"Edward Stephens, I @#$%& you!"
Daisy Ginger curses without even pausing to catch her breath.
"Mr. Edward, dinner is at the door. Remember to eat."
Edward Stephens paused, looking at Daisy Ginger under the covers, her eyes red and looking quite enticing. After weighing it for a moment, he chose to have dinner.
He released his grip, and Daisy immediately retreated into the blanket, glaring at him angrily.
Edward opened the door and brought the lunchbox inside from the doorway.
There’s no decent restaurant around here, so the food was bought fresh by his people directly from the market and cooked just now.
He placed the lunchbox on the small table and nodded his chin towards Daisy on the bed, "Put on some clothes and come down to eat."
Daisy was furious and shouted angrily, "I’m not eating!"
As if, bastard, she’d get him sooner or later!
He doesn’t talk properly, only knows how to lay his hands on her!
Does being strong make him almighty?
Hearing this, the man turned around, crossed his arms, and looked down at her with a half-smile.
"I see you don’t want to leave tomorrow."
His tone was threatening.
"Then I won’t," she spat back, "I don’t want to go back with you anyway."
Why go back? To continue being bullied by him?
The man’s eyes narrowed, his smile fading. He walked towards her, looking like he was going to deal with her.
Daisy shrank back into the covers, her neck stiff, her face cold, ready to meet her fate.
The man yanked off her blanket and pulled her out, forcibly dressing her.
Once she was dressed, he held her, looking at her red eyes and aggrieved expression.
"Why do you have to be mad at me?" he sighed gently, coaxing her, "We have a journey to make tomorrow. If you don’t eat now, you might not have time for breakfast in the morning. Are you planning to starve for two days?"
Daisy kept a cold face, "None of your concern." ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝⁂𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖⁂𝕟𝕖𝕥
He kissed her cheek and apologized, "Okay, I was wrong earlier. I shouldn’t have treated you that way. It won’t happen again."
Daisy didn’t believe him, glaring, "Liar."
Edward Stephens said, "It really won’t. I promise."
"It won’t, it won’t," he said, growing more perfunctory, carrying her to the dining table, "If you don’t eat, it’ll get cold. Eat first, then curse me out when you’re full, hmm?"
Daisy was already starving, barely managing to argue with him out of sheer stubbornness. With the chopsticks already in her hand courtesy of Edward, she finally surrendered, sitting on the chair with her meal, ignoring him.
The food was freshly cooked, perfectly matching Daisy’s taste. She gobbled down half a bowl of rice, finally regaining some strength. Seeing Edward sitting opposite, peeling shrimp for her, she hesitated for a while, then looked up at him.
The man noticed her gaze, looked over lazily, "Hmm?"
"I don’t want to go to the United States," she said in a muffled voice, "Can’t I just stay in Banyan City?"
The leisurely expression on the man’s face gradually faded, the pitch-black pupils reflecting a cold hue in the dim blue light.
He put the shrimp into her bowl and said to Daisy, "I’ve already promised my brother to go back and manage the family business, settling down in Chicago. Staying in Banyan City isn’t good for the development of our relationship."
To hell with their relationship.
This damn liar, he speaks about a marriage scam so confidently.
Daisy, holding back her anger, said, "But I need to manage my company too!"
The man leaned back in his chair, looking at her face, "I can dispatch a senior manager to help with your company."
"No," Daisy flatly refused, "What’s mine has nothing to do with you."
It’s the only thing Alice Lesser left her, no matter what—it’s not for an outsider to manage.
Even if it goes bankrupt, it’s still hers.
Edward peeled another shrimp, lowered his eyes, and said slowly, "Daisy, in this matter, you don’t have a choice."
Daisy immediately clenched her hands.
"On every other matter, I can compromise, but this one—I can’t satisfy you."
"If you come with me to Chicago, your mother’s company, the inheritance and management rights will still be yours, fifty percent of the shares will be left for you. If you don’t comply, ’Alice Lesser Group’ will no longer exist in this world."
He finally laid his biggest card on the table before her.
Daisy took a deep breath. Even though she had long suspected who was behind acquiring the Gingers’ shares, and who was causing trouble for them, hearing Edward say it so calmly still made her head buzz from the anger.
She gripped her chopsticks tight, shaking all over, looking at him with angry disbelief.
"Edward Stephens, how could you do this to me?" She was trembling with rage, her teeth grinding, "I saved your life! And you want to bankrupt my company! Are you even human?!"
Edward said, "It’s not bankrupt. As long as you come back with me to Chicago, I’ll inject capital into the Gingers, and by then, its development will certainly be better than under your current management."
Daisy sneered, "So you can send your people to manage it for me? Why don’t you just take it outright?!"
Edward slowly removed the disposable gloves from his hands, stood up from the chair, and opened the window.
The evening breeze drifted in, cooler than the air in the city, dissipating the oppressive atmosphere.
"Daisy, you’re a smart person. Feelings are like doing business; only when balanced can both sides win." He walked over, stroked her pale face, looking down at her, "Of course, I won’t let your company go bankrupt. If that happens, you and I would be at a stalemate. How else would I get you to come with me?"
Daisy raised her hand and fiercely pushed him away, standing up from her chair, taking a step back, eyeing the man who was candidly revealing his feelings with suspicion.
"You’re only thinking about yourself. You never consider whether you’re being fair to me." Edward looked at her and laughed lightly, "You never wondered why I lied to you, why I don’t want a divorce, and what price I paid to find you."
"You never think because you don’t love me at all."
"In our relationship, you’re more rational than I am. You’re able to detach completely after knowing everything over a year, but I can’t."
He chuckled softly, seemingly mocking her, yet as if also mocking himself.
"You never considered my feelings, so why should I consider yours?" He looked up, the humor gone from his dark eyes, a cold and gloomy look, "You have a choice: either let ’Alice Lesser Group’ go bankrupt today, vanish from this world completely, or come back with me to Chicago, and we’ll manage it together."