Chapter: 540

Caden didn't bother turning it off, but her shout drowned out the last word.

The recording came to an abrupt stop.

Alicia's pale face reddened with embarrassment. She glared at him.

"How could you do this to me?"

Caden wore a sly smile. "Did I force you with a knife to your throat to say those things?"

Alicia had no response.

She wanted to argue back but had nothing to stand on.

Without another word, she closed her eyes and pretended to sleep.

Caden casually toyed with his phone. “Looks like I've got more leverage on you now, Alicia."

Instead of losing her composure, Alicia found a strange calm in her embarrassment.

She gathered herself and countered, “Leverage? If anything, I was just being honest. You are good in bed, aren't you?"

Caden's smile widened. "And you just admitted that you're into me."

Alicia fell silent.

Acknowledging her feelings felt far more humiliating than any talk about their physical connection.

She didn't want to give him the satisfaction of a response.

After they finished eating, the innkeeper arrived to change her bandages.

When Alicia removed her clothes, she discovered dark bruises scattered across her body from tumbling down the mountainside.

Her shoulder was fractured, and the pain in her back hinted at spinal injuries.

After Caden left the room, Alicia turned to the innkeeper. "Was he hurt badly?"

The innkeeper raised an eyebrow, seemingly amused. "You mean that man? Isn't he your boyfriend?"

Alicia looked down, shaking her head. "No, he's not.”

“Is that so? Then why'd you go through so much trouble to save him? When I found you two, he was on top of you, practically smothering you in the snow. You were barely breathing. How far did you carry him? Your bones are broken, you know."

Alicia paused, trying to piece together the hazy memory of what happened right before she blacked out.

At the time, nothing else mattered. Her only thought had been to save him.

She acted on instinct, but now, looking back, it felt a bit foolish.

In a low voice, she whispered, “Please don't tell him about this.”

Before the innkeeper could respond, the door creaked open, and Caden stepped inside.

He held a clean set of clothes in one hand and glanced between them.

"Don't tell me what?"

Alicia was caught off guard. "It's nothing."