Twisted paths

Underhill Prison was renowned for housing notorious criminals, from political assassins to arms-manufacturing warlords.

Yet right now, those dangerous criminals were trying to be as quiet as possible in the cafeteria because Remus Cosby was having his meal amongst them.

“When will that damned old man finally come back for me?” he grumbled, picking at his food in distaste. “It’s been three years. Is he dead or something?”

Though he complained, he deeply missed Master Tyson, the old man who had taken him in when he was young.

He had dropped Remus off at this prison three years ago and told him to train here for the time being. Remus had even gotten excited. He had hoped that he would finally find worthy opponents in such a dangerous place.

However, he couldn’t have been more wrong in that judgment, as he had beaten nearly everyone in less than 24 hours.

Remus had gotten bored after enduring three years of this.

“Boss, someone’s here to see you!” a warden reported while rushing into the hall.

Was the old man finally here for him? Remus immediately got up and headed to the visitors’ room, pushing up his sleeves. He was ready to show the man exactly what he had mastered over the last few years.

But he skidded to a stop when he saw a woman in the room instead. She was beautiful and tall, and she was dressed in office wear. She was a traditionally attractive woman.

“Were you asking for me?” Remus asked. He didn’t remember seeing her before.

She looked him up and down, contempt clear in her eyes.

“My name is Kylie Cox, and I’m your fiancée. My outfit costs 16 thousand dollars, not including this necklace which is worth at least one million dollars. I also have a house that is over 30 million dollars in value. I’m sure you can’t afford to give me anything like this.” She looked away, acting high and mighty.

Remus replied flatly, “I wasn’t planning on it anyway, you’re getting ahead of yourself.”

Buying all that was a piece of cake. After all, he had saved up quite a hefty sum in the three years he had spent here. Almost all the prisoners paid him monthly just to avoid a beating.

Kylie’s eyes immediately darkened. “So you plan on being a kept man after getting released?”

She realized that voluntarily coming here to dissolve their arranged marriage had been the right thing to do. How could a bum like him ever deserve her?

Remus was getting annoyed with her attitude. If she weren’t a woman, he’d have taught her a lesson by now. “How do you know if I’ll be released?”

“You…gah!” Kylie fumed. “I’m a successful businesswoman while you’re nothing but a bum stuck in prison. It’s clear we don’t belong together, so just give me our marriage agreement right now, and I’ll make sure we never see each other again. But I’ll be kind with my demands: you can have three conditions fulfilled in exchange. I can even arrange a compassionate release for you if you want.”

Kylie thought that this would be more than enough to compensate him. Prisoners longed for their freedom most, right?

“No thanks.” Remus didn’t want to waste his breath on her any longer, especially with her high-and-mighty attitude. Still, he was aware of the agreement she was talking about. His master had given it to him in a box when he first came here.

He asked a warden to bring it to him. When it arrived, he gave the woman an apologetic smile. “I’m not sure if you’re in here, by the way. If it’s not, we can just pretend this never happened.”

Kylie scoffed. Pretend this never happened? So he was trying to keep this arranged marriage going? In his dreams!

“Even if it isn’t, I’m still calling off this marriage!”

Just then, Kylie finally saw the contents of the box. There wasn’t just one marriage agreement in there—there were, in fact, nine.

A specific name even caught her attention, making her jaw drop: Miranda Bowen.

Miranda Bowen was Neptuna’s number one socialite, and she was an heiress to one of the most powerful families in the city!

“Found it.” Remus pulled out a piece of paper with Kylie’s name on it.

Kylie took it, suppressing her shock. “Are you in here for committing fraud?”

How else would he have so many marriage agreements? Kylie could only imagine all the women this man had lied to and cheated on.

Remus rolled his eyes and left the room without another word. Back in his cell, he stared at the marriage agreements grumpily. He had thought these were just some prank all this while. After all, who would want to be married to nine people at the same time?

But Kylie Cox’s appearance had permanently changed that impression.

“If anyone else comes in here about this again…” Remus grunted, shaking his head. Then, he thought, “What if I go and dissolve these agreements before they do?”

What a great idea!

Remus left his cell immediately. Box in hand, he went all the way to the head office by the entrance.

With a kick, he sent the towering metal gate flying open before marching out.

None of the onlooking wardens minded him, recalling how he had done the same thing three years ago when he first arrived.

Remus examined his surroundings, then remembered that Underhill was hundreds of miles away from any decent cities. Traveling to any of them on foot would be extremely tiring.

Just then, the chief warden ran up to him.

“Boss, are you leaving?”

Remus cocked his head. “Can’t I?”

The warden immediately shook his head. “Of course, you can. Leave whenever you please, boss! I just wanted to ask if we can start serving lunch now.”

He couldn’t wait for Remus to leave because once he did, he could reclaim authority over the prison.

“Sure. Whatever.” Remus shrugged. “Oh, get me a taxi, would you? I need to go to…”

He glanced at one of the marriage agreements before continuing. “Neptuna.”

Neptuna was where Miranda Bowen lived.

Five hours later, Remus boarded a flight to Neptuna.

“Small world.” He immediately noticed Kylie Cox sitting in first class, a little ways away.

She saw him too. “You’ve been released?”

Remus didn’t want to waste time explaining everything to her, so he just said, “Yup.”

No wonder he didn’t accept her offer of getting him a compassionate release. She scowled. “Let me say this again. We come from two different worlds, and we’ll never be together, so just give up now and get off the plane!”

Why else would he be on the same flight as her right after getting out of prison?

“You should really get your brain checked.” Remus rolled his eyes, then closed them to rest. It wasn’t like she owned this airplane.

“You-!” Kylie gnashed her teeth. He wasn’t just a bum; he was a jerk, too?

With one last glare, she tore her gaze away. It was too crowded to cause a scene right now.

They soon arrived at Neptuna’s airport. Kylie swiftly went up to Remus and warned, “You better not stalk me, Mr. Cosby, or I’ll show you just what I’m capable of in this city.”

With that, she stormed to the exit. Yet before she could step off the plane, a stewardess stopped her.

“My apologies, miss, but the airport is currently on standby to wait for a VVIP to exit the plane. Please wait here for the time being,” she explained.

Excitement flared in Kylie’s eyes. Neptuna had not gone to lengths like this for a big shot before, so she was really curious about who it was.

The other guests on the flight were just as surprised. The airport was on standby?

What kind of VVIP would be gracing them with their presence?

The stewardess then made her way to a seat and said respectfully, “Apologies for making you wait, Mr. Cosby. You may step off the plane now.”