Find me in your labyrinth (Stella and Jonathan) novel Chapter 3472

When she opened her eyes, the room was bright with morning sunlight. Marina felt an inexplicable, bone-deep exhaustion.

"Awake?" a husky, sleep-roughened voice drifted from above her. Marina snapped her head up and saw Carson's face. For a moment, her brain couldn't process it.

Carson lifted his wrist and dangled it in front of her. "Baby, are you part dog? You have a serious biting problem."

Marina stared at the deep bite marks on his skin. Dazed, she furrowed her brow. "I did that?"

"Who else? You think I bit myself?" Carson teased.

Marina recalled having a bizarre dream, but the harder she tried to remember, the more the details slipped away.

She certainly couldn't remember when she had chomped down on Carson.

Squeezing her eyes shut, she buried her face in the pillow and mumbled, "Do you still have that ointment from last time? You can put it on yourself. I'm going back to sleep, and I'll reflect on exactly how I managed to bite you."

Carson chuckled at her groggy state. Leaning closer, he brushed the tangled hair behind her ear, exposing the delicate, luminous skin of her neck.

Her skin was incredibly soft. He couldn't resist gently caressing it, almost as if he were trying to coax her back to sleep.

A moment later, he dipped his head and took her earlobe between his lips.

A violent shiver racked Marina's body, and her breath hitched.

His tongue dragged deliberately against her skin as he trailed hot kisses down the elegant curve of her jawline. "Marina," he murmured darkly. "Why don't we just make this arrangement real?"

That snapped her fully awake.

She turned her head away, dodging his lips, and scoffed. "So Mr. Foster can have one more official bedmate?"

Carson propped his head on his wrist, watching her with a faint smirk. "Don't make me sound so selfish. In these situations, the woman actually has more fun."

Marina's ears burned hotly, but her eyes grew sharp. "I shouldn't have been so soft-hearted last night. It ruined my sleep, and now I have to listen to your nonsense first thing in the morning."

*

Carson's retaliation was swift and ruthless. First, a scandal erupted within the Foster family: one of the aunts was exposed for keeping a male escort at a local nightclub. The family was thrown into sheer chaos. The woman was beaten by Carson's uncle so severely she ended up hospitalized with a concussion.

Mortified by the public disgrace, her own children didn't even visit her in the hospital and threatened to sever all ties.

Next, Kai was exposed for inflating his performance numbers at the subsidiary. The main office immediately revoked his control over two companies. In a panic, his mother rushed to the office to see him. When she returned to Goldspice Lane, she found that the sycamore tree she and Barton Foster had planted when Kai was ten had been uprooted and destroyed. Devastated and furious, she collapsed on the spot and was also rushed to the hospital.

Carson's message was crystal clear: this was merely a warning. If they ever dared mess with his mother again, he would annihilate both of them.

They had cost his mother one night of sleep; he would ensure they never slept peacefully again.

Barton Foster was livid. When Carson ignored all his calls, he stormed straight back to the main estate.

"Is that ungrateful bastard home?" Barton demanded the moment he walked through the door.