Chapter 4. A Wasted Effort

Richard tried to ignore Winona’s sobs, but he was a little disturbed by them. That was why he let go of her body and held her back on the bed. Richard grabbed her wrist and stretched it up. The woman literally sobbed with tears rolling down her soft cheeks.

“Stop crying,” Richard said.

The words and tone of voice that came out of his mouth were not what Richard expected. He didn’t want to scare her, let alone make her cry. However, if Winona still remembered what happened, she would be in danger. Even though Richard was the alpha of the werewolves, he could imagine what would happen if a human was allowed to know about their existence.

The werewolves would submit to his alpha’s orders, but they would remain restless. Richard would be urged to kill Winona so that their secret would not be exposed forever. Richard would be forced to do that unless he could erase her memory. Richard never wanted to hurt humans, so he chose to try to erase Winona’s memories once again. However, something was wrong with this woman.

“I-I beg you…” Winona asked.

Richard snorted loudly and then let go of her hand. The woman immediately inched away and covered herself with the blanket. Her wrist was red and throbbing, but she didn’t care about that now. She stared at the scary man in front of her, trembling.

“Tell me, Winona Wilde, what are you hiding?” he asked.

Richard was sure there was something inside Winona, maybe an object that she had or something else that made Richard unable to erase her memory.

“W-what do you mean? I don’t understand,” Winona replied.

“You’re hiding something!” Richard shouted again.

“I-I… I really need money to pay off the debt. I have nothing to hide anymore. Really… The money is to pay the debt to the hospital,” Winona answered in a trembling voice. She thought what Richard was asking about was money. She had been trying to blackmail Richard, and maybe that was what pissed him off at her; at least, that’s what Winona thought.

Richard frowned. Winona’s answer was not what he expected, but it made him a little curious.

“Hospital debt?” he asked.

Richard sat on the edge of the bed, looking at Winona, who was inching closer to the edge of the bed.

“Yeah…” Winona replied as she took a deep breath to calm herself.

“You’re perfectly healthy, don’t try to fool me,” Richard said.

“Not me, but my father,” Winona replied.

“Your father?” he asked.

Winona nodded, hoping Richard wouldn’t ask further, but the look in his eyes demanded that she continue. She gulped.

“My father died a month ago from leukemia. He had been undergoing treatment for so long that I could no longer afford to pay for his treatment,” Winona continued.

Richard looked at her with an expressionless face. Winona didn’t know what the man was thinking. She guessed maybe Richard thought she was a gold digger because she asked for a lot of money. Winona felt a little sorry for making such a decision at such a crucial time, but she didn’t have much choice but to stay alive.

“Your debt is a million dollars?” he asked.

“No, but the rest I need to move on with my life. I need a place to live and other things,” Winona answered. She hoped she hadn’t chosen the wrong words that would make Richard think of her even more negatively. However, she didn’t know what to say other than the truth.

Richard didn’t sense any deceit in her words, but that didn’t mean he would trust her. It might be true that she wasn’t a gold digger, but Richard still thought she had something to hide. Over the past hundreds of years, there had never been a human whose memory could not be erased by Richard.

“Are you sure you have nothing to hide?” he asked.

Winona shook her head. She really didn’t understand what Richard was talking about. She had said everything honestly. She had lived alone with her father since she was little until he finally died one month ago. Her world turned upside down when she found out that her father had leukemia. The malignant disease had been eating away at her father’s body for many years, but she only found out after her father was in stage four.

Since then, Winona has worked hard for her father’s treatment. She had done whatever it took so that her father could recover. She sold the car and the house and spent all her savings on it. She even threw away her opportunity to have a career in modeling because she needed to take care of her father. A career in modeling took a lot of time, and she had to travel a lot for work. Because of that, Winona chose a job as a beginner journalist, as her educational background was in journalism, even though the salary was much less compared to the modeling fees that were offered to her.

Winona worked overtime most nights to pay the hospital bills, but it was far from enough. She even volunteered when no one wanted to investigate Richard Lerroy for extra money. Winona didn’t think it would end up like this. If her father was still alive, he would probably cry when he found out that his beloved daughter became a contract wife. It was only a matter of time before she would be forced to give up her body to satisfy the lust of the man in front of her.

“Sleep. Tomorrow we will face many people. Prepare yourself well,” Richard said finally. For the first time, he didn’t know what to do with someone. He finally chose to get up and left Winona in the room.

Winona looked at Richard’s retreating back and breathed a sigh of relief when the man was gone, and the door to her room was tightly shut. Despite feeling relieved, a second later, she couldn’t hold back the tears that spilled out. In her entire life, Winona never thought that she would become a woman who was bought with money.

***

Winona didn’t know exactly when she had fallen asleep, but she suddenly woke up to a knock on the door. When she opened her eyes, she was surprised because what she had experienced the night before was not a dream. She found herself in a luxurious room that felt very unfamiliar.

The door opened abruptly, and a woman walked in. She wore a neat blazer with her hair pulled back. The woman appeared to be around the same age as Winona’s father but still looked beautiful and very professional. Behind her were several maids carrying things.

“Mrs. Lerroy, I am Lana Murphy, one of Mister Lerroy’s assistants. I have been assigned to dress you this morning. Please get up and get ready immediately. Your breakfast is already here. Mister Lerroy doesn’t like it when we’re late,” she said.

“I-I… I have to dress up?” Winona asked, still feeling groggy from sleep.

Several maids immediately removed the blanket and helped her get up.

“Yes. Hasn’t Mister Lerroy told you yet? Today you have a press conference. There are some things you need to memorize, and I have prepared everything,” Lana replied. While she was talking, the servants had already taken Winona’s hands and ushered her to sit at a small table in the room. The food was already laid out on the table, and it was too much for Winona to finish on her own.

“Mrs. Lerroy, you’d better eat quickly because we don’t want Mister Lerroy to get angry,” Lana said.

Winona grabbed the spoon and started eating after hearing her words.

“What will he do if he gets angry?” Winona asked, shoving a large spoonful of food into her mouth.

“You wouldn’t want to know, Mrs. Lerroy,” Lana replied, shaking her head slightly.

Winona widened her eyes. Richard Lerroy was a scary man. She quickly finished her food. The next thing she knew, she was being dragged into the bathroom, and the maids were helping her take a quick shower. The soap had a fragrant scent, making Winona’s body smell like a flower garden. She had told them several times that she could bathe on her own, but no one seemed to be paying attention to her words.

After the bath, the maids dried her body and started dressing her.

“Do not pick that one! Pick the long-sleeved dress. Yes, this one,” said Lana, taking out an ivory gown with long sleeves and a cross-cut across the chest. The outfit looked very elegant. Lana glanced at the bruises on Winona’s wrists, but she didn’t say anything. Apparently, that’s why she advised her to wear long sleeves. Winona herself just realized that her wrists were now turning blue and were painful to touch.

As soon as she was dressed, Winona was seated in front of the dressing table, and the maids immediately applied makeup and styled her hair.

“Mrs. Lerroy, you must explain to the press that you and Mister Lerroy are married and that actress Gina Jade’s accusations are false. Tell the public that you trust your husband and that this scandal is just a misunderstanding. That’s all you need to say at the press conference. Say nothing more. Do you understand?” Lana asked.

“Y-yes…” Winona answered, feeling a lump in her throat. She didn’t even know how to deal with Richard Lerroy this morning, and now she had to face a press conference too.