My CEO Boss Is A Masked Internet Sensation-Chapter 201: Who Were Hughs?

(Arata)

Camilla took a whole U-turn after the dinner. The expression she had given me in the car when I had revealed my family name made me think she despised us.

But later she softened, even genuinely smiled at me. Leaving me with a request that I should inform her in case Karsten went out of line.

Only if she knew the kind of mess her son had placed me into.

Her promise seemed real, and I couldn’t detect any fakeness. Or, maybe she was too good at hiding her true self, just like her son.

She left me divided. I had to remind myself she belonged to a family that had ties to the Mafia world.

Was that the reason she had raised Karsten the way she had?

So much of it made sense now.

But it was worth it to see the expressions on Karsten’s face. He couldn’t believe what his mother had said.

After dinner, I retired to his room, and he didn’t follow me. Changing into my comfy nightdress, I slipped into bed with my phone.

Those damned reporters, I could only hope they wouldn’t print some raunchy story about Karsten and me. They certainly enraged Karsten enough.

I couldn’t forget the look on his face when the one in the restaurant snapped my picture and the others outside tried to push me to get some answers.

A faint smile covered my lips, remembering how fiercely he had protected me, but then I remembered Callum’s message. I needed to reply to him and process the information he had provided me.

So Karsten’s dad was alive, but he was in jail. But it was possible that the rest of his family wasn’t. I could certainly gather information about the man and his family. See who they were.

And then there were Karsten’s dark secrets. That’s exactly what Ranold was trying to warn me about, without trying to reveal anything about his best friend.

His warnings were correct; all of his warnings now made sense to me.

He had been subtle with them, giving me hints, ensuring I wouldn’t fall into the abyss that was Karsten’s other life. But I had already been getting glimpses of it.

Today, I saw how he could just flip his mood and become this enraged person, and shockingly, it didn’t terrify me.

I was ready to unfold more of that side and find out if he could fall so low as to take away a child and threaten a whole family.

What I didn’t understand was, we didn’t know each other before. I was certainly sure we had never met, so why would Karsten threaten Andy to leave me?

He couldn’t have been so smitten after seeing me once to take such steps?

The truth was still far from my grasp, but I promised myself to get there.

I sent a thank you message to Callum for his help and asked him to keep digging and let me know if he found anything else.

Talking to Callum brought back memories of home. I missed my family and decided to ask him for holidays so I could return to Angel City.

The vibrating notification I had turned on for Azul’s videos chimed, revealing he had uploaded a new video.

My heart thudded with excitement, but somehow, I felt disconnected.

What was the point?

After Karsten’s betrayal, I couldn’t trust any man, let alone a masked man whom I knew nothing about.

Although Azul had sent me a video of him in the most vulnerable state, my heart wanted to keep myself distanced from men, at least for now.

Without looking at what he had posted, I instead searched for Preston Hugh.

It turned out that Hughes used to be a huge name in Marica City. Their clothing brand, "The Urbans", was renowned. Ran by the two brothers: Patrick Hugh and Preston Hugh.

But after Preston went to jail on the charges of rape and sexual assault, the company took the downfall and never recovered.

An idea hit me. I needed to ask Aunt Erdith, I knew she ran her company here before marrying Uncle Kail and shifting to Angel City. She must have more information about them.

It was late, so I decided to do it later. Putting

away my phone, I decided to sleep. So much had happened today, and I couldn’t deal with more.

I was about to slip under the bed when the door opened, announcing the Mafia Devil was here.

His whole persona made sense to me, although I didn’t know if he was already fitting into that Mafia Lord position or just avoiding it. He did fit perfectly into it.

The tattoo.

The dark hair and soulless eyes.

The sharp jawline.

Never smiling, as if people were constantly dying around him.

The stench of the cigarette, which he enjoyed like munching candies.

That needed to be addressed because even at that moment, he was surrounded by that smell, and I wasn’t sure how much he had smoked.

His gaze lingered on me, so I took the opportunity to ask about my plans.

I had envisioned resistance from him. Some fabricated reasons for delaying or refusing to allow me to leave.

But, to my surprise, he said I should leave tomorrow. A snowstorm was headed towards Marica near Christmas, and flights could be cancelled.

Karsten left to change after that, while I snuggled under the duvet.

The opening of the bathroom door revealed he had returned to the room.

I could no longer hold back from his cigarette addiction. I shouldn’t care, but I did.

I didn’t want him to die or suffer.

"Do you have a death wish? Or some deal with the devil that you will die young?" I asked without removing the quilt from my face.

"Why?" He asked, in that gravelly voice of his. He was nearer to me, so I popped my head out to watch.

Karsten stood near the bedpost with a small towel in his hand, gently rubbing his luscious hair. The tightness of his black shirt revealed every ounce of muscle underneath.

His eyes were solely focused on me.

~Thud~

~Thud~

Damn! my treacherous heart.

Why does the devil always have to be so handsome?

"You are smoking too much. I know I shouldn’t be saying it because we are practically strangers now. But it’s poison for the lungs. Don’t slowly kill yourself." I had tried to speak the words with indifference, but they came out embroiled in concern.

His hand halted in his hair, the arm making a perfect V there, putting his thick biceps on display.

The usual no-emotion feature of his face seemed to have been paused as I witnessed many. He swallowed deeply and his jaw went rigid, but it was those mesmerising eyes of his which revealed the most.

He was touched...

"The smell will never bother you again..." he said with all the calmness he could muster, assuming I said that because I was bothered by the smell.

I didn’t know he could be an idiot, too. Without arguing, I hid under the quilt, severing myself from him.

’No, it’s not the smell but the fact that you could be destroying yourself.’