Chapter 106
I froze for half a second before realizing he was asking about Sidney.
What relationship?
What's James doing this time? Is he going off the rails again?
"My relationship with Sidney is none of your business." I frowned, quite displeased.
James didn't say anything. He just lit up his phone screen and held it in front of my face.
On the screen was a photo.
In the hospital lounge, Sidney had suddenly passed out, his head resting on my shoulder. I was slightly turning my head to look at him, one hand seemingly supporting his arm.
The angle of the photo was extremely tricky, making it look like the atmosphere between Sidney and me at that moment was incredibly intimate.
Seeing the photo confirmed it—I hadn't been wrong at the hospital. Someone really had been watching me.
"Who gave this to you?" I snatched the phone, looking it over for any clues.
There were no clues.
Anger shot straight to my head.
I stared at that photo, almost laughing from rage.
"Did Mr. Smith send someone to follow me?" I looked up at him coldly, my voice full of barely contained sarcasm. "Or did Mr. Smith plant one of your people around me?"
"I'm not that free, and I'm not that bored to go through all that trouble to have you followed." James took back his phone, his gaze sharp as a knife, locked tightly on me. "Amelia was visiting a hospitalized friend and happened to take this photo."
"She saw you at the hospital and thought you weren't feeling well. She was worried about you, so she sent me the photo to ask about your situation."
"Though I see you're fine. This guy looks like he's about to die."
Amelia worried about me?
I almost wanted to applaud his explanation.
Would Amelia worry about me?
She probably couldn't wait for me to be completely ruined, preferably kicked out by the Smith family, so she could rightfully take my place.
And what was with that last comment? Why did it sound so passive-aggressive?
"So should I thank her for her attention and concern?"
I picked up his phone from the coffee table and, right in front of him, smoothly deleted that photo, then tossed the phone back into his lap.
"Since Mr. Smith is so curious, let me tell you. His name is Sidney, and he's my junior from school. His sister just had heart surgery. He stayed outside the ICU for a day and a night and passed out from exhaustion. I helped him to the lounge."
"I don't know if I've explained clearly enough. Does Mr. Smith understand?"
"Junior?" James clearly didn't believe me. He stepped forward, his tall figure bringing an intense sense of pressure.
"You think I don't know that the post that went viral on the Celestial University forum about you—wasn't he the other guy in it?"
"You investigated him?" I looked at him, my eyes full of anger.
"James, he's just an ordinary person. Why won't you let him go?"
"Shouldn't I investigate?" James also raised his voice, grabbing my wrist with such force that it hurt.
"Sophia, don't forget—you're still my wife! You're still Mrs. Smith!"
"You and some strange man, hugging at a place like a hospital—do you think that's appropriate? Have you considered your position? Have you considered the Smith family's reputation?"
"James!"
I tried hard to shake off his hand, but he only gripped tighter. Anger and grievance surged up together.
"Be reasonable! He passed out. Was I supposed to just leave him lying on the ground?"
"I can swear that Sidney and I are completely innocent, nothing between us. What about you? Can you swear that you and Amelia are completely innocent?"
James answered immediately: "I can."
I stared into his eyes, each word like a poisoned needle.
"You don't suspect that Amelia deliberately took a photo from such an intimate angle to send you, but instead you suspect that Sidney and I are having an affair, cheating, embarrassing the Smith family."
"Are you crazy?"
James laughed bitterly in anger. He grabbed my chin with one hand, forcing me to look up at him. "Yes."
"I'm crazy because of you, Mrs. Smith."
I laughed. My chin hurt from his grip, but I still managed to pull out an extremely sarcastic smile.
"James, don't you know why I agreed to be with you?"
That last sentence was like a bomb that completely set James off.
His face darkened, and the hand gripping my chin suddenly tightened, making me groan in pain.
Pain and rage churned in his eyes: "Sophia, you..."
We were like two trapped beasts in silent confrontation, attacking each other with the most hurtful words, both of us bleeding.
After a long while, he seemed to have lost all his strength; he slowly released his hand and stepped back, his voice hoarse as if scraped by sandpaper.
"Sophia, don't forget what you promised me. If you dare break our agreement, I'll make sure you have nowhere to be buried."
I rubbed my aching chin, looking at him coldly. "I did promise, but does that mean I can't have normal social interactions for these three months?"
"That's not what I meant."
James looked away toward the window, the lines of his profile taut, his voice dropping to an almost exhausted stubbornness.
"I just... don't want to see you getting too close to other men."
"He's not..." I tried to explain, but seeing his stubborn attitude, I suddenly felt incredibly tired.
What was the point of explaining?
Once he decided something, he never listened to my defense.
Before it was about Amelia, now it was about Sidney.
In his heart, I was always guilty.
"Make him transfer schools." James turned to face me, his tone an unquestionable command.
"I'll give him money, enough for him to take his sister to the best hospitals abroad for follow-up treatment, enough for them to live comfortably in any city."
I couldn't believe my ears.
How could he so casually, so matter-of-factly decide someone else's life?
"James!" I was shaking with anger. "What gives you the right to arrange other people's lives? Just because you're the CEO of the Smith Group, you think everyone in the world should revolve around you and follow your orders?"
"I'm not discussing this with you." James's attitude didn't soften at all; instead, it became even colder and harder. "If he doesn't know what's good for him, I can't guarantee I won't..."
"You wouldn't dare!" I glared at him, my chest heaving violently with anger.
"You can try." James looked at me, his eyes as deep as a bottomless frozen pool, without any hint of joking.
I felt like I'd fallen into an ice cave, cold all over.
Despair and helplessness surged over me like a tide, threatening to drown me.
To save one person, I'd unknowingly pushed another into even more danger.
What was I even doing?
"Fine." I heard my own voice, cold and hollow. "I'll talk to him."
I stepped forward, straightened my spine, and looked directly into his eyes, word by word: "This is the last time, James. If you dare use this kind of method to interfere with my business and my life again, I will definitely do what I said I would."
James met my gaze. In those eyes that were always deep and inscrutable, my pale and resolute face was now clearly reflected.