"Are you all right, kid?" I asked. The boy nodded mutely, staring at me with wide, innocent eyes. Lily Ling bent down to place a hand on his head.
"Poor thing. You must be terrified."
The boy didn't reply verbally, but he leaped into her embrace, wrapping his hands around her waist and sobbing uncontrollably.
"Don't worry, you're safe now," I assured him. I rose and waved toward the medics, gesturing for them to hurry over. "Now, these doctors are going to check on you, okay? To make sure you don't have any major injuries."
Okay, I knew medics were not doctors, but the boy probably wouldn't know that. He looked as if he was about three to five years old, so he probably hadn't even learned the word medic or was able to distinguish between them. Given the ordeal he had just gone through, I wasn't going to confuse him further. Best to keep things simple.
"Yeah, you should let go," Lily tried to remove his hands from her waist, to no avail. The boy shook his head and clung to her more tightly. "Be a good boy now. Let these kind brothers see whether you're hurt, okay?"
"I'm…I'm okay," the boy finally managed to speak up. "I'm not injured."
I honestly doubted that. He must have taken quite a beating while the car tumbled and flipped about earlier. Even an adult would sustain quite the injury. I was worried that he sustained a concussion. He looked like he was going into shock.
"What's your name?" I asked him, trying to get him to calm down and focus. If I got him to talk, he might be able to be a little more compliant.
"R…Roland."
"Roland Wimbledon?" I asked. The toddler glared at me.
"No, Roland Rong. Who the hell is Roland Wimbledon?"
"A prince who managed to gather a group of witches under him and modernize a medieval kingdom with his engineering and scientific knowledge."
Roland gaped at me for a moment before Lily raised a hand to smack me. She glared at me as I retreated.
"Are you seriously going to talk nonsense now?"
"Yeah…sorry." I glanced at the kid and grinned. "You feeling better now, Roland?"
For a moment, he seemed to be at a loss. Then he giggled. Taking a deep breath, he finally let go of Lily.
"Yeah, thanks."
The medics could finally check on him, and they were relieved to inform me that there was no major damage. They proceeded to clean the abrasions and treat the bruises he sustained from the rough ride, disinfecting them and using medical ointments.
"What are you doing?!"
A limousine skidded to a stop a few meters away from the crash site. A huge group of men in suits and sunglasses filed out, armed with laser pistols. One of them opened the door before bowing as the man within stepped out.
Unlike the men in suits, this guy struck an imposing figure, dressed in a branded suit, expensive clothes and polished leather shoes. He was an extremely handsome young man, emanating a cold, overbearing aura.
"Roland!"
He glared at us with piercing eyes before brushing past the stunned medics and grabbing the boy.
"Hey, you…!" I began, but he turned on me.
"Roland! Are you all right? Daddy is here. I won't let anyone hurt you!"
The boy nodded. His father then turned on us.
"That was a reckless thing you did, shooting the driver and causing the car to crash. You're lucky that my son hasn't suffered any major injuries, or I'll sue you."
"What's with that attitude?!" Lily snapped. "Those men tried to kill me. My fiancé was only saving my life! And if he didn't stop the car, you might possibly have never seen your son again! Yet not only are you not grateful, you snap at him?"
"Hmph." As usual, this guy was epitome of an overbearing CEO, his arrogance rippling off him in icy waves. He turned away with a sneer. "Thanks for saving my child, albeit in a crude fashion. We will send you the appropriate remuneration."
"Uh, I don't need remuneration." It wasn't as if I was desperate for cash, given that I actually owned an entire company that sold robots, ships and shield generators to the military. "Please don't worry about it."
"There's no person in this world who wouldn't want money," the arrogant man replied coldly. "And if you're not happy, I can disappear just because of your attitude!"
"Are you threatening me, Master CEO?" I asked, equally icily. The bastard…
"I have the power and money to decide your fate."
"It's treason, then." I allowed my laser sword to slide from my sleeve into my hand. With a roar, I leaped at the guy, activating my laser blade and slicing at him…
"Stop daydreaming." Lily shook me. "You're both scaring poor Roland."
I realized I had been getting carried away by my imagination and shook my head. Obviously I didn't draw my laser sword. I wasn't that…violent. It was undeniable that the bastard CEO's words pissed me off. Who did he think he was, threatening me like that? Just because he was rich and powerful?
If he touched me, the military would destroy him. Sometimes…money wasn't enough.
"Roland!" The man must have noticed that his son had fallen unconscious and he flew into a panic. He turned toward the men in suits. "Get Roland to the hospital immediately!"
"This wouldn't have happened if you allowed my medical staff to continue their treatment," I muttered. Though I was sure that nothing bad actually happened to Roland. He was just mentally exhausted from the ordeal. The guy was overreacting, like all overly protective rich fathers.
We watched the limousine drive away at top speed, ferrying the poor kid about. Dude, if you were worried about your son, you shouldn't order your driver to drive so recklessly. Imagine if he had broken bones or internal injuries. That was going to kill him before you got him to the hospital.
"Why are there so many weird people in this world?" Lily asked, folding her arms. I shrugged, not sure what had just happened either.
Then the filming staff and other actors finally arrived. I recognized one of the actresses, a rival of Lily named Viridian Lu. She threw her hands up and covered her face when she saw the totaled car, trembling uncontrollably.
"My car!"
Her agent turned to glare at Lily. "This luxury car is given to Viridian Lu by her fiancé! She was generous enough to lend it to the film crew for the movie and you wrecked it! Do you know how much this car is?! You're very poor, you can't afford to pay for it even if you sell yourself! You can just go to jail!"
"I'll pay for it," I said, annoyed. "Also, why the fuck are you guys more worried about the car than Lily's wellbeing? Are you guys even human? She just had an accident and was shot at by those kidnapper bastards, and you're threatening to send her to jail because of your car?"
"It's not just any car!" Viridian Lu screeched. "Can you afford to pay for this car, you loser?! It costs at least ten million! I'm sure your total savings isn't even ten percent of that!"
"Ten million?" Lily snapped, placing a hand on my arm. On the other hand, I couldn't help but be thoroughly amuse. Did Viridian Lu seriously call me a loser who couldn't afford to pay ten million dollar for a car? Did she not know what my current job was? "Trevor, don't pay her! That car can't possibly cost ten million! It's one million at most! She's trying to rip you off!"
"How dare you?!" Viridian Lu growled. "Not only did you wreck my car, you don't want to pay up!"
"Oh, we will pay up, but we will pay the appropriate amount. Not some random figure that you quoted. How do we know you didn't artificially inflate the price to rob us?"
"You…!" Viridian Lu strode forward to slap Lily, but I quickly interposed myself between them to intercept her.
"Don't touch her!"
She didn't listen and tried to slap me instead. I was about to raise my hand to block her hand, but someone seized her by the wrist instead.
"Stop it."
It was the guy from earlier, the overbearing CEO who was Roland's father. Viridian Lu gaped at him in shock for a moment before blurting out, "You…you are Riley Rong!"
"Who?" I muttered, puzzled. Lily sighed in exasperation and leaned over to whisper an explanation into my ear.
"Riley Rong, the president of Rong family's Rong Group. The Rong family being one of the top, wealthiest and most prestigious families in not just Hua Xia, but the world. He is the heir to the Rong family, a genius noble, and also the hottest and top-ranked eligible bachelor among our country's celebrities right now."
Er…what? That sounded like the most ridiculous thing I had ever heard of. Someone like that would only exist in a trashy CEO novel. He was pretty much the cliché cold, overbearing CEO Mary Sue male lead found in almost all CEO stories.
"Ms. Lu, what were you trying to do to my son's benefactors?"
"Benefactors? Them?" Viridian Lu scoffed. As for me, I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. Where the fuck did Riley Rong come from? I was pretty sure I saw him and his limousine disappear earlier when he rushed to send his son to a hospital. How the hell did he magically appear back here so bloody soon? And so conveniently too, coincidentally just in time to save the female lead.
"Your car was wrecked because they were saving my son. Of course I will compensate the car for you. However, I will have a professional evaluate the value of your car, and I estimate that it isn't even one million. Or would you like to bring this dispute to court, Ms. Lu?"
"N…no. President Rong, you're right, of course." Viridian Lu hung her head in shame, gritting her teeth in frustration.
Then Riley Rong grabbed Lily's hand and pulled her away.
"I have something that I wish to discuss with Ms. Ling, so we will be excusing ourselves right now."
Wait, what? Did the bastard just take my fiancée away right in front of me? I mean, this was a fake marriage and all that, but the guy was basically not "giving me any face." I honestly didn't mind if he wanted to discuss something with Lily in private, but at the very least do it in a less blatant manner!
I hurried after them, only for Riley Rong to glare at me.
"This doesn't involve you," he snapped. "So please stay where you are, Mr. Shen."