Chapter 490 I Love Thalia More Than Each of You
"The reporters at the door are all gone."
"Whose people were they?" Thalia asked curiously.
"Doesn't matter. Let's just have fun today."
William walked to the supermarket entrance, pushed a cart over, patted the handle, and looked at Thalia like he was coaxing a child. "Come on!"
"That's for kids to sit in."
"Aren't you a kid?"
Thalia loved it when William said such carefree things while wearing a suit.
This kind of wild, doting affection was something others never got to see.
"I can't get in."
William chuckled. "My mistake."
As soon as he finished speaking, Thalia was scooped up and placed into the large shopping cart. For a moment, she felt like her life was completely full right at this instant.
She glanced sideways at William, pushing the cart.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing," she wasn't about to admit that she found William more and more attractive!
"Did you ever go to the supermarket like this as a kid?" William pushed Thalia toward the snack aisle, watching her sit in the cart, grab a bag of chips, and toss it behind her, chatting casually with her.
"No, did you?"
"No."
"Your dad never took you?"
"He was usually busy."
"My dad was busy too. The difference is, your dad was busy raising the nation's future leaders, mine was busy finding me a stepmother. Doesn't that comparison make you feel a bit better?"
William was embarrassed. "Not really."
This kind of comparison was worse than no comparison at all.
"Let's go back to the Smith Villa tonight! I kind of miss my mom."
"Whatever you want."
At a moment like this, William was thinking about his rare alone time with Thalia, while Thalia was thinking she needed to bring William back to help Grace calm down.
Close to midnight, William had just stepped into the Smith Villa living room when he saw Grace's expression and vaguely felt he'd been set up.
"I kept my promises. I brought him to you. You two talk, I'm going upstairs to use the bathroom."
William was speechless, watching Thalia's figure disappear up to the second floor like the wind.
Grace pointed to the sofa, indicating William should sit.
"What would you like to drink?"
"Anything's fine."
Grace went to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of warm water, then got William a bottle of mineral water. It was just a drink, nothing special really, but looking at it this way, there was a deeper meaning.
For family, you'd definitely use a glass.
For outsiders, not necessarily.
"Mr. Brown, all your careful scheming and flawless planning have achieved their purpose."
"How do you feel?"
William lowered his head, not daring to speak. However, Grace put it, she was Thalia's mother.
"Thalia is naive and got fooled by you, but you should be crystal clear in your heart that every step has been part of your calculations and schemes, right? The secret marriage is now public. Is the next step to have a child to tie her down?"
"I have no bad intentions toward Thalia," William stated his sincerity. Hearing this, Grace laughed, slightly turning the cup in her hand, her eyes containing the ability to see through everything. "The first time I met you, I knew you weren't an ordinary person."
"So young, yet your eyes showed worldly shrewdness and a coldness different from other adults. When Thalia pursued you back then, she was young and didn't know better, only chasing superficial attraction, not knowing that getting involved with dangerous people could bring trouble."
"I don't understand what you mean," William urgently interrupted Grace, particularly bothered by that phrase about danger.
"Around you, there's the unresolved Jimenez family issue, and now Dione. Making your relationship public now, aside from satisfying your personal desires, brings no benefits to Thalia whatsoever. It might even drag her into the situation and put her in danger."
"Before thirty, you rose to a high position, became a power player in Emerald City's business world at such a young age. Your strategy and ambition are unmatched. You plan thoroughly and think carefully. When doing this, you should have considered the worst outcome, but even so, you still did it. And being able to escape unscathed from Thalia means you calculated her love for you."
"William, why bother?"
Grace's words made cold sweat break out on William's back. First, he hadn't expected Grace to see through everything. If she really saw this clearly, then the matter with Hayden...
Second, he worried that if Thalia heard these words, she would hate him.
William replied, "Mrs. Smith, have you ever experienced wanting something you couldn't have, wanting it for over a decade?"
"From the moment Thalia came after me, I wanted to have her. A dream from my teens that only came true at thirty - it's hard not to scheme."
"The year Thalia pursued me, something you said has stayed with me vividly until now."
Hearing William say this, Grace's fingers gripping the cup tightened hard.
"You said only a prince deserves to stand beside a princess. For that one sentence, I worked hard for over ten years to earn the right to sit before you and say these words."
"When a dying person finds water, how could they take just one sip?"
"I'm just one of many ordinary people, with desires, resentment, anger, obsession, persistence, and greed. Having gained love, I want devotion; having gained devotion, I want to announce it to the whole world. Desire controls everything about me."
"If you talk about love, I love Thalia more than any of you." Hayden loved Thalia, but she wasn't his only child. Grace loved Thalia, but loved her career more. When Hayden died, she ambitiously wanted to take over the Smith Group.
Only he had no second choice.
Only Thalia.
"More than any of us?"
"Yes."
"If one day you had to choose between your family and Thalia, who would you choose?"
"I think that's never been a question for me."
Coming out of the bathroom, Thalia was about to grab a tissue to dry her hands when William handed her the tissue box.
"Did my mom hit you?"
"Your face looks awful."
"No, it's not that bad." Seeing Thalia not moving, William put the tissue box back, pulled out a few tissues, and held Thalia's hands to dry the water.
"Thalia..."
"Mm?"
"I want you."
He wanted to merge her into his bones, intertwine with her, feel each other's existence, urgently wanting to make love with her.
Looking at William, Thalia felt his seriousness and determination for the first time, unprecedented and unique. In the past, even when William wanted to do something, he would just go ahead and do it. When had he ever asked her so seriously?
"What's wrong with you? Did my mom say something to you?"
Before Thalia's question got an answer, William lifted her onto her vanity.