Kieran was the main sponsor of this McIntosh Piano Competition, covering over ninety percent of the sponsorship. That meant most of the supplies and expenses came out of Kieran’s pocket.

The organizers of the last McIntosh Piano Competition had invited Kieran to sponsor. They did a lot of homework and made the PPT over and over again, but Kieran didn’t even meet them.

It wasn’t until this year, when Roschelle joined the competition, that Kieran offered to sponsor. The organizers had already lost faith in him and were planning to find another sponsor.

That was Kieran. Everyone who had worked with him knew he was super strict about work, so when Kieran came to them first, the organizers were totally shocked. They had to check several times before they finally believed it was actually Kieran.

Kieran was really generous. The contestants this time stayed in a six-star hotel, which none of the previous contestants had ever stayed in.

Maybe for some of the players, it was the only time in their lives they ever stayed in a six-star hotel.

Kieran had a really high status with the organizers.

Even Patrick and Paloma had to give in a little, not to mention Kieran.

Paloma faced him and felt even less confident.

The people who had been leaving all stopped when they saw Kieran coming, watching the scene from a careful distance.

Kieran stood less than a meter in front of Paloma.

He didn’t look at Paloma, he looked at Alaricka.

Kieran came on strong; even a fool could see that.

But the organizers also kept telling them to take good care of Kieran and help him grow.

Paloma’s palms were sweaty: “Mr. Argent, is there something wrong?”

“Ms. Wyatt.” Alarieka spoke out loud.

She was a contestant, so how could she not know about Kieran’s special status in the McIntosh Piano Competition? Paloma was indeed a famous pianist both at home and abroad, but she still couldn’t beat Kieran.

This was between her and Kieran and the others; Paloma shouldn’t have been dragged in. Paloma had done this much, and she was already really grateful.

Alarieka walked up and pulled Paloma behind her.

“Ms. Wyatt, you go first.”

Paloma frowned. “Alarieka, you—”

Suddenly, Kieran stepped forward, grabbed Alarieka’s chin, pulled her arm with his other hand, yanked her hard, and kicked open the door of a nearby room.

The door slammed into the wall and made a loud noise.

Alarieka’s ears buzzed, and as everything spun, she heard Paloma and the other contestants gasp.

The tip of her nose was full of Kieran’s scent, her body was pulled by Kieran without control, her steps followed Kieran, and her eyes were tightly shut.

After that, there was another loud slam of the door.

The next second, her back was thrown against the wall.

Luckily, she was prepared, kept her body stiff and her head down, so her back and the back of her head didn’t get hit and hurt.

When Alarieka opened her eyes again, everything was pitch black in front of her, and she could only see a dark shadow.

There weren’t any lights on in the room; it was all dark.

Her heart clenched hard. She opened her mouth, but the person in front of her grabbed her chin so firmly that she could barely move at all.

“Alarieka, you didn’t learn your lesson.”

Kieran leaned in toward her, their breaths almost tangled together, and with every breath Alarieka took, all she could smell was the scent of fir from Kieran.

She sniffed gently and smelled a different scent in the air.

It was the taste of alcohol.

She frowned and struggled to say, “Kieran, did you drink?”

Kieran didn’t answer her question, just said in a hoarse voice, “Didn’t I say, don’t make things hard for Rose?”

Alaricka clenched her fists and tugged at the corner of her mouth: “How did I make things hard for her? I just showed the security footage, that’s all.”

Kieran gripped her chin even harder, his voice low and rough, warning, “Alarieka, you’ve got some nerve, daring to mess with Rose right in front of me.”

The plain, ordinary voice made Alarieka feel tense inside.

The two were so close, Alarieka even had trouble breathing.

She raised her hand, made a fist, and hit Kieran hard on the shoulder: “Let go!”

Kieran didn’t say anything and stepped forward, trapping her completely between the walls. She couldn’t move and was pressed up against Kieran. Their breathing was already tangled together.

The smell of alcohol on Kieran was even stronger.

Alarieka looked down a bit awkwardly, but then Kieran forced her to lift her chin.

Alarieka kept her eyes closed. She knew that as soon as she opened them, she would definitely see Kieran’s eyes right in front of her.