Chapter 262 Murdering the Wife!
William is a man with strong self-control. Finn has been with him for years and knows everything about the women around him - what meals they have, what wine they drink, who arranged which woman at the dinner table. He knows it all.
William never makes things difficult for outsiders unless they cross his line.
But that doesn't mean William has no methods.
Behind William's restraint often hides an extreme personality.
When William got the video from the reception room, an image flashed through his mind. In high school, he had seen this person before. Even though many years had passed and over a decade had left its marks on this person's face, it couldn't change the fact that they had met before.
William held an iPad in one hand while loosening his tie with the other, casually tossing it onto the living room sofa. Seeing William's bad mood, Fallon brought up a glass of warm water and cleared everyone out of the room.
Soon, the smell of smoke filled the room. William sat on the sofa, hunched over, with the iPad on the coffee table and a cigarette between his fingers.
William studied the person on the iPad.
His eyes looked like they wanted to pierce right through the iPad and into this person's soul.
"Ryder, the Jimenez family's butler and Steven Jimenez's right-hand man. He's been in Emerald City for many days now. Brian says he shows up at the company every day at the same time waiting for you. When they won't let him in, he waits at the company entrance, rain or shine."
William snorted: "Pretty persistent."
"Should we use some methods to grab him?"
"No need."
Car lights from the courtyard shone into the living room. William pulled himself together and waved his hand, signaling Finn to leave.
As soon as Thalia entered the house, she smelled smoke: "You've been smoking inside?"
"Yeah."
She changed her shoes and came in. The ragdoll cat heard her and came over meowing. Thalia bent down to pet its head: "Didn't we agree you wouldn't smoke inside?"
"Couldn't help it, sorry," William said, glancing at Fallon, who understood and turned on the house's ventilation system.
"Mrs. Brown, wipe your hands."
When the hot towel on the tray was handed over, Thalia took it and wiped her hands: "Get me some water."
Thalia had just collapsed on the sofa when William bent down, lifted her legs, and placed them on his lap.
"What are you doing?" The memory of last time when he dragged her into the bathroom to scrub her hands with a toilet brush was still fresh. She kept thinking that since Raymond had hugged her leg today, this man wouldn't let it go so easily.
"Give me the towel," William reached for the towel in Thalia's hand.
Thalia carefully handed it over.
"Be gentle, you're rubbing my skin off."
"William, are you that petty? It hurts... you're scrubbing my skin off."
"You're murdering your wife!"
William took the towel from Thalia's hand and pressed it hard on her thigh, scrubbing fiercely as if she had shit on her leg that hadn't been washed clean. His dark look was extremely scary, frightening even Fallon standing nearby, who couldn't help but step forward to intervene: "Mrs. Brown..."
William's eyes lifted slightly, and Fallon shuddered in fear, not daring to speak again.
Thalia's screams echoed through the living room as she pressed her hand against William's palm.
"Divorce, divorce, I can't live like this for one more day."
William threw the towel on the coffee table, grabbed Thalia's chin, and pulled her close, his tone sinister: "When another woman hugs my leg, you want to chop it off. I just wipe yours and you can't take it?"
"Thalia, are you that much of a hypocrite?"
"You call that just wiping?"
"Isn't it?" William asked back.
Thalia was so angry her eyes turned red. Looking at William, her chest heaving violently, she glared at him viciously, pushed him away hard, grabbed her bag from the sofa, and limped toward the door.
William's face darkened, his low voice emotionless: "Thalia, if you dare walk out that door today, I guarantee you'll never walk out of it again in your life."
Thalia's steps stopped right there.
Angelina's assessment of him suddenly flashed through her mind: Some people are naturally black-hearted, but that doesn't stop them from being responsible. William is the type of man who, as long as he loves you, if you use a little trick to humor him, will guarantee you endless wealth and glory for life.
The more you fight him, the more temper he shows.
Thinking of this, Thalia got so angry her head hurt. Fighting William at a time like this wouldn't get her anywhere.
So she just threw her bag down, plopped onto the floor, picked up the ragdoll cat wrapped around her legs, and started crying her heart out.
It was quite a dramatic scene.
"I knew that after my dad died, there would never be another man in this world who would love me. How pitiful am I? All the men I meet are scumbags. I should never have dated, never have gotten married, should have just died alone."
"All men are wolves in sheep's clothing. They look decent on the surface but are actually beasts in human form, even bullying women. I'm just stupid, just naive, just blind..."
William: ...
William's face turned ugly from Thalia's indirect accusations: "Thalia, get up."
"I won't get up. You tell me to get up and I should just get up? Don't I have any dignity? You want to bully me so you bully me, you want me to do something so I do it?"
Not only did Thalia not get up, she lay down on the floor holding the cat...
William: ...
Fallon: ... She didn't see anything.
As long as she acted crazy enough, there was nothing that couldn't be solved. Better to drive others crazy than drive herself crazy.
William laughed in anger. Playing tricks now, is she?
"Thalia, get up."
Thalia refused to listen no matter what, lying on the floor with the cat, refusing to get up.
The villa's carpet was expensive, soft and comfortable, cleaned by servants daily. Thalia finally understood why this cat rolled around on the carpet every day - it was comfortable!
William bent down, grabbed the cat by the scruff of its neck and tossed it onto the sofa.
With his other hand, he grabbed Thalia's arm and carried her straight upstairs.
Going up the stairs, she still wouldn't behave.
William was getting a headache from her noise. At the top of the stairs, he stopped and placed Thalia on the railing.
In front of her was William, behind her was a drop of several meters. Thalia immediately behaved.
The moment she shut up, William felt the world had gone quiet...
"Still making noise?"
Thalia shook her head.
"Speak," William said briefly.
"Won't make noise anymore."
"Behaving now?"
Thalia nodded repeatedly: "Behaving now."
Of course - William was ready to drop her, how could she not behave?
Tomorrow she'd have someone install safety nets on all the open areas of the second and third floors.
"Thalia, you really have no shame," William said through gritted teeth while putting Thalia down.
As soon as her feet touched the ground, Thalia felt bold again: "As long as I win, who needs dignity."