Chapter 22 I Want You to Kneel Down and Kiss Me.......
Thalia had just finished speaking with conviction when the room erupted into chaos.
Thalia glanced at William.
William raised an eyebrow.
"Ms. Smith is right. Mr. Chase Smith didn't tell us to hurt you, just to keep an eye on who you interact with and to find out where you moved Mr. Hayden Smith. Nothing more."
"Nice try," William said, nodding at Brian to take the others away.
For a moment, the living room was silent. William stood over Thalia, one hand in his pocket. "How's your foot?"
"If you really want to know, Mr. Brown, why don't you squat down and take a look?" Thalia shot back. She wasn't about to show any vulnerability.
"You want me to kneel for you?" William snorted. He could tell she had something up her sleeve just by the way she arched her back.
"Yes."
"You can't even stand up, and you expect me to kneel?"
"There are ways to make you kneel even if I can't stand."
William, a ruthless lawyer who equated time with money, wouldn't be here dealing with these troublemakers unless he had an ulterior motive. And Thalia was determined to expose whatever he was plotting.
Their eyes locked, calculations unfolding in the air.
Thalia pondered the slight flutter in William's heart.
William was scheming against Thalia...
Neither of them were saints.
A brief laugh broke the silence in the living room.
"What’s so funny?" William asked.
"What do you think?"
"Normal people can't guess the thoughts of special groups," Thalia said. Special groups? That was a broad category. But comparing them to normal people implied something unusual.
Was she insinuating he had a screw loose?
William slowly bent down, placing his hands on the armrests of Thalia's wheelchair. "Sometimes I wonder if you're a pure-hearted actress from the entertainment industry or a cunning princess from a wealthy family."
Thalia played with William's tie, wrapping it around her finger. "Mr. Brown, you think about me?"
"Thalia..." She was acting strange again.
"Mr. Brown, when do you think about me? During the day? At night? Or in the dead of night?"
William's lips tightened. Not wanting to get entangled with Thalia, he loosened his grip on the wheelchair and prepared to stand up.
Just as he moved, Thalia yanked his tie hard.
William stumbled, his hand landing on the back of the sofa behind Thalia.
Their breaths mingled, close and intimate. Thalia saw the fine hair on William's handsome face flutter because of her breath.
Her gaze lowered to William's Adam's apple...
Thalia stared at his Adam's apple, unable to resist reaching out to touch it.
William's back tensed, his hand gripping the back of the sofa tightly.
"Thalia..."
Before he could finish, Thalia pulled him down by his collar and kissed him.
One sitting, one bending over. In such a situation, William should have had the upper hand.
But Thalia didn't give William the chance to take control. She tugged his collar with one hand and pressed the back of his head with the other, straightening her back to accommodate his posture.
In the dead of night, the atmosphere was thick with tension.
Thalia, with her high standards for quality of life, had the room filled with scented candles and ambient lighting, creating a romantic setting.
In such an environment, coupled with the most beautiful woman in Emerald City initiating a kiss, even William's self-control wavered.
But just as he wavered, Thalia kicked his shin.
William knelt before her wheelchair...
That kneel shattered the intimate atmosphere.
"I want you to kneel and kiss me..."
Thalia's slender fingers touched William's face, exuding an aura of arrogance...
William understood. She had seduced him just to make him kneel?
To have him kneel before her and bow his head?
Fine, that was Thalia's style.
William removed her hand from his face, playing with her fingers. "Thalia..."
He bent her fingers back, a sharp crack and a scream echoed through the living room.
"William, you jerk," Thalia said, shaking her hand. Bending fingers wouldn't kill or break a hand, but it hurt—a lot. She had never understood why boys in school liked to bend fingers, thinking it was cool. Didn't it hurt?
Until today, when William bent her fingers, she realized it hurt—a lot.
...
"Boss," Brian greeted William as he left the villa, his voice trembling.
Had they broken up or not?
How did it end with a kiss?
"What are you looking at?" William's face was dark.
"Just..." Brian stammered, pointing at his own lips.
William wiped his lips, Thalia's lipstick smeared everywhere.
"Here," Brian handed him a tissue. Watching William wipe off the lipstick, he hesitated before speaking. "Boss, maybe you should just agree. You'll never find another woman like Ms. Smith—beautiful, generous, and rich."
Rich, he agreed.
Beautiful, he agreed.
Thalia was generous with her spending, and he agreed.
But stupid? No way! She was always thinking of ways to torment him.
"Brian, am I ugly? Poor? Stingy?"
"Boss, you're not ugly, poor, or stingy, but do you have as much money as Ms. Smith? When her dad dies and the lawsuit is over, she'll be a billionaire! What you work hard for, she gets from her dad's death. It's that simple!"
William: ... "You want me to spend a woman's money?"
"How is it spending a woman's money? It's a strong alliance. You have money, but it's not easy to access. Think about it, if you marry Ms. Smith and help her secure control of the Smith Group, will you still need Mr. Wilson to fund you?"
William: ... It made sense.
"Ms. Smith! Do you think she'd enjoy managing a company? Isn't the entertainment industry fun? Isn't being a rich woman better? The company would still be yours," Brian coaxed William.
William listened, nodding. "Who taught you this?"
"What? No one!"
"Choose between a bonus cut and telling the truth."
"Mr. Harris..."