Chapter 399 Pleasant Sounds
"Thalia, I'm allowing you to verify my love for you over and over again."
"Just verify? William, someone in your position with all that power—if you wanted to hide something, I wouldn't be able to tell."
In the bedroom, the intimate atmosphere had vanished, replaced by a standoff between them—Thalia's questioning and William's silent restraint.
The romance was torn apart, replaced by naked reality.
Thalia was too clear-headed. Having been hurt enough by her father's womanizing ways since childhood, she lived with unusual clarity when it came to matters of the heart.
Being cautious was secondary; staying clear-headed enough to achieve her own goals was what mattered most.
What she needed wasn't someone to depend on—she needed someone else who was equally clear-headed about what these things called love and romance could bring them.
Was William's feeling for her just the desire to win what he couldn't have, or was it real love?
The push and pull between them really couldn't be explained in just a sentence or two.
From their teens to their twenties, all these years.
It was long beyond what words could capture. If this had happened to anyone else today, they'd probably be moved to tears, but Thalia—she was so clear-headed it made you want to crack open her skull and see what was actually inside.
"Thalia, I'm nearly thirty. Having reached where I am now, I've been through it all—life and death, political ups and downs, betrayal by friends and family, the whole series. I'm long past being that teenager or twenty-something. I can tell what I want. I can tell the difference between love and possessiveness." William's voice was gentle, without a hint of force, his hand slowly rubbing her lower back. "If what I felt for you was possessiveness, believe me, Mistwood Hill would become your cage. You'd never fly out of this place for the rest of your life."
William freed one hand to grab Thalia's chin and kissed her thin lips. "I'm not your dad. Don't compare me to him. You're not lucky enough to meet every bad man in the world."
"Is it so hard to love me?"
"Hm?"
William deliberately lowered his voice, carrying a hint of seduction, but this seduction didn't make Thalia fall—on the contrary, it made her even more clear-headed.
"Loving you isn't hard, but loving someone with just empty words is."
William understood. He asked, "What do you want?"
"You'll give me whatever I ask for?"
"Yes."
"What if I want shares in the Celestia Group?"
William laughed, thinking Thalia would ask for his life, but it turned out she only wanted shares.
These things were just external possessions to him.
The Celestia Group existed because of Thalia in the first place. What harm in giving it to her now?
"Fine."
Thalia asked, "Really?"
William confirmed again. "Really."
Thalia said nothing.
William added, "Tomorrow I'll have Angelina bring people over to handle the paperwork."
"Aren't you afraid that once you give me the shares, I'll divorce you?"
"I am, but I know you, Thalia. If you really wanted to divorce me, you wouldn't ask me for anything."
She hated trouble and wouldn't create trouble for herself.
People like Thalia had strong boundaries—she absolutely wouldn't get involved in things she shouldn't touch. Having spent so many years in these circles, she'd seen plenty of classmates and friends end up in trouble because of their own greed and meddling. Going down themselves was one thing, but dragging their parents down with them was another.
Among this crowd in Emerald City, those whose families had stayed prosperous for over twenty years all understood certain things, more or less.
"You..."
"Shh," Thalia wanted to say something, but William extended his index finger to her lips. "If you can't sleep, let's do something useful."
Thalia was speechless.
At midnight, when Fallon came upstairs to turn off the hallway lights on the second floor, she faintly heard comfortable, pleasant sounds coming from the living room.
The tone twisted and turned, very different from ordinary voices.
The sounds of extreme pleasure made one's back tingle.
Thalia's sultry voice could make a man willingly serve her.
"Feel good?"
"Just okay."
As Fallon turned to leave, she faintly heard the conversation from the living room.
"I did everything according to your requirements, and you still think my service wasn't good enough?"
............
"Those people were Ms. Smith's people?" Henry looked at the wounds on Michael's body, almost afraid to touch them. Seven or eight knife wounds, none too deep, but all serious.
They looked bloody and shocking.
Michael struggled to remove his clothes and threw them on the ground, watching as Henry stood there with iodine, not knowing where to start. "It wasn't her."
Thalia wasn't cruel to that extent, and besides, you could tell—she wasn't the type to create trouble for herself. As long as they didn't provoke her, she absolutely wouldn't come after them.
"Call a doctor!" Michael said, enduring the pain.
Before long, the doctor came in with a medical kit. Seeing the wounds on Michael's body, he gasped. "You need stitches. It's best to go to the hospital."
"Doing it here might cause post-operative infection."
"Just do it here, it's fine."
The doctor looked at Henry somewhat helplessly, probably thinking Michael was too stubborn and hoping Henry could persuade him, but unexpectedly, Henry just raised his chin, telling him to begin.
After the doctor finished stitching, Michael's whole body was already drenched in sweat, lying on the bed breathing slightly heavily.
Henry poured him a glass of water, still asking uncertainly. "Could it be your grandmother?"
"Possibly."
"She wants to talk to William, but William specifically wants to see me. As long as I'm here, she can't break through this situation. Only if I die can all the problems be solved."
"She can meet William naturally and won't have to tell me about those decisions the Jimenez family made."
No matter what, Michael was still a Jimenez, but thinking of Eileen, all words stopped.
To Eileen, even blood relatives couldn't become obstacles to her plans.
After all, these years, while it looked like Steven was making decisions for the Jimenez family on the surface, it was actually Eileen making the final calls.
Everyone knew about all the Jimenez family's schemes and arrangements over the years, except Michael, because Eileen had always believed that there couldn't be two tigers on one mountain. Only one of the Jimenez family's two children could inherit the family legacy. If they didn't fight or compete and had no ambition, that was fine, but once they had ambition, they'd be labeled as rebellious.
Michael was supposed to be the one who didn't fight or compete.
When the Jimenez family was having their second child, Steven and Eileen had always hoped the second child would be a girl. That way, when they supported the eldest to take the throne in the future, at least the second child could serve the purpose of a marriage alliance, contributing to the family. But unexpectedly, it was a boy.