Dangerous Love: You Are My One and Only Bride novel Chapter 1412

As always, there was storm-like rapacity in Alejandro’s kiss. Melanie pushed him away in panic, yelling, “I… I’ll be going now! You, um, rest early too!”

Before she could rise, Alejandro gripped her by her waist. “I want you tonight.”

Melanie was hardpressed to answer him. Part of her welcomed the invitation, yet a larger part of her was repelled by it. It was a strange repulsion that was somehow sowed since giving birth to Melissa. Indeed, carnal impulses occasionally took form in her mind, but she didn’t want to realize them. Whenever a chance to indulge in sex presented itself, she would feel repulsed and wished to flee instead.

If she had to pin the cause on something, Melanie would point her finger at childbirth. She had once searched the internet about her condition and found that some women experienced the same thing, but no one seemed to know why it happened.

Overwhelmed, Melanie held onto the desk behind her. “Please don’t…”

Alejandro looked up at her rosy cheeks and muttered in dangerous baritone, “Hmm. Don’t… what?”

After a three-day-operation of interviewing surviving families of those who died in the shipwreck, Jett’s report returned to Alejandro.

His mission had been to observe the families’ reaction when they received their solatium. Most, as expected, appeared crestfallen and grief-stricken despite how long ago the shipwreck was. Only one family reacted contrary to the norm: when money was presented to them, the surviving member reportedly laughed aloud.

It was unsurprising that they became Alejandro’s target. Soon, he was on his way to the village where the target’s farmhouse was.

“Oh, deary me, how embarrassing. But this is the only thing our poor family has for a chair, and now that our dearest Jeffrey is gone, we are supposed to go worse. All thanks to you though, Mr. Smith, for being such a kind man and giving us money. It is such a relief for me,” the old woman crooned.

The man she mentioned—Jeffrey Orange—had been one of the sailors under the Smith company’s transportation company. Including the date when the shipwreck happened, he would have worked in the company for exactly three years.

Alejandro flashed her a slight smile and sat on the stool. “It’s within my responsibilities. Jeffrey Orange’s unfortunate passing is my company's fault, so an amount of solatium is the least we could do. Excuse me, Ma’am, but do you live alone?”

The old woman pulled her jacket—so dirty that no one could tell what its original color was —tightly around herself. “No, my daughter-in-law is with me. You know, Jeffrey’s wife? She’s feeding the pigs in the back.”