"Do you think I need money? You actually want to profit from the bird’s nests on Swallow Island?"
"That’s not what I ant."
"Then what did you an?"
"Even between close siblings, clear accounts make for good relationships. If you just give all the bird’s nests on Swallow Island, providing the manpower and resources, while I give you nothing in return, I wouldn’t feel at ease..."
Adrian Desmond stared at the woman before him. She always seems to get her identity confused, he thought. She’s my woman; I should be the one supporting her. Yet, she always feels the need to prove herself, even to .
"What are you to ?"
"Your wife!"
"You’re my woman! What’s mine is yours! But you always insist on keeping accounts with so ticulously. It makes feel like you’re still planning to leave ."
Sienna’s small hand clasped his larger one, the contrast between their skin tones stark.
"I don’t an anything else. I’m just accustod to keeping business and personal matters separate. A marriage is about feelings, but business is business."
"Fine. Since you want to talk business, let’s talk business. I don’t want money. I’m interested in *you*. Let sleep with you for one night, and I’ll give you Swallow Island. How about that?"
Sienna’s face instantly darkened. She squeezed her eyes shut, fighting the urge to punch him. Her voice turned several degrees colder. "Sixth Master, are you proposing a quid pro quo?"
"That’s more or less it!"
Sienna glared at him. Seeing his leering expression, she asked caustically, "Sixth Master, is this how you normally conduct business?"
"Yes, this is exactly how I negotiate."
Adrian fully intended to take advantage of Sienna, not thinking twice about it. He brazenly groped her breast, and his body’s reaction was even more direct: a bulge ford in his trousers, as arrogant as its owner.
She clutched her chest, the mory of a lecherous man who had once molested her surging up. Bile rose in her throat, and she bit out his na through clenched teeth,
"Adrian!"
He grabbed her chin, his tone lewd. "President Johnson, co now. You satisfy , and I’ll agree to anything you want."
He sprawled on the bed, making no attempt to conceal his lust.
It was ant as a crude joke, but it struck a raw nerve in Sienna. She suppressed a scream, her voice tight with fury as she yelled, "Get out!"
"Who are you telling to get out?!" Adrian, a man accustod to calling the shots and being revered outside, couldn’t stomach being humiliated like this by his own wife at ho.
Sienna wasn’t joking when she told him to "get out." She was dead serious; she truly wanted him gone.
"Yes! I’m telling *you* to get out!"
"Get out of here! I don’t want to see you!" She spun around, turning her back on the despicable man.
"You’re no fun at all! You take everything so seriously, so damn proper. What’s the point?" Adrian retorted, his own anger flaring. "Weren’t you the one who wanted to talk business? Aren’t we talking business now? Isn’t this how deals are made in the business world?"
"Get out!"
"Fine! I’ll get out!"
Adrian actually left. He stord out of the room and stood in the hallway, a wave of instant regret washing over him. Now that I’m out, where am I supposed to go? he wondered.
I really don’t understand what goes on in a woman’s head!
Irritated, he stomped downstairs, intending to find soone to spar with, work off his frustration, and stretch his limbs. Maybe after a while, if I go back, her mood will have improved, he thought.
Back in the room, Sienna sat on the bed, motionless, for a long ti.
Adrian probably thinks I’m being unreasonable again, she thought bitterly. But so many humiliating mories are buried deep in my heart, not things I can just forget.
Back then, when she first took over Eastminster Group, she knew nothing. She had to learn everything from scratch, and the first lesson was how to handle liquor and navigate the treacherous waters of business dinners, often by feigning compliance with n.
She’d even experienced drinking until she vomited blood.
When n did business with other n, all it took was heavy drinking. But when n did business with attractive won, it wasn’t just about drinking; they expected ’unspoken arrangents.’ They seed to believe that if they didn’t sleep with the woman at least once, the deal was a loss.
Because of her looks, Sienna had suffered considerably back then. Adrian was so possessive that Sienna never dared to tell him how she’d been groped—her thigh touched, her chest assaulted. The most dangerous incident was when soone drugged her, and she was nearly violated.
So, when she heard Adrian—the man she loved—joking about ’using’ her like that, even knowing it was a joke, she couldn’t help but explode. His leering expression just now had reminded her so vividly of those predatory n from the business world.
And what about Adrian? she wondered. When he’s doing business and ets a beautiful woman, has he ever demanded similar ’unspoken arrangents’ from them?
She sat in the room for a while longer, but Adrian didn’t return to try and soothe her. Sienna’s tears began to fall, unbidden and relentless.
It’s true, she thought, a fresh wave of sorrow washing over her. As ti goes by, people really do stop cherishing what they have.
"Adrian, get out!" she whispered to the empty room, tears streaming. "Get out and don’t ever co back!"
「anwhile, on the training ground」
The sweat-drenched Sixth Master, having already floored more than ten n in a row, was completely oblivious to Sienna’s intricate and painful thoughts. If he had known, he would have rushed back to comfort her long ago.
"Again! All of you are completely useless! Like a bunch of Amwan girls!" He taunted them, calling them ’Amwan girls’—a term for young won in Amwan.
Being called ’young won’ was a grave insult to these grown n. Their fighting spirit flared, and they were determined to show the Sixth Master they were anything but ’Amwan girls.’
"Not bad! All of you, co at together!" Adrian declared, unfazed by the prospect of facing multiple opponents.
The n were incensed. This is blatant provocation! they thought.
"Sixth Master, in that case, we won’t hold back!"
"Who asked you to hold back?!"
The training ground echoed with the thud of colliding fists and bodies, a sound brutal enough to make onlookers ache in sympathy.
There were originally a dozen or so people in the training ground. Hearing the commotion, dozens more arrived. Now, so fifty-odd n began to encircle and attack Adrian. Adrian was bare-chested, his bronze skin gleaming. His muscles rippled with his movents, exuding a powerful beauty.
Brett Jacobs watched Adrian on the training ground and asked Walter Klein, who stood beside him, "What’s gotten into the Sixth Master today? Shouldn’t he be with Madam at this hour?"
Walter Klein pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "What else could it be? He was probably kicked out of the bedroom by Madam again. With nowhere else to go, he ca to the training ground to blow off steam."
Brett glanced at Walter. Does he think I’m so tight-lipped I’d never report him? Is that why he dares to speak so recklessly? he mused.
"They’re fighting again?" Brett asked.
"Is it really that strange for them to fight?" Walter retorted.
"But didn’t they just reconcile?"
Walter took off his glasses, breathed on the lenses, and wiped them with a glasses cloth. "One is as stubborn, proud, and controlling as the other. It’s a miracle they haven’t split up by now."
He finished wiping his glasses and put them back on. His blurry vision sharpened, focusing on the man standing right in front of him, an exceedingly dark expression on his face. Walter felt his scalp tingle with dread.
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