The punishment for lying

The light from the entryway fell over him as he casually undid the top button of his shirt, revealing the contours of his Adam's apple and his sharply defined collarbones, exuding a cold, hard sexiness.

He stood in the middle of the living room, his tall frame dominating the space until even the air seemed to freeze.

I stood obediently to one side, not daring to make a sound. At that moment, he was like a beast that could go berserk at any second.

Of all times, my phone began ringing insistently.

The screen lit up with a name-Gu Mingze.

My chest tightened, and I hurriedly rejected the call.

But a few seconds later, it rang insistently again.

He kept calling, refusing to give up.

Gu Hansheng looked at me with the ghost of a smile. "Why aren't you answering?"

I instinctively tried to explain. "We just happened to run into each other and had a casual meal. There's no need to answer. There's nothing to say."

Gu Hansheng stared at me, his thin lips curving slightly in a cold smile. "Oh? Really nothing?"

The next second, he reached out with his long arm, answered the call, and switched on the speaker.

Gu Mingze's gentle voice came quickly from the other end. "Hanhan, where did you go? The waiter said you weren't in the restroom!"

My eyes widened, and I tried to grab the phone, but he casually tossed it onto the coffee table. His lips sealed mine before I could even respond, and then he pressed forward, pushing me down onto the sofa.

His shoulders were broad and solid, his shirt stretched over the smooth lines of his muscles, and his whole body radiated aggression.

He pinned me against the sofa, every breath filling me with his cool, clean scent and the smell of alcohol.

"Gu Hansheng..." I struggled in panic, calling his name softly.

But he leaned down and caught my wrists, his voice low and husky. "What, you call me by my full name, but he gets to be Mingze?"

The moment his angry lips met mine, I almost suffocated.

The kiss was fiercely possessive, leaving me no room to retreat.

Over the speaker, Gu Mingze sounded anxious. "Yu Han? Are you there? Why aren't you saying anything? What's going on? What are you doing?"

A cold gleam flashed in Gu Hansheng's eyes. He gripped my chin with one hand and forced me to speak toward the phone, his voice wickedly seductive, like a demon's:

"Tell him what you're doing."

My face flushed with humiliation and anger, but under his pressure, my voice trembled. "Something came up, so I left early. You don't need to worry about me..."

While I was speaking, Gu Hansheng unexpectedly thrust straight into me!

Even my breathing lost its rhythm. This bastard!

Gu Mingze kept questioning me. "Your voice sounds strange. What's going on?"

Gu Hansheng chuckled low, bringing his lips to my ear, his breath scorching. "Weren't you crying out so loudly last night? Why don't you dare today?"

His words were like a spark touching gunpowder, sending shame and heat surging through me together.

I struggled and cursed, "You're insane!"

But his smile only grew more wicked. His palm slid down the curve of my waist, his movements intimate and domineering. "You should know perfectly well why I'm insane."

Gu Mingze's urgent calls continued over the speaker.

But all my attention had long since been consumed by the man pinning me beneath him.

It took almost all my strength to hang up the call.

Gu Hansheng only grew more unrestrained, claiming me with an almost frenzied intensity.

"Gu Hansheng, you're completely unreasonable." Resentfully, I bit his shoulder.

But that only excited him more. He looked at me as though I were prey.

"Yu Han, in the four years we've been married, every time I saw you, I wanted to devour you completely. Now I've finally gotten my wish..."

He picked me up and carried me back to the bedroom...

As the price for deceiving him, he put me through so much that night that I cried several times.

When I woke the next morning, Gu Hansheng actually hadn't left.

He sat quietly to one side, reading some documents. Sunlight slanted down over him, making his features look even more handsome.

He wore only a bath towel, and water still dripped from his hair.

The droplets ran down his firm muscles, lending him a forbidden beauty.

How had I never noticed how handsome Gu Hansheng was?

Perhaps sensing my burning gaze, Gu Hansheng instinctively looked my way, meeting my eyes.

I hurriedly averted my gaze, but he was already walking over with a smile. "What, didn't get enough of a look last night? Has my wife tasted the marrow and developed a craving?"

The word "wife" made my heart tremble.

Even after everything, he still called me... his wife.

Did that mean I still had a place in his heart?

My fantasy was quickly shattered by his ringtone. When I saw the caller ID, the little flame that had just kindled inside me instantly went out.

Qin Feiran.

Gu Hansheng's white moonlight.

I had known about her for a long time.

She was the Qin Family's eldest daughter, the only person who had ever given Gu Hansheng warmth during his darkest days.

She was also the only light in Gu Hansheng's life.

Gu Hansheng had sought a divorce back then precisely to make room for her.

What on earth was I hoping for!

Now, I was nothing more than Gu Hansheng's contract lover, something that could never see the light of day or be brought out in public.

Sure enough, the moment Gu Hansheng saw the caller's name, his gaze turned especially tender.

He answered in an affectionate tone I had never heard before. "Xiaoran, what is it?"

A sweet, delicate voice came from the other end. "Let's meet in a little while. I'll send you the location."

"All right. I'll come pick you up," he replied gently.