Renee could rule out that the Hunt family nned to ambush her since the electricity had gone out due
to a faulty circuit.
She let out a sigh of relief and rxed somewhat. She let go of Stefan’s neck and tried to move away
from him, but his strong arm suddenly circled her waist. He pulled her towards him, and she tumbled
onto him with a yelp. When she felt his warm frame against hers, she immediately froze.” What… What
are you doing?”
Stefan remained silent, but his grip on her tightened.
Renee lost her cool and hissed at him, “Stefan, don’t you dare try to take advantage of me. Let me go
before I hurt you!”
“Stop moving!” Instead of letting her go, he held onto her like his life depended on it.
“Clearly, you don’t value your life. Do you want me to break your arm?” She was going to push him
away when she heard sniffling. She hesitated, her eyes wide in disbelief.
‘Is Stefan… crying?’ She thought in shock. She immediately calmed down, taken aback by this
unexpected urrence.
“Are you alright?” She asked cautiously.
“You probably don’t know this, but when I’m alone in the dark… memories of what happened to my
brother overwhelm me, and I’ll sometimes get a panic attack. I usually need someone to lean on, or
else the consequences will be disastrous.” He mumbled as he moved closer to her.
‘Is he being serious?’ Renee thought, bewildered. Unconvinced, she asked him, “How bad is it?”
“My breathing and pulse will quicken, and eventually all of my organs will cease working… and I’ll die.”
It seemed a bit exaggerated, but Stefan didn’t seem like the type to lie about things like this.
Renee decided to believe him, and let him hold her. The room was quiet for a while, and then she
whispered menacingly, “This is an excellent chance for me to murder you.”
Stefan tightened his grip and drew her closer to him, as if he wanted to meld their bodies together. His
lips brushed her ear as he murmured, “I told you before that if you want to, you may.”
In the darkness, all Renee could feel was Stefan’s hot breath on her skin. Her face turned red, but she
didn’t say anything.
They held each other quietly for a while, unexpectedly epting of the intimacy.
“Who exactly are you searching for?” In the dim light, Stefan’s husky voice rang out.
Renee snapped back to reality, and her body immediately tensed up. “Do you truly not know or are you
just pretending?’ She questioned, frowning.
“If I know, I’ll tell you. I don’t want to waste your time. But I’ll ask you again … Do you think you’re
keeping anything from me?” Stefan’s query was riddled with traps and revealed nothing about the
children.
“It’s dark, and our position is rather… intimate. As you said, it wouldn’t be good if people spread
rumours about us. We’ll talk about it once we’re out.” She groped around the floor for her phone,
nning to use its shlight to lead herself out.
The Hunts were wealthy, so even their study room was the size of a middle ss family’s entire home.
Without light, it was difficult to discern where the exit was in such arge space.
As she pulled out her phone, she noticed a text and a video from Margaret. “Miss Ren, I can’t reach
your phone. Hurry back, Adie and Abby are home. They’re fine.”
Adie and Abby were showing off a cake in the video.
To avoid arousing Stefan’s suspicion, she immediately closed the message.
She pulled away from Stefan’s grip and went to the door using the light from her phone. Suddenly, as
she turned the doorknob, she realized it couldn’t be opened.
“Why is the door not opening?” She twisted and turned the doorknob, but it did not open.
“Stop wasting your energy,” Stefan stated quietly as he approached her.” Face recognition is required
for the door to open. I think that if there’s something wrong with the circuit, the system must have been
damaged as well, which is why it’s not operating.”
“You mean…”Published by N?v''elD/rama.Org.