Take My Breath Away

As Matthew kept going on her, Erica wasn't sure if his feelings toward her had changed, or if he was just drunk. Either way, his advances weren't welcome. Between his kisses, she tried to remember and to name all the women who were close to him. "Matthew, stop! Don't forget about the girl you really love! It's Paige, right?" The man didn't seem to hear her.

Erica remembered another name. "Phoebe Su?"

That did the trick.

Matthew slowly drew back, and his scent went with him. The desire in his eyes faded away, and his look turned cold. Clearing his throat, he hastily said, "Phoebe is Nathan's love. Don't talk nonsense about me and her!"

"Oh, I see. I guess I was mistaken," Erica replied. In her own thoughts, however, she thought she had little reason to believe his words.

After he let go of her, Erica quickly got off the sofa and put a few paces between Matthew and herself. "Can you walk?"

"Of course I can. Let's go." With that, Matthew practically sprang to his feet, and they headed for the door.

As they neared the black Emperor, Matthew hovered by the door to the passenger seat with his hands in his pockets. Signaling to her with his eyes, he said, "Why don't you open the door?"

"Okay!" Erica obediently opened the door for him, then closed it after him.

Just then she paused, glanced at the car keys in her hand, and suddenly realized something serious. "Are we going to drive home?" she asked awkwardly.

"Of course!" Matthew didn't look up. He was still fumbling with his seat belt.

"Then shouldn't we switch seats? You drive the car and I'll take the passenger seat."

Matthew rubbed his eyes as if nursing a headache. "I can't drive after that wine I drank," he answered. "It's dangerous and against the law. Don't you know that?"

Looking somewhat baffled, Erica began, "Of course I know! But..."

"But nothing! Stop wasting time and get in the car!"

"Fine, then!" Erica's heart thundered as she took the driver's seat. 'This is your order, ' she thought gloomily. 'I hope you won't regret it.'

She completed the first step on her own; she started the engine. A moment passed as it idled in a low, constant grumble, and sweat began to roll down Erica's forehead. Sounding as casual as possible, she said, "Matthew, which pedal is the accelerator and which is the brake? Also, do I need to put the car into gear?"

Though he felt groggier than before, Matthew nevertheless answered her questions patiently. When Erica began to show confidence and asked nothing else, he leaned back in his seat and shut his eyes.

Three minutes later the black Emperor was humming its way down the road, and for the first time in his life, Matthew knew what fear meant.

For a while he kept his eyes shut. Around him he could feel the vehicle crawling along; there was no way Erica was anywhere near the speed limit. Yet every few minutes, somehow she kept needing to slam on the brakes or lurch from one lane to another, and Matthew would hear another car or two screech past.

The moments dragged like hours as this incident repeated itself at least twenty times. By then Matthew was fully awake, though no happier for it. Taking a deep breath and trying not to sound angry, he commented, "I wonder how you managed to get your driver's license in the first place."

Erica stared straight ahead, her white-knuckled hands practically strangling the steering wheel. "I don't have a license," she blurted.

In fact, she had been halfway through a driving course in her past life, before running away from home because of Ethan.

Matthew was generally a calm, unflappable person. But this time, he was truly mortified. "Are you kidding me? What are you doing, driving without a license?"

Putting both their lives in further jeopardy, Erica briefly took her eyes off the road to give him a scathing look. "Because you ordered me to drive! Am I wrong to listen to you?"

Another car swerved past them, blaring its horn, and Matthew reined in his frustration. If he didn't take control of the situation, they would get in a wreck for sure. He said, "Look, at the next intersection turn right. Then pull over to the side of the road and turn on the hazard lights."

With that, he took out his phone and started dialing his assistant's number.

Wordlessly, Erica nodded at his instructions; she was too embarrassed to admit that she hadn't completely understood him. As they drew near to the intersection, she began to turn the steering wheel to right.

Holding the phone up to his ear, Matthew hissed, "Turn on the right turn signal!"

"Okay!" Erica nodded, but did nothing. She wanted to disappear.

"Come on! Hurry! We could get ticketed for turning without a signal."

Erica's eyes flicked to the dashboard several times, but she mainly was trying to find a place to pull over. She felt wronged, but didn't dare look at her passenger. "But...I don't know which one is the right turn signal," she stammered helplessly.

At this moment, Matthew lost all his patience. Leaning over, he reached in front of Erica and flicked a lever near the steering wheel, and the turn signal came on.

However, this was the wrong move, as it distracted her. By the time Matthew was back in his own seat, it was too late to prevent disaster.

From the driver's side of the car there came a very unpleasant sound. It began as a sort of metallic bang which morphed into a screech like nails scraping a chalkboard.

Luckily, Erica was driving at less than twenty miles per hour, and the black Emperor was a sturdy vehicle. Whatever had hit them wasn't going very fast, either; neither she nor Matthew felt anything worse than a slight tremor.

Sensing his driver's panic even though she didn't make a sound, Matthew commanded, "Stay calm! Just whatever you do, don't—"

But before he could finish the sentence, Erica did exactly what he was hoping to prevent and slammed on the brake pedal.

Rubber squealed against the road as they were thrown forward against their seat belts. Then there was a bang, and the car itself lurched forward a short distance.

As Matthew's wits came back to him, he guessed that they had been scraped by one car, then rear-ended by another.

Just then his assistant answered the phone. "Hello, Mr. Huo."

Sinking into the passenger seat, Matthew rubbed the spot between his brows and said in a helpless tone, "I'm on Sunny Road. There's been an accident; scratching and a rear-end collision. Arrange a driver to come and pick me up. Also, send someone else to deal with this mess."

He didn't open his eyes until he'd hung up the phone. Beside him, Erica seemed frozen in fear and dismay. As she gazed out the windshield, she held the steering wheel in a white-knuckled grip.

Matthew sighed quietly. "Let's get out of the car and have a look."

"O-okay." Gradually, Erica seemed to emerge from her catatonic state. She was still unbuckling her seat belt when someone tapped on the window. From farther back, behind the black Emperor, someone shouted, "Who the hell is in that car?!"

Instead of yelling back, Erica opened the door, got out, and took in the scene.

The car that had rear-ended them was a Volkswagen Phaeton—luxurious vehicles, and this one was the still-more prized lengthened sub-model. One could only imagine how rich its owner was.

The vehicle that had scraped then on the side was a Mercedes Benz, G-Class. Despite barely being able to drive, Erica recognized both models.

In fact, she knew the latter model at once; she had once mentioned it to Wesley. She'd asked, "Dad, if I get my license, can you buy me a Mercedes Benz, G-Class? It looks so cool!"

Her father had squinted at her and mildly shook his head. "Not the right car for you."

"No? I think it suits me well. I'll turn it pink after you buy it for me. It'll be such a cute little car..." Erica hadn't thought her request was unreasonable. At two million dollars, it certainly wasn't prohibitively expensive; for her family, such a price was pocket change.

Pulling herself back to the present, Erica looked over the damaged vehicles with new eyes. "I can't believe my bad luck," she grumbled to herself. "An accident is one thing but why did I have to hit such fancy cars? Why couldn't they be cheaper brands?" Little did she know that when the drivers of the cheaper cars saw her Emperor on the road, they had all tried their best to not come anywhere near it.

A few feet away from her was a young man, the driver of the Mercedes Benz and presumably the one who had tapped on her window a moment ago. He was well-dressed, and his hair was obnoxious—obviously dyed blond and a bit messy on purpose—but he seemed relatively soft-spoken. "So you're the driver of the Emperor?" he asked, looking her up and down. "Well, I've just bought this Mercedes Benz, but I think you're probably rich enough to afford it. I'll just give you this car, in fact, provided you buy me a new one."

Erica's heart sank. 'Buy him a new one? Two million...'

Just then, another man stuck his head out the window of the Volkswagen Phaeton. He looked to be in his fifties, and his manner was much less pleasant than the other driver. "Lady, why'd you slam on the brakes all of a sudden?!" he barked. "If you don't know how to drive, stay home and don't put other people's lives in danger!"

Erica sighed and tried to be conciliatory. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean for this to happen. I was just trying to pull over..."

The middle-aged man leaned farther out of his car window, clearly irate. "Well, why didn't you turn on your turn signal if you wanted to pull over?! How did a crazy lady like you ever get a license?"

Frustration began to boil up in Erica's heart. This wasn't entirely her fault. Matthew had insisted that she drive, but now she was getting all the blame.

She took a deep breath and said, "Okay, look. I'll pay for your car to be fixed, but stop yelling at me. I've already apologized, and if there's anything else I can do, just tell me. But if you keep treating me like this, I won't pay you for the repairs!"

Wide-eyed, the middle aged man withdrew back through his car window, opened the door, and scrambled out. "Just listen to you, woman! This whole mess is your fault, but now you're making demands. Who do you think you are?"

"No, who do you think you are?" Erica shot back, losing her composure at last. "I'm trying to talk peacefully with you, but look at your attitude. Is this the right way to settle a matter?"

"You wrecked my car and now you want me to have a peaceful talk with you? In your dreams!"

As the two continued quarreling, Matthew finally emerged from the black Emperor and drew near.