Love Began with the First Meeting novel Chapter 861

"Ahh!"

Ximena cried out in pain. All of a sudden she was propped up against the wall, Aaron growling at her with gritted teeth.

"Didn't anybody ever tell you..." Aaron leaned closer and grabbed Ximena by the chin, "that pawns such as yourself should not be having thoughts of your own?"

Ximena, however, showed no signs of being intimidated. This reflected her headstrong character and she stared back into Aaron's eyes with conviction. "If I am not allowed to have my own thoughts, Your Highness, would you still be able to achieve your goal today?"

"What?" Aaron looked a little surprised.

Ximena scoffed at him and said, "I may not be very clever, but I'm not a fool either." Her collar bone was starting to ache due to the pressure Aaron was asserting on her with his forearm, but she did her best to bear the pain. "I didn't know what was your purpose behind bringing me here, but after what happened just now, it would be ridiculous if I still didn't understand anything." She gasped to take a breath before continuing, "You brought me here and even took me straight to Aldrich. Do you expect me to believe that bumping into James was a matter of pure coincidence? It was all a part of your plan, wasn't it?"

"It was. So what?" Aaron shook his head and smiled arrogantly. "I've never sold anything at a loss. You thought I wasn't going to take something in return? I wouldn't have saved you if I didn't think you were going to be of some use to me."

Aaron released her chin and demanded coldly, "Now come along. It's time to go and see James."

"What on earth do you want to do?" Ximena felt as though her heart was being ripped apart. Trying her best to hide her sadness and stay calm, she slowly said, "What do you want from me? What does our relationship mean to you? What do you intend to gain from this? Your Highness, he doesn't remember me at all. There's nothing I can do for you now."

"Oh, really?" Aaron peered into Ximena's eyes and slowly said, "It's more complicated than you think."

"What do you mean?" Ximena asked, her mind desperately scrambling to make sense of it all.

Aaron glared up at the woman as he released her from his grip and moved away. "Let's go."

He straightened up, dusted himself off and walked forward.

While Ximena stared at his figure with a baffled expression on her face, feeling a cold shiver up her spine, it became obvious to her that she was getting closer to the truth. But it seemed as though this man knew exactly what he was doing and there was nothing she could do to stop him.

She knew that he was using her to achieve some kind of sick, petty goal, but she couldn't stop herself from following him.

Meanwhile, all the guests cramped up in the main hall, talked, laughed and mainly waited for Aldrich to show up and start the birthday party. In contrast to that, the garden behind the villa was a lot quieter. In the dim light, a man in casual clothes was sitting in a wheelchair and pruning a potted plant attentively. Behind him stood a man in a grey suit, tall and imperious.