Their Villain, The Mogul's Beloved

Chapter 204

Chapter 204

Natasha was ‘harboring a secret guest’ against her will.

Her feelings could be summed up in one word: regret-deep, gnawing regret.

55 Vouchers

After quarreling with her family, she stormed out alone to clear her head. Passing through an alley, she stumbled

upon a bleeding man.

Every film and TV she had ever seen warned her not to pick up strangers from the street, so she

immediately turned to flee.

But he was faster. He seized her ankle, pulled out her ID card and student ID, and clung to her with stubborn

force.

She had no choice but to get him a room and buy medicine for his wounds.

Once he wiped his face clean, the so-called ‘bad man‘ revealed himself to be a strikingly handsyoung man,

perhaps only three or four years older than her.

“I'm going home,” she said, masking her surprise with a cold expression.

Though she tried to remain calm, the sixteen-year-old could not hide the faint trace of fear in her beautiful eyes-

fear that made her utterly transparent.

Alexei toyed with the student ID in his hand and sneered, “Are you abandoning your task? Are you trying to run

away halfway through saving someone?”

She puffed her cheeks indignantly and said, “It's not like | wanted to save you.”

“But if | go out now and my enemies discover you rescued me, they'll assyou're working with me,” he

replied coolly.

Natasha froze, staring at him as if to say, “How could you be so ungrateful?”

She demanded, “So what now?”

Alexei smiled faintly, glancing at the student ID on the bed. “Natasha, it seems I'll have to trouble you to hide

me,” he said.

sok

Natasha secretly rented a run-down one-bedroom apartment in the old district.

The space was so cramped that it was hard even to turn around.

Alexei scoffed, “You expectto live here?”

The still-fuming girl was expressionless as she replied, “What did you expect? I'm only sixteen. And very poor.”

yes,

I'm

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Chapter 204

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He was under surveillance, making his bank cards useless. The rent was paid from Natasha's private savings.

It pained her deeply.

Alexei studied her with surprise.

He recognized her school uniform-it belonged to an elite institution. A family wealthy enough to send her there

should surely own more than one property.

Yet seeing her seriousness, he flicked her forehead lightly, thinking, “Never mind. This place will do.”

Natasha covered her head, frowned, and muttered back in mocking imitation, “Heh, this place will do.”

Alexei pinched her soft cheeks and asked, “Natasha, are you badmouthing me?”

She clamped her lips shut, widened her eyes innocently, and shook her head.

He raised a brow, saw through her insincerity, but let it slide.

Alexei asked, “How much did you spend? I'll repay you a hundredfold later.” He was only enduring temporary

hardship; he was hardly short of money.

Natasha's eyes lit up at once and asked, “Really?

She was like a naive little kitten-easily duped, yet convinced she was clever.

Alexei’s fingers itched to pinch her again, but he restrained himself.

“It's true,” he replied.

sok

Natasha's life settled into a simple rhythm: school, the tiny rental, and home.

Alexei, skilled at drawing information out of people, soon learned her family story: blind parents, a cold older

brother, a slow-witted younger brother, and a conniving stepsister. She was the least favored, the most pitiful

of them all.

After her evening classes, Natasha would slip into the rental first, scavenging for a late-night snack. Watching

this, Alexei ground his teeth and said, “Natasha, I'm injured.”

He wondered, ‘Doesn’t she feel guilty orderingto cook when | am in this state?’

“Yeah, but you're spending my money,” she replied as she crouched at a small stool serving as a dining table,

happily slurping the pasta.

Alexei, who was sitting on the bed changing his bandages, chuckled in exasperation, “Didn't | say I'd repay you a

hundredfold?”

“Don’t be stingy,” Natalie replied as she poked a finger into the lean muscles of his back.

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Alexei caught her hand and asked, “You're roaming around so late. Doesn't your family care where you are?”

Natasha pouted, “They don’t even know when my classes end.”

No one prepared her midnight snacks at home.

She danced and studied every day, and was always ravenous.

Alexei hesitated, then clenched his jaw. He asked, “Do you want more?”

Her eyes sparkled instantly, and she lifted her bowl. “Just a little more,” she smiled.

With a sigh, Alexei put down the bandage and ladled more pasta for her.

“Alexei, why don’t you go to school?” she asked idly, legs swinging as she perched on the bed.

By his age, he should be finishing high school or starting university.

He handed her a plate of freshly cooked pasta and kept the rest for himself.

“I've already graduated,” he replied.

To prevent anyone from assuming it was just vocational school, he clarified, “I completed a combined bachelor’s

and master’s program.”

He accounted for every hour.

He had ambitions to pursue, grudges to settle. He could not waste time-he had to grow fast.

Natasha blinked in surprise and gasped, “I'm impressed.”

Alexei smirked, “What, did you think I was just sstreet thug?”

Natasha offered no response.

Not entirely, since Alexei’s clothes and bearing did not suggest that. She had only assumed he was mixed up

with gangs.

“Your parents must be very proud,” she said.

Alexei’s expression darkened as he clarified, “My mother is already dead, and my father will soon die by my

hand.”

He fixed his gaze on her face, intent on catching the flicker of fear he expected.

Natasha parted her lips, but after a moment of silence, she slipped out of bed, crouched again by the stool, and

said, “Here's one for you.”

She placed the last sausage from her bowl into his.

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198

In barely half a month, Natasha had already grown accustomed to taking a detour after school for a meal and to

the tall, quiet figure who silently followed her heach night.

Lucas noticed Natasha was harboring her own little secrets and no longer spending much twith him. So, on

Friday, he invited her and Sadie out for a meal.

Knowing she had indeed neglected her friends lately, Natasha agreed.

That sevening, Alexei prepared her favorite pasta and seafood dishes. The tiny house was filled with the

sharp, pungent aroma, but he endured it and finished cooking.

Yet even as the food cooled, that greedy little cat never appeared.

Frowning, he lingered by the Clark family’s door for hours, until Natasha finally returned. She was chatting and

laughing with a boy.

‘So, it was her childhood friend,” he thought.

Only after Lucas reluctantly left did Alexei reveal himself.

When Natasha saw him, she lit up in both surprise and delight, pulling him into the shadows. She asked, “You

cfor me, what's wrong?”

But Alexei was cold that night.

He brushed her hand aside and said, “Natasha, I'm leaving.”

“Where are you going?” she asked reflexively.

The words slipped out, and only then did she realize that the ‘leaving’ he spoke of meant going abroad.

He had said before that many people were still waiting for him outside.

The cramped, shabby rental had only ever been a temporary refuge.

As he looked down at her, lips pressed tight, eyes locked on hers, Natasha stood frozen in place

AD

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