The rain in Cairns came as soon as it was summoned, as if God had overturned an ink bottle, instantly enveloping the Midnight Azure in a white, hazy mist of water vapor.
Sugar Valentine stared at the arrogant red characters on the electronic lock—"124520". Her fingertips trembled slightly. This was no coincidence; it was a blatant intimidation, and even more so, an act of extreme flirtation.
"Bastard, I actually got reverse-baited by him."
Sugar cursed under her breath, but she did not input that humiliating password. As a top-tier hacker, she had her own pride. She swiftly pulled a metallic wire, thin as a cow's hair, from her earring and flicked it into the gap of the supposedly impregnable door, coordinating it with her decoder's brute-force crack.
Beep—
The door opened.
At this moment, the yacht was docked at the edge of a private pier. Ahead lay the Kuranda Rainforest, known as the "Lungs of the Earth." It was the densest, easiest place to hide in Cairns, and also the most dangerous.
Sugar glanced at the camera bag placed under the surveillance at the end of the hallway. Silas was doing this on purpose; he was baiting her to take it.
"Since you like to play, I'll play big with you."
Sugar didn't go for the bag. Instead, she turned and dashed toward the deck. She didn't need that chip anymore because, during that kiss earlier, she had ghost-formidably swapped the man's private phone with her own "specialized device."
Splash.
Like an agile tropical fish, she leaped into the icy seawater and swiftly swam toward the dense forest on the shore.
...
Half an hour later, deep within the rainforest.
Giant fan-shaped palm leaves blotted out the sky. The air was thick with the scent of mud and decaying vegetation. Sugar was soaked to the bone, her pale yellow silk dress clinging to her body in wet patches, outlining her graceful yet slightly disheveled silhouette.
She sat on a massive fig tree root, opening the "specialized phone" in her hand. The screen's glow reflected her cold, glamorous little face.
"Let me see what secrets the great CEO Thorne is hiding in his phone…"
However, the moment the screen lit up, there were no contacts, no documents, only a full-screen real-time tracking map.
The red dot on the map was rapidly approaching her.
Below the red dot, an unread text message popped up:
[The mosquitoes are thick in the jungle, Miss Valentine. You're wearing far too little. — Silas Thorne]
Sugar's scalp went numb. She whipped her head around.
Snap. The sound of a combat boot crushing a dry branch.
In this forest so silent that only the rain could be heard, that sound was like a death knell.
Silas Thorne had changed into a set of camouflage tactical gear, his long legs stepping over the tangled vines. He held a dim kerosene lantern. The play of light and shadow carved his deep features into unpredictable arcs, making him look like an Apollo emerging from hell.
"You run quite fast." Silas turned off the lantern and approached step by step.
Sugar instinctively backed away until her back hit a damp tree trunk. Most of her previous confidence had vanished; this kind of primitive wilderness was Silas Thorne's home turf.
"Mr. Thorne, you really are haunting me," Sugar forced a cold sneer, though her palms were slick with sweat.
Silas stopped in front of her, one hand propped against the tree trunk, locking her completely within his embrace. The chilling scent of cold fir on him became exceptionally potent in the rainforest's moisture, carrying a primal sense of predatory intent.
"Sugar, in Cairns, there is no prey I cannot catch." He leaned down, his icy fingers grazing her wet cheek before stopping at her slender neck. "You're the first person who dared to steal my phone. Do you know what the punishment for a thief is on this island?"
Sugar felt the coarseness of his fingertips; her breathing became shallow and rapid. She steeled her heart, wrapped her arms around his neck, and pressed herself against him like a vine.
"Punish me… by kissing me again?" Her voice was soft and sweet, carrying a slight tremor—a result of the physiological fear intertwined with a surge of adrenaline.
Silas's gaze darkened instantly. He violently gripped her waist and lifted her slightly, forcing her to look him in the eye.
"Sugar, do you really think I'd fall for the same trick twice?"
Despite his words, his head lowered uncontrollably.
Just as their lips were about to collide, Sugar suddenly felt her foot slip—the soil after the rain was too soft!
"Ah!"
She let out a startled cry and fell backward. Silas's expression shifted slightly; he instinctively reached out to grab her but was pulled down into the slope below by her downward momentum.
The two of them clung to each other, tumbling over fallen leaves and mud down the incline.
Finally, they slammed heavily against a massive palm tree stump.
At the moment of impact, Silas flipped himself over, using his own body as a cushion beneath Sugar.
"Hiss…" A muffled groan escaped the man's lips.
Sugar lay on his broad chest, shaken. She looked up and saw Silas's brows furrowed, his arm slashed by a branch, leaving a long, bleeding gash.
"Silas Thorne! Are you okay?" Sugar's voice carried genuine anxiety.
Silas slowly opened his eyes. Those consistently cold eyes were now filled with a trace of a smile. Even though he was injured, his large hand remained firmly cupped around the back of her head, refusing to let her leave.
"Sugar, you've finally stopped acting," his voice was incredibly hoarse. "Trading this 'bit of pain' for a single word of truth from you… it's worth it."
The rain grew heavier. In such an extreme outdoor setting, the body temperatures of the two continued to rise.
"You're crazy… risking your life just to catch me?" Sugar's eyes grew misty.
Silas stared at her and suddenly pressed down hard, sealing her lips.
This kiss was different from the one on the yacht; it carried a hint of mad obsession. Sugar tasted the faint metallic tang of blood in his mouth and heard his blurred murmur between his teeth:
"If I couldn't catch you… that's when I'd truly go crazy."
Not far away, Silas Thorne's private guard had already sealed off the entire forest zone. But without Silas's order, no one dared to approach this, his personal "hunting ground."