Chapter 14

Fia didn’t want to move or speak.

As soon as Conrad entered the bedroom, she could smell the scent of Jo Malone’s Cardamom Fragrance from him carried by the cold air outside. It was the same scent that Esme had.

While her mom and grandmother were both at home, he was busy dating his childhood friend. He had already forgotten that he had a family.

“Fia Lawson!”

Conrad pulled the blanket off her and spoke in an angry tone. “I’m talking to you!”

Yet, she still didn’t budge.

He grabbed her arm and pulled her up, looking at her coldly.

“Are you deaf?!”

Fia blinked and looked at him with similar cold eyes.

This was the man that she had fallen in love with before she even knew what love was.

Her lips curled to form a sneer. “You stink.”

Conrad frowned and lowered his eyes to look at himself. He had already showered and changed after he got out of the pond. He couldn’t stink.

He tightened his grip on her arm and said, “Enough with your tantrum. We need to talk.”

“You stink.”

She repeated it again and gave him a look of disdain.

The look made Conrad suspect that something was wrong with his nose.

Fia knew that he didn’t understand what she was talking about and decided not to hide it anymore. She grabbed his collar and said, “Esme’s perfume is all over you and it stinks!”

With that, she let go of his collar and even blew her hand.

Conrad also let go of her arm at the same time but said nothing.

During the entire journey when he sent her home, she kept on crying in the car. He had to stop the car to console her, and she was in his arms.

Other than that, he did nothing else.

“Conrad, can you at least remove the scent from you before you come home. Also, we haven’t divorced yet, so please pay attention to how you act!”

When the thought of Esme being held by Conrad crossed her mind, she felt as if a knife was cutting her heart to let it bleed.

She crawled back into bed and pulled the blanket to cover herself.

“Go sleep in another room.”

Conrad found no words.

He was supposed to be the one questioning her, but she was the one angry at him instead?

When what happened to Esme crossed his mind, he calmed himself down and said, “I hope you can persuade Grandmother Thea to not marry Esme to someone else.”

“That has nothing to do with me,” Fia said as she closed her eyes. She didn’t realize that her grandma took such quick actions.

While she was quite moved at the time, she didn’t agree with it. This was all her grandma’s own plan.

“She loves you. That was the only reason why she’s treating Esme like this. You need to be the one to settle this!” Conrad couldn’t help but say it louder.

“Conrad Maxwell!” Fia roared as she suddenly sat up and pointed at her own face. “Did you question your mother when she hit me and my mom?! Not only did you not apologize on her behalf for what happened this afternoon, but you’re also screaming at me because of that woman! Do you even have a heart?!”

When Conrad saw the red swelling on her face, his temper also quickly rose.

“My mom fell into the pond! If I didn’t come back in time, who knows what would have happened! I’m already sparing you some dignity with how I dealt with this! Don’t you dare make me go through this with you again!”

“Fine, let’s go through this again!” Fia suddenly calmed down. “You can sue me, and you can call the cops on me! Let’s see if the cops will punish me for what happened!”

She didn’t intentionally hurt anyone. She had been simply fighting back after his mother humiliated and beat her. She never expected the railing to suddenly break. Everything that happened was an accident and her conscience was clear!

“Don’t think that I won’t dare!”

“You’re rich and influential. What is there you won’t do?!” Fia said as she finally lost all her patience and got out of bed barefoot.

If he wouldn’t leave, then she would!

“Where are you going?” Conrad grabbed her wrist.

“I don’t want to stay in the same room with you!” Fia pulled her hand away, but she couldn’t free herself.

As the two of them pulled each other, she lost balance and fell right into Conrad’s arms.

Conrad could smell the unique scent on her and remembered how tempting she looked every time she was in his arms.

He couldn’t help but gulp, and he said, “Stop it. Your mom and grandmother are both here. They won’t be happy if they know we are separated even when we sleep.”

“We’re going to get a divorce eventually. There’s no need to put on a show anymore!”

Conrad quickly had his arm around Fia’s waist and pressed her into his chest.

As the grown man and woman clung tightly to each other, either’s breathing began to lose control as they could hear each other’s heartbeat.

It was a sign of desire.

“Fi, I apologize about what happened on behalf of my mom.” The man’s tone suddenly lowered. There was even a hint of gentleness in it.

Fia was taken aback when he called her Fi! During their marriage for the past three years, he would only call her Fi when he wanted it.

As she smelled Esme’s perfume on him and felt his hand on her waist, she could suddenly feel her stomach protesting.

“Ack!”

She instinctively retched.

Conrad was offended by her reaction and said, “You and I are still husband and wife. You have the obligation to help me meet my biological needs!”

With that, he grabbed Fia by the neck to force her to lift her chin and he kissed her.

When the wood fragrance and Esme’s cardamom perfume scent mixed, it made Fia feel even worse. She hit his face and continued to retch.

No matter how much he had wanted it just now, he had cooled down after all the retching.

“What is this?!”

Fia said coldly to him as she pressed her hand on her stomach and said, “If you want it, go look for Esme. Don’t disgust me!”

Conrad angrily threw her on the bed and said, “Fine. You made me.”

He turned around and left the master bedroom, slamming the door behind him with a deafening bang.

Fia continued to lie on the bed as her tears rolled down.

She yelled out in sorrow in her own mind. ‘Are all men this cheap? Even when he has someone else in his heart, even if he was so close with her just a moment ago, he could desire something from another woman that he doesn’t even like a second later.’

Not long after, there was a knock at the door.

Mrs. Taylor’s concerned voice came through the door. “Are you alright, madam?”

She was worried that Conrad would start a fight with Fia because Beryl fell into the pond. While she had already explained what happened to Conrad, she got worried when she saw him with a dark expression on his face when he left.

“Madam?”

“I’m fine,” Fia answered her.

Mrs. Taylor hesitated for a moment before consoling her, “Madam, I know that you feel victimized.

However, if you can’t bear leaving Mr. Maxwell, just be patient for now. If you made him angry and he left, it would only give advantage to the other woman.”

Fia didn’t need to guess who the “other woman” was. She was referring to Esme.

But regardless of whether she made him angry or not, he had already decided to return to Esme’s side.

What was the difference?

Her meekness couldn’t make him love her.

Mrs. Taylor waited for a few seconds. When she didn’t hear Fia’s response, she sighed and said, “Rest well, madam. I’ll talk with Mr. Maxwell.”

Fia wiped away the tears with the back of her hand as she murmured to herself, “What’s there to cry about! I can’t cry like this just because I was touched by a few words from his employee when he himself hurt me the most!”

From now on, other than her mother and grandma, she would never be so meek toward anyone else ever again!