My First Love Died, Now My Step Uncle Wants Me-Chapter 124: Can Only Belong to Him

His forceful lips and tongue swept through her mouth, conquering and plundering the sweetness that could only belong to him.

His hand gripped her waist tightly, controlling her every move.

’She’s mine!’

’Of course, she can only be mine!’

He didn’t release her until Nina was on the verge of breathlessness.

The kiss left Nina dizzy and light-headed, her dark eyes shimmering with a misty sheen.

She gazed at Caleb Rhodes, her soft, pale fingers brushing over her lip, which he had bitten slightly raw. "It hurts..."

Her voice was a soft murmur. "Caleb, can you be a little gentler? It really hurts when you bite..."

Caleb Rhodes just watched her.

’She’s seducing me!’

He narrowed his eyes, his gaze darkening. His voice was a little hoarse. "Nina, do you want to eat your meal properly?"

’Nina didn’t understand what he was talking about.’

’He was the one stopping them from eating!’

She stared at him innocently with her wide, clear eyes, as if gazing upon the person she loved most in the world.

Caleb Rhodes narrowed his eyes, cupped the back of her head, and kissed her again.

The meal progressed in fits and starts, and they still hadn’t finished by the time the food was completely cold.

In the end, he had a new, steaming-hot meal brought in.

By this point, Nina was too exhausted to go on. She managed a few bites before curling up on the bed and sleeping until nightfall.

When she woke, the lounge was pitch-black, with only a faint sliver of light filtering through a gap in the curtains.

For a moment, Nina was disoriented.

Ever since he’d learned she was afraid of the dark, Caleb Rhodes never turned off all the lights at night.

He had even commissioned a custom lamp with a soft, warm bulb, which he kept inside a glass shade on the nightstand. It made the room dim without being bright, the light perfect for sleeping.

’There’s no lamp here, so this isn’t Caleb’s room.’

She stared blankly at the dark ceiling for a while before slowly getting out of bed and walking to the window.

Through the small gap in the window, she saw a dazzling cityscape. Lights as brilliant as day illuminated this corner of Caleb Rhodes’s commercial empire.

She recalled the information she had looked up on Caleb Rhodes’s computer earlier that day.

Numerous cities around Elysian City held a large number of Caleb Rhodes’s assets, and even the neighboring provinces were densely packed with his investments.

She had photographed those maps and saved them to her phone, planning to study them whenever she had a free moment.

Once everything was done, she had to leave. To escape his sphere of influence, she couldn’t settle in a place where his businesses were heavily concentrated.

She had already done a quick screening. The north was definitely out, as were the closer provinces. That probably only left the South.

She was a native of Elysian City, born and raised, and had never stepped beyond its borders. This trip marked the first time in her life she had ever left that cage-like city.

She stared outside, lost in thought, completely unaware as the door was pushed open quietly.

By the time she noticed, Caleb Rhodes was already embracing her from behind.

"What are you looking at?"

The room wasn’t very warm, and Nina, dressed in only a thin layer, felt a chill. She instinctively nestled into his embrace.

Caleb Rhodes then realized how cool her skin was. He frowned. "Why aren’t you wearing something warmer?"

Nina asked in a low voice, "Caleb, how do you have so many businesses?"

In the darkness, he couldn’t see her face, but hearing her sullen tone, he sensed there was something on her mind.

He asked nonchalantly, "What’s wrong? Is it a bad thing to have a lot of businesses?"

Nina hummed softly in agreement. "With so many businesses, if you were to inspect each one individually, how many days would that take?"

Caleb Rhodes ruffled her hair. "I can’t possibly visit every one myself. There are some companies I’ve never even been to. I leave them to professional managers to run. I just look at the reports."

Nina asked again, "I heard your business is focused mainly in the north. Why not expand to the South?"

Caleb Rhodes’s voice lost some of its usual coldness. "Does Nina want to take a trip to the South?"

Nina shook her head. "No, I’m just curious."

Caleb Rhodes assumed she wanted to travel south with him. "I’ll take you with me the next time I have a business trip to the South," he said. "The seasons there are distinct, and some parts feel like summer all year round. It’s really nice."

As if genuinely interested, Nina gently pressed, "Do you have a lot of companies in the South?"

"Quite a few," Caleb Rhodes said. "But they’re mainly concentrated in a few of the tier-one cities and surrounding tier-two cities. It’s not as dense as our operations in the north."

Nina casually rattled off the names of several southern tier-one cities she knew, then mentioned a few well-known tier-two and tier-three cities as well.

Then she asked, "Are they all in those places?"

Caleb Rhodes felt that she was acting strange today, asking so many questions. He tightened his arms around her and murmured, "Is Nina trying to liquidate my assets? Eager to be the woman of the house?"

He lifted her up, pressing her against the wall.

In the darkness, he held her and kissed her for a good while before whispering, "My portfolio is far larger than you can imagine. I could support ten of you without any trouble. So, you can buy whatever you set your sights on. Clothes, jewelry, entire buildings... as long as you like it, it can be yours."

He paused, as if remembering something, then added, "But I can’t give you too much cash."

’This little thing is unpredictable. She looks meek, but she’s stubborn to the core.’

’He’ll grant her financial freedom, but not until she’s fully recovered and has had his child.’

Nina didn’t say anything, just hugged him in silence.

After a long moment, she asked, "Do you have to visit your businesses in the South often, too?"

In the darkness, he couldn’t see Nina’s face, nor the coldness in her eyes.

He gently caressed her tender lips, his voice deep. "If Nina wants to go out, you should focus on getting well. When the weather gets a little warmer, we can go stay on the water for a few days. Would you like that?"

Nina had never been outside of Elysian City, nor had she ever seen the real ocean.

Someone had once promised to take her to the coast to see the vast ocean, but he had died four years ago, in the prime of his life.

And that person’s death was not unconnected to the man now before her.

Although he hadn’t been the one to kill him, every hardship she had suffered over the years was, when she thought about it, inextricably linked to Caleb.

’Could he really say he knew nothing about the things Crystal Rhodes had done?’

’Could he claim he had ever properly disciplined Crystal Rhodes?’

’Before an avalanche, not a single snowflake is innocent!’

’The Rhodes Family—every one of them was a sinner!’

She rested her head on Caleb Rhodes’s shoulder, her voice small and soft. "Caleb, do you think rich people don’t have to face punishment when they break the law?"

Caleb Rhodes stroked her hair. "Why do you ask that?"

Nina said in a low voice, "I was just reading the news. Some rich kid bullied a classmate to the point where they jumped off a building and died. The family was supposed to pay three million in compensation, but the money was never delivered. They kept making excuses and even threatened that if the classmate’s family dared to make a scene, they’d have them all killed."

Caleb Rhodes frowned. "Where are you reading garbage like that? You should read less of that entertainment news. It’s all just nonsense people invent."

’Entertainment news?’

Nina’s body trembled uncontrollably, and she clutched at Caleb Rhodes’s clothes.

Caleb Rhodes picked her up, placed her on the bed, and turned to switch on the light.

She was still wearing his shirt. It was so large on her that it made her look even more frail and delicate.

One of her pale, slender shoulders peeked out from the collar, an alluring sight.

Her slender calves were also exposed, still bearing the faint marks from where he had gripped her when he’d lost control.

A single glance was enough to make his breathing turn heavy.

’Ever since they had become intimate,’ he thought, ’his resistance to her had plummeted. Sometimes, just a small, careless movement from her was enough to be the death of him!’

But Nina was completely oblivious. She turned to get her clothes, and as she bent over, she offered a fleeting, tantalizing view.

The darkness in Caleb Rhodes’s eyes intensified. He narrowed his gaze, strode forward to lift her into his arms, and shut the door with a casual push of his hand.

In the darkness, he pressed her forcefully against the cabinet door.