Chapter 189

Without a word, Hudson strode up to Thorn and slapped him hard across the face. Thorn froze, the burning pain flaring up on his cheek. He turned his head and met Hudson’s narrowing gaze behind the mask.

“Are you having a death wish?” Thorn snarled.

Hudson glanced at Amber, who shot him a thumbs-up.

“Mr. Noir,” Hudson said coolly, “your guys must be blind, daring to lay a hand on me. What, I can’t come to you for a little justice?”

As he spoke, Alex tossed the guy right at Thorn’s feet.

Thorn’s face fell as he saw his men dumped at his feet. He’d told them again and again to steer clear of that dog Hudson, but they just had to go and provoke him anyway.

Useless idiots, always screwing things up, he cursed angrily in his mind.

“Hudson, I admit I was wrong about this,” Thorn said, glancing at the girl behind Hudson. Is that Amber? he wondered to himself.

Not bad-looking at all. Guess good looks really do run in the family.

“Sienna, who’s that guy?” Amber asked warily, her eyes fixed on Thorn.

He was the one who’d tried to kidnap her.

“Just some nobody. Let’s go home,” Sienna said, her voice calm but firm.

“Okay.” Amber looped her arm through Sienna’s, shot Thorn a defiant glare, then let out a cold huff and lifted her chin proudly.

Hudson thought to himself that maybe Amber’s spoiled ways weren’t so unbearable after all.

“Mr. Noir, see you around.” Hudson gave a casual wave.

Thorn stared after her as she walked away, a sly glint in his eyes. Now that he had some leverage, everything was about to get a whole lot easier.

Suddenly, he grabbed Hudson’s shoulder. “Hudson, you think you can just slap me and walk away like nothing happened?”

Hudson shot him a wicked grin, totally unfazed. “Sienna is someone I respect. If you want to mess with her, you’ll have to go through me.”

Thorn was speechless. Is this guy for real? he thought.

“You and him aren’t on bad terms anymore?” Sienna asked.

Amber, who had been happily clinging to her sister’s arm, suddenly stiffened at the question. “Sienna, I was never fighting with him,” she protested.

The story about her and Hudson dates back to fifteen minutes ago.

After they’d taken down Thorn’s men, Amber, full of curiosity, asked Hudson if he wore a mask because he just didn’t look fierce enough.

That question really struck a chord with Hudson. And just like that, the two of them started chatting away.

Amber tried to cheer him up, saying he could always get some work done, then he wouldn’t have such a baby face and people might actually find him scary.

But Hudson just shook his head, saying he couldn’t mess with what his parents gave him.

Amber wasn’t done yet. She started tossing out even more ideas, like putting on makeup, drawing scars on his face, making himself look disfigured, or even getting some tattoos.

Sienna listened as Amber, with the most innocent look on her face, described the most ruthless ideas. She fell silent for a moment. She just couldn’t imagine Hudson actually getting excited about any of this.

“Sienna, can I talk to you for a moment? Is this a good time?”

Wayne stood by the brightly lit shore, his gaze deep and unwavering. People brushed past him as they disembarked from the boats, but he didn’t spare them a glance. In his eyes, there was only Sienna.

“Amber, you head back first,” Sienna said, glancing at her sister.

She turned to Hudson. “Hudson, thanks for tonight. Let me treat you to dinner sometime as a thank you.”

“Come on, Sienna, don’t flatter me like that,” Hudson replied with a playful grin.

After speaking, Hudson stretched and lazily leaned against a nearby pole, making it obvious he had no intention of leaving. He was clearly sticking around.

Wayne waited for a bit, but when he saw Hudson still lounging around without a care in the world, he started to get annoyed and strode over, his face showing clear irritation.

“Hudson, get lost,” Wayne said, his voice low and firm.

Is he blind or just dense? Wayne thought to himself. Can’t he see I need to talk to Sienna?

Does this guy not know how to read the room at all? Wayne fumed.

Hudson just grinned. “What’s the problem? Is this your private territory? Can’t I stand here?”

“You!” Wayne snapped, barely holding back his anger. “He’s totally doing this on purpose.”

“Sienna, let’s head over to that restaurant. I need to talk to…” Wayne started, but before he could finish, Hudson shamelessly butted in, grinning. “What, you can’t say it here? Why all the mystery?”

“None of your damn…” Wayne started to curse, but quickly switched it up. “It’s none of your concern, Hudson. Just get the hell out of here.”