Jade had been waiting for this moment and at the same time she had not. Whatever he wanted to say, she did not want to hear it because it could never be good, and his steps toward her only proved that she was right. He inched closer, eyes just as predatory as the elderly man who wanted her.
To make it worse, his gaze swept over her body, his tongue moistened his lower lip and his palms rubbed against each other. It was only a matter of seconds before he stood inches from her, close enough that she could feel the heat of his breath as he exhaled, close enough to see the scar on his left jaw, close enough that she instinctively took a step back.
"No, no, no." His tone was smooth. Why was it always the hot men with the deepest voices, organically trained to be seductive in a way? "We don't do that here." He added, closing the distance once again, arms around her waist. She could step back once more, but the door would hold her in place. There was no place to run, no way to escape the predatory arms of the man who bought her for himself and needed her so early in the morning.
"Please." She muttered, unable to hold back anymore. She had been silent, scared for her life because of how dangerous the atmosphere appeared, but the word escaped her lips effortlessly. "Please," she added, "I am begging you, let me go."
He was taken aback, so much that he stepped back, brows raised. "Please, let you go?" he asked. "Twenty million dollars sounds like a joke to you, huh?"
Her throat ran dry as she averted her gaze. "I know it's a lot of money, but I never asked you to buy me. I did not ask for any of this. I should have been at home." She wanted to yell but kept it to herself and simply stared into his eyes, shaking, a storm gathering in the corners of her eyes.
"I guess not." He continued without raising his voice one bit. "So let us try this once again." He walked closer this time, smirking and feeding on her fear. The tension was palpable, soothing to his soul, and teasing her this way was something he had been waiting to do ever since he spent all that money on her, not that it was anything to a man who had an entire ceiling made of LED screens.
This time, Jade remained silent. She could only wait for his kiss or his hand to go to places it should not. However, in an unexpected turn, he backed up and said, "You can cook."
Jade's eyes widened. The tension in the air seemed to drop drastically, replaced by confusion mixed with curiosity. "Huh?" she blinked, unable to form any words.
He turned around and, while returning to the living room, said, "You worked at a café. You assisted in kitchen prep and trained under Chef Ann Becker in your late college years. That was exactly six months before she retired. So I know you can cook. I was not asking if you could."
Jade's blood ran cold. He was right about everything. Even she could not remember how many months it took Chef Ann to retire, but he did. How? Mustering every ounce of courage left inside of her, she said, "I don't understand. What does it have to do with this?"
"With what?" He turned briskly, the television remote frozen in his hand. "Oh, that." He laughed coldly and mockingly. "No, I am not that guy. It is too early and I have work to do."
Jade was still confused. He had clarified that he did not want to sleep with her, so what then did he want? That question dominated her thoughts and, as if he knew, he replied, "You will be my cook. That's why I bought you."
Silence stretched between them for nearly a minute as he returned to the television, searching for something to watch. "Your what?" Jade finally found her voice. She looked down at what she was wearing, at the house she was in, and at the incident leading to this moment. Clearly he was messing with her.
"My cook." He repeated without looking in her direction. "I am not sure I stuttered, but if that is such a bombastic word, let me break it down. You will prepare my meals, my food, the combination of edible ingredients that I will eat. What other words are there? My cuisine. You will be my personal Ann Becker."
He was serious, or at least he looked very serious. No flinches, no chuckle, not even a blink. Jade looked at her dress once again in disbelief and asked, "You bought me to cook?"
"Yes."
"That's… you paid twenty million for a chef?" she sounded a little disappointed, mostly because her emotions were fluctuating.
He shook his head. "No," he said, still without batting an eye at her. "I paid twenty million to ensure that you were not purchased by someone else. Now you get to cook for me rather than spend the rest of your life staring at him. And by him, I mean the old man who could have birthed your late dad."
Did he really think it made any sense that he bought her in the first place? Or that he would not be arrested and sent to jail if the police ever found out? Or that she would not report him if she ever got out of here and make sure an investigation was launched just to save innocent girls like her from buyers like him? Her mind wandered with these thoughts, her emotions shifting once again, this time to irritation. Also, did he just talk about her late dad? He did but she did not take note.
"You will report to the main kitchen at six a.m." His voice snapped her back to reality. "My breakfast should be on my bed at seven, and it must be sumptuous. Finally, do not poison me." This time he paused, turned to her, and a faint smile, almost invisible, flickered across his eyes. "I will consider that very impolite."
Humor? Jade's eyes widened. Who does he even think he is?
"Get to it," he said. "I am hungry, and I already fired my last chef."
Jade contemplated. Should she move or should she not? Well, she was supposed to move according to him, but was he really serious about this? That was the burning question.
"Can… can I change what I am wearing?"
"No," he replied briskly as though he had been waiting for this, but then suddenly remembered that every outfit was no different from what she was wearing. So he said almost dismissively, "Yeah, sure, go ahead and change, but make it quick."