Chapter 228 Who Are You?
Coming out of the barbecue restaurant, it was almost midnight. Thalia wobbled her way back to her apartment. As soon as she pushed open the door, she saw several dim yellow lights on in the room. William was sitting at the dining table as usual, with his laptop, iPad, and phone—the holy trinity—laid out in front of him.
"Mrs. Brown is back? Had your fill of barbecue?"
William's cool tone came through, and Thalia jumped: "How did you know?"
She froze mid-motion while changing her shoes at the door.
"Too busy gaming to check Facebook?"
William had received a Messenger from Daniel as soon as he got home—a screenshot showing Thalia and Gregory, each with their assistants, sitting in a barbecue restaurant waiting for their meat to cook while playing games.
Thalia's serious gaming face was truly heartwarming.
When had Thalia ever been this focused on anything? Except when coaxing money out of Hayden.
Thalia muttered something, scrolling through Facebook on her phone as she walked toward William. She stopped at the water dispenser to pour herself a glass.
"Who took that photo? Must be one of my haters. They edited Gregory's picture but not mine—that's too much."
William: ........
Thalia poured herself some water and drank half of it, then pulled out the chair beside William and sat down: "Is Mr. Brown angry?"
"Jealous?"
"What do you think?" William put his hand between her knee and the table to keep her from bumping into it.
Thalia pushed her glass forward: "Have some water, cool down."
William scoffed: "How thoughtful of you."
"You're my husband! If you die of anger, who's going to give me money to spend?"
William put down his work and patiently bantered with her: "So from now on, your credit card limit depends on my mood?"
Thalia: ......."You're basically saying you want me to die poor?"
"You're spending my money, and you won't even humor me?"
"You're not my dad."
"You call me daddy plenty in bed."
Thalia: ......."Want to be a dog, don't you?"
"I'm willing. Where does Mrs. Brown want me to lick tonight?"
Thalia put down her glass and prepared to leave. After just two steps, William pulled her back by the waist and pressed her against the dining table: "Thalia, I know what you're like, so having dinner with a guy or playing games—I'm not going to make a big deal out of that. But you need to understand, every man gets jealous, especially when my wife barely pays attention to me at home but is all smiles with other men outside."
"Have I been ignoring you?"
"Do you want to check Messenger? Look at how many messages I sent you today and how many you replied to?" William's hand landed on her lower back, rubbing, moving up along her spine.
The tingling sensation made Thalia involuntarily shift forward, pressing against William's body to dodge.
"Mr. Brown, I'm not that free during work hours."
"Not even when you're gaming?"
Thalia: ........
Fine! Coax a man? She was practically trained for this since birth.
Thalia raised her hand to hook around William's neck, gently swaying: "After work, just relaxing a bit."
"Mr. Brown is angry? Then I'll uninstall the game right now. Think about it—we only see each other a few hours a day, and you start grilling me as soon as we meet. That's going to make me afraid of spending time with you! You don't want our relationship to go bad, right? Don't be angry......"
She cupped William's face, bringing her lips close, kissing him gently.
Her tongue traced William's lips.
William was extremely interested in Thalia. Thalia was right—he was just a dog. As long as Thalia beckoned, he'd lick his way up her skirt.
All that talk about liking being unrestrained and love being about restraint—William thought it was all nonsense. When someone's fondness for an object reaches its peak, they want nothing more than to possess it.
Let alone a living, breathing person—someone he'd loved for years and finally got his hands on. He wanted to do it to death.
Restraint?
Impossible.
If you could still restrain yourself in this situation, you'd probably be impotent.
...........
In the bathtub, Thalia lazily leaned against William, her fingers with plain-colored nail polish tracing from his nose bridge down to his Adam's apple.
"Haven't you sorted things out with Kurt yet?"
"No," William caught her hand and kissed her palm: "Why are you asking?"
"I saw Zephyrine today. She went to see Nora."
"Zephyrine and Kurt want funding. When they couldn't get it from me, they came up with all sorts of schemes. They've even dragged Amara into it."
Hearing Amara's name, Thalia jumped, propping herself up: "Amara?"
Thalia moved too suddenly and pressed on William's genitals, making him gasp in pain.
She paused, then adjusted her position.
"Yes."
"Nora's been visiting Amara a lot lately."
"Did Amara fall for it?"
"No," William pressed Thalia's shoulder down into the water, worried she'd catch a cold.
"She's pretty smart," Thalia praised, then continued: "Zephyrine seems to want to meet Gregory."
"The Carter family's influence in the capital is declining, while the Lopez family is hot property there. It's normal she'd want to meet Gregory."
Thalia thought about it—that made sense.
"Be careful around Kurt's people lately. Don't get too close to them. The Celestia Group is preparing to take over the Lowe Group. Kurt hasn't caught on yet, but when he does, both you and Amara need to be sharp."
"Is this a trade secret?" Thalia raised her eyebrows and asked.
William nodded: "Yes."
"You're telling me trade secrets—aren't you afraid I'll use them against you?"
"If you can't figure out something this simple, are you really Thalia?" William patted Thalia's waist, signaling her to get up.
Thalia lazily sprawled on him: "Let's soak a bit longer."
"The water's getting cold. You'll catch a cold."
Thalia obediently let William push her up, wrapping herself in a towel and looking at William: "I'll finish filming my scenes in July. Can Mr. Brown lend me your private jet to play with then?"
William nodded: "You can play with it, but if you're thinking of taking my private jet to some island to dance with other men, forget it."
"Stingy. What if I take your private jet to the island to bring back a beautiful woman for you?"
William's expression turned cold: "Looking for a beating, aren't you?"
Thalia stopped talking and walked out of the bathroom barefoot.
She had just laid down on the bed when her phone rang.
She hung up on Evelyn's call and sent a message: "What's up?"
"Not convenient?"
"A bit inconvenient."
"Figures. Got a man, forgot your friends. Well, I won't waste words—I'm short on cash, need a million dollars first."
"You treating me like an ATM?"
Evelyn: "You ever seen an ATM that only dispenses a million dollars? Hurry up"
Thalia opened her banking app to transfer money to Evelyn. The phone on the other side rang. She leaned over to look at it, saw it was a landline number, and thinking it was spam or a sales call, reached over to answer it.
Thalia's voice came through, and the other end went silent for a moment before an icy questioning voice rang out: "Who are you?"