Chapter 82
Chapter 82
Lola was wearing indoor slippers. She made almost no sound when she walked.
She entered the living room and started running.
She ran back to her room in one breath and asked the robot to call her father.
The first two calls went unanswered. On the third try, Brandon picked up.
Brandon said, “Daddy’s still busy. I’ll be home a bit late.”
Lola replied, “But Daddy, I have something to tell you…”
Brandon sighed. “Okay, I’ll come find you as soon as I get home, and then I’ll listen to what you have to say.”
The phone hung up.
Lola pouted and went back to bed.
Not long after, Shelby pushed open the door to the children’s room.
Seeing Lola sound asleep, she breathed a sigh of relief.
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Just now in the garden, she seemed to hear huffing sounds. She turned her head to look, but didn’t see anything.
The more Shelby thought about it, the more uneasy she felt.
Besides Lola, there was no one else here in the main building.
Shelby wanted to test whether Lola was pretending to be asleep.
She walked to Lola’s bedside and tickled Lola’s armpit with her index finger.
Lola scratched, turned over, and continued to sleep. Only then did Shelby completely relay.
She had just added another 150 thousand dollars to the plumber, for a total of 300 thousand dollars.
The plumber finally agreed to leave Rose Villa.
When Brandon came back, she only needed to say the plumber had resigned normally,
Shelby waited until three in the morning.
Brandon went first to the children’s room, glanced at Lola, and a rare smile softened his weary face.
After tucking the blanket around her, he went back to his own room.
Shelby brought a bowl of mushroom soup to Brandon.
Brandon couldn’t drink it, so he set it aside and asked Shelby, “Why aren’t you asleep yet?”
Helping him out of his suit jacket like a wife waiting for her husband to come home, Shelby said gently, “I was waiting for you.”
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6:01 pm
Chapter 82
Brandon replied, “You don’t have to wait for me. I’ll be busy lately.”
Shelby asked, “Should X3 continue to be developed?”
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Brandon had long regarded Shelby as family and never thought of hiding anything from her.
Brandon replied, “Yes. There’s no turning back. Matilda’s next move will probably be to work with FrostCore Tech on a software project. But since I guessed she’d do that, she must have guessed that I guessed…”
Brandon pinched the center of his brows wearily.
But if Matilda hit a dead end on that path, which one would she take instead? He truly had no idea.
In work, Matilda was too unpredictable. Her ideas were endless, like a running river and impossible to guard against.
Brandon didn’t want to say more. He went to shower.
When he came out, only a towel was wrapped around his waist.
Shelby was still there. Her meaning couldn’t be clearer.
Brandon was about to say something when Shelby walked over, took the towel from his hand, and wiped his hair for him.
She said, “Brandon, I haven’t told you yet. My classmate’s father, the plumber, has family matters. Starting tomorrow, he won’t be working here anymore. I’ve already settled his wages.”
Brandon said quietly, “You can handle this kind of thing.”
Shelby asked, “Brandon, do you remember when you were nineteen, you hurt your leg, and I dried and blew your hair for you just like this?”
Brandon’s cold face softened suddenly. “Yes. Back then, you were still under 5 feet.”
She smiled. “Right, from 4 feet, you raised me four years, and I was still under 5 feet. I’m useless.”
He said, “You endured too much hardship. Your nutrition was lacking for too long…”
As he spoke, Shelby tilted her head up and pecked his lips.
Brandon sighed. “Shelby, actually I…”
Shelby interrupted him. “Don’t say anything, let me say it.”
She hung the towel around Brandon’s neck, her eyes carrying a hint of seduction.
She said, “Brandon, I like you. Really like you. Not a child-to-adult kind of like, but a woman-to-man kind of like… Be with me. I want you.”
Shelby kissed Brandon, her tongue clumsily trying to pry open his teeth.
She could feel the heat of Brandon’s body.
Every man couldn’t resist it. Brandon was indeed tempted.
But as his hand slid onto her waist, an image suddenly flashed, Matilda in her dress earlier today…
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6:01 pm
Chapter 82
“Did you have a relationship with Shelby? How dare you slander me?”
Brandon pushed Shelby away, saying he was not in the mood.
Shelby was annoyed. ‘Not in the mood again!’
Brandon had used not in the mood to push her away every time this month.
She really didn’t know what he wanted her to do for him to be in the mood.
She smiled. “Okay. Then you should get some rest.”
Shelby considerately closed the door for Brandon and returned to her room, resentful.
Brandon, whose desire had just waned, needed a cigarette to relieve it.
Matilda and Allen had done nothing. And he himself had only slept with Shelby once.
He wondered if Matilda would come back to him if he apologized.
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Since it was the weekend, Matilda was the only one working overtime at the company.
To her surprise, Brandon came and told her a piece of news.
He said, “I’ve got a classmate at FrostCore Tech. He told me last night, Crossen Technology signed a contract with them.”
Matilda was stunned.
So Brandon had guessed she’d turn to FrostCore Tech next, and signed ahead of her.
Previously, she had been suggesting that Brandon purchase Frost Core Tech’s software, but Brandon would rather be held back by foreign companies than agree.
She cursed inwardly, ‘What a jerk!’
“Then, should we consider Wisdom Tech?” Neil asked.
In the semiconductor industry, there were only two well-known software companies in Itera City. If not FrostCore Tech, then only Wisdom Tech.
Matilda thought for a moment, then shook her head. “Wisdom Tech’s software isn’t comprehensive. Working with them would be worse than just using Al…”
She stopped, then said, “Let me think this through.”
The whole morning passed with her either pacing back and forth or sitting at her computer, absorbed.
Then she frantically typed on the keyboard, printed it out, wrote and drew on it, then typed on the keyboard again, and printed. It was like she was possessed.
She even drank a cup of coffee. To Neil’s surprise, she didn’t delay her lunch at all.
Perhaps it was the coffee that made her more motivated in the afternoon.
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5:02 pm
Chapter 82
By dusk, Matilda finally spoke, almost mystically. Three days. Just three days
AD
