Chapter 505 Could it be that William was too reckless last night?
Life was full of ups and downs - some people were happy while others worried.
Upstairs, Thalia begged for mercy after falling apart several times, pushing William's shoulders and urging him to hurry up.
Downstairs, Bella and Sean were in the middle of a fierce fight.
"This is all Thalia and William's doing. If it weren't for them, how could any of this have happened? Who do you believe - them or me? We're husband and wife! We're supposed to be on the same side in this world. How can you doubt me because of what outsiders have set up?"
"Their doing? What did they set you up for? Set you up to climb into another woman's bed?"
That's when Sean realized something was wrong.
Before getting in the elevator, he'd come upstairs with Bella to change clothes, and the only unusual thing during that time was drinking half a bottle of water from the room.
Realizing this, Sean turned and went to the cabinet near the bathroom, picking up the bottle and looking at Bella. "They must have drugged me."
"Drugged?"
Bella laughed coldly. "If I hadn't seen your tricks before, I would totally believe what you're saying today! Drugged? Fine."
Bella nodded repeatedly, walked over, took the half bottle of water from Sean's hand, and drank it all in one gulp.
In that instant, time stood still.
Sean looked at Bella, and Bella did the same.
Both were waiting for a result.
About ten minutes passed, and Bella did not react whatsoever.
Sean now had no way to defend himself.
"See? This is what you call being drugged. From when you left this room until you came back, no one entered. And this bottle of water you drank has been sitting here the whole time. You're telling me someone drugged you, that someone set you up - do you think I'll believe that?"
"Sean, tell me, what now? You tricked me back then, married me, got yourself a good reputation - so what about now? What are you planning to do with that girl?"
"Treat her the same way you treated me?"
"No way," Sean rushed to deny it.
"Why not?"
All these years with him, Bella had been the one being oppressed. Now that she finally had a chance to fight back, she would hold onto it tightly and use it to the fullest.
She wouldn't let Sean off the hook, even if it meant mutual destruction.
"Because I don't love her." Sean's eyes were red, and facing Bella's pressure and questioning, the man stepped closer, gripping her shoulders, responding almost through gritted teeth.
"You think I schemed all this just because you knew my secret? No, it's because I love you. When Michael and I both appeared before you, all these years you only had eyes for him. It's always been that way. Even after we got married, you never forgot him. Why? I'm clearly better than him."
Bella was startled by Sean's furious words. She had always thought they were just tormenting each other, but she never imagined that Sean actually loved her.
"Why? I'll tell you why."
"You're cold and heartless, cruel and ruthless, willing to do anything to achieve your goals. Because you want everything but pretend you don't care about anything. Because you're clearly a bad person but pin that label on others. Because you dare to do things but won't own up to them."
Suddenly, a teacup on the nearby table was smashed to the ground.
The sound of shattering rang out.
Upstairs, William leaned against the headboard, smoking, sighing over and over. Looking at the woman in a robe, lying by the window, stretching her neck to eavesdrop, he felt an urge to kill her.
What kind of woman pushes her husband away while having sex to go listen at walls?
Leaving him hanging in bed, only able to smoke to cool down.
"Had enough?" William asked through gritted teeth.
Thalia shrank back slightly, giving William a pitying look. "Do you think they'll start fighting?"
"Do you want them to fight or not?"
"Of course I want them to. What's the fun if they don't fight?"
William grabbed the nearby ashtray and tapped his cigarette. "Haven't you thought about how I might die from frustration?"
"You have such strong self-control, it won't come to that. Let me finish watching the show first."
The ashtray was slammed onto the nightstand.
Hearing the sound, Thalia shrank her neck. When she looked back at William, she seemed a bit sheepish, picking at her nails and moving toward the bed like a turtle.
"Are you mad?"
"Don't be mad!"
"I'm coming over now, aren't I?"
"Come on, let me touch you."
William snapped, "Get lost."
Hearing this, Thalia's eyes lit up. She'd been lying in bed for two and a half hours now. Not only was her back sore, but she couldn't satisfy William either, which led to him pinning her down and working her over repeatedly.
For the first time, she felt that William telling her to get lost was actually a happy thing.
Thalia reached out her hand and slid off the bed in her robe. "I'm going, I'm going right now. Getting angry over someone like me isn't worth it at all, right?"
"Even going to a prostitute would be better than I... Ah!"
"Don't think I don't know what you're thinking," William took a deep drag of his cigarette, pulled Thalia's head close, and passed the smoke into her mouth.
The battle began again.
Continuous fighting.
No sign of stopping whatsoever.
The next day, the cruise arrived at Aurora City, docking for three hours before starting the return trip to Emerald City at noon.
When Thalia came downstairs for breakfast, she vaguely heard everyone in the buffet restaurant talking.
"There was artificial snow on the top deck last night! That's such a grand gesture - artificial snow on a luxury cruise on the river. I'm so jealous, really jealous."
"Could it be Mr. Brown's gift to Ms. Smith?"
"What if it is?"
"Tell me, how is she so lucky?"
Thalia perked up her ears to listen to the gossip when Amara suddenly walked over and bumped her shoulder. "Are they talking about you?"
"Shut up!"
"What's wrong? Was William too wild last night?"
Amara added, "You should know, when a man creates romance for you, he's definitely planning to sleep with you."
"You seem pretty experienced."
Amara hummed proudly. "I've read lots of romance novels, so naturally I understand."
"Besides, what happened with Sean last night was basically you two standing together making it official, right? Good thing there were no media reporters there, otherwise..."
Thalia didn't want to respond. She didn't care anymore - William had already schemed against her anyway.
"Where's William?"
"He's not here?"
Amara scanned around and found it odd that she didn't see William.