''You…'' He had just opened his mouth to speak when a sharp pain shot through the back of his head, making him jerk back.
Ryle struggled to keep his eyes open as he reached out to the woman in a futile attempt. But a few seconds later, he crashed back onto the bed.
As it turned out, the moment Daisy had approached Ryle to seduce him, she had her eyes set on his phone that was carelessly thrown on the bed, the very same phone that she used to knock him out.
''Still as much of a womanizer,'' Daisy looked at the man emotionlessly before she threw his phone back onto the bed and stepped back.
…
"Boss… Boss….''
''Shut up!'' Ryle clutched his head, feeling a throbbing pain pervading his senses. As he opened his eyes, he was greeted by the sight of the worried face of his driver.
Instinctively, Ryle looked around the room but the whole room was empty, leaving no signs of any other presence inside the place. He raised his hand, only to realize that the gun he had confiscated from that woman was no longer there.
"Boss… Boss… What happened to you?" Benjamin would have long invited the doctors over if not for his boss's aversion toward them and his privacy concerns.
Ryle could see his driver hesitating and reaching out to shake him away.
"Hands off.''
Benjamin stiffened in his position, his hands awkwardly frozen in the air.
''Did you see a woman when you came in?" Ryle questioned as he pushed himself up.
"A woman?" Benjamin shook his head, ''When I came, the door was locked from inside. You had also asked all the bodyguards to leave so when I called them over, they had no idea. I called you for a long time but you were not responding so I managed to get a spare key from the management.''
No woman? Ryle glanced at the bathrobe that he had donned when he came out of the shower.
If not for the dull and lingering ache of that gun stabbing near his torso, he would have thought that it was all a dream.
''Boss, is there something?" Benjamin asked, finally reading the room, ''Shall I dispatch the secret guards? Even if there is someone that you want to find, it won't be hard to capture them.''
Ryle waved his hand, ''Let it be. Just a sly little mouse,'' he released a sigh.
Benjamin was bewildered. A mouse? What mouse? Should he call pest control?
He quickly looked around on the floor, his toes curling in his boots. Apart from being a driver, he was trained in combat as well but he was not very good with rats and all.
''But boss, the woman you mentioned…''
''No one significant. Let her go,'' Ryle calmly said as he leaned back on the headboard.
Probably it was the work stress or the frustration of not being able to track Dexter down that he had felt momentarily enticed when that woman willingly offered herself to him. Initially, when he had suggested it to her, he had just meant to scare her.
When was he not used to women throwing themselves at him? She was just another woman with nothing that attractive, nothing special. Ryle thought, the intoxicating, strangely familiar scent of her body still somehow lingering around his nose. He shut his thoughts immediately.
For Ryle, it did not matter who the person opposite him was. If it was an unrelated person, it was more of a reason for him to not hold any baseless grudges unless they crossed him in any way. He did not have to give a random person so much importance.
As for what that woman did was an act out of desperation so he had no intention of paying her further attention.
Those delicate curves flashed through his mind the moment he thought about that woman and his eyes darkened briefly.
''Boss, where are you going?'' Benjamin asked as he saw the man getting out of the bed.
''A cold shower.''
Benjamin eyed the bathrobe that the man had donned before looking up at his face in confusion. Didn't you already take a shower? He wanted to ask but he held his curiosity back.
Ryle had taken one step when he paused in his tracks, ''What did you come to find me for?"
Benjamin froze.
''Did you locate Dexter?" Ryle calmly asked, without giving the man the time to get over his shock.
Benjamin inhaled a deep breath and under Ryle's interrogative gaze, he opened his mouth to speak.
''We have once again lost all tracks of Dexter. It is as if he had disappeared into thin air.''
"And Boss, there is another thing.''
Ryle looked at the man.
''The Si Family wants to sue us. Their daughter, Si Yena has eloped with her bodyguard who is one of our men.''
…
One month later.
In the headquarters of Harper Societies, US.
"Boss, the matter with the Si Family has been mostly handled without us needing to go to the extremes. They are calmer now,'' Benjamin informed Ryle as he locked the office door behind him, ''But they have one condition that they have put forward. They want us to be responsible by tracking their daughter, Si Yena, and Daniel down as soon as possible.''
Ryle quirked a brow as he lifted the paperweight and fiddled with it in his hand. He tilted his head and looked in the direction where a woman sat on the couch with a laptop on her lap, ''How long is it going to take you?"
Benjamin followed his gaze. The woman sitting on the couch was none other than Ryle's new secretary. The one who replaced Dexter after he left.
Ryle never wanted any women for the position of his secretary for some reason. But after Dexter's abrupt departure, he was picky about every person who interviewed for the position. In the end, the interview was open for women as well to not miss out on any suitable candidate. Out of which, Ryle's current secretary was found to be the most suitable one.
''Boss, it's mostly done,'' The woman looked at her laptop in hesitation for a moment before she spoke up, ''He is in Beijing only. Perhaps because of the Si Family's tight security, they have not found a way to escape yet.''
''Boss, don't worry. I will send some of our people to look into it,'' Benjamin said, ''It will not be hard…''
''No need,'' Ryle pushed himself to his feet, ''Let's depart to Beijing.''