The Sweetest Temptation
Chapter 291: Kill

Chapter 291: Kill

Shabby old clothes almost equivalent to rags, jawline scattered with overstayed and bumpy stubble, bony face features highlighted by neglect, chapped lips from excessive smoking... if there was any indication left that he was Nolan, it was the evidences of his usual indulgences.

Now that she looked at him, she could not help getting sick to her stomach, there had been a time in her life where she was head over heels for the excuse of a man who now stood hopelessly before her.

"Two options, Stella," his words roused her back to the present moment.

Unlike when she first noticed him, her adrenaline level had lowered just enough to let her think of a way out. However, the moment he mentioned those words, her focus faltered.

She locked her fierce but utterly panicked gaze with his, relaxed and calculating.

"Give me the money or I kill you."

"That was not the agreement." She countered, her voice taking on a defensive note in spite of the weight of the moment.

"You don’t know how this works, do you? Well, let me break it down to you... if you ask me, I’m being more merciful than the average man—"

"I don’t have anything to give you. If you wish to kill me, get on with it."

Her defiance caught him off guard. He stopped speaking and observed her for a while. Suddenly, he broke into a clown-like grin that made her skin crawl.

"That would be a waste."

"What?!"

"Actually, I’ve been dying to have a taste of that pussy ever since you walked out of my life."

That was the height of it. Her control snapped.

"You’re nothing but a pathetic excuse for a man, I never knew your kind could still sink to new lows," Stella retorted with fiery indignation.

The shift in his features was stark and unsettling, as anger contorted his visage into a twisted mask of rage. "You bitch!" His voice spat venom as he lunged forward, seizing a handful of her hair in a vice-like grip. Stella’s head jerked back, her scalp burning with pain as he yanked her towards him, her hair caught in his merciless grasp.

A cry of pain escaped her lips, but amidst the chaos, a fierce determination sparked within her. As their bodies collided, she found her balance, her survival instincts surging to the forefront. Summoning every ounce of strength, she delivered a forceful stomp onto his foot, her knee driving upward with unrelenting intensity, striking his crotch.

Nolan howled in agony, his grip on her hair loosening temporarily as he staggered back. Swiftly recovering, he lashed out, the back of his hand connecting with her cheek in a vicious slap. The impact sent Stella tumbling backward, crashing onto a nearby settee, disoriented but fiercely resolute.

Through the haze of pain, her focus remained unyielding. She heard the ominous sound of a blade being drawn from its concealment, its metallic whisper slicing through the charged air. His footsteps closed in, with chilling words weaving a sinister threat.

"I expected a fight from you, but was that the extent of your feeble attempts to defy me?" he sneered, his voice dripping with sadistic mockery. The glint of the blade danced before her eyes, an ominous promise of violence.

Her voice, though tremulous, held a fierce resolve. "You won’t break me," she declared defiantly.

His hand wandered across her thigh, his touch invasive and vile. A mixture of revulsion and fury coursed through her veins. "Don’t deceive yourself into thinking you have any power here," he taunted, his fingers tracing a chilling path upward.

Stella’s heart pounded, her mind racing for an opportunity. She met his gaze, unflinching as she admitted her defiance. "You’re the one who’s deluded if you think I’ll submit to your sick desires."

His grip tightened on the blade, his smile a menacing sneer. "Perhaps I’ll indulge your resistance a little longer," he hissed, menace dripping from every word.

She observed his face intently, every nerve on edge, waiting for that crucial instant. It arrived when his lecherous gaze dropped to her thighs, and in that heartbeat, she seized her chance. Her fist shot forward with unbridled force, connecting solidly with his face. Stumbling in his attempt to regain balance, his grip on her loosened, and he crashed to the floor with a resounding thud.

Swift as a predator, she snatched the fallen knife, her fingers closing around its hilt, her heart pounding like a war drum. Poised like a wary animal, she held the blade over her stomach, her voice steel in the air.

"You goddamn—"

"I’d rather take my own life than allow your filthy cock inside me for even a moment," she interrupted, her words dripping with unflinching resolve.

His rage was palpable, a storm brewing in his eyes.

"You bitch!"

A tense standoff hung in the air, her trembling defiance locking gazes with his seething anger.

"Don’t come any closer," she warned, inching the knifes tip closer to her midsection.

"You fucking bitch, you wouldn’t dare," he spat, his bravado warring with uncertainty.

Her eyes darkened, a wellspring of determination in their depths as she uttered the chilling words, "To escape this living nightmare, I’d do anything."

A sinister grin twisted his lips as he lunged forward. Just before his weight crashed onto her, she drove the blade into her side. A sharp gasp of pain tore from her lips as the blade sliced through flesh, embedding itself to the hilt, his momentum forcing it deeper.

Cold determination radiated from her gaze even as his weight bore down on her. His panic was now tangible, his eyes wide with genuine terror—Nolan, stripped of his mask, now quivered in fear. It was a gratifying sight, the knowledge that her sacrifice would haunt him.

A grim smile tugged at the corners of her lips, a bittersweet triumph. As he scrambled away, her vision blurred, a crimson stain spreading rapidly across her clothes. Weakness overcame her, and her gaze remained fixed on the now closed entrance, the darkness beckoning her into oblivion.