Scarlet liquor dripped down the lapels of his black suit, staining his white shirt with blooming layers of vivid color. Zoe Lancaster watched helplessly as the ever-meticulous Simon Hawthorne was splashed with alcohol in public. Her heart skipped a beat, and she couldn’t help but look up at him.
The man’s jawline was sharp and flawless. Behind his glasses, his eyes were like a handful of scattered ice and snow, devoid of the slightest trace of emotion. It was impossible to tell if he was pleased or angry.
Upon realizing who he had just thrown his drink at, Mr. Grayson’s legs gave out. He fell to his knees on the spot, his face deathly pale. "Mr... Mr. Hawthorne, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to, I..."
Even though he was the head of Blue Shield Media—a man many treated with the utmost respect—he absolutely could not afford to offend Simon Hawthorne. Even ten thousand of him wouldn’t be enough for Simon to crush!
Director Carter hadn’t expected Simon to appear here either. With an ugly expression, she stepped forward. "Mr. Hawthorne, there was a little mishap here. Lancaster, she..."
Only then did Simon slowly release his hand from the small of Zoe’s back. However, Zoe instantly looked up with hazy eyes, appearing so drunk she could barely stand.
Simon frowned slightly, forced to hook his arm around her waist again to steady her. He stared at the woman’s cheek, which was red from being slapped.
"What happened to your face?"
Simon asked the question calmly, yet it struck heavily upon everyone’s heart.
Zoe froze for a moment, unable to react before her chin was pinched by a pair of long, powerful fingers. The heat radiating from his hand sent a tingling numbness down her spine.
Simon pinched her chin and tilted her face to the side, making the red handprint on Zoe’s cheek all the more visible. He narrowed his eyes. "Did he hit you?"
Director Carter was horrified. She thought, "This is bad. The PR department has caused such a scene. An employee of the Hawthorne Group was sexually harassed and bullied, right in front of Mr. Hawthorne. This isn’t going to end well..."
Zoe hadn’t expected Simon to intervene either. Feigning drunkenness, she let her tears fall and seemingly unintentionally grabbed the hem of his jacket. Looking incredibly pitiful, she whimpered, "It hurts..."
Watching this unfold, Director Carter’s heart pounded with terror. What if Mr. Hawthorne got annoyed and threw Zoe down the stairs? Would she need to offer a groveling apology?
Unwilling to accept his fate, Mr. Grayson hurriedly explained, "Mr. Hawthorne, this young woman was behaving inappropriately! We were just trying to discuss business, but she tried to seduce me with her vixen tricks. I got angry for a moment..."
"Linden." Simon narrowed his eyes and let go of Zoe’s chin, though he didn’t push her away. From beginning to end, he didn’t spare another glance at Mr. Grayson kneeling on the floor. "I can’t tolerate filth. Handle this as it should be handled."
Secretary Linden stepped forward immediately. "Understood."
The manager of The Jade Palace was quickly alerted. Security was called in, and they forcibly hoisted up the bitterly pleading Mr. Grayson, tossing him out like a bag of trash. The commotion caught the attention of quite a few people.
The dignified boss of Aegis Langley, an indisputably prominent figure, had actually been humiliated in public like this! Naturally, such a thing couldn’t be kept under wraps; it would spread throughout their circles in no time. How could Gavin Grayson ever show his face in Kingsford again? Wasn’t this striking him where it hurt the most?
Zoe couldn’t help but feel a strange sense of dissonance. The man she had to humbly curry favor with had been effortlessly crushed like an ant by Simon. And yet, she was his wife. This massive disparity left an inevitable bitterness in her heart.
"Aren’t you going to handle the fallout?" Simon cast a nonchalant glance at Director Carter.
Director Carter tensed up, nodding repeatedly before hurriedly leading her people to chase after Mr. Grayson.
This left Zoe awkwardly leaning against Simon’s chest. Steeling herself, she decided to go all in on her drunken act. Standing on her tiptoes, she threw her arms around Simon’s neck. "You’re a good person. I’ll go with you..."
She didn’t know if it was just an illusion, but she thought she caught a fleeting glimmer of mockery in the man’s eyes.
The next second, she was swept up into his arms. Zoe’s heart beat so fast it threatened to leap out of her chest.
She was carried into Simon’s Maybach. The car doors slammed shut, isolating them from the outside world.
The cramped space was filled with Simon’s scent. Zoe had come here intentionally to wait for him, and now that the arrow was on the bowstring, she had no choice but to let it fly. Her tears fell even harder. "I hate alcohol... They forced me to drink so much..."
Seeing this scene, Secretary Linden tactfully raised the privacy partition.
With no one watching, Zoe felt ready to risk it all. She immediately clung to Simon’s arm, crying with such aggrieved sorrow that she genuinely seemed dead drunk. "Damn this alcohol... It made me lose my most important thing..."
With red-rimmed eyes, she looked at Simon’s unmoving, statuesque face, acting as though she both recognized him and didn’t. Pretending to be heavily intoxicated, she choked out painfully, "I... I’m divorcing you! I don’t deserve to be with you... sniff..."
Simon finally reacted. He raised a hand and gently brushed a stray lock of hair from Zoe’s cheek. His voice was slow and... ruthless. "Alright. We’ll go get the divorce papers tomorrow."
Zoe’s fake crying came to an abrupt halt. "..."
Wait, no! This wasn’t the result she was aiming for!
She had pretended to be drunk and said those things just to trick Simon. If he was the "gigolo" from that night, seeing her in such "pain" and "regret," shouldn’t he just admit it was him? What kind of reaction was this?
She had to admit, Simon’s attitude truly frightened her. She froze in place.
Simon leaned back lazily against his seat, staring at her reddened eyes. "However, since you’re the one bringing up divorce, the compensation money we originally agreed upon is naturally void."
As he spoke, he wiped a teardrop from her cheek. That night, she had been just like this—tear-filled eyes, unwittingly seductive, crying and begging for mercy. Yet, it only made a person’s desire to destroy her surge exponentially. It made him involuntarily want to tear away her mask and watch her cry even more...
Despite these thoughts, his tone remained cruel. "Is that acceptable?"
Even if Zoe had actually been drunk, she would have been scared sober by now. His attitude sent a chilling pierce down her spine. She finally understood that she couldn’t see through him at all, nor should she ever try to probe his depths.
Zoe flinched and released her grip on him, shrinking back into the corner of the seat like a frightened kitten.
Only then did Simon smooth out the sleeve she had wrinkled. "With such little courage, where did you find the nerve to offer yourself to me in my car back then?"
Those words instantly filled Zoe with sheer humiliation.
She couldn’t help but recall their second encounter two years ago. At the time, she was doing her graduation internship and had been forced to attend a business dinner. When her boss found out she could play the violin, he made her perform in public.
Because of her outstanding beauty and excellent violin skills, several clients had taken a liking to her and deliberately made things difficult. Furthermore, she had fallen out with her father, Martin Lancaster, and was desperate for protection. With nowhere to turn for help at the dinner, she bumped into Simon. Practically casting aside her dignity, she reached out her hand to him. "Let me go with you, please?"
Simon had looked down at her as if inspecting a piece of merchandise, asking coldly in return, "What makes you think you’re worthy?"
If she didn’t cling to him, she would inevitably be devoured by the other predators until not even the scraps of her bones were left. At that moment, she spoke the most embarrassing words of her entire life: "Why don’t you test me and find out, Mr. Hawthorne?"
She got into Simon’s car, just as she wished. As for the result... it was obvious.
Simon was not a man driven by lust. He had merely saved her in passing. He didn’t think much of her at all, simply leaving her with a single piece of advice: "It’s hard to put clothes back on once you’ve taken them off yourself. Think carefully."