Charlotte never used to spout these super sweet nothings before.

Listening to her, Liam felt like he was being choked by an invisible rope, stuck, and forced to give in.

"Charlotte." His tone, unlike the usual anger-filled one, was tender and affectionate this time.

Liam sat down next to her. The wind was cold, and the rain was chilling, and even he started to feel his body losing warmth.

Liam heaved a sigh and gently rubbed Charlotte's hand that he'd grabbed hold of again.

"What's so great about this rain?" grumbled Liam.

Charlotte beamed, her eyes turning into crescents. "It wasn't looking good before, but now it does."

They sat across the table, their hands locked together, in a pose that was quite intimate.

As soon as Dylan walked in, he spotted the two sitting under the eaves, but from his angle, he couldn't see their entwined hands.

"Why are you sitting outside in this cold?" Dylan came in, thoughtfully suggesting Charlotte should go back to her room.

Charlotte instinctively tried to pull her hand away, but this time Liam's grip was firm and quick, and he didn't let her.

"What are you doing!" Charlotte panicked a bit, her moral compass making her feel uneasy.

Even though her deal with Dylan was just a transaction, she wanted to maintain some dignity in their arrangement.

Liam didn't budge, still gazing at the courtyard, acting as if the hand under the table wasn't his.

Unable to free her hand, Charlotte could only try to hide it under the table and said awkwardly, "You're back." Dylan looked at them suspiciously, "What's going on?"

"Nothing, just a bit cold," Charlotte said, trying to appear calm while her hand under the table gripped tightly. "Hiss-"

Liam beside her sharply inhaled a breath of cold air, making Dylan even more suspicious: "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing, just a bit cold," Liam said expressionlessly.

"If you're both cold, then come inside," Dylan said, standing on the steps, still unable to see what was happening under the table.

He felt something was off but didn't think much of it and went inside with his umbrella.

Once the door closed, Charlotte immediately turned and glared at Liam, "Why are you holding on to me?"

Liam gave her a sideways look, "What are you hiding?"

"Dylan's back..."

"He's just a deal, he has no right to interfere with you," Liam said coldly.

Even so, Charlotte always felt Dylan was too shrewd and didn't want to give him any leverage.

"Mr. Parker, this is disrespectful, you know. Dylan is my boyfriend, at least for show."

Liam snarked back, "And when have you ever respected my fiancee?"

He was talking about Chloe, who Charlotte would never give the time of day.

They locked eyes for a few seconds before Charlotte pulled her hand back. "I'll respect from now on."

The rain picked up, the drops getting blown right under the porch, ruining the moment.

Without a word, Charlotte got up and headed inside, her cold exit making Liam unconsciously scowl.

He could tell she was mad.Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g

But it didn't really make sense.

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She was the one who brought up the whole 'respect' thing, which was annoying in itself, and she asked him to respect Dylan.

So why was she getting all riled up just because he mentioned Chloe?

Why the sudden temper tantrum for no good reason?

Charlotte had been walking all over him for long enough; he was done putting up with her antics.

They both went back inside, one after the other, with a tension between them that made Dylan, sitting in the living room, take a second look.

"Want me to make you ginger tea?" Dylan offered to Charlotte.

She turned down the offer, pulling out her vibrating phone and quickly checking it, then hurried off to her room.

Picking up the call, it was Malcolm's voice on the other end.

"Charlotte, I checked out the lead you gave me. The villa's been completely burned down. All the evidence has gone up in smoke with it. They're saying it was an accident due to old wiring," he reported.

She gripped her phone tighter. "The fire scene had to have been staged in advance. Someone must have been controlling it when it happened. Did you find anything?"

Malcolm did have a bit of info. "A few people under Chloe have been in her mother's debt from way back, doing her dirty work. I think they're the ones who set the fire."

But Chloe had hidden these people well. With Malcolm now relying on a video he had of Chloe to keep his job at the company, and his real authority stripped away, his resources were limited, and so was the information he could find. "These desperados are only after money. If we can get in touch with them, we might be able to turn them in," Malcolm suggested at the end of the call.

Charlotte's mind lingered on Malcolm's last words as she clenched her fist.

The only evidence she had was a video of Chloe instructing Malcolm to push her into the water. But if that video came out, Malcolm would be implicated too.

After the fire, Charlotte, overwhelmed with grief, passed out several times. In her brief moments of clarity, she'd asked Malcolm to look into the fire's true cause, which he did without question.

Just for that, she couldn't abandon Malcolm, nor could she use the video as leverage anymore.

She needed solid evidence to nail Chloe's crimes and take down the whole Beaumont family who were complicit.

But where could she find a way to contact those people?

Lost in thought, the door to her room suddenly opened. Charlotte turned to see Liam walking in with a cold expression. "This doesn't seem to be Mr. Parker's room," Charlotte reminded him.

Liam stopped in his tracks, gave her a cool glance, and set down a cup on the table. "Ginger tea."

"I don't like ginger," she said.

"It's to warm you up," he said.

Charlotte took a sip to humor him, but the spicy taste hit her nose and she set the cup down right away. "I don't like it."

"Drink it up," he said, grabbing her chin with one hand and bringing the cup to her lips without asking.

Charlotte clamped her mouth shut, stubbornly looking at him.

"You've been sitting under the eaves too long; you'll catch a cold," he said, which was surprisingly gentle for him.

But Charlotte wasn't having it. She turned her face away, avoiding the cup. "I don't like it."

"Charlotte!" Just as Liam was about to scold her for not appreciating his help, she puckered her lips and looked up at him with puppy eyes. "Can we add some sugar, please?" "You're too willful," Liam said with a frown, not budging.

"I just really don't like the taste of ginger." Charlotte took another reluctant sip of the ginger tea, "I'm only drinking this because I like you."

"Tch," Liam scoffed, and his hand was steady, not spilling a drop on her.

After finishing the ginger tea, Charlotte's brows were furrowed, and she couldn't seem to relax.

She took some sugar for herself, popped it in her mouth, and turned to see Liam had already sat down on the bed.