Paintings of Terror - Chapter 265: Regain the Initiative

Xia Luobing, a famously violent sheriff, received information regarding illegal prostitution at a local hotel. She goes to the wrong room, and instead of finding prostitution, she finds a young couple talking over a bottle of wine. What she doesn’t know is that the woman has drugged the wine with a potent aphrodisiac to seduce the man.

Angel Johnson was a waitress struggling to make ends meet when an unexpected contract with Tryson Bliss, one of City Y's most powerful and ruthless billionaires, changed everything.Tryson needed a fiancée to appease his demanding family, and Angel, desperate for money and a way out of her humdrum life, agreed to play the part.What began as a calculated arrangement soon evolved into something neither of them expected—an intense and forbidden connection.But when Tryson's family uncovers Angel's true motives, they cast her out with venomous disdain.Humiliated and heartbroken, Angel's last hope is confronting Tryson. But instead of an apology or a chance at redemption, she finds herself shattered when he declares that he has chosen his first love, Riley, the woman he was preparing to marry.Devastated and with only her pride left, Angel walks away, determined to rebuild her life alone.Two months later, Angel is lost in the pulse of the music at a dark, crowded bar, seeking refuge in anonymity.A hand seizes her from behind, and her breath catches as she turns to face the man she can't forget—Tryson.His eyes, once cold and calculating, are now stormy with raw emotion, and he pulls her into his orbit, holding out the contract she once signed. “We haven't finished our work, Angel. The contract says you have a year left to be my fiancée. Don't tell me you're planning on breaching it now.”With no choice but to comply, Angel moves back into the house that once rejected her.But to her surprise, the family she once loathed now welcomes her with unexpected warmth and kindness.As she navigates this unsettling shift, Angel is left to wonder—what has changed, and why?What secrets do they hide that could alter everything she thought she knew about Tryson and his family?And as Angel's heart begins to thaw, she's confronted with the hardest question of all: Can she keep the secrets she's hidden from Tryson?And will Tryson fight for her love a second time, despite everything that has come between them?

“I can’t believe my eyes. The ice lord actually kissed a man. God, help me!”

“I’m surprised that the son of the Bai family is actually the ugly and stupid second young miss!”

Who was it who melted the ice lord’s exterior and caused the awakening of his hidden gentle side?

She is black-bellied and crafty. She would never consider herself a good person, and would not go out of her way to provoke other people. But, once she is provoked, she will pay it back 1000-fold, showing no mercy.

He is cold and detached, elegant, magnanimous, and known as the ice lord, a heartless gentleman.

Will sparks fly when the iceberg collides with a black-belly? Is it hopeless, or will there be excitement?

- Description from Novelupdates

In the year 2030, Samsara Online, a 100% immersive VRMMORPG that allows players to bring their innate real-world skills to the virtual world, is launched and supported by the World Central Bank.