Chapter 9 Chapter 9: Searching in Vain
Amelia recounted everything that had happened in the chairman’s office to the person on the other end of the line. That person then said:
"So, it hasn’t been released yet?"
"Not yet!"
Amelia pouted.
"How about I just find some random man for a night and get it over with?"
"No! Are you crazy?" The person on the other end shouted.
Amelia sulked, "Then what am I supposed to do? I and William have been married for almost a year now, and the number of times he and I have been intimate can be counted on one hand. My mother-in-law keeps staring at my belly. If I don’t get pregnant soon, I’ll be kicked out of the Sterling family."
The person on the other end was Mrs. Torres, Amelia’s mother. She sternly replied:
"You can’t just sleep with anyone. If you end up pregnant with Balthazar’s child, even if the Sterling family discards you later, he’ll still protect you. Maybe he’s still upset about you breaking up with him, and that’s why he’s acting like this. For now, you need to build trust with him."
Amelia was still displeased. Back then, she had been pursued by so many men, but now that she was married, she had to beg for someone to sleep with her. The humiliation filled her with rage.
Amelia hailed a taxi and got in. Mrs. Torres then asked:
"You and William don’t have frequent relations, is it because of him?"
Amelia grumbled, "Yes. A month after we got married, things were still passionate, but then he suddenly grew distant. He might already have someone else."
The more Amelia thought about it, the more sense it made. William had abandoned his plain, unattractive wife to marry her, so it was possible he’d leave her for someone else too. Men were like that. She should never have accepted his advances so quickly.
"Don’t overthink it. He only married that girl because Old Mr. Sterling forced him. I can tell he cares about you. You shouldn’t create resentment and give someone else a chance. Be soft, learn to balance things," her mother advised.
Hearing her mother’s words, Amelia calmed down. That’s right—she was both the wife of the Sterling family’s eldest son and the object of obsession for the chairman of a major corporation. There was no reason to feel insecure.
"I know what I need to do now, Mom. Neither of those two men will escape from me. What’s mine will always stay in my grasp."
...
Meanwhile, after leaving the Winning Edge Enterprises tower, Balthazar sped straight to his usual bar. It was daytime, so the place was nearly empty. Seeing him, the madam herself came out to greet him.
"Already looking for some fun, Mr. Winchester? I’ll wake up a few girls to serve you."
Balthazar waved her off and barked, "Bring that woman out here!"
The madam was a bit surprised, but quickly caught on to what Balthazar meant. She rolled her eyes and replied, "You mean Selena, right? Sorry, but she hasn’t come in today."
"Damn it!"
Balthazar lunged forward, grabbing the madam by the collar and shouting, "If you don’t bring her out, I’ll burn this place down!"
The madam’s smile vanished, her expression turned cold. She glanced at the security guards nearby, and they immediately rushed forward, pinning Balthazar to the table.
"You bitch! How dare you?" Balthazar struggled and cursed continuously.
The madam looked down at him from above and said, "Mr. Winchester, our bar values customer satisfaction, but if someone causes trouble, we won’t tolerate it. I hope you’ll understand. It wouldn’t be pleasant if you left here missing an arm or a leg."
Balthazar gritted his teeth, glaring at the madam. He knew she had powerful backing, which was why she dared to act this way. But he couldn’t swallow his anger. His lower half was still in a frustrating state of half-arousal.
"I didn’t come to cause trouble. I came to find that woman. Get her out here!"
The madam tilted her chin, and the guards immediately released Balthazar. She then said, "Selena doesn’t follow a set schedule. She decides her own hours. Before she last saw you, she said she wouldn’t return for a month. If you want to see her, you’ll have to wait."
Bam!
Balthazar slammed his fist onto the table, shaking it.
"Are you messing with me? You’re the madam, and you don’t manage your own girls? Now you’re telling me to wait a month?"
The madam smiled calmly. "Mr. Winchester, you of all people should know how special Selena is. I can’t manage a high-class girl like her the way I would the others."
"Dammit!"
Balthazar was so furious he was panting. He shouldn’t have gotten involved with a woman of such unclear origins. She must have used some underhanded tactic to make him so addicted to having sex with her.
Realizing there was nothing he could do to the madam, Balthazar stormed out of the bar. The madam watched him leave and smirked, saying to the guard beside her:
"It seems I underestimated her. Maybe she knew that any man who had sex with her would be hooked. And here I thought she was foolish."
A calculating gleam flashed in her eyes. If Selena had such a powerful allure, then perhaps Lord Rabanut still hadn’t forgotten her. That meant she could use Selena for some of her plans.
In the days that followed, Balthazar lived in frustration. He tried hiring other women, but halfway through, he would lose interest and send them away. In the end, he had to masturbate just to release a bit of his pent-up desires.
The more it happened, the angrier he became. Every day, he sent people to watch the bar, ready to grab Selena the moment she appeared. But as the month’s end approached, there was still no sign of her.
Just when Balthazar was about to go mad, one of his men called to say they’d seen Selena—not at the bar, but at a nearby bookstore.
That day, Selena had taken Wyatt to buy school supplies for the upcoming year. It was his final year, so time was tight, and she needed to make sure everything was ready for her younger brother.