The King's Beloved (The Beauty and The Beast Series)

Chapter 4. Golden Shackles.

"Valerie."

The temptation in the enchanting voice grew stronger and drew her bewitched self towards the beautiful lake.

"Valerie."

The silvery mist swayed as she let herself brew in the mystical white, surrounding the silver dewy water in the lake and closed her eyes fully cocooning the whites.

"Valerie."

Before they opened again and met the soulless pink reflecting in the silvery surface of the lake missing the mischievousness- she was so familiar yet so unfamiliar with, her shackled hand bounded to the bed with golden chains.

...and she screamed.

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When Irina reached the headquarters of the L&V Cuisines, the whole place was eerily quiet, with not a single soul in sight, which perturbed Irina. What's going on?

Did she come too early? Irina glanced at the pendulum wall clock toking rather loudly in the silent lobby and sighed as she settled down on the white velvet couch laid back against the glass wall opposite the reception. She might as well just wait here, till someone appears.

Irina leaned back against the cool velvet, only to sit up straight as the elevator tinkered with life and drew open to a very familiar face.

Dressed in a pair of casual light wash jeans and plain white shirt, with top three buttons of the shirt open, revealing the flawless golden skin, the towering man seemed to be focused on the file in his hand, until his green eyes raised up and met hers and dimmed significantly.

"Irina?"

The tinge of worry in his voice disturbed her and her eyes dropped down to her lap in self-consciousness as his green eyes bored into her. Did he... know something?

"Bad night?"

Irina unconsciously nodded, Terrifying- before immediately shaking her head as she realized what she did.

The lobby was immediately filled with his rich laughter and almost immediately amethyst orbs flung up to look at the enchanting man in dismay. But the dark-haired man paid no heed to the tiny fangs bared at him and settled himself beside her on the velvet couch.

"What are you doing here, Irina?"

Huh?

Irina frowned confused by his words and Luciano sighed disbelievingly.

"Didn't you check your mail?"

"Nah. I didn't have the time. I have to prepare breakfast for my roommate and pack lunch for myself. Just in case." Irina smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes and a tinge of guilt appeared in his green orbs.

"Look. If it wasn't urgent, I wouldn't have kept you away from your lunch and I really couldn't promise it wouldn't happen again." Luciano shrugged. "It's just what it is, but I apologize for my misbehavior."

Irina's amethyst orbs widened in surprise as his sincere gaze bore into her and she shook her head with a smile.

"No. It's ok. I understand. It's my job."

Luciano leaned against the sofa as he gazed at her suggestively. "So? You were talking about food?"

"It's my lunch." Irina caught the meaning of his double-edged words and bared her fangs at him once again. "What am I going to eat in the afternoon if you eat it?"

"You can eat lunch at your home. I told you about the mail, right? Check it and pass me your lunch box, will you? I didn't have breakfast yet." Luciano Vitally, the great owner of one of the biggest multi-billion-dollar company, spread nearly all over the world and making the world record of making around 500,000 dollars an hour, grumbled as he eyed her bag like there was a treasure in there instead of her homemade food.