Wu Mei stood frozen on the staircase as He Sheng's voice echoed through the grand foyer.
"I only came to see her," he said, calm but firm. "To speak with her. Alone."
Qin Yanzhou stood at the base of the stairs, his entire body tensed like a predator on edge. "You don't get to speak to her. You had your chance. She doesn't want you."
Wu Mei descended slowly, her robe cinched tightly at her waist. Her eyes locked onto He Sheng—familiar, yes, but not the same. Not anymore.
He turned when he saw her, something soft flickering across his features. "Mei... I missed you."
Her steps faltered.
"I thought you disappeared," he continued. "I looked for you everywhere. You never even said goodbye."
"Because I didn't want to be found," she replied, voice quiet but firm.
He blinked, taken aback. "You don't mean that."
"I do," she said, stepping down to meet him. "Things have changed, He Sheng. I've changed."
"I still love you," he said, taking a step closer. "And I think—no, I know—you still feel something for me."
Before Wu Mei could respond, an arm snaked around her waist. Qin Yanzhou pulled her flush against him, his grip possessive and unmistakably territorial.
"She feels nothing for you," he growled.
He Sheng's eyes narrowed. "You think this is real? Some game you're playing?"
In response, Qin Yanzhou didn't speak—he acted.
He tilted Wu Mei's chin up and kissed her—deep, hot, and full of fire. She gasped against his mouth, her body instinctively reacting to his heat, his dominance, his claim. Her hands clutched at his shirt as his tongue slid over hers, possessive and punishing.
He pulled back just enough to speak, voice laced with steel. "She's mine."
He looked at He Sheng with a furious glint in his eyes, like a warning shot before war.
He Sheng's expression shifted, pain masked quickly by cold anger. "We'll see."
Without another word, Qin Yanzhou stepped forward and slammed the door in his face.
Silence fell like a thunderclap.
Wu Mei's heart pounded as Yanzhou turned toward her, eyes still burning. He didn't say anything—just grabbed her hand and pulled her up the stairs.
"Yanzhou—" she tried, but he didn't stop.
He opened the bedroom door and pushed it shut behind them with a firm click.
Then he turned to her, dark eyes roaming her face. His chest rose and fell with controlled fury—and something more dangerous. Lust. Need.
He reached for the buttons of his shirt, tugging them loose one by one until the fabric slid from his shoulders and hit the floor.
"Maybe," he said, voice low and rough, "I should finish what I started last night."
She stepped back slightly. "I... I'm not rea—"
But she didn't get to finish.
Qin Yanzhou was on her in seconds.
His mouth covered hers, silencing her with a bruising kiss. One hand gripped her wrist, pressing it gently against the wall behind her as his other hand slid around her waist.
She whimpered into the kiss, caught between resistance and craving.
His lips left hers only to move to her neck. He kissed a path to the soft skin beneath her ear and then—bit down, marking her with a dark red bruise.
A love mark. Bold. Unmistakable.
Wu Mei gasped, her legs weakening as his body pressed hers harder into the wall.
"You belong to me now," he whispered against her skin.
"Yanzhou..." she breathed, unsure if she was begging him to stop—or to keep going.
He lifted her effortlessly, carrying her to the bed and lowering her onto the sheets.
His fingers brushed her cheek with uncharacteristic gentleness. "Tell me to stop," he murmured. "And I will."
Wu Mei looked up at him—this man who burned for her, who would fight the entire world just to keep her. Her lips trembled, but she didn't say the words.
Because deep down, she didn't want him to stop.