Araceli POV
"Valeria is asleep."
Raphael said in a low voice as he came downstairs with me.
I took a deep breath, turned my back to him, and said calmly, "Mr. Lancaster, you should go back now."
"I told you not to call me Mr. Lancaster."
Raphael paused and took my arm, making me turn around and look at him.
He stared into my face. "Call me Raphael."
I frowned slightly, pursed my lips a little reluctantly, and said, "Fine."
"And what should I call you, honey?"
Raphael pulled me against his chest.
I couldn't help but try to push him away.
His hands suddenly wrapped around my waist. Before I could break free, he wrapped his arms around me.
"Shhh. There's someone outside."
What?
I nervously looked out the window. There seemed to be a dark shadow flickering past the window.
Someone tried to sneak into my house!
Raphael tightened his arm around my waist and leaned close to my ear.
"Let's go to the window."
I nodded and instinctively grabbed his sleeve.
He let go of me and took my hand, crouching down and slowly moving towards the window.
All of my attention was on the window.
We walked over against the wall. I looked down slightly, only to realize that Raphael had a huge bulge between his legs...
I felt my face burning and had to stop looking at it.
Raphael noticed my eyes and looked to where I was looking, and was instantly a little embarrassed as well.
Suddenly, there was a small noise coming from outside the window.
I immediately realized that there seemed to be more than one person outside the window.
There were two of them.
I whispered to Raphael, "There are two of them. Can you handle one?"
Raphael nodded and replied in a low voice, "Go inside. I'll handle it."
I shook my head.
I wasn't actually afraid of these guys. I was perfectly capable of beating them, but my kids were asleep in the house, so I didn't want to take any chances, so I decided to handle them with Raphael.
Before I could say anything, Raphael suddenly wrapped his arms around my waist and shielded me.
Immediately afterward, he flipped out the window and kicked the guy hiding behind it.
Immediately after that, the other man was also kicked away from him.
Two miserable screams came.
Shocked, I hurriedly went from flipping out of the window to see two men dressed in black were lying on the ground. They were wearing black masks, so I could only see both of their eyes filled with anger.
One of them put his hands behind his back. The next second, he pulled out a pistol.
"DIE!!!"
Raphael was standing right in front of him, too late to react.
In the nick of time, all I wanted to do was to do whatever it took to save him, even risking my life.
For a second, I thought of all sorts of things in my head.
In the next instant, time seemed to stop.
I couldn't think of anything else, I immediately and quickly shifted into a wolf, and pounced on the man.
The sound of a shot being fired rang out the next second as I expected it to, sounding extraordinarily obvious in this dark night.
My fur shone brightly in the moonlight. I could no longer suppress the rage inside me, wanting nothing more than to tear these two men apart with my razor-sharp claws.
Just as I was about to do so, a male voice rang out.
"Don't do that, Araceli."
I glanced back.
It was Raphael.
His eyes soothed my raging emotions as if by magic.
Unconsciously, the anger in me slowly subsides.
I shifted into a human, standing naked in front of Raphael without feeling the slightest bit shy.
In the next second, I only felt my legs instantly lose their strength. Just as I was about to fall to the ground, Raphael rushed over and held me.
He took off his jacket and put it over me.
I glanced at the floor.
The two men had passed out.
I was relieved at that.
Raphael called for his bodyguards to come in immediately and tie up the two men and throw them into the basement.
He carried me, through the window back into the house and laid me down on the couch.
"Are you okay? Araceli, can you hear me?"
Everything seemed to be spinning before my eyes.
I only felt dizzy, so I quickly fell asleep.
When I woke up again, I was in bed, dressed.
Did Raphael dress me?
I couldn't think twice and rushed out of the room.
As soon as I got out, I saw Raphael sitting in my bedroom doorway with his head down, looking like he was asleep.
Turned out he had been guarding my bedroom doorway.
My heart instantly softened a lot. Without realizing it, I reached out and went to touch his face. As if he sensed something, he instantly grabbed my wrist and looked at me with a threat in his eyes. But he instantly became much gentler after seeing that it was me.
"You're awake. How do you feel now? "
I pulled my hand out and said, "I'm fine. Where are those two men?"
Raphael frowns. "In the basement."
I immediately headed for the basement.
Soon, we reached the basement. Two bodyguards stood guard at the door and immediately gave us way.
The two men were tied up, lying on the floor, unable to move.
I walked over and ruthlessly stomped on the fingers of one of the men. He immediately let out a howl of pain.
"Who sent you?"
I stared at the two men, my voice sharp and unafraid.
The man bit his lip bloody with pain, but still said nothing.
Raphael stepped forward and, without hesitation, kicked the other man in the jaw.
The man shuddered and stared grimly at Raphael.
"Say it! Or I'll kill you right now..."
Raphael gave the man another kick in the stomach.
The man spat out a mouthful of blood and lost a few teeth. The veins in his neck rippled as if he would faint in the next second.
He said slowly, "Mr. Fleming told us to sneak into this villa and get the two children."
I stared at him.
"Mr. Fleming? What's his full name?"
The man shook his head.
"I don't know. He gave us five million dollars to come tonight and kidnap the two children. "
It dawned on me.
It was the Fleming family that sent them to take Valeria and Krish.
Raphael guessed as much and coldly kicked the man out of the way.
I turned around and headed upstairs. I went to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water, gulping it down, slowly calming my inner turmoil.
"I'll take care of it."
Raphael tucked his hands in the pockets of his pants and looked at me. "Don't worry."
I looked at him, took a deep breath, and said, "No. I'll talk it over with Ramon..."
"The Fleming family will find a way to get their family's kids back. They won't let you off easy."
Raphael said in a low voice, "Leave it to me. It's the only thing you can do now."