Chapter 35 - A Poor Hiring a Servant

Another scream. Another set of hands clutching destroyed manhood.

Both men writhed on the ground, crying, all fight completely gone from their bodies.

The woman stared up at Raven, her mouth hanging open in shock and something else—something warm and confusing that made her thighs press together instinctively.

Raven looked down at her, his dark eyes meeting her tear-filled ones.

His hand was still on her hip. Still holding her against him like she belonged there.

"I’m not a kid, lady," he said quietly, his voice low and dangerous in a way that made her stomach flip.

The woman’s lips trembled.

Her hands were pressed against his chest, feeling the steady beat of his heart beneath her palms.

She should pull away. Should thank him and run. Should go home to her useless husband and pretend this never happened.

But she couldn’t move.

Couldn’t think of anything except the heat of his hand on her hip and the way he was looking at her—like she was something ’valuable’.

"I..." she started, her voice barely above a whisper. "I don’t... I don’t even know your name..."

Raven smiled.

Small. Predatory.

"Raven."

Her breath hitched.

"I’m... I’m Hana..."

"Pretty name," Raven murmured, his thumb rubbing small circles against her hip bone. "For a pretty woman."

Hana’s face flushed deeper, fresh tears spilling down her cheeks.

When was the last time someone had called her pretty?

When was the last time someone had ’touched’ her like this—with want instead of obligation?

"Thank you," she whispered, her voice breaking. "Thank you for... for helping me..."

Raven’s other hand came up, his thumb brushing away a tear from her cheek.

"Don’t thank me yet."

And before she could ask what he meant, before she could process anything else—

He leaned down and kissed her.

’!’

"Mmph—!"

Hana’s eyes flew wide as Raven’s lips pressed against hers—warm, firm, completely uninvited.

For half a second that felt like an eternity, her entire world narrowed to that single point of contact. The heat of his mouth. The faint taste of something she couldn’t name. The way his hand still rested on her hip, fingers digging gently into the soft flesh there.

Her brain short-circuited, caught between the wrongness of what was happening and the traitorous flutter in her chest that whispered ’more’.

Then reality slammed back into her skull like a freight train.

"Wait—’wait’!"

Hana’s hands flew up and shoved hard against his chest, breaking the kiss and stumbling backward so fast she nearly tripped over her own feet.

Her face burned crimson—not just her cheeks, but her entire face down to her neck, spreading like wildfire across her skin.

One hand shot up to cover her mouth, fingers trembling as if she could physically erase the sensation of his lips on hers.

"What are you doing?!" Her voice came out strangled, somewhere between a shout and a whisper, eyes wide with shock and confusion.

Raven’s expression remained calm. Almost innocent, like he’d just offered to help carry groceries instead of stealing a kiss from a married woman on a dark street.

"Helping you," he said simply, his tone matter-of-fact.

"’Helping me?!’" Hana’s voice cracked, climbing an octave. "That’s—you can’t just—that’s not—"

The words tangled in her throat, her mind spinning too fast to form coherent thoughts.

She was ’married’. She had a ’family’. What kind of woman was she that a stranger could just... could just ’kiss’ her and her first instinct wasn’t to run screaming?

What kind of woman felt ’heat’ pooling low in her belly from it?

"I’m ’married’," she finally managed, the words coming out as a horrified whisper. "I have a daughter. I—I can’t—"

"I know," Raven interrupted, his voice steady. "That’s why I’m helping."

Hana stared at him, her brow furrowing with complete bewilderment.

None of this made sense. He was so ’young’—probably barely out of his teens—and here he was acting like... like...

She didn’t even know what to compare it to.

"Thank you," she said quietly, her voice shaking as she wrapped her arms around herself protectively. "For stopping them. For... for everything. But I really need to go home now."

She needed to leave. Needed to get away from this boy who looked at her like she was something precious instead of something used up and thrown away.

Hana turned quickly and dropped to her knees on the cold pavement, her thick thighs spreading slightly as she began gathering the scattered vegetables that had spilled from her torn shopping bag.

A carrot rolled against the curb. A potato had landed near a storm drain. An onion was wedged under a nearby bench.

Her hands moved mechanically, grabbing each vegetable with trembling fingers and stuffing them back into the canvas bag.

Behind her, Raven watched.

His eyes tracked the movement of her body with predatory focus.

From this angle—Hana bent forward on her hands and knees, her weight distributed across her palms and knees—her ass was fucking ’magnificent’.

The cream-colored cardigan she wore had ridden up slightly with her movements, exposing a strip of skin at the small of her back where her floral dress clung to every generous curve.

Her hips were ’wide’. Not gym-toned or surgically enhanced. Just naturally, beautifully ’thick’—padded with soft flesh that jiggled slightly every time she shifted her weight to reach for another vegetable.

The dress stretched taut across the swell of her ass, the fabric pulled so tight that Raven could see the clear outline of her panties underneath. Full coverage. Probably cotton. Simple, practical underwear that married women wore because nobody was supposed to be looking anymore.

But he was looking.

And god, she was ’something’.

Her bra straps were visible too, cutting into the soft flesh of her shoulders, straining visibly under the weight of those massive tits hanging beneath her as she leaned forward. The fabric of her cardigan pulled tight across her back, highlighting every curve, every soft line of her maternal body.

She was naive. Too kind. Too trusting.

Too ’perfect’ for what he had in mind.

Hana finally gathered the last tomato, clutching it carefully as she rose slowly to her feet. Her knees ached from the cold pavement. Her face was still flushed with embarrassment.

She turned away from him, not meeting his eyes, clutching the shopping bag to her chest like a shield.

"I should... I should go," she murmured, her voice barely audible.

She took one unsteady step forward.

Then another.

"I can pay your debt."

Hana froze mid-step.

Her entire body went rigid, one foot still raised slightly off the ground.

Slowly—so slowly—she turned back, blinking at him like she’d misheard.

"...What?"

Raven stood there with his hands tucked casually in his pockets, looking at her with an expression that was completely serious.

"Your debt," he repeated, enunciating each word clearly. "To the loan sharks. I’ll pay it off. All of it."

Hana’s mouth opened. Closed. Opened again.

"I... I don’t understand." Her voice came out small, confused. "Why would you—you don’t even know me. You don’t know how much—"

"Doesn’t matter," Raven interrupted. "I’ll pay whatever it is. In exchange, you work for me."

Silence.

Hana stood there staring at him, her mind struggling to process what he was saying.

"Work... for you?"

"As my personal maid," Raven clarified, his tone businesslike. "Cooking, cleaning, running errands. Standard housekeeping work and some... Ahem. I’ll pay your debt in full, plus a monthly salary on top of that."