But fantasies, in the end, are just fantasies. The quiet night was suddenly shattered by a sharp, piercing shriek.

"Ah!"

Accompanied by a heavy thud, before Stella's seductive daydreams could even fully form, she found herself crashing miserably onto the hard floor. The glass shattered, splashing warm milk all over her clothes and the ground. A sharp, stinging pain shot through her hand where a piece of broken glass had sliced into her skin.

Humiliated and aching, Stella wanted to scream again, but she could acutely feel the cold, contemptuous gaze of the man looking down at her. Was it just her imagination, or had something swiftly tripped her? Even if Remington had dodged out of the way, she should have been able to catch her balance.

Just as she was drowning in shame, the female voice she least wanted to hear chimed in.

"Oh my, how lively! What exactly is Ms. West doing? Screaming like a banshee in the middle of the night—are you here to take care of Ron, or are you just terrified the poor kid might actually get a good night's sleep?"

Liz had already finished her shower. She was dressed in a bathrobe matching Remington's, her skin flushed and glowing. Leaning casually against the doorframe, relaxed and completely in her element, she presented a stark, glaring contrast to Stella's wretched state.

Propping herself up, Stella looked back, only to see Remington take a step toward Liz. With an exaggeratedly serious expression, he explained, "Girlfriend, I need to clear my name. The second I opened the door, she threw herself at me. But I didn't let her touch even a corner of my clothes. Do you want to inspect me just to be sure?"

Remington's words stripped away whatever shred of dignity Stella had left. Her face turned crimson as tears welled in her eyes.

Scrambling up from the floor, she sobbed, "Remington, I only wanted to bring you a glass of milk. There's no need to misunderstand and humiliate me like this."

Clutching her bleeding hand, she stormed past Liz in a fury, holding back her tears as she stubbornly retreated into her room.

As the door slammed shut across the hall, Liz turned to look at Remington.

He wrapped an arm around her waist and playfully tugged at a strand of her damp hair. "Why didn't you dry your hair before coming out? Were you that nervous? Afraid your boyfriend was about to be defiled by another woman?"

Remington expected Liz to deny it, but surprisingly, she nodded firmly. "I am! Let me just double-check to see if you're still clean."

With that, she grabbed the collar of his bathrobe, stood on her tiptoes, and actually began sniffing the exposed skin of his chest like a little puppy.

Her warm breath fluttered against his still-damp skin, sending a jolt straight to his heart as if it were tightly bound by invisible threads The other end of those threads was firmly in her hands, with every pu and release, his heart pounded frantically.

The man's eyes darkened instantly. In one fluid motion, he spun her around, pinned her against the door, and captured her red lips in a deep, hungry kiss. The impact

sent a heavy thud echoing off the wood.

Across the hall, Stella leaned back

against her closed door, clutching The out was

her bleeding finger. She had

right next to an old

assumed that if she left looking so pitiful, Remington would at least send someone up with a first-aid kit. Cóntent

But as she strained her ears, listening to the hallway, there were no approaching footsteps.

Instead, she heard a strange, muffled thump against a door. Slowly, quietly, Stella cracked her door open to peek outside.

She saw Liz pinned against the door panel, being kissed passionately. Remington's tall, imposing frame was pressed flush against her almost completely swallowing her petite figure. All Stella could see was one of Liz's slender, tantalizing legs peeking out from between the man's long legs, trembling slightly.

It was obvious how intense the kiss was.

Stella's grip tightened, her eyes burning with sheer jealousy. The tiny, uncleaned

glass shards embedded in her wound dug deeper, causing fresh blood to spill even faster.