Callie felt nervous under his gaze. “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. I woke up and didn’t see anyone beside me, so I came looking for you.”
The woman, just awake, wore a nightgown and spoke in a husky voice, which made it easy for others to let their guard down.
Nelson wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her up, kissing her on the face. Callie turned away, still shaken. “Don’t kiss me.”
Callie wasn’t sure if her deliberate coquettishness was to cover up her inner panic.
Nelson found her behavior amusing and came out of his earlier cold demeanor, now looking both charming and seductive. “Hmm, I’ll sleep with you.”
Callie rarely acted coquettish, but when she did soften up, Nelson found it hard to resist.
Just as Callie couldn’t handle Nelson’s temper when he got angry.
Nelson placed her on the bed, covered her with a blanket, and lay down beside her, clearly not planning to leave.
He looked at her trembling eyelashes and spoke first. “How much did you hear of my conversation earlier?”
How much… not much, but enough for Callie to glimpse his real world-a world where decisions were swift and final, with no room for negotiation. It wasn’t the business world where there were always ways to maneuver; it was a world of black and white, governed by its own set of rules.
The one who set these rules was Nelson.
Callie didn’t hide anything. Her eyes lowered. “I heard you say you haven’t taken action in a long time.”
Nelson was pleased. She was always smart, knowing what to say and what not to say.
He left only one wall lamp on, then held the woman in his arms and began to speak slowly. “Do you know what I’m like when I really take action?”
It was a threat of sorts. Callie shook her head.
To gather so many excellent people to follow him wasn’t something that could be achieved by brute force alone.
What Nelson was like when he took action was far more than just being ruthless.
Nelson spoke unhurriedly. “You know the Oconnor family, right?”
Of course she knew; she had even visited them.
“The Oconnor family controls both land and water businesses. Such a large family can’t function without someone at the helm.”
Callie had never understood these things.
The Oconnor family dealt in life-and-death matters, with countless people signing death contracts to serve them. They were well-trained and extremely secretive.
Now, Nelson had already taken over half of the Oconnor family.
He said he had dealt with many unreasonable people in business but had only encountered one incident.
The other party reneged at the last moment, thinking Nelson too young to enforce the rules. Caught off guard, Nelson personally took action, drawing blood with a knife. His hand was nailed to the table, skin torn to the bone, unable to move-likely crippled.
Nelson’s violent retaliation was ruthless, like someone who walked the earth with no desires or needs, striking with sharp precision.
Since that incident, Nelson hadn’t met anyone else who dared to cross him.
After hearing this, the woman in his arms trembled slightly.
Callie didn’t like seeing the inhuman side of Nelson. Although she had long known he was extraordinary, she had always avoided that part of him, finding it unfamiliar.
Nelson coaxed Callie as if soothing a child. “Then don’t listen anymore, Callie. Don’t try to enter such a world. Don’t overstep your bounds. Stay away from Jaquan. As long as you’re my wife for one day, I can protect you for one day.”
He had the ability to do so.
Callie believed him.
But he could also protect many women; she wasn’t special. The only difference was her title as Mrs. Oconnor.
In the end, Callie just nodded without arguing. “I’m tired.”