Chapter 460 That Is Your Husband
"Selene, where are you?"
Selene got a call from Sophia right after getting off the plane. Despite Sophia's hoarse voice, her concerned tone sounded perfectly normal.
Before Selene could answer, the airport announcement did it for her.
"You're in Regal City?"
"Yeah! What's up?"
"Nothing, just checking on you. I saw you on some finance gossip news with Mr. Brown, worried you might get swarmed by reporters."
"What finance gossip news?" Selene had no idea. She headed toward baggage claim with her bag.
While on the phone, she noticed people around her staring, which felt strange.
"I'll send it to you," Sophia said. She was sitting in her living room at home, watching a finance channel host talk about William's success story. The tone was calm, but every sentence was incredibly inspiring. Clearly, anyone hearing about William's rise to success could only marvel at it.
This man had carved out a bloody path in the competitive business world. Without family backing, relying only on his father selling a few properties to scrape together some modest startup capital, he had multiplied it countless times in just a few years.
His business journey was intimidating to behold.
When Selene opened WhatsApp, she saw the news video Sophia had sent.
The moment she opened it, Selene knew it wasn't her.
In fact, it had nothing to do with her at all.
For a moment, she felt like someone had poked her in the chest - that dull, uncomfortable feeling crept up and spread through her entire body.
The two figures were close together. The girl looked charming and gentle. When the man looked down at her, his gaze was incredibly tender―a beautiful sight the outside world had never seen before.
There were plenty of rich single men. But young, accomplished, handsome single men with outstanding presence and such tender affection were few and far between.
William hadn't done anything special―just looking at this girl with such tenderness was enough to make people jealous of her.
Someone like William, so skilled at navigating social situations, had made it a deep-rooted habit to keep his emotions hidden. How could he possibly show tenderness to a woman?
Turns out, it wasn't that he had no tenderness―people just weren't worthy of it.
So William had a girlfriend?
"Selene, is that you?" Sophia felt it wasn't her, but also felt it might be.
Even though the figure didn't look like her, the angle the reporter shot from was tricky―what if there was some distortion?
"It's not me."
"Then what does this mean―does Mr. Brown have a girlfriend now?"
Selene looked at the photo several times. "Maybe!"
"You're not still at the airport, are you? Get out of there quick! Otherwise, if reporters find out, you won't be able to leave."
Sophia felt inexplicably relieved when she heard it wasn't Selene.
It wasn't her, but the news media was saying it was―this meant someone was using Selene as a shield?
Selene hung up with Sophia and called Zephyr to ask what to do.
Little did she know, on the other end, Zephyr had received dozens of calls from business friends within just an hour, all offering congratulations. Even more surprising, the thick fog from a few days ago had cleared. Business deals that were previously out of reach were now being handed to him on a silver platter.
People who had previously looked down on the Lewis family were now tasting the benefits.
In the face of ultimate power, everyone gets consumed by greed.
This was an eternal curse.
"Just don't say anything."
"Dad, isn't that inappropriate? What if everyone thinks it's me? Not to mention it's not me―what if Mr. Brown comes out to clarify later? What do I do then?"
"Mr. Brown has so many rumors about him―when has he ever clarified anything?" Zephyr countered.
He continued, "Just listen to me on this."
"Are you at the hotel yet?"
"In the car now."
"We'll talk more when you get to the hotel."
.........
"That person who just passed by―did I see that right?"
Isla saw her too and pressed down her baseball cap, afraid someone might recognize her and then drag Thalia into it. "You didn't see wrong, that was Selene."
"How interesting."
"What are you planning?" Isla had an ominous feeling and looked at Thalia, vaguely worried for William.
"Come here..." Thalia whispered something in her ear.
Isla listened in shock. "That's not appropriate! He's your husband."
"When he was setting me up, did he think about me being his wife?"
Isla had always felt that Thalia and William wanted to control each other. But precisely because they knew each other's personalities too well, their battles always ended in a draw.
In this situation, neither of them realized it―they didn't know what it meant to get along properly.
Could this be what they call marital fun?
Thalia pressured Isla until she had no choice but to nod and prepare to handle it. After taking two steps, she remembered something and turned back to look at Thalia, confirming again and again. "If Mr. Brown takes it out on me, will you protect me?"
"I will," Thalia promised earnestly.
........
"Miss, hello. The front desk told you there were no suites available, but someone just canceled one. If you need the suite, you could have a cup of coffee in our restaurant first, and once the room is cleaned, I'll have a colleague take you there. How does that sound?"
Selene listened and nodded.
Across from the hotel was Regal City's shopping district, with all the high-end malls nearby.
Selene handed her luggage to the attendant. "No need for coffee. Just store my luggage here. I'll go shopping, and call me when it's ready."
"Oh, by the way," Selene remembered something after taking a couple of steps. "Do you have masks?"
"Yes, I'll get you one."
Isla came downstairs with a room key and saw Thalia standing by the open bookshelf in the hotel lobby. She walked over with the key card.
"All set."
"She's checked in?"
"Her information is registered, but she went shopping."
Thalia nodded and pressed her tongue against the inside of her cheek. "Find a nearby spa and go relax."
Winter in Regal City was more pronounced than in Emerald City. Emerald City was at least in the south, but Regal City, being in the north, had howling cold winds when the weather turned cold. That brought a sense of desolation even to the prosperity.
At 10:30 PM, in Regal City's most famous restaurant, dozens of people sat around wooden round tables. In the center were several bottles of opened liquor, the labels barely visible in the warm yellow light of the private room.
Businessmen entertaining clients often judged people before serving dishes. Brian had seen plenty of drinking scenes at business dinners like this, but seeing a dozen people go through over twenty bottles of rare vintage wine was uncommon.
The group company's Regal City branch had always been managed by Daniel. William rarely came down, but unexpectedly, on this rare visit, he ended up trapped at the drinking table.
After several rounds, people at the table were either passed out or slumped over―they'd drunk themselves into a stupor.
William picked up an unopened pack of cigarettes from the table, looked at it, and scoffed―custom cigarettes.
The man opened the package and casually tossed it on the table, pulling out a cigarette to light.
After a few drags, the man sobered up a bit.
With the cigarette between his lips, he spoke. "Take a video and send it to Mr. Wilson. Ask him if this is how fancy his regular meals are."
Hearing this, Brian, who was about thirty percent drunk, instantly sobered up, vaguely worried for Daniel.