"Strip" the woman commanded, her eyes reflecting a peculiar intensity.
"Huh?" Jason was taken aback by the commanding authority in her voice.
"You heard me. I don't repeat myself—leave your tie on," she instructed firmly. He was about to snap at her but paused, realizing she might have a fetish for dominance.
"Feeling dominant, are we?" Jason played along, mimicking her earlier tone. He stripped down to just his tie and underwear. As he did so, he couldn't see her expression; she remained in the shadows, leaning against the table with her hands supporting her.
Unable to hold back any longer, the young lady lunged at him.
Jason Miller wore a cocky smirk as he saw her impatiently moving toward him, clearly eager for his sculpted physique. He opened his arms wide and closed his eyes, anticipating a kiss on his lips.
As expected, he felt the impact, but it landed on his cheekbone instead of his lips.
"What the—!" Jason swore as he stared in shock at the girl who had punched him with full force. Before he could finish his curse, she seized his tie and used it to choke him.
Instinctively, Jason tried to defend himself, though his mind was reeling from the shock. As he was gasping for air, she finally released him, and he collapsed onto the bed, clutching his throat.
Once Jason's breathing steadied, his immediate reaction was to raise his hand and aim a punch at the arrogant woman.
The lady anticipated the punch and blocked it with her left hand before it could reach her face. She then delivered a sharp elbow jab to his face, causing him to stagger backward.
Jason was caught off guard when his punch was blocked, and his rage intensified upon realizing his attacker was a woman. This revelation was a significant blow to his ego.
Somebody knocked on the door momentarily distracting the fierce beauty's guardedness from Jason. Seizing the opportunity, Jason struck her in the face. The punch caused a cut inside her mouth, and a small amount of blood began to ooze.
Jason expected the punch to knock the lady unconscious, but the outcome was completely unexpected.
"For a man, your punch is quite weak," she scoffed, wiping the blood from her mouth with her right thumb.
"You bit*h," Jason spat, raising his hand to punch her. Before he could strike, the lady grabbed his fist, delivered a punch to his gut, and then kicked the back of his knees, making him kneel before her.
As Jason groaned in pain, the lady showed no mercy. She twisted his arms behind his back, causing him to cry out in agony.
Without hesitation, she kneed him in the head, knocking him unconscious.
"Too noisy," she muttered with a frown, glancing at the man sprawled on the floor.
She then approached the door, opened it, and saw her sister, Crystal, anxiously waiting outside.
"Lee, please tell me he isn't dead," Crystal hurriedly walked in. Upon seeing the body on the floor, she gasped, covering her mouth with her hands, and then turned to her sister.
"Crystal, what are you doing here?" Orlee hissed, moving closer to her sister.
"Why is his face blue? I heard his cries in the corridor. You were never this reckless before, Lee! Who the hell is he?" Crystal, looking horrified and worried, ignored her sister's question and instead demanded answers.
"Don't meddle in my affairs, Crystal. You need to leave in a minute," Orlee warned, her dangerously calm demeanor sending chills down her sister's spine.
"You want me to leave? You were so careless that Dad saw you sneaking out at midnight. I covered for you, and now you want me to go?" Crystal asked, her irritation rising.
Seeing that her sister showed no signs of leaving, Orlee sighed. She removed the mask from the man's face and handed it to Crystal.
"Oh, I don't need it. I hacked into the hotel's security system and disabled the corridor's CCTV for fifteen minutes," Crystal proudly announced.
Orlee quickly turned to Crystal, her face filled with anxiety. "Can anyone trace you back, Crystal?"
"Don't you know how skilled I am at this? I'm honestly hurt that you doubted my abilities," Crystal pouted, feigning hurt. If it had been anyone else, Orlee might have believed the expression was genuine. But knowing her sister as well as she did, Orlee knew that Crystal was anything but genuinely hurt at that moment.
In such situations, Orlee would usually have laughed, but she knew just how dangerous things were and found no humor in her sister's performance.
Crystal noticed her sister's silence and understood the gravity of the situation, realizing that Orlee was waiting for a serious answer.
"No, it's just a minor issue. No one can trace me back as long as I don't want them to," Crystal said with confidence, which reassured Orlee.
"I'm not dealing with the usual trivial matters here, Crystal." Crystal was taken aback by the change in her sister's tone—from the gentle and nurturing voice she was accustomed to, Orlee now spoke with a cold, emotionless directness.
Orlee scanned the room, noticed some papers and a pen on the table, walked over to them, wrote something on a piece of paper, folded it, and placed it under a glass of water.
Crystal hesitated, wondering whether to peek at the paper, and inadvertently caught a glimpse as it was being folded.
'2015'—the year struck Crystal with sudden realization. It was a pivotal year for her, but for Orlee, it was filled with painful memories.
Having navigated similar situations many times before, the sisters escaped effortlessly, like sand slipping through fingers. They left the hotel without leaving any traces.
Upon reaching the parking lot at home, they sat silently in the car. Crystal, like a fish out of water, repeatedly opened and closed her mouth, struggling to find the right moment to ask Orlee about the situation. Her curiosity was strong, but she hesitated, sensing Orlee's aloofness.
"Just ask already," Orlee chuckled, her sister's usual enthusiasm pulling her out of her deep thoughts.
"Did I give it away that easily?" Crystal asked with a sheepish smile.
"Today's was the easiest by far!" Orlee grinned, making Crystal feel relieved to see her sister returning to her familiar self.
"You say that every time," Crystal rolled her eyes at the familiar response.
"Because you're crystal clear," Orlee cooed, playfully pinching her sister's cheeks.
Crystal swatted her sister's hand away. Noticing Orlee's expression, she asked cautiously, "That's when your parents died, right?"
Orlee straightened up at the question. After a moment's pause, she nodded, looking down.
Crystal was about to ask more, but what her sister said next shocked her deeply.
"They were murdered."