“Jarrod, you're insane!" Nicole grunted in a voice heavy with disgust.

Nicole expressed her disdain vividly, unable to come to terms with the fact that this man had kissed her. She wanted to cleanse her mouth, yet circumstances didn't permit it.

Nicole's reaction elicited nothing but a mocking laughter from Jarrod.

"Isn't it too late to express your revulsion?"

Jarrod loosened the tie he had fastened this morning, approaching her with a wild, unchecked demeanor. “I was by your side last night, even using your legs..."

His gaze dropped to her long, slender legs. "Do you not want these legs as well?"

A wave of paleness washed over Nicole's face. The eerie feeling she had felt earlier and the red handprint on her waist suddenly made horrific sense. Jarrod had taken liberties with her while she was unconscious. He had truly gone mad.

"You are vile! You're beyond shameless. You're despicable!" Nicole hurled a barrage of insults at him. Feeling that her earlier slap had been insufficient, she attempted another, but Jarrod seized her hand.

Jarrod pinned her arms against the wall, their foreheads and noses nearly touching. "If I were truly all those things, the events of last night would have concluded quite differently. Do you understand?"

His hands gripped hers tightly, their fingers interlocking. He gradually drew closer to Nicole's face and murmured, "That earlier kiss was to settle the score from last night. What follows now is my demand."

Nicole regarded him with suspicion. "What more do you intend to do to me?"

“What else would I do? It's clear, isn't it?" Jarrod's gaze narrowed as he leaned in closer, and whispered, “I'm going to fuck you."

The kiss that followed was invasive, fiercer and more fervent than before.

This new kiss made the earlier one seem tame by comparison.

Nicole's eyes widened in shock as she pounded on Jarrod's chest, struggling against him. She left red marks on his back and neck with her fingernails, but he seemed indifferent to the pain. He forcefully pushed her onto the bed, pinning her down with his body, leaving her no opportunity to fight back.

His kisses deepened, moving from her lips down to her neck, each one infused with a heady, intoxicating desire. His hands wandered from her hair to more sensitive areas, touching her without restraint.

Their entwined limbs and his rough breathing sounded like a man consumed by passion.

Nicole was caught off guard. She panicked as Jarrod's behavior became unexpectedly aggressive. He had been distancing himself from her lately. His sudden change in demeanor baffled her.

Heavily breathing, Jarrod finally released Nicole, his eyes ablaze with desire. “You are my condition. Surrender to me, and I will acknowledge you as Austin's mother."

Nicole was dumbfounded. She couldn't grasp what Jarrod meant by "Letting her be Austin's mother." Austin was her biological son. What was Jarrod trying to imply?