Ada was rolling around in the garden but perked up as they walked in, darting over to rub against Conrad’s leg, and trying to pounce on Lillian. Conrad grabbed the dog and opened its mouth, inspecting it closely.
“The vet said you’ve got cavities, so you’d better watch what you eat. If you ruin my couch again, I’ll turn you into a fur coat,” he warned.
Ada growled in protest, but Conrad let it go.
Lillian half-expected he’d brought her back just to make love, but instead, he just went upstairs, took a quick shower, and pulled her into bed with him.
“I know you really want to have sex with me,” he mumbled. “Let’s have sex tomorrow morning.”
Lillian was baffled. Where did he even get that idea?
“It’s written all over your face,” he said, tossing off his robe and pulling her close, not giving her a chance to protest as he wrapped her tightly against him.
She wasn’t sure what to make of it, but she still needed his help with the specialist.
If they were going to sleep together, so be it. It wasn’t like they hadn’t slept together before. They had been sleeping together for many years.
Lillian suddenly realized that, being with Conrad, they had once spent every day together, night and day…
They had done things as intimate as a married couple, whispering in each other’s ears, entangled in each other’s arms.
Perhaps it was only then that, at that moment,, Conrad had truly belonged to her.
From her youth to her maturity as a woman, Conrad was the only one she had fully given herself to.
Lillian replayed the past in her mind, as his breath lingered beside her.
Over the years, Conrad had made many enemies, and there were plenty who wanted him dead. If someone were to offer her a large sum to take action, she might very well be the best choice. After all, when he slept beside her, he was always unguarded.
Even during the early days, when she could still feel the gun under the pillow, she hadn’t seen it again since, as she had been afraid.
Thinking back to that time, Conrad had really spoiled her.
Lost in her thoughts, Lillian soon drifted off to sleep.
When she woke up to the familiar rhythm of lovemaking in the morning, she quickly became alert.
At the end of it all, Conrad went right back to sleep, like he hadn’t rested in ages.
Ada, the leopard, came into the room and lay at the foot of the bed. When it was little, it acted like a kitten, but Conrad would never let it on the bed, complaining about all the shedding. Now that it was bigger, if it dared try, he’d just kick it off, so it learned to curl up in the corner instead.
Lillian, though, was wide awake after their sex. She got up, washed up, and changed into the clothes she kept there before heading downstairs for breakfast. With Conrad still knocked out, she didn’t know what to do next. So, she decided to check in with Melissa.
“I stayed at a friend’s place last night.”
“Huh? You didn’t come home? And what about the laundry in the machine?” Lillian almost spit out her milk. “So, where did you go?”
“…” Melissa remained silent.
Just as Lillian was about to press her, someone came charging over in a huff.
“Lillian! How dare you show your face here again!”
She barely held back a laugh. If this had been any other woman, she might’ve felt at least a bit embarrassed. But really, she wasn’t wrong-she kept saying she’d leave, yet circumstances forced her to come back and ask for his help.
She knew she was using him.
But did she regret it? No.
Conrad wanted her body, and she wanted her grandma alive. There was no such thing as a free lunch.
But of all people, the one calling her out was Booth.
“What the hell are you hanging around my uncle for? Marrying into the Brown family isn’t easy!”
Lillian just continued eating, calmly enjoying the scenery. “Yeah, I know that.”
“You shameless woman,” Booth sneered, “seducing my uncle with your trashy body-you’re nothing but a snake in the grass.”
She rolled her eyes. “What? You secretly in love with your uncle? Upset I got to him first?”
Booth looked like he was about to lose it. “What the hell did you just say, you crazy woman?!”
“What’s that barking?” Conrad’s voice came from the stairs, dripping with irritation. “Who let him in?”
Booth froze as Conrad’s cold stare landed on him.
“Uncle…”
“What’s with the yelling? You think it’s your job to haunt my place?” Conrad came down, his robe lazily tied, a hint of his toned chest and abs visible in the V-neck.
“The door’s right there-get out.”
Ada leaped gracefully from behind the couch, making Booth take a startled step back, his face flushed. “Uncle, can’t you treat me a little better?”
Conrad didn’t even bother acknowledging him.
Lillian came over with breakfast, and when Conrad saw her in that silk loungewear, he finally glanced at Booth with a hint of disdain. “With your intelligence, I honestly have to wonder if you’re even related to the Brown family.”
Booth scowled. “Uncle, I just wanted you to go see Evelyn. She’s all alone in the hospital. Her parents don’t even know how to take the subway, and if they got lost, they’d be no help at all. She’s crying every day, waiting for you… Uncle, just go see her, please.”
Booth threw a scathing look at Lillian, as if she were some kind of femme fatale.
Anyone who didn’t know the story would probably think she was the shameless college girl showing up at Conrad’s place at night, trying to seduce him.
Well, whatever. She wasn’t much better herself, just a mistress who couldn’t be out in broad daylight. No point getting worked up over it.
But if she was already getting a bad reputation, she might as well put it to use. And right now, she needed Conrad. No way she’d let him run off to Evelyn without good reason-she wasn’t about to suffer for nothing.
“Oh, ouch!” she gasped sweetly.
Conrad turned around. “What’s wrong?”
“The ointment didn’t go on yet… it really hurts,” she replied, staring right at him with that wide-eyed look.
That reminded him of what she’d said the night before.
“Didn’t I already put it on?”
“My… private parts,” she murmured, “it’s sore from last night.”
In an instant, his mind caught up, and he glanced at her biting her lip, those little white teeth flashing. “Wow, come here.”
Before she knew it, he’d pulled her into his arms.
“Why are your hands so cold?” he muttered.
“Was just outside in the sun.”
The sea breeze wasn’t exactly warm, even with the sun out.
Conrad was about to apply the ointment for her when he shot a glare at Booth. “You don’t get to tell me what to do. Get out.”
Booth knew she was doing this on purpose-the nerve of that infuriating woman! What did his uncle even see in her, anyway? Alright, she was pretty, sure, and…
His gaze drifted down to her legs… Well, forget it, she had a great figure too…
The remote control came flying at him, hitting his forehead and leaving a red mark. “If you don’t want your eyeballs anymore, just say so.”
Nobody else got to look at his woman like that, not even this brat.
Conrad didn’t care about anyone else in the Brown family; he didn’t even give his own father that respect. If Booth thought sharing a family name would get him off the hook, he couldn’t have been more wrong.
Booth bit his lip. “I wasn’t done talking.”
“Since when do you have this much to say?”
Before Conrad’s patience wore out, Booth blurted, “I want to start a film company and sign Evelyn as our only artist. I want to make her a star.”
“Pfft.” Conrad raised an eyebrow. “Starting a company before you even hit puberty? You think I’m just giving out money? You’re just like your dad, living off company dividends and sitting around doing nothing. Go pay your respects at the ancestral hall for being born lucky. Otherwise, you’d be dead in no time out there. Useless.”
Booth left, humiliated, as Conrad tore into him mercilessly.
Watching this play out, Lillian felt like some conniving mistress in an old imperial drama, except dealing with Booth didn’t even feel satisfying.
Booth stomped off in a huff, but as soon as he opened his car door, someone’s hand pressed it shut from above.