She wondered if they had heard anything strange.

"Jaxon."

Serena stuffed her phone back into her pocket. "Clean this up. Take them for interrogation and find out exactly how many there were."

The fact that more assassins could appear meant there were still stragglers.

"Understood!" Jaxon responded immediately. With help from Fiona and Nathaniel, he quickly tied them up and threw them into a car.

The villa fell quiet again, though the faint smell of gunpowder and blood still lingered in the air.

Serena turned her head to look at Nicholas, who was leaning against a wall with a lazy smile playing on his lips.

Seeing her look over, the man's lips curled into a dazzling smile.

The bright lights fell on his handsome, almost ethereal face, adding a captivating, magnetic charm to his features.

"So? I played my part pretty well, didn't I?”

He smiled, his voice incredibly low and magnetic, almost as if it had hooks. "With me here, Old Mr. Lancaster, Mrs. Lancaster, and the rest... they won't suspect a thing."

He paused, his tone shifting to something more suggestive. "So, how does Serena plan on thanking me?"

Serena walked over and stood before him. She lifted her gaze, her clear, dark eyes fixed on his.

Meeting his smiling eyes, she asked, "How do you want me to thank you?"

The girl was surprisingly agreeable, which made Nicholas pause for a moment. Then, his charming eyes crinkled as a triumphant smile spread across his lips. He suddenly straightened up and leaned toward Serena. One hand reached out, cautiously and a little tentatively, to take her arm.

The lazy, roguish look in his eyes faded, replaced by a pitiful expression.

Those deep eyes, usually so full of charm, now seemed to glisten with moisture as he looked at her.

He had the look of a devoted man completely at her mercy-pitiful, longing, and utterly desperate for her approval.

Then, he gave her arm a gentle shake. "Serena... then I hope you won't ignore me like you did this morning. Ive been a total wreck al day. It's like the sun went down the second you stopped looking at me."

"If I did something wrong, if there's anything did that made you uncomfortable... just tell me. I'll change! I'll change anything! You can hit me, yell at me just, fust don't ignore me

Serena was speechless.

Honestly, she never imagined she'd see such a pitiful, wronged puppy-dog expression on Nicholas's face. He was like a completely different person.

Especially those captivating eyes of his. Usually when he looked at her, they were full of flirtatious charm, like a peacock showing off its feathers. But now, they were genuinely filled with misery and caution.

Serena couldn't help it. The corners of her lips tilted up into a smile. “Okay."

That single word instantly brightened Nicholas's entire world.

The man's eyes lit up as if filled with a sky full of stars, all his hurt and dejection swept away.

He curved his lips into a smile. His ethereally handsome face was now devastatingly roguish, so dazzling it was almost hard to look at him.

The way he was placated in an instant made Serena find the situation amusing, and a certain spot in her heart softened.

She looked at the man's dazzling, bewitching smile. Suddenly, she grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the living room.