Chapter 84 Something Happened
One sitting on the floor by the bed, one lying on the bed—they kissed like that, and somehow it didn't feel strange at all.
Gradually, Steven's hand reached over and slipped inside her collar.
His hot palm pressed against her cool skin.
Nora let out a soft moan, her voice trembling, "I'm still on my period..."
She felt very embarrassed—today was only the third day.
Steven said in a husky voice, "I know. I'm not trying to do anything, just touching you a bit."
Nora's face turned even redder.
"Does your stomach still hurt?" His palm moved to her belly, warm like a heating pad.
Nora shook her head, a hint of dazed desire in her eyes, "It doesn't hurt anymore..."
"That's good."
He responded and kept his hand on her lower abdomen, warming her belly.
Nora felt awkward because she had a bit of a tummy. She tried to suck in her breath to make her stomach look flatter and slimmer.
Steven noticed and smiled, "You don't have to do that. It's not like I haven't seen your little belly before."
Nora blushed and said nothing.
Steven casually pinched her waist, "Your little belly is actually pretty cute."
Nora's face turned completely red!
He actually called her little belly cute?
After a while, Steven's phone rang. It must be the private investigator calling.
Steven let go of Nora.
Her heart was pounding hard. She let out a long breath and relaxed her stomach.
Steven answered the call.
The private investigator said on the phone, "Willie suddenly left."
"What happened?"
"Not sure. He went in for less than five minutes before coming out, looking rushed. Don't know if something happened or if someone tipped him off."
Steven's face darkened, "Keep following him. If he meets with Hazel, find a way to get photos."
"Got it!" the other person confirmed.
Steven hung up and said to Nora, "I've got some friends helping keep an eye on Willie for you. You don't need to follow up on this anymore. If there's evidence, they'll take photos and send them over."
"Okay." Nora thanked him softly, "Thank you!"
Willie got a call saying there was a big fight at home—Olivia and Eleanor had gotten into an argument, Eleanor had fainted from anger, and was now being taken to the hospital.
Willie was scared out of his wits and rushed to the hospital.
Olivia stood at the hospital room door with her pregnant belly, her eyes red.
The Reed family wouldn't let her into the room to see Eleanor.
"Olivia!" Willie looked serious. "What happened?"
Olivia looked exhausted. "Tonight, Eleanor suddenly called me to the living room and said she wanted to take back Nora's shop and have me tell Nora about it. I got upset and argued with Eleanor a bit, then she suddenly started yelling, saying I didn't respect her, and then she fainted."
"Take back Nora's shop?" Willie frowned, "Who said that?"
Nora had built that shop up bit by bit herself. Willie had never thought about taking her shop back, and didn't have the nerve to!
"Eleanor said it. Whose idea it was, I don't know." Olivia's face was cold.
Actually, she knew who it was, because thinking about who would benefit made it obvious.
It was Terry.
Bianca wasn't married yet and didn't have such a strong desire for profit.
And Eleanor really doted on Terry, always worried that Terry wasn't doing as well as Willie and might get depressed, so she kept taking Willie's things to help Terry out.
She was also good at pretending. Olivia had only argued with her a bit earlier, and she immediately lay on the ground, saying she couldn't breathe, saying Olivia wanted to make her die of anger.
"Olivia, rest here for a bit. I'll go in and check on my mom." Willie helped Olivia to a chair to rest. After all, she was pregnant and couldn't be too tired.
"Okay." Olivia sat down and gripped his hand tightly, "Willie, you absolutely cannot agree to this."
"I'll handle it." Willie agreed and went into the hospital room.
Inside the room.
Eleanor lay in bed with an oxygen mask, her face pale.
Terry was feeding Eleanor something, and his wife, Giselle Reed, sat beside them, massaging Eleanor's legs.
Bianca immediately jumped up, pointing at the hospital room door with angry eyes, "Willie, that woman outside made Mom so angry—aren't you going to make her come in and apologize?"
Willie's face was dark. "What exactly happened?"
Terry said sullenly, "Tonight we just mentioned to her about taking back the shop Nora has, and she had such a big reaction, she sent Mom straight to the hospital!"
Giselle also said, "Good thing we were all home at the time, otherwise Mom could have been angered to death by her."
The whole family was blaming Olivia.
Like they were all united, none of them liked Olivia.
Sometimes Willie couldn't understand—was Olivia really that hateful?
He frowned, "Who said we should take back Nora's shop?"
Hearing this, Eleanor's eyebrows twitched, and she called out weakly, "Willie..."
Willie was a filial person. He walked over and held Eleanor's hand. "Mom, how are you?"
"I was the one who brought it up." Eleanor was afraid Willie and Terry would fight, "That shop of Nora's was registered under your company anyway. It's reasonable for us to take it back."
"She built it up herself." Willie's face looked bad.
Eleanor could tell Willie was unhappy, so she started crying, trying to make Willie soften.
Willie pressed his lips together and said, "That shop really can't be taken back. Nora built it up herself. At the beginning, I only gave her an empty account and didn't help her at all. Besides, she helped me two years back then and never asked for a penny in wages. She really hasn't wronged our family in any way."
"What do you mean she didn't ask for anything?" Eleanor's pale face looked even more miserable as she cried, "Her shop withdraws over $4,000 every month, and didn't you help her withdraw it all? It's not like she doesn't make money."
Willie said, "That money was all earned by herself, not wages we paid her. I just helped her cash it out."
Nora had never taken a penny in salary from Apex Technologies Corporation. The shop was just registered under Apex Technologies Corporation.
Willie only provided her a space to work, nothing else, so he had no right to ask Nora for this shop.
Besides, Nora had helped him during his hardest times. He couldn't be so ungrateful.
"Do you want to be tied to Nora for the rest of your life?" Eleanor sighed, looking like she was about to die, "She's not part of our family, and she's also in the chip business. Aren't you afraid she'll steal your business? Willie, you're a boss now, so you need to be more careful. She's not family after all. Even if you help her, she won't be grateful!"
"Yeah, Willie, have you heard the saying about how small favors create gratitude but big favors create resentment?" Giselle spoke earnestly, "People who aren't family shouldn't do business together."