Take My Breath Away

Noreen invited Erica out to coffee. Since they weren't friends, Erica doubted her intentions. 'That's strange. She must have some kind of ulterior motive. What's she up to?' Erica thought for a bit. She shook her head decisively. "I'm sorry. ZL Group owns too many coffee shops as it is, most of them mediocre. Whenever Matthew is at home with me, he grinds the beans so that I can have a fresh cup. I'm really not in the mood for coffee right now.

Even thinking about going out to the average cafe makes me hurl!" Noreen was furious. 'Listen to her! She's literally bragging about her rich husband!' Despite that, she continued, "Coffee not your thing? No problem! There's a teahouse nearby..."

"No. my husband owns tons of tea factories. After the tea is picked and packed, the bags of tea leaves are piled high like mountains in our warehouses. I never want for tea. But I feel bad for you, Miss Xia. You have to go to a public place like a teahouse to drink tea? I would have thought a famous actress like yourself wouldn't have to do that. How about this? Since you've been so nice to me, I'll ask someone to send you a few pounds of our finest tea, so you can see how the other half lives," Erica offered.

Flames of fury were burning in Noreen's eyes. "Honestly, you're just a terrible bitch!"

"What? A bitch? Moi? Miss Xia, why are you acting like this?" Erica said, pretending to be hurt. "I offered you some of our best tea, and you call me names? Wow! Just—wow. I'm not sure what bug crawled in your panties, but that's no reason to take it out on me!"

"Erica Li!" Noreen was so angry she forgot that she was a public figure. Her rep could be damaged by losing it like this. She strode over and raised her hand to slap Erica.

But before she could do anything, a bodyguard came out, gripped Noreen's wrist tightly and threw her to the ground. He was anything but gentle.

Noreen fell to the ground awkwardly, and her eyes were full of defiance. "Erica Li, you'll pay for humiliating me like this! I'll make your life a living hell!"

Erica walked past the bodyguards, squatted down and looked at her with a smug grin. "Oooh, I'm shaking in my boots, Aunt Noreen. Don't worry. After we're done here, we're done, period. Find another photographer. Maybe they'll be okay with being slapped around."

Then she stood up and got into the car.

After the car left, her agent helped Noreen up.

Looking at the car zooming away in the distance, she took out her cell phone and dialed a number. "Hey, it's me. I messed with Erica just now. She shouldn't suspect a thing."

After Michel had said his piece

loud roar came from off to the side. "Who's there?"

'Holy crap! I've been made!' Erica folded the telescope and threw it to Edward. She jumped from the car with one hand on the roof.

She got inside as fast as she could. At the same time, the driver started the vehicle up. When everyone piled in, they turned around and left.

But it was too late.

The hapless thug stumbled out of the bathroom. His stomach felt better, but he ran into a suspicious car. After finding a suitable hiding place, he made a call. Dozens of people appeared in the darkness and blocked the road.

Fortunately, Erica and her associates had removed the license plate of their car before they came here. The lights of the car shone on them, and dozens of people with batons stood in the middle of the road, blocking their way.

Erica rolled down the window and looked behind her. The lead car had about the same number of thugs as the car behind them. If there was any difference between the two cars, Erica couldn't see it.

The driver was a little nervous, and fidgeted anxiously. "Erma, what should we do?"

Erica did some quick calculations. There were only three of them in the car, and she couldn't defeat all of them. Ten people was a little unfair, and she'd be outmatched. She decisively ordered, "Slow down, honk, and speed over!"

Receiving the order, the driver honked the horn and plowed into the crowd. They didn't seem to hear the horn. But they stretched out their arms to cover their sight because of the dazzling light.

Edward said to the driver, "Alternate the high and low beams! Do it now!"

The driver turned on the lights. The high beams were so dazzling that the people in front of the car couldn't open their eyes for a moment.