Chapter 176 She Started to Look Forward to It
Especially back then, she had publicly announced in front of countless people that the song "Love in Micro" was her reflection after a life-and-death experience, her love for William.
"Love in Micro" was even going head-to-head with Lika's—or rather, Amelia's—"Yesterday Once More."
It could be marketed to the fullest extent.
When the time came, she'd figure out a way to tie herself to Amelia for marketing purposes. This would stir up public sympathy for her, and she could step on Amelia to achieve huge sales.
Plus, this was a song she'd created herself, making it easiest to gain public recognition. Any other project would look like she was completely relying on William. She still needed to market her independent woman image, and this would let her really step on Amelia hard.
This was something no other song, no other project, could achieve.
She wasn't about to let this opportunity slip away!
"William, I know Jeffrey will help Amelia," Isabella said. "But in the end, it still depends on 'Quiana's' decision. We just need to win over 'Quiana.'"
And Quiana...
Isabella smiled contemptuously. She was just a woman who loved money.
Saying she wouldn't sell, wouldn't sell, but in the end, didn't she sell when the price was right?
This was one of the reasons she'd never been worried from the start.
For example—the Adams Group says Quiana wrote the song, Quiana says she didn't write it, that Isabella wrote it, and that this was all a lie Jeffrey made up to help Amelia.
Who would the public believe?
Although artists sign contracts with management companies and many things can be handled by proxy, what if the artist insists on disagreeing?
This involves a lot of complications and could drag on for years.
And Quiana was someone who'd do anything for money. As long as they paid enough, Quiana would cooperate with them.
That way, even if the Adams Group's lawsuit against her eventually went forward much, much later, by then she'd already be married to William.
Of course, she didn't say all this out loud. She just said with reddened eyes, "William, I know I was wrong about the credit issue. I was possessed back then. Just give me one chance, okay? Go talk to Quiana and compensate her."
"If it's something both parties agree to, it won't count as wronging her. If we still can't reach an agreement this time, we'll give up."
William looked at Isabella.
When had she become so... ruthless?
Isabella felt scared under his gaze.
In the end, William just looked away.
He did need to talk to Quiana.
Jeffrey was helping Amelia, so at the right moment, he'd definitely expose the credit issue. He needed to patch up this loophole.
Amelia's cold eyes appeared in his mind.
He needed to win.
...
Jeffrey was skeptical about Amelia's confidence.
After all, kids from these big families all went through family training.
Those without real ability were just told to have babies and be done with it, like his dad... who loved beautiful women and spent all his time making babies.
Capable people wouldn't fail to understand the importance of risk control.
And William...
Even though they all thought William was a bad guy, he'd led the Brown Group's transformation to become the top of Shadow City's three major powers. Over all these years, aside from this one time Isabella screwed him over, he'd been pretty solid otherwise.
So it shouldn't come to that, right?
But before he could doubt much longer, the company called, saying the Brown Group wanted to meet tomorrow and insisted on bringing "Quiana."
Jeffrey was shocked when he heard this.
He immediately passed the message to Amelia.
Amelia was picking up Briar from school at the time.
After getting the call, Amelia just said she understood.
"I have to say, you really know him," Jeffrey muttered on the other end.
Amelia looked at the disconnected call screen.
Know him...
Seven years together, how many times had they depended on each other for their lives—how could she not know him?
It's just that everything might be different from what Jeffrey thought.
William wasn't ignorant of risk control; he just wanted to fix things afterward.
It's just that William was blinded by Isabella.
What he thought was fixing things looked very different to Isabella.
Amelia held Briar's hand as they walked out.
The two chatted about the interesting things Briar had encountered at kindergarten today. At the next corner, they saw a familiar car.
York was standing by the car.
He was smiling and greeting them.
He was holding a cat carrier, and the cat inside meowed.
Briar's eyes immediately lit up.
Amelia found Briar's reaction amusing.
York had tried to win her over with this cat before. She was fine, but Briar really loved this cat.
They walked over and got in the car.
Once inside, York let the cat out. The cat was smart too, immediately rolling over to show its belly for petting.
On the back seat of the nearby car was a super big, super soft stuffed dog toy—no, more like a cushion.
Briar glanced at Amelia. Amelia nodded, and Briar naturally flopped onto it and hugged the cat.
Amelia was impressed.
"I've seen it a few times now. What's its name?" Amelia asked with a smile.
"It's called Whiskers," York replied.
Amelia's smile paused slightly...
What a plain and simple cat name.
The three of them went to dinner together.
Amelia couldn't help but find it funny—they'd said once a week, but now they were meeting almost every day.
"It's different. The once-a-week meeting I have planned," York said, smiling at her. "I'll give you some surprises."
Amelia looked at him and nodded thoughtfully.
She was actually starting to look forward to it a little.
...
While the three of them were enjoying themselves, William and Isabella's meal was tasteless.
Before long, William took Isabella home.
Then he accepted Harold's invitation to Moonlight Bar.
Harold didn't call anyone else tonight either; just the two of them drinking here.
The dance floor below was very noisy, with countless people dancing wildly to the thumping music.
The two of them, however, drank in silence.
Both were troubled.
After drinking, they both left.
This was the first time they'd had zero conversation, just drinking.
On the way home, the designated driver drove while William sat in the back seat. He felt terrible.
It seemed he'd never felt this bad before.
He thought maybe he hadn't drunk enough.
So he had the driver stop, got out, and went to a nearby store to buy more alcohol.
The sound of the shop owners arguing came through—
"Don't think I'm a pushover like that Amelia or whatever! If you dare go find another woman, I'll cut off your cock and see how you manage without your tool!" a shrill female voice came.
"Where's someone like you, not gentle at all," the man shouted back.
"Get lost! What does being gentle get you? This is how I am, what are you going to do about it!"
...
The two were still arguing. William lowered his eyes slightly, looking at the alcohol in his hand.
Finally, he quietly took the alcohol to the self-checkout machine and paid.
Outside the convenience store, a Bentley drove past. William didn't see the three people laughing happily in the Bentley.