Private Marriage, Secret Love-Chapter 193: Want to Take by Force?

The rage on Ethan Lancaster’s face was impossible to hide. He pulled back the hand that had been ringing the doorbell and clenched it into a fist.

Seth Sinclair stood silently to the side. Ethan Lancaster shot him a look. "Get some men over here."

"Right."

Raina Reddington tiptoed to the door, tugging on Ian Sinclair’s arm and whispering, "Go, let’s go."

Ian Sinclair followed her back into the living room, where Raina Reddington pulled him out onto the balcony. "Quick, find a place to hide."

"Why should I hide?"

"He’s a lunatic."

"You only think he’s a lunatic because you’re afraid of him."

Furious, Raina Reddington smacked his arm. "If he sees you here, dressed like this, do you really think you’ll get out of this unscathed?"

"I’m staying here because I’ve been waiting for this day. If my goal was simply to avoid being found by him, why would I have bothered moving in?"

Raina Reddington slid open the balcony window, wishing Ian Sinclair would just jump.

Ian Sinclair pulled her back. "You can’t panic. Think about how you survived those three years. Is this really harder to get through than staring death in the face?"

If she were on her own, Raina truly wouldn’t have found it so difficult, but as soon as other people got involved, they were inevitably dragged into the mess.

"There’s nothing to be afraid of," Ian Sinclair said, comforting her. "I was once locked in a pitch-black ship’s hold for a month, like a dog in a cage. My limbs were so cramped I could barely move when they let me out. I was almost crippled, but look at me. I’m fine now, aren’t I?"

Raina Reddington knew nothing about his past and couldn’t begin to imagine what he had been through. She reached out and gripped Ian Sinclair’s arm.

The man looked down at her. "Don’t be afraid. If he’s vicious, you have to be more vicious. That’s the only way you’ll have a chance to turn this around."

The doorbell rang again, but this time it wasn’t frantic. The chimes came one after another, calm and methodical.

Raina Reddington reached for him, but Ian Sinclair was already walking away. He strode into his bedroom, scooped up all the blankets and pillows, and, ignoring Raina’s protests, tossed them onto the bed in the master bedroom.

Ethan Lancaster raised his hand, his knuckles tapping lightly on the door.

Ian Sinclair walked to the entrance and pulled the door open without a moment’s hesitation. He had clearly just woken up; he was still in his pajamas, his hair was a mess, and he stared out with bleary eyes. "You looking for someone?"

Blood rushed to Ethan Lancaster’s head, his mind buzzing as if it had exploded. His eyes turned bloodshot. He took a step inside. Ian Sinclair took two steps back, his brows furrowed. "Who are you looking for?"

Raina Reddington saw Seth Sinclair enter as well, followed by several burly men. Once they were all inside, the last man pulled the door shut.

Now, however, she was surprisingly calm and composed. "What’s all this about so early in the morning?"

Ethan Lancaster’s gaze fell on her. She was also in pajamas, looking like she had just crawled out of bed. He had been watching Raina Reddington for so long, yet he’d never realized there was someone else in her apartment.

"Who is he?" As Ethan Lancaster asked the question, his voice carried a tremor only he could perceive. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Ian Sinclair let out a small yawn. "Boyfriend. Fiancé. Can’t you tell?"

Ethan Lancaster’s eyes narrowed imperceptibly. Sunlight poured through the floor-to-ceiling windows, illuminating one half of the living room. But Ethan Lancaster stood in the other half, his heart seemingly dragged into the shadows along with him.

He saw that the bedroom door was open. Ethan Lancaster strode toward it, but Raina Reddington moved faster, blocking his path at the doorway. "Don’t you go too far."

Ethan Lancaster grabbed her arm and dragged her into the bedroom. The large bed was still unmade, the blankets and pillows tossed together in a heap. ’Maybe they were doing something before I rang the doorbell. Or maybe they were just fighting over the covers...’

Ethan Lancaster didn’t dare let his thoughts go any further. Raina Reddington’s arm felt as if he were about to snap it in two. Her expression tightened with pain, but she couldn’t break free from his grip.

"Explain yourself."

"Explain what?" Raina Reddington’s tone was hostile. "You saw it all, didn’t you? Who are you to me? Why should I have to explain this kind of thing to you?"

"Raina Reddington." Ethan Lancaster’s grip tightened violently, and he flung her hard onto the bed. Raina propped herself up on her hands, her face a mask of calm. "I don’t know what Mr. Lancaster is so angry about. We’re all adults here. Is it not normal to date and fall in love?"

She noticed the hand at Ethan Lancaster’s side was slowly clenching into a fist and wondered if he was so enraged he might actually slap her.

"Don’t tell me you don’t have other women besides Mrs. Lancaster," she said, getting up to leave.

Rage overwhelmed Ethan Lancaster. "So? You’re going to use the same tactic against me?"

Raina Reddington sneered. "You really overestimate yourself. An eye for an eye? Me having a boyfriend has nothing to do with you. I need someone to care for me, to love me."

As she spoke, she reached out and poked Ethan Lancaster’s chest a few times. "Fourth Master, you’re being so relentless. Are you planning on taking what you want by force? A man like you must have some kind of purity complex, right? You surely aren’t expecting me... to be a virgin?"

Her every word, every sentence, was utterly merciless. At that moment, Ethan Lancaster felt like a bound criminal being subjected to death by a thousand cuts. He grabbed Raina Reddington’s hand. "I don’t expect you to be a virgin, because I know perfectly well that your first time was with me."

Raina Reddington looked up at him, her eyes dark and sharp. "Is that what you told Mrs. Lancaster? I imagine if she were still alive, she would be full of regret."

"Regret what?"

"Mrs. Lancaster just couldn’t see things clearly. For every woman Fourth Master has, she should have had a man."

Enraged, Ethan Lancaster yanked her closer. "You—"

"Am I wrong? So stop saying that I’m her. If she had been capable of thinking that way, she wouldn’t have died so young."

Ethan Lancaster’s head throbbed as if it would split open. For the longest time, he hadn’t been able to bear hearing the word ’die’.

The person in front of him was clearly her, yet her way of speaking and acting was completely different. It was as if this person merely had Raina Reddington’s face.

She pulled her hand from his grasp. It wasn’t that Ethan Lancaster hadn’t had his suspicions, but he just couldn’t accept this reality. Besides, he was completely unprepared today; he’d been caught utterly off guard.

Worried about Raina Reddington, Ian Sinclair hurried to the bedroom doorway. Ethan Lancaster snapped back to his senses just in time to see Raina walking toward Ian.

Ethan Lancaster could not tolerate such a scene. He strode forward. "Don’t you dare go to him!"

Seeing this, Ian Sinclair pulled Raina toward him. Just as he was about to move her behind him, the men waiting in the living room rushed forward.

He instinctively moved to fight back, but there were too many of them, and they were clearly professional bodyguards. He knew he might not gain the upper hand if he resisted; besides, he didn’t want to reveal his true capabilities so easily.

Raina Reddington watched as two men seized Ian Sinclair and dragged him toward the living room.