Chapter 271 Playing with My Life?
"I don't dare. Go find someone else!" Layla immediately pushed her away.
Was she kidding? Taking her to that kind of place - if William found out, wouldn't he kill her?
William might seem generous on the surface, but he was actually super petty. He'd kill people without a second thought.
She'd already been warned many times, both directly and indirectly. If she still didn't get the hint, death would be waiting for her.
She might even lose her position as manager and get replaced.
For the sake of being able to feed herself in the future, she would absolutely never do such a thing.
Thalia grabbed her sleeve and acted cute. "Please, take me there to broaden my horizons and see the world! Look how pitiful I am - I've lived this long and haven't seen anything. I'm counting on people like you to help me expand my knowledge. If you guys don't take me to see the world, I'm going to go off the rails!"
Layla freed her sleeve and mercilessly exposed her. "This isn't going off the rails - you want to cheat! You believe me or not, if you dare cheat, Mr. Brown could kill every man in the world. Do me a favor, will you?"
"We're all working people here, trying to make a living. Do a good deed - at least don't cut off our path to fun. Look, if I go, I can come back and tell you interesting stories. But if the whole industry gets turned upside down by a scheming man like Mr. Brown, forget seeing the world - you won't even have stories to hear."
William had connections everywhere. This kind of activity wasn't legitimate to begin with. He could just move a finger and shut them down. Then there'd be no chance to have fun anymore.
Thalia added, "I don't care, I'm very interested."
"I don't care either," Layla shot back. "My life is important. Besides, it's a party for divorced women. What are you going there for? You'll get kicked out."
"I'm interested!"
"You're risking my life for your interest! If Mr. Brown finds out, I'll die, and it'll be ugly."
"You're just afraid William will find out, right? Are you scared or what? Just don't let him know!"
Layla laughed in exasperation at Thalia. "You're not scared? Come on, call Mr. Brown and report it. If he agrees, I'll take you."
Thalia was speechless.
No freedom anymore, huh?
Can't have fun anymore, huh?
"I won't mess around," Thalia continued to promise.
Layla refused. "Don't promise me - promise Mr. Brown."
"Can you bear to see me lose all the light in my eyes after getting married? If this continues, I'm going to wither away. I'm only in my early twenties! I still have so much time to have fun, so much good life I haven't enjoyed yet. I haven't even become Best Actress yet! There are so many women in the entertainment industry who are still like girls at thirty, and look at me - I'm about to wither away. I'm so miserable! I just want to go out and see the world - is that wrong? I work myself to death serving my sugar daddy to make some money and I don't even have a place to have fun? Then what's the point of making money? Don't get me any more commercials, don't get me any more TV dramas. Just let me be a waste. After all, I make so much money with nowhere to spend it - it's pretty meaningless. Life is just like this."
"Let me wither away!"
Layla was speechless.
In the car, Thalia was touching up her makeup with a powder puff.
Layla watched her excited appearance and felt a headache coming on, rubbing her temples. "If Mr. Brown finds out, you'll protect me, right?"
"Of course I'll protect you! Besides, you're my person, not his. How dare he do anything to you? Your boss is me, not him."
"I hope you'll be this tough when you get caught."
Thalia tossed the powder puff into her bag and turned to look at Layla, who was driving. "How did you guys even discover this wonderful place?"
Layla glanced at her without changing expression. "When you're divorced and worth millions, you'll naturally find out."
The car drove all the way to a small villa. The backyard was brightly lit, with male escorts wearing various role-play costumes, carrying trays and moving between the wealthy women - bunny outfits, kitten costumes... all kinds of looks, showing as much skin as possible. They couldn't be more sexy.
"Such a great place and you didn't bring me - isn't that too much? Don't you consider me a friend?" Thalia excitedly tried to open the door and get out, but Layla grabbed her. "Mask."
"If anyone asks, say you have allergies. Don't show your face. If the media catches you, you're done for."
"Don't worry." She wasn't that stupid. When it came to having fun, who would be dumb enough to let the media know?
Meanwhile, at the Brown family dinner table, Vaughn asked William why Thalia hadn't come.
His answer seemed somewhat unexpected.
He said, "Thalia is Thalia, I am me. Before we became husband and wife, we were independent individuals. Just because we're married doesn't mean I have to accommodate her schedule all the time, or she has to accommodate mine. She has her career and her own friends, and so do I. So I never demand she do anything in these trivial matters. Besides, filming is exhausting. When she finally gets to rest for a while, I should respect how she arranges her time."
Harper hadn't expected William to explain it this way. After a pause, he said, "But between husband and wife, you should be one. Of course we're pleased that you respect and understand your wife, but frankly speaking, if two people keep things too separate, it's not good for developing feelings."
How many loving couples had become strangers? He never believed that a marriage could be maintained by pure emotion alone.
What he needed was loyalty.
Faced with Harper's view, William didn't even argue, but just nodded and said he understood.
Agreeing was one thing, doing it was another.
Before leaving, Harper packed some soup in a thermos for William to take back to Thalia.
Amara, thinking she had the next day off, went with William to Mistwood Hill.
"Where's Thalia?" William asked.
"Mrs. Brown hasn't come back yet."
William glanced at the grandfather clock in the living room, his brow furrowing slightly with displeasure.
He handed the thermos to Fallon, took out his phone and called Thalia. No one answered.
"Finn."
"Mr. Brown."
"Find out where Thalia is."
If men had intuition, William's feeling right now would definitely be strange. He had a feeling Thalia was up to no good.
Amara found William's behavior odd. "Not coming back is pretty normal, right? She's not a child. Adults have some nightlife, more or less."
Hearing this, Finn gave Amara a deep look, thinking, 'Still too young, fooled by Mrs. Brown's innocent female celebrity appearance.'