Men do not shed tears easily, especially one in a position as powerful as Artemis. He would rather bleed before crying before another.

At that moment, however, faced with a woman as determined and strong as Bailey, Artemis felt the urge to cry for the first time in his life.

Life had not been far from kind to her, yet she had never given up in the face of adversity. Instead, she fearlessly faced each hurdle head-on.

No matter how battered each challenge left her, she never lost her smile.

I must've done something right in my past life to meet someone as extraordinary as Bailey.

He knew all the thoughts going through her head, which only fueled his desire to destroy her enemies and give her the comfortable life she deserved.

I've held it in so far. Laying all my cards on the table now will only waste her earlier sacrifices.

The best thing he could do was to play his part to the end.

Artemis declared, “I'm not the one responsible for snaring you with such dirty tactics, though I must admit I'm glad to see you in our hands. Tarragon and the Saviors have been embroiled in an endless battle to subjugate each other for years, but the fight was always too close to call. Many elite assassins were sacrificed in the process. You're at my mercy now. If you die, the Saviors will lose their leader, and it'll only be a matter of time before Tarragon swallows the organization whole.”

Bailey scoffed and retorted, “What's this? Are you admitting you're not my match? Is that why you resorted to dirty tactics to trap me? Well, even if you win, your victory will forever be tarnished. You're not a hero in my eyes, Artemis. You're just a spineless coward.”

Before Artemis could utter a reply, Yvette dashed toward Bailey and slapped her viciously.

“You b*tch! How dare you criticize the leader of Tarragon! I bet you have a death wish! The Saviors have only been around for a couple of years; you're practically a bunch of infants. How could you ever compete with Tarragon and its decades of experience?”

Bailey managed a smirk despite how numb her face felt from the cold.

The numbness turned out to be a godsend, as she did not feel any pain despite Yvette's powerful slap.

She fired back at Yvette, “You're right. The Saviors may be nothing, but at least we're not full of sh*t like you. You're an embarrassment to Tarragon if you have to resort to these underhanded tactics to capture me.”

“You...”

A furious Yvette barely stopped herself from striking Bailey again. She remembered Artemis was beside her and did not want him to see her catty side. Heaven forbid if she no longer maintained her genteel image in his mind.

Besides being the madam of Tarragon, she also hoped to become the matriarch of the Luther family. Only a refined, intelligent woman could assume such a position.

“Leader, this woman is our prisoner now. What should we do with her?”

As Yvette spoke, she hooked one arm through the crook of Artemis' elbow and placed the other on his chest, playing up the image of a sweet, clingy partner.

Artemis scrunched his brows, displeasure brewing in his gaze.

His dark emotions instantly dissipated when he met Bailey's clear-eyed gaze.

She's still hinting at me to put up with this even though she's in such a sorry state. I can't ruin our plan over some petty annoyance.

Eventually, Artemis drawled, “Considering she's drenched in cold water, leaving her out here in the harsh winter is about as cruel as Tarragon's torture punishments. Let's leave her here a while longer. I'll send you inside. It's getting very cold.”

Yvette burrowed deeper into Artemis' embrace and smiled. She even shot Bailey a sinister smirk for good measure.

Does it hurt, you b*tch? I bet it does. This emotional torture is the worst punishment you can receive.

She looked up at Artemis and smiled. “Sure. Now that you mention it, I just realized how much I'm shivering in the cold. Look, my hands are turning red. Won't you hold them and warm them up?”

He removed his gloves and handed them to her. “My hands won't warm you up nearly fast enough. You should wear these gloves. They're warm inside.”

Yvette was somewhat disappointed by his response.

Still, considering his cold and unromantic demeanor, she believed sharing a pair of gloves he wore earlier was already a gesture of his love.

It was more important that she not show any sign of disappointment or weakness in front of Bailey.

“Thank you, Leader. Let's go in.”

“Sure.”

Bailey watched their departing figures as a sneer gradually curved her lips.

What a fool. She's destined for a poor end. Society is right. A woman madly in love has an IQ of zero. If I were Yvette, I would immediately get rid of the biggest threat to my safety. Yvette clearly isn't thinking logically at this point.

At the same time, Sofie sprang to her feet from a couch in a mansion in the countryside.

She was speaking to someone over a call and gripping her phone so tightly that her fingertips had turned white from exertion.

“What did you say? That stupid woman called Artemis to the scene?”

Her caller explained, “Yes. Artemis is already at the abandoned factory. He hasn't acted, though. He said he wanted to torture Bailey a while longer.”

The Novel will be updated daily. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

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