Though paralyzed, still radiantly charming!

Chapter 244: So… why don’t you read it to me?

Clearing Suspicion?

Ryan was completely confused. He had no idea why Alice would suspect him. Hadn’t he always been helping her?

Just a moment ago, Alice looked troubled, but now she suddenly seemed suspicious of him. How could her mood change so fast? Wasn’t that a bit too much?

“Miss Alice?” Ryan’s voice trembled slightly. You couldn’t really blame him—after all, the punishment for this side quest was way too harsh.

What kind of joke was this? A Darkening Level increase of twenty points? The max was only a hundred, and this one task would add twenty? That was practically a death sentence!

Ryan cautiously called out, but Alice only responded with a cold, indifferent hum. What she did next almost made Ryan pass out.

The girl reached out her pale hand, opened the drawer of the coffee table, and after fiddling around for a bit, she revealed a hidden compartment.

Ryan swallowed hard. His mind flashed to scenes from gangster movies, where the boss would bring a traitor home under the pretense of a heart-to-heart, only to personally take them out.

And what did the boss always pull out of the hidden compartment in front of the traitor?

“Miss Alice, I swear, I’m loyal!”

“I’ve done my part for the gang. I’ve bled for you. Just give me one more chance!”

The terrifying possibility hit Ryan, and in a panic, he practically threw himself at Alice, wrapping his arms tightly around her waist.

He had expected Alice’s body to be as cold and unyielding as her personality, but when he actually hugged her, it was nothing like that.

Unlike Mia, who was all soft and delicate, Alice’s body had a certain firmness to it. Her skin was smooth, and beneath it, he could feel a surprising elasticity.

Is this Alice’s waist? It’s so soft…

Wait, no, no! This wasn’t the point right now!

Ryan’s desperate move left Alice completely stunned. Feeling the weight of him on her, her breathing became a little uneven. She flailed her small hands in the air, but couldn’t muster the strength to push him off.

“Ryan, let go of me.”

Alice was starting to regret threatening Ryan earlier. It had been a spur-of-the-moment thing, and she hadn’t expected him to actually take it seriously.

But now, this situation was getting out of hand. She was genuinely scared.

Alice was also confused. If Ryan was acting like this, then what did he mean by what he wrote in his journal about wanting her to kill him?

“Miss Alice, think this through…”

“If I die, you’ll definitely regret it.”

Ryan’s face was buried in Alice’s waist, and all he could think about was how to clear his name. The more he thought about it, the more convinced he became that she was going to kill him.

It wasn’t entirely unreasonable. After all, she had just threatened him, and now, back at her place, she was about to settle the score. No wonder Ryan was freaking out.

“I know.”

Alice’s voice came from above him, a little breathless. Ryan was holding onto her waist so tightly, his face pressed firmly against her body, leaving her completely flustered.

Feeling Ryan’s hot breath against her skin, Alice’s neck turned from pale to a deep shade of red. She gathered what little strength she had and smacked him on the head.

“Get up already! I’m not planning to kill you.”

Even after hearing Alice’s words, Ryan wasn’t entirely reassured. This was his life they were talking about—he couldn’t afford to take any chances.

There was no point in dying now. If they both went down, it would be game over. It was better to stay alive and figure things out.

“Miss Alice, do you promise?”

“I promise! Now get off me!”

Ryan hesitated for a moment longer, but Alice’s tone had grown sharp with irritation. Reluctantly, he finally let go and got off her.

Wait, why did it feel like he was reluctant? Fear really was the greatest enemy of mankind. Facing death had clearly messed with his head.

As Ryan stood up, he realized that he had pinned Alice down on the couch. Her hair had come loose, and her long, inky-black strands were scattered messily across the leather surface.

“Uh… sorry about that…”

Ryan coughed awkwardly, realizing how much of an idiot he had just been. He quickly took a few steps back and bowed deeply, almost at a full ninety degrees.

Alice sat up from the couch, rubbing her waist where Ryan had squeezed her a little too tightly. She glared at him with a mixture of anger and disbelief.

He had already done it, and now he was putting on this apologetic act? Was he hoping she wouldn’t hold it against him?

But honestly, that wasn’t the real issue here. Alice sighed, trying to refocus on the matter at hand. After Ryan’s little outburst, her initial frustration had mostly faded away.

“Alright, I was just being impulsive earlier. You can forget about that whole thing.”

Alice’s cheeks were flushed, probably from the sip of alcohol she just had. She took a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself down and hide the embarrassment on her face.

Even though being hugged by Ryan earlier felt… not bad when she thought about it now, it was still way too embarrassing. As a mafia boss, there was no way she would ever admit to something like that.

Ryan had messed up, so at this point, whatever Alice said, he had to go along with. Besides, seeing her regretful like this was actually kind of cute.

“Now, let’s get down to business.”

Alice’s gaze turned sharp again. She placed something on the coffee table that she had been hiding behind her back. Ryan finally got a good look at it, and it was far from the weapons he had been expecting.

But somehow, this was even more dangerous!

“Miss… Miss Alice… where did you get that from…?”

Ryan’s emotions were all over the place, like he was on a rollercoaster. That brief moment of relief he had earlier? Completely gone.

How could he have forgotten about this? His diary had mysteriously disappeared when he woke up this morning. He had searched for it for a while, but with everything that happened during the day, he had temporarily pushed it out of his mind.

Now, the diary was right in front of him, and Alice was the one who had it. Which meant… he knew exactly where she had found it.

His face turned pale, worse than if he were crying. What was the difference between this and a gun? A gun could kill him physically, but the stuff in that diary? That could destroy him mentally.

“The maid found it while cleaning your room. I figured it might be important to you, so I kept it safe.”

Alice casually adjusted her slightly messy hair, giving the notebook on the table only a passing glance, as if it didn’t really matter to her.

Ryan was frozen in place, his fingers twitching awkwardly. After what felt like an eternity, he finally managed to string together a broken sentence.

“So, Miss Alice… you…”

The smile on Ryan’s face was barely holding on. Was this Murphy’s Law in action? The thing you fear the most is always the thing that happens.

Like how he really didn’t want Alice to get her hands on his diary, and yet, here they were.

He wanted to ask if she had read it, but the words got stuck in his throat.

He swapped places with her in his mind. If he had found Alice’s diary, even though reading someone else’s diary was totally unethical, he knew he wouldn’t be able to resist the temptation.

Ryan was almost in despair, his face drained of color. When he looked at Alice now, there was a new feeling mixed in.

Was it just his imagination, or did Alice have a slight smile on her lips? Like a hunter slowly closing in on a rabbit caught in a trap.

“Relax, I haven’t had the chance to read it yet.”

Alice spoke calmly, taking another sip of her beer, as if she really wasn’t interested.

Ryan’s spirits lifted again. So Alice did have boundaries after all. She wouldn’t read his diary.

If she hadn’t read it and was just leaving it here, she was probably planning to let him take it back. People like her were rare these days.

But the rollercoaster wasn’t over yet. Ryan had gotten excited way too soon.

Alice’s expression had been neutral, but now she was twirling a strand of her hair around her finger. Her eyes sparkled with a playful glint that Ryan had never seen before. She looked at him seriously, her lips parting to say something that sent him straight to hell.

“I didn’t read it, so… why don’t you read it to me?”