High School Again: The President's Secret Lady Boss

It's not that hard to see what Neil was intending for abducting Winter.

Then again, in every contest, there should be a prize for the winner, and apparently, the Middleton family has come up with quite a huge reward for the marriage interview candidate who'll emerge victorious in the end - that is their heiress' hand in marriage and a great sum of money. The goal is either to make her fall or gain her permission to be wed. However, as if starting this competition without informing her is not enough to violate her rights and freedom to decide, there are also no rules as to how they should woo her.

That being said, the participants can reach their goal however they want to, and that ends up leading one of them to resort to abduction. It's one of the easiest ways to go around this, it seems. After all, it'll not only eliminate the other contestants' chances of getting close to her, but it'll also give the kidnapper an opportunity to do all sorts of 'things' to her without needing to take her on dates or spend day after day chasing after her.

Neil was planning to use blackmail. Moreover, he intended to force Winter to sleep with him.      

Such an experience would've definitely traumatized anyone. Yet it appears to be not the same for the victim in this case.

"Winter?" Marcellus called, clearly concerned.

He was about to enter the car when he found Winter sitting quietly on the passenger's seat – rage in her wild, bloodshot eyes, menace in her seemingly placid expression. There's a foreboding air around her, and it shows through her calculating look. It's almost like that petrified girl from earlier was just an illusion. She now looks like a scheming woman, all set to strike back and make her offenders pay bigtime.

Marcellus feels like shivering at the sight. This is the first time he's seeing Winter look so cold. 

"That dirty little bitch…" she hissed mostly to herself.

"First, she wanted me dead. Now, she wanted me sexually assaulted?"

Hearing her say that, he takes that she must've already gotten all the details from Claude. If he knew that she's going to act like this, he would've told her himself. He would've tried to be gentle yet concise – to be reassuring yet honest.

That's because seeing her forget her fears, anguish, and vulnerability in favor of taking that whole traumatizing experience as another motivation to bring down her family makes him think that she's pushing herself way too hard.

'You can be scared, you know. You can cry and wail. You can think about yourself more instead of thinking about that revenge of yours…' Marcellus thought, realizing for once that Winter's independence had a bad side to it. 

'As I've always said, I know you don't need anyone to fight your battle for you, but at least this once, please rely on others more.'    

It's alright to be sad and afraid. It's alright to be not okay. It's alright to feel negative emotions. 

He wants her to realize all of that. She may have attracted him with her inner beauty and strength, but he stayed for something more than those. Whether it's her pains or her weaknesses or her flaws, he wants to embrace them all.

With that in mind, Marcellus took his seat beside her and wrapped his arms around her – one on her shoulders, the other on the back of her head. Taken aback by the gesture, Winter turned to look at him, finally snapping out of her train of thoughts. 

"Winter, listen to me…" he started as he pulled her closer and buried his nose on her shoulder, taking a whiff of her scent that reminded him so much of her favorite vanilla flavor. 

"From now on, I want you to let me deal with the Middleton's on my own."

"Huh? What do you mean…?" she blurted out, flabbergasted.

"You're already a lot of help to me, Sir Lexington. What is it do you want to do on your own?" 

"Tell me what you want to do, Winter. I'll make it happen. You can ask me anything, but in return, I want you to do nothing."

"Huh?! What?!"

Winter is astonished.

Marcellus can't be serious. 

It wasn't a lie when she said that he's already a lot of help to her. He's already giving her much more than he could possibly imagine. Now, though, he suddenly wants to do more. He's practically asking her to be selfish. 

"And by nothing, what I mean is that I want you to stay away from the Middleton's as much as possible. Don't get in contact with them unless it's absolutely necessary. If you want, you can use me to run errands for you or something. I'll also hire bodyguards for you starting from this point on. You can't hire some from your family's side," Marcellus continued, nonplussing Winter even more.

"T-That's a bit too much, Sir Lexington. I can't possibly make you do all the work-"

"Give me at least until Uncle Harold's comeback party. Please, let me do things my way until then." 

"Your uncle's comeback party? Why? Is something going to happen?"

"There is. I'll have you know that I've been secretly working with your family's lawyer for a while now. The investigation for your parents' deaths is ongoing, and by the time Uncle returns, I believe it'll be complete."

Her eyes widen then, her mouth gaping slightly.

Winter wasn't fully aware of the progress of the investigation, but she knew that he's doing everything he could to help her with it. She just didn't expect that Marcellus would be this far ahead. Now that she thinks about it, Victor hasn't been seen with anyone from her family lately. Perhaps, it's because he has been working together with him this whole time and is therefore already aware of the threats of being near the Middleton's.

Winter continues to contemplate over all of these, and Marcellus gives her a moment of silence to take them in. 

"Don't worry. It'll be over soon…" he reassured her as he pulled away for a bit and cupped both of her cheeks.

"I promise it'll be fine. Leave everything to me."

"Do I really have to do nothing, though…?" she asked while she looked up at him, voice as small as a whisper.

"I can't avoid my relatives, to begin with. I'm literally living with them."

"Then, you just have to move out. Actually, I want you to."

"But to where?" 

"Live together with me - at least until my uncle returns."

Winter stills then, stunned again. Even Claude, who's at the driver's seat the whole time, hasn't seen that coming. Marcellus is totally serious – when he said that, he wasn't being playful nor flirty like how he usually is every time he asks her something suggestive. 

"Please come with me, Winter…" he practically begged, and now, she was at a loss of words.

"I swear I'll give you everything you need and want." 

Winter would've turned it down, thinking that it was too much of a favor, but getting that Marcellus does have a point about moving out, she eventually decided to come with him. 

---  

"Where's my sister?!"

August drove all the way to the hotel in a hurry after getting a call from Victor regarding Winter's current whereabouts.

Her abduction and Neil's attempted sexual assault are already all over the news by this point. However, the Middleton family isn't receiving enough scrutiny even though they're the ones who set the whole thing up behind the shadows. Cyrus reasoned that all they did was put up the competition, which they planned to stop no matter what once Winter opposed to it, and that they weren't directly involved in the kidnapping. 

'Bullshit,' was what Marcellus thought of it.

So, he decided to take over - to be one to pull the strings this time.

He asked Victor to contact August and instruct him to go to that hotel. As much as he wants to take Winter to his condominium unit straight away so that she can get all the rest she needs, he still has to be courteous and respectful to her adoptive elder brother – he has to get his permission first.

While Marcellus is at it, he also plans to talk with August and Victor about his plan.

"Your sister is sleeping in her room, Mr. Agreste. Don't worry. I have a few bodyguards guarding outside…" he calmly explained as he met up with him in the hotel's lobby.

"I apologize for not informing you beforehand, but just as Sir Victor said, I don't think it's a good idea to take her back to the Middleton's estate. The news may not have said it since the police have put all the blame on Neil Schwartz, but we strongly believe that her family is more involved in this than most people think." 

"Yeah. I've heard from Sir Victor…" he said with his gaze narrowed, looking at him dubiously.

"But before we go there, may I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"Are you that sugar-daddy-guy who's been hanging out with my sister?" 

At August's question, Marcellus choked.