Clarissa shot Matthew a vicious glare.
He’s right. This is all his fault!
“Yeah, you’re the shameless one!”
She clenched her jaw, feeling the strong urge to sink her teeth into Matthew.
In the end, she only lightly ground her teeth into his neck because she couldn’t bear to hurt him. Of course, the other reason was because she didn’t have the guts to do it!
A chuckle escaped Matthew’s lips, and he gently caressed the top of her head. “So, everything is on me, not you.”
Clarissa sulked prettily and said, “That’s what you say. If others know about us, they’ll definitely point fingers at me, accusing me of coveting your money and whatnot, not the other way around. Such is the world—forever ruled by sexism.”
“Why should you care what others think?”
“News flash, I’m a normal human being, of course I care!”
Clarissa couldn’t be persuaded otherwise.
Her mentality seemed to be strong, but in reality, it was quite the opposite.
Even the strongest people could be broken.
“Relax. Matthias saw the two of us together, but he doesn’t know it was you.”
“He doesn’t?”
After Clarissa’s surprise subsided, she immediately let out a sigh of relief.
She instantly broke into a brilliant smile, looking like she had just emerged victorious from a great battle.
She pushed Matthew away, completely disregarding his efforts in comforting her just a moment ago.
“Great! All is well then. You should go do your stuff; I’ll go work on my script. Lalala…”
She returned to being in a jolly mood, walking with a skip in every step as she hummed to a song.
Soon, she came back with her laptop and started writing seriously.
Matthew did not interrupt her at first. However, after staring at her for a while, he couldn’t help from grumbling, “I didn’t bring you here so that you could work.”
“Don’t interrupt me; I’m used to working at night! This is a huge deal, okay? Besides, Mr. Yates said that your company will be investing in the film. If I don’t do a good job and finish this quick, we’re all screwed, big time. That is why we, my dear Mr. Tyson, have to look at the bigger picture!”
Matthew chuckled softly but nodded in agreement.
“That’s a fair point.”
With that, he stood up and sat beside Clarissa, making sure both of their bodies were touching. Before she could protest, he shot her down with an undebatable reason.
“As an investor, I’ll have to go through your script.”
Clarissa had no room for argument when he put it like that.
Hence, there was nothing she could do when Matthew watched while she altered the original text.
It was still bearable in the beginning. Matthew’s hands were on her shoulders and because of his proximity, his warm breath would tickle the shell of her ear, distracting her.
Even then, it was still tolerable. However, the next part of the plot was when the princess’ country crumbled and a wild and intense scene took place between the sheets. To make things worse, Clarissa had written a particularly detailed description for that part.
She only recalled it upon scrolling to that page. Her cheeks instantly turned red as she frantically tried to skip that part.
To her horror, Matthew had already seen it.
He pressed down on her finger on the mouse and deliberately scrolled back to the sex scene from earlier.
Resting his chin on her shoulder, he teased in a deep sultry voice, “Clare, don’t you think we should study this part in depth? I think there are a lot of details to be changed, no?”
Clarissa was tongue-tied.
She already imagined herself kicking Matthew in the balls.
Unfortunately, reality only allowed her to verbally express her objection. “This part doesn’t need to be changed as the text and scene won’t be exactly the same. The director will shoot this sex scene to his own liking, so I can just delete this part altogether.”
She was about to do just that, but Matthew held her hand in a tight grip, preventing her from moving the mouse.
“You’re quite right. I don’t care how Justin shoots it. Though, I need to understand how you wrote it.”
“W-Why?” Clarissa asked in an embarrassed voice.
Matthew smirked lightly. “Because I’d like to understand what makes you tick, Clare, since we’re going to need it in the future.”
Clarissa was speechless for a few good seconds. “Y-You use it on your own! It has nothing to do with me.”
She protested with a blushing face. “Hurry up and let me go! Stop disrupting my work…”
However, Matthew leaned impossibly closer to her, so that their breaths intertwined with each other.
Then, in a deep and charismatic voice which seemed to carry a hint of seduction, he whispered, “How can it have nothing to do with you? Clare, I’m only doing this for your sake.”
“Ahhh… You’re incorrigible! Can I just stop writing? I wanna go to bed now. Get off me! Get off! I wanna go back to the room.”
She pushed him away because she wouldn’t be able to get any work done at this rate.
“Alright. Then don’t write anymore. Let’s go back to the room,” Matthew drawled.
Before Clarissa could go to the guest room she had previously slept in, Matthew scooped her up and went to the master bedroom upstairs without breaking a sweat.
Although she put up a fight, she knew where things were going.
…
Before Clarissa found a good manager for herself, she would have to trouble Hector for quite a lot of things.
They even completed the contract signing with Hector as a witness.
When she met up with Ellie in the evening, she asked for her friend’s opinion on how to thank Hector for doing so much for her.
“I thought of buying Mr. Graham a meal, but then again, he seems to be a very busy man. So I thought, maybe a gift? But I don’t know what to get him. Giving him money will make things even more awkward, right? Besides, I can’t exactly afford him.”
Ellie giggled. “Mr. Graham works for Uncle Matt, so obviously my uncle will be the one paying him. If you really wanna thank someone, it should be my uncle.”
Yeah well, I’m pretty sure I’ve already thanked him in other more physical ways, so that’s that.
This topic quickly came to an end. After they were done eating, Ellie invited a few friends to hang out. She had an abundance of friends who came and went, most of whom Clarissa either didn’t know or wasn’t familiar with. However, she was used to Ellie calling her friends over. Furthermore, those strangers sometimes acted as a source of inspiration for Clarissa, since she could observe the different qualities and characteristics in them. She had mentioned this to Ellie before, so the latter would occasionally invite her to join their gatherings as well.
“So, what do you see?” Ellie teased.
Clarissa smiled and pointed out some of the girls’ makeup, actions, and appearances.
Ellie listened intently to her friend’s detailed descriptions.
Suddenly, a group of fierce-looking people barged into the private lounge. Among them was a girl whose pitiful appearance tugged at everyone’s heartstrings.
“Ellie…”
Surrounded by the group, the poor girl was sobbing weakly as she looked at Ellie, who immediately stood up and walked toward her with an icy glint in her eyes.
“Lucy, what’s going on?”
The girl did not answer. An unruly man dressed in punk style walked out, casting a glance at Ellie.
“So, you’re Ellie Tyson? You told her to break up with me?”
Ellie glanced coldly at the man. “You were the one who beat her up? The one thing I despise the most is when a man hits a woman. So what if I told her to break up with you? What are you gonna do? Beat me up? C’mon! I’d like to see you try.”
Ellie leaned forward in emphasis, fearlessly provoking him. The man’s eyes reddened with fury, making Clarissa rather worried.
She was just about to pull Ellie back, but the man was already angered, cursing loudly at the same time as he propelled into action.
“F**k you, b*tch! I’ll beat you into a pulp!”
“Ahhh!”
Clarissa’s knee-jerk reaction was to pull Ellie over and shield her. Screams reverberated through the private lounge as mayhem descended.
Regardless of the gender, everyone joined in the fistfight. All of them seemed eager to spill blood as if this was a battle for survival.
The commotion here attracted the attention of others. Soon, someone called the police and asked for the manager. Needless to say, it was going to be a busy night for the relevant authorities.
Ellie called Matthew at the police station.
“Uncle Matt, I… I’m at the police station. Could you maybe… get me a lawyer? Just this once?”
Matthew had just left a social gathering and was in the car at that time. After listening to his niece’s explanation, he massaged his temples in exasperation.
“Ellie, you…”
“I know, I know. It’s all my fault, Uncle Matt. I promised you a few years ago that I wouldn’t get into fights again, but it was different this time. I was bullied and attacked by someone! I didn’t go looking for trouble, I swear!”
He pursed his lips. “Fine. I’ll get you a lawyer. Are you sure someone actually bullied you?”
“Hehe… Oh you know, I’ve been focusing on my physical and mental health lately, so everyone probably treats me as a pushover now.”
Matthew wasn’t interested in the details of her life. After ending the call, he ordered Donnie to head to the police station to bail her out.
He wasn’t really concerned about this because Ellie was rarely the one at the losing end.
However, when he returned to Zen Highlands and did not see Clarissa, his face instantly darkened.
A possibility emerged in his mind. He immediately called Clarissa.
The call rang for a while before it was connected.
Clarissa’s voice sounded cautious, and he could immediately hear the guilt in it.
“Hehe… I’m in my apartment. I guess you’re done with your social event? Are you home already?”
Matthew asked in a chilly voice, “Are you sure you’re in your apartment, not the police station?”
Right after he said that, someone on Clarissa’s end asked, “Clare, were you injured badly?”
Clarissa quickly covered her phone, but it was too late.
She shot a look at Ellie just when Matthew’s stern voice came from the other end of the line.
“Clarissa!”
“I-I-I’m sorry. Don’t come here! I’m fine, really!” Then, the phone went dead.
Clarissa ruthlessly hung up on him. She was indeed hurt quite badly, furrowing her brows as she endured the pain. She gnawed on her lip, worrying about how she was going to salvage the situation if Matthew really showed up here.
Ellie peered at Clarissa’s face and asked, “What’s wrong? Is your boyfriend coming over?”
Clarissa hurriedly denied, “No, he’s not.”
