doing nothing. She, Sienna Johnson, simply didn’t have that luxury. "Sienna, you’re so cruel! You’re asking a man who loves you deeply to let you go. It’s like telling a sick person to give up treatment and just wait for death." "You’re exaggerating." Sienna didn’t think love was that important. She was a rational woman who knew how to choose what was best for her. For instance, even though she liked Noah Phillips, she had weighed all the pros and cons before choosing to give him up and marry Kenneth Brown. It wasn’t because she loved Kenneth Brown, but because Kenneth suited her in every way. So she pushed Adrian away and sat face-to-face with him, her expression serious. "Can’t you really give me the evidence?" "I never said I wouldn’t give it to you." "Because you don’t trust me! Sienna, you have never trusted me!" Sienna was disheartened. Adrian always wanted her. Before she came, she knew she wouldn’t easily get the evidence. She was willing to bargain within an acceptable and tolerable range, but if his demands exceeded her bottom line, she couldn’t accept them. "Sienna, if I wanted to force you, there are fifteen, even a thousand ways, to make you obediently crawl into my bed." Adrian looked at her intently. "Do you know why I didn’t do that?" "Because four years ago, I forced you. I thought I could keep you by my side forever, but you ran away. Taking Curly, you were gone for four years!" "I forgot." Her memories of that period were still blank, so compared to Adrian’s agitation, she remained excessively calm. Adrian turned and left, but after a while, he returned with a document bag and handed it to her. "This is what you want. I have several copies. So, don’t be so stupid next time, injuring yourself to salvage it from the fire." "Thank you," Sienna said sincerely. "I’ll take you to the company!" Sienna was about to refuse, but then thought better of it and agreed. "You’re so polite. ’Thank you, thank you,’ that’s all you ever say," he said sarcastically. "I just want to express my gratitude." "As you said, I don’t need verbal thanks. I want something tangible. Make it up to me, and then you won’t need to say a word." What he wanted, she couldn’t give him, so Sienna chose to keep her mouth shut. 「At the Brown Family dinner table.」 Carole Brown looked at her brother and said loudly, "It’s not Quiming! He would never leak the formula." Sienna needed a mole, and Kenneth Brown chose the honest Quiming, who had no connections in Sileria City, to be the scapegoat. "You’re not Quiming. How do you know it wasn’t him?" "I just trust him!" Carole shouted indignantly. "If not him, then who?" Carole slumped into a chair, her face dejected. "I don’t know. None of the people at the Research and Development Department seemed like the kind who would leak the formula." Carole had joined the Research and Development Department of Eastminster Pharmaceutical Factory soon after she graduated. She had a good relationship with every staff member over the past two years. She really couldn’t imagine who might have leaked the formula. "Brother, it can’t be them. Nobody in the Research and Development Department could have done it." Kenneth countered, "Do you know that Quiming’s account recently received a sudden deposit of 45 thousand dollars?" "We suspect this was the reward Quiming got for selling the formula!"