Around 11 p.m., Sheffield returned to the Huo family manor.
He slowly pushed open the door to Evelyn's bedroom. She had already taken her bath and was wearing a lace nightgown. She was leaning against the headboard, reading a book.
Gwyn was sleeping with Debbie that night, so Evelyn was alone in the room.
Even though she heard the door, Evelyn didn't take her eyes off the book. The smile on Sheffield's face froze. He knew that he was a dead man. His wife was angry.
But as usual, he had no idea why.
"Honey, I'm back!" As he reminded himself to be careful in his approach, he placed his coat on the sofa, loosened his tie and walked towards the bed.
When he got close, Evelyn smelled alcohol on him, mixed with a trace of perfume. She looked at him, and the first thing she saw was the red mark on the left shoulder of his white shirt.
Evelyn rested her eyes on the mark and said with a fake smile, "Oh, Mr. Tang is finally back."
'Oh, she is definitely angry, ' he thought with a sigh. "Honey, who pissed you off?" Sheffield asked in a soft voice and pulled her into his arms. As he spoke, the warm breath of wine hit her face.
Evelyn didn't try to break free. "Let go of me," she said coldly.
"Okay." Sheffield let go and sat on the edge of the bed. "Will you tell me what happened?"
"You're asking me what happened? Go and look in the mirror."
Sheffield's eyebrows shot up in confusion. He stood up and walked to her dressing table. "Why do you want me to look in the mirror?
Are you trying to tell me that I'm such a handsome man?" he joked. Evelyn rolled her eyes and pretended to read the book.
In the mirror, Sheffield noticed the red mark on his shoulder. He took a closer look and saw that it was a lipstick mark. His eyes widened. There had to be an explanation.
He racked his brains to find out when this had happened.
In a few seconds, the memory came back to him. He rushed to Evelyn, crossed his fingers and swore, "It was Mr. Shao, that son of a bitch! He sent his wife to seduce me. But I swear, I didn't touch that woman. She sat next to me for about two minutes, and I sent her away soon after. Her lips might have brushed my shirt while she tried to whisper something to me. It was an accident. Nothing happened between us."
"Really?" Evelyn continued reading. "What does this have to do with me? I didn't ask for an explanation."
'Is she still angry?' He replied firmly, "I can prove it to you. Honey, I can get you the surveillance video. Mrs. Shao came into the private room and left within two minutes. And there were several people in there with us. So, there's no way anything happened between us!"
"Fine."
'Fine? That's it? Oh, no. She's mad about something else, ' Sheffield thought to himself. He had to find out if something had happened in his absence. "Wait, I'll be right back. I need to make a call," he said and walked out of the room.
Evelyn stared at his retreating back. Once outside, Sheffield dialed Felix's number. "Felix! Did something happen with Evelyn today?"
Felix grunted, "We ran into Sterling Tang. He yelled at Miss Huo and tried to hit her, but I stopped him."
"What?" Sheffield's face darkened. He gritted his teeth and said in a low growl, "If anything like that happens again, call me immediately."
"I will."
After hanging up, Sheffield took off his custom-made shirt and threw it into the trash can without thinking twice.
Then, he called another number. "At tomorrow's shareholders' meeting, report that Sterling has been fiddling with the company accounts, lent money at usury, accepted bribes, had an affair outside marriage, and committed domestic violence against his wife."
After a few minutes, he entered the bedroom and threw himself onto the bed, his upper body naked. He held his wife in his arms and coaxed her softly, "Honey, I'm sorry for what happened. Please don't be mad at me."
"I'm not bothered by it. But you will sleep on the couch tonight," Evelyn replied flatly.
"What? Why? You can't sleep without my warmth." She tried to resist, but Sheffield grabbed her hands so tight that she couldn't struggle.
"I can sleep very well on my own. Sheffield Tang, get off me! If you don't go, I'll sleep on the couch!"
Sheffield pouted, "Honey, why are you mad at me? You should be nice or you'll lose a good husband."
"I don't care. If you leave me, I will still have many other men to choose from."
"You won't find anyone better than me!"
"I disagree!" Sheffield held her close to his body. "Honey, I'm sorry. Please forgive me," he apologized.
Evelyn didn't say anything this time; she just looked at him.
He leaned in to kiss her on the lips. "Hereafter, I'll take you with me wherever I go, okay?" He was only worried that she might get tired of looking at his face every day.
"Whatever! Go take a shower first!" she said, pushing him away.
"Are you still mad?" If she was still angry, he didn't want to leave her side even for a second.
"I am! Everyone in the Tang family is complaining about you. They keep coming to me, saying that you are surrounded by women, and they keep talking crap about you. Don't they have anything else to do with their lives? Why can't they mind their own business instead of following you around? You've already suffered a lot because of them, and yet, they still can't let you live in peace. They are like parasites." Her bottled-up anger and frustration flowed out. She was not angry with Sheffield, but was annoyed by the Tang family members and felt sorry for Sheffield. His own family were working day and night to find faults in him.
Sheffield hadn't done anything wrong. Why couldn't they let him be?
She was furious. Touched by her words, Sheffield pulled her into a hug, and she wrapped her arms around his waist. "Honey, you don't need to spoil your mood because of them. It's not worth it. I have exposed all their dirty tricks and scandals. Obviously, they want revenge on me. Driving a wedge between us is the best way to reach that goal. Their life is spoiled, and they want us to suffer too. But..." He held her at arm's length, looked her in the eye with a smile and went on, "Now that we know what they are up to, we should not play by their rules. Let's fall more in love and piss them off. You agree?"
Evelyn finally smiled. She cupped his face and said softly, "Honey, remember that no matter what happens in the future, I will always be there for you. I will support you unconditionally. I love you."
Sheffield's heartstrings pulled, swayed and danced. 'How could I ever not love this woman? She's the best!'
He held her face and kissed her on the lips again. "I'm so happy to have you in my life, Eve."
"Me too," she said, kissing him back passionately. Her life was beautiful now; she had her parents, siblings, Sheffield and Gwyn.
At the shareholders' meeting the next day, someone impeached Sterling for everything he had done. Sterling knew that it was Sheffield's doing and got into a fight with him.
Tobias called Evelyn to tell her what was going on. He told her urgently that Sheffield and Sterling were alone in the meeting room and that no one was allowed to enter.
He was aware that the two men were having a fight, but didn't know who had the upper hand. Worried that Sheffield might get hurt, Tobias asked Evelyn to come over and stop them.
At Theo Group
A black Emperor pulled up in front of the building. Before Felix could get out of the driver's seat, Tobias, who had been waiting at the entrance all along, rushed to the car and opened the door for Evelyn.