Stella sneered, “You think too highly of him.” “I beg you, please! If you leave now, I’ll die a terrible death…” Stella remained unmoved and flung her hand away. “That has nothing to do with me.” This was the woman who had mercilessly tossed her under the bus previously. Why should she respond to her pleas? She was about to leave when a male voice said, distinctively displeased. “Why aren’t you accompanying Mr. Ford? Where are you going!” Stella ignored him and hastened her footsteps. The man’s face changed as he stood up with the intention of chasing after her. However, something suddenly came to mind and he threw a glance at Weston. Weston’s tall figure was shrouded in the darkness. His luxurious dress pants wrapped around his long legs, and the subtle light from a lit cigarette flickered at his fingers. He looked so out of place here, yet at the same time, he appeared to be lord over this place. Everyone was under his reign. Seeing Weston stay silent, the man cha
She spoke very softly, but it drew the attention of everyone in the room. The secretary looked over and saw hope amidst her desperation, “Thank you, thank you…” Stella ignored her. She was still struggling within herself. She didn’t want to poke her nose into the business of others, but a thought came to mind when she stepped foot out of the room. Weston was doing this on purpose. He was deliberately putting up a front before her. A man like him had no need to get his hands dirty or even verbalize his intentions. A simple look was enough and everyone would fight to do his bidding. These people were familiar with the inner workings of the marketplace and knew their way around people. They wouldn’t go to such extremes to make things ugly. Their sudden impudence was surely associated with Weston himself. Even if she didn’t make a move now, there would be more trouble waiting for her down the road. The mere thought of having to deal with more made her tired. The men s
“Whatever for? The session started so long ago, what’s the point of her going right now? To look for trouble?” The person on the other end didn’t even dare to breathe. The secretary hung up, her head throbbing. She eventually decided to contact her own boss. Before she opened her mouth to speak, the man on the other side beat her to it, “Why isn’t the tutor here yet?” The secretary apologized hurriedly, “I’m very sorry, Mr. Smith, the assistant mixed up the ladies and mistook the tutor for Lily. She’s still at Lowe Garden…” “What!” The man leaped to his feet from the couch. Before he could put out the cigarette in his mouth, he yelled, “How did you two screw something so trivial up?” “Mr. Smith, please don’t worry. That tutor…” “Who cares about that tutor! Just tell me: Did you offend anyone? Especially Mr. Ford?” Upon her denial, Mr. Smith heaved a sigh of relief. “Whatever. Just find another tutor for me.” Dance tutors were a dime a dozen. If, however, he was to off
While she was in a daze, the man seated beside her had been observing her all the while. She was dressed formally for an interview and had light make-up on which made her look more spirited and brighter. Because it was an interview in which she did not need to showcase her dance skills, she wore a pair of high heels, which was extremely rare for her. Stella seldom wore high-heels, and she wasn’t very familiar with them. Her discomfort with it was clear when she walked, yet she wore it with a unique flair. “A penny for your thoughts?” Weston shifted his position and lounged leisurely on the couch. Stella shook her head. “Nothing much.” “You want to join their games?” Stella heard the threat in his voice and lifted her head, looking at him in frustration. She held herself back and forced out the words a moment later, “Mr. Ford, how can I help you?” Weston furrowed his brows, disliking how she addressed him. He lifted her chin and said, “Why don’t you call me Weston?”
Weston took a sip from the wine glass Stella held to his lips. However, Stella’s hand shook and some of the wine spilled out, staining Weston’s pristine white shirt. Instead of making the shirt look dirty, the dark red stains added a dangerous, menacing aura to Weston. He was half-shrouded in darkness, and the other half under dim light. He looked just like half an angel and half a devil. Stella immediately put the glass down. “I’m sorry about this.” She pulled out some napkins, intending to clean up the mess. Her hand suddenly paused in mid-air as she hesitated, “Mr. Ford, perhaps you should do it yourself.” Weston kept silent and stared right into her eyes. He reached out, grabbed her wrist, and maneuvered her hand to press the napkin onto his shirt. The positions of the stains were slightly awkward. Stella pulled her hand back instinctively, but Weston held her hand in place forcefully. He led her hand in wiping his shirt, stroke by stroke. He fixed his dark, b
The cigarette went out with a sharp sizzle. Its light was extinguished in an instant. Stella thought she must have heard wrongly. The noise bustled around her with no signs of abating. It was almost as if the chaos on the other side of the private room could not touch the space that Weston and she were in. There were only the two of them there. The silence was deafening. Weston waited for a long while but did not receive any response from Stella. He turned to look at her. “Come with me. State your price.” Stella shut her eyes. She lowered her head, no longer able to hold back her laughter. A cryptic smile appeared on her face, and she laughed so hard that her shoulders shook. Weston furrowed his brows as he saw her laughing uncontrollably. He reached out and lifted her chin. “I asked you to state your price.” Stella collected herself and looked at him expressionlessly. “I want my child back. Can you give that to me?” At that moment, she felt a sharp, piercing pa
That would have been way better than her state right now, compared to the searing pain that she felt each time she thought of her lost child… Falling asleep was a struggle every night, and when she eventually managed to fall asleep, she would awake in tears each time. What about him? Stella looked coldly at him. “The thing I regret the most in my life is…Mm!” Before she could complete her sentence, her lips were sealed by another. She could only swallow the words that were on the tip of her tongue, while what she had spoken were lost between their lips. Weston kissed her hard, his arms circling her waist like bands of steel. He pressed her down on the couch and exerted more pressure with every passing second. Her words were the final straw that broke the camel’s back. He had reached the limits of what he could bear, and all he could do now was to let his overwhelming emotions drown himself out. He wanted to kiss her… He wanted to take her… He wanted to stop her da
At that moment, Stella stopped in her tracks out of fear. But it was just for that moment. She continued running ahead without hesitation. Feeling a slight, sharp pain at the corner of her mouth, she wiped hard at it, wanting to erase all memories and feelings that she felt there earlier. All she could see in her mind was how Weston had gone crazy just now. She shut her eyes, feeling her heart trembling inside her chest. An instinctive sense of disgust overwhelmed her as she bent over at the waist and stopped. She held the wall next to her and couldn’t help but retch. Her knees went weak, and she had to hold onto the wall to stop herself from collapsing on the floor. After a moment’s rest, she immediately stood up, worried that the people in the private room would chase after her. Stella looked up and saw a person appearing unexpectedly before her eyes. She instinctively took a step back as shock registered on her face. “You…” “Are you alright?” Seeing that it reall
Stella had rarely ever woken up before him.He had always been terrifyingly strong, but their lovemaking last night must have consumed a lot of his energy, leaving him so tired that he was still sound asleep.She stared at him and suddenly felt like doing something naughty. She pinched his nose and held her fingers there, trying to suffocate him. Unsurprisingly, he soon knitted his handsome brows and quickly woke up.He was surprised to see her mesmerizing eyes as soon as he woke up, which made him pause. He then took her hand into his and kissed it again and again.“Are you okay?” he asked with concern, remembering how wildly he ravaged her last night.She had only been willing to be intimate with him because she was under the influence of a drug, yet he had taken advantage of her and had his way with her over and over again last night.Stella did not speak. Seeing her like that made his expressions turn a little colder. He fell silent for a long time before he got up and sl
The moment Stella saw him, she flew into his arms and clambered onto his body. She kissed him again and again, trying to search for his breath so she could explore his body even deeper. All she wanted was to let him extinguish the fire burning inside her.Half an hour had passed, and the effect of the drug on her body was its strongest now.Weston swallowed his saliva. Without any hesitation, he pinned her against the bathroom mirror and kissed her vehemently on her face, her shoulders, then her neck.Stella could not stop herself from letting out loud moans. The sounds she produced only drove Weston wilder. Even the corners of his eyes began to turn red now.Luckily, there was still a thread of reason in his mind. He pushed her away and, while panting heavily, asked her, “Who am I, Stella?”But Stella’s mind was occupied with her primal urges. She ignored his question and grabbed his shirt collar, saying, “Let’s do it…” The sight of her filled Weston with a desire to just give
Weston paused, then simply replied, “Okay.”When he saw her changing into a pair of high heels, he followed her around and asked, “Where are you going?”“Oh, to a private concert.”Then she added, “If you’re going to spend the night here tonight, then please take care of Elias and Emma. But if you have to leave, I’ll ask Roger to come over instead.”“Don’t worry,” he said. “Just go out and enjoy yourself. I’ll be at home and take good care of the kids.”Stella paused suddenly, feeling inexplicably weird about what Weston had just said. It sounded like she was forcing him to stay at home and take care of the kids while she went out to have fun without a care in the world. She turned around to look at Weston, feeling like he was acting like a poor neglected housewife.She shook her head and tried to shake this terrifying thought out of her mind.When they arrived at the concert, Hayden offered his arm to her like a gentleman. They then walked into the private concert together, w
Stella’s words rendered Weston speechless. She was right. He had been the one to agree to let Stella date other people, so he must seem like a fool saying all those things to her.He withdrew his hands and forced himself to calm down a little. “I have no intention to stand in your way,” he told Stella. “I was only worried about Elias and Emma. Since they’re also here, I think you need to take their feelings into consideration.”The children could sense the strained atmosphere between the adults, so they just waited patiently on the couch with Roger, occasionally poking their heads out to look at their parents.Seeing his kids like that, Weston slowly added, “I’m only here to see the kids, so both of you can go ahead with your date.”Stella said nothing and just took Hayden’s hand and left.When they got downstairs, Hayden glanced at her and asked, “Are you sure you want to just leave him like that?”“I don’t know,” Stella massaged the point between her brows. “I’m not sure wh
Hayden Quirk arrived half an hour earlier than Stella did on their first date.“You’re much earlier than I expected,” he joked as Stella walked in.Stella was actually on time, but she still felt a little guilty when she saw him already waiting for her when she arrived.“The traffic is terrible today,” she said.“Don’t worry about it,” Hayden said, handing her the menu. “Mr. Ford expected me to wait for you for at least an hour.”“I seriously don’t know what you guys are up to,” she grumbled, exasperated, “but I hope it will at least be over soon. Just don’t drag it out and cause me any trouble.”She ordered a few dishes, then handed the menu back to him. Hayden took it from her, ordered a few more signature dishes that the restaurant was popular for, then looked at Stella with a faint smile.“Did you think this is all just a joke?” he asked.“What else could it be?”“I am serious about this,” he told her, his voice suddenly turning grave. “Since even Mr. Ford agreed that we s
Weston raised his eyebrows at Ben’s words. “But he’s divorced. He has an ex-wife.”“What’s wrong with having an ex-wife?”Ben found Weston’s comment strange. “This man has good qualities. Upon investigation, he has a very good personality too. He was an active member during college. He also has an amazingly beautiful resume. It’s normal that a man like him has been married before… Besides, hasn’t Ms. Sealey been married before herself? She even has two children.”Weston’s expression turned cold at once. “Are you discriminating against her?”“I’m not.”Weston said, “Or do you think she can only find a divorced man for her second marriage?”Ben panicked. “I wouldn’t dare!”With Weston’s ridiculous amount of nitpicking, they could find no one that would match Stella.Hayden sat beside and quietly reviewed Weston’s latest psychological health report. As he turned the page, he suddenly said, “I’m actually a little interested in Ms. Sealey.”Hayden laughed a little and turned to Wes
Stella opened her eyes and shot Weston a cold look. Then, she turned her head the other way.Weston did not touch her again. He knew she was probably angry with him, so he stayed silent.A few moments later, he reminded her, “Don’t be angry. That man is unreliable.”Stella propped her chin in her palm. “And what does that have to do with you?”Weston pursed his lips, setting his jaw in a tight line. He said, “I’ve promised to stop pestering you. It’ll be a promise. I’m fine with seeing you with another man, but at least find someone who makes me feel at ease.”“Why do I need your approval when I’m just looking for a date?” Stella found his words funny. “You’re just my ex-husband. Don’t you think you care too much?”Weston rubbed his brow, and his voice suddenly went cold. “If you don’t want me to keep pestering you like I just did, maybe you should listen to me.”Stella questioned, “Are you threatening me?”“No. I’m suggesting.”Stella was lost for words. Then, she suddenly
Stella froze for a moment when she heard the voice. When she turned around, she saw that Weston had appeared behind her at some point.Weston stared at the man behind Stella with a cold gaze and an icy aura around him. Weston had always emitted a strong aura around him. Anyone who saw him would immediately be terrified because of his intimidating aura.The man froze for a moment at Weston’s sudden appearance. He took a step back and quickly steadied himself before greeting Weston, “Mr. Ford.”He still had the same calm and gentle look. “I’m sending Miss Cicily back.”“I know. Don’t ever show up in front of her again,” Weston told him. “You don’t have to send her back. Stay away from her.”It would be a little inappropriate for the man to act a fool at Weston’s straightforwardness, so he tugged at his collar and asked Weston with a polite smile, “Mr. Ford, you should give me a reason, shouldn’t you? I’m having a good time with Miss Cicily.”“You’re the one who thinks she’s having
Stella smiled. It seemed like he had come prepared.Stella enjoyed chatting with the man. He was sincere and introduced himself properly as soon as they started chatting.The man was also a pianist and came from a scholarly family. Although not super wealthy, he was doing considerably well in the middle class. Stella would not need to worry about the quality of life with him, but that was about it. She certainly could not live a luxurious life.Stella had a good impression of him. She also talked to him a little more about piano music.Stella twirled her hair and smiled. She told him with a nice voice, “I’m sure Roger has already told you about my situation.”“I know.”The man looked at her gently and set the coffee in front of her. He said to her, “I’m very interested in you. I think we’re very suitable for each other. Our living standards nowadays have improved quite a bit. Not many look for a partner purely because of material qualities. People with emotional needs will search