Chapter 20 I Still Want You
Chloe immediately stepped out of the restroom stall but only caught a glimpse of a figure leaving. As she rushed into the mall, scanning the crowds, she couldn’t tell who’d just made the call.
She’d overheard them mention an explosion scheduled to go off at a specific time. She wondered if a time bomb had really been planted in the mall.
If Brian was the target, the bomb had to be somewhere close to him. She needed to get back to him immediately and evacuate the mall at the same time.
Chloe quickly dialed a number she hadn’t called in a long time.
“Chloe?” A familiar voice came through on the other end.
“It’s me. I’m at Pinecrest Mall,” Chloe said, quickly relaying what she’d overheard in the restroom.
“Whether the call is real or not, you need to evacuate the mall immediately to prevent casualties.”
“Evacuate an entire mall based on a single call? One wrong move could cause mass panic,” Ethan
Hughes replied.
“I know you can handle this. Please!” Chloe urged.
“If nothing like this had happened today, would you have never contacted me again?” Ethan asked.
“…Sorry,” Chloe whispered.
“There’s nothing to apologize for. I told you before, if it’s your order, I’ll do it. No questions asked.”
The call ended, and Chloe finally breathed a sigh of relief.
It was good that Ethan was willing to help. Since he’d agreed, evacuating the mall would be no problem.
Now, the remaining task was to get to the top floor and find Brian.
Chloe sprinted to the elevator, but it seemed to be out of order and showed no sign of working at all.
She cursed under her breath. “Damn it! Could these people have sabotaged the elevators too?”
She headed for the emergency stairwell instead. She was on the sixth floor, and the top floor was on the tenth, with floors seven, eight, and nine occupied by mall offices. That meant she had to climb four floors as quickly as possible.
By the time she reached the eighth floor, she heard the mall’s announcement reminding customers to evacuate, saying it was a temporary earthquake and fire safety drill.
She realized Ethan had already started evacuating the mall.
The biggest problem now was that she didn’t know where the bomb was or when it might go off.
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Soon, she reached the top floor.
But it was pitch dark–all the lights were out. She heard the sounds of fighting and groans. She shivered as she moved quickly toward the sounds.
“Brian, I’m going to kill you!” a furious shout rang out.
Another muffled grunt followed.
Chloe’s steps quickened. “Brian…”
Then what she saw made her stop in her tracks, and the rest of her words died on her lips.
People were sprawled across the floor, scattered in every direction, motionless and unresponsive.
In the center stood a tall, imposing figure, his body covered in splatters of blood. Blood dripped from his long fingers, but it didn’t seem to be his.
As if sensing her gaze, Brian lifted his head to look at Chloe. His dark eyes locked on hers, cold and
lifeless, but a faint, chilling smile tugged at the corners of his lips.
“You’re late. Otherwise, you would have seen an even more interesting scene.”
Even though the scene was gruesome, Brian seemed completely unfazed, as if the chaos around him were just a thrilling scene from a movie, and she’d arrived too late to witness it.
Chloe stepped forward quickly. “Are you hurt?”
Brian raised an eyebrow. “I thought you would be more concerned about the weaklings lying on the floor,
Ms. Quall.”
“I’m not that much of a saint,” Chloe said, though the fact that he could still talk to her like this meant he was likely unharmed. “It’s not safe here. We need to leave!”
With that, she grabbed Brian’s hand, trying to lead him toward the emergency stairwell. But just as they
neared it, Chloe suddenly heard a ticking sound.
Earlier, she hadn’t heard the sound because the sounds from the fight had drowned it out. Now, without the commotion, it rang out unnervingly clear.
Could it be a bomb?
Chloe’s heart skipped a beat. At that moment, the ticking turned into a crackling electrical sound. Instinctively, Chloe spun around and threw herself over Brian.
“Danger!” she shouted.
But the explosion never came. Instead, Brian’s calm voice rang out beneath her. “It’s not going to explode the way you think.”
“What?” Chloe froze. She looked down and met his deep, unreadable eyes again.
Chapter 201 Still Want You
“The bomb has been tampered with. Even when the timer hits zero, it won’t go off,” Brian said.
“You knew about the bomb all along?” Chloe gasped.
“Yes, I knew,” Brian admitted honestly. “But this is the second time.”
“The second time?” she frowned.
“The second time you risked your life to save me,” he said, staring at her intently. “Why? Because you used to serve in the military, and even if it had been someone else in this danger, you would have still
tried to save them?”
“Isn’t that reason enough?” she said as she stood. Since the bomb wouldn’t explode, she could finally
exhale in relief.
Soon, Brian’s men rushed into the restaurant, quickly removing the bomb and dealing with the fallen
assassins.
“Mr. Steele,” one of them said, handing him a clean, damp towel and fresh clothes.
Brian took the towel and wiped the blood from his hands. Then he pulled off his blood–soaked shirt in front of Chloe, revealing his lean, muscular chest.
Chloe spun around in surprise at the sight and quickly turned her back to him. “Since you’re fine, Mr. Steele, I’ll be going now.”
“Ms. Quall, you might want to change your clothes before leaving. Otherwise, it would draw too much
attention.” Brian’s voice came from behind her.
Only then did she notice that her clothes were stained with blood from when she’d fallen on top of him. Soon, one of Brian’s men brought her a fresh set of clothes.
Chloe didn’t refuse and went to the restaurant’s staff changing room to get dressed. After all, her blood-
stained clothes were far too conspicuous.
As they took the elevator down, Brian suddenly said, “I still want you.”
Chloe was taken aback.
“Have you really never considered being my bodyguard?” Brian asked.
Chloe let out a quiet sigh of relief. So that was what he meant.
She replied, “I already said before that I don’t plan to be a bodyguard right now, Mr. Steele. Besides, you
already have so many bodyguards–they’re more than enough to keep you safe.”
“But if it were you, no matter what danger we faced, you wouldn’t leave me behind, would you?” he said, staring at her intently.
