Chapter 21
“If you keep moving, Layla, I’ll show you exactly what I did with the actress in bed,” Stephen growled as he stared at Layla as it she were his prey. It was a look he had never given her before.
Angry and indignant, Layla pointed out, “You cheated first.”
By now, Stephen had unlocked her phone on the second try. The first thing that appeared on the screen was her conversation with Austin.
For some reason, Stephen’s rage subsided when he saw Austin’s name. He couldn’t care less if Layla acted like a spoiled brat as long as she kept her boundaries with the opposite sex. She could snap at him and hit him all she liked, but he would never tolerate her fooling around with other men.
However, Austin was a scion who refused to apply himself, and Stephen had never seen him as a threat or potential rival,
Having calmed down, Stephen glanced at the woman blushing under him. He reckoned she had demanded Austin to come to the hotel with her after she saw Stephen’s cheating scandal.
She must have wanted to prove to the world that she had not been married off as a pawn and that the Murrays were not threatened by Stephen’s growing influence. Pissing him off and making him want to scream was just a bonus effect.
Understanding flooded Stephen at once. He glanced at the pair of lips he had lassed out of impulse earlier and straightened up. He pulled Layla up with him. Layla wasted no time in kicking him in the leg, leaving a shoe print on his dark, pressed trousers. He looked down and undid the necktie around her wrists. The satin fabric of the tie should have made it easy for her to slip her hands out from the binding, but her struggling had been to no avail
She waited until after her wrists were unbound before rising to her feet. Just as she was about to slap Stephen across the face, he gripped her wrist to stop her.” Regina and I are just business partners.”
Layla raised her free hand and delivered a slap across his face. She hissed, “You douchebag! You’re disgusting!”
Stephen closed his eyes and took a deep breath. After regaining composure, he opened his eyes and leveled a hard stare at the arrogant woman before him. “You’ll have to deal with the aftermath of the article before your uncouth behavior at the bar brings the company’s share price down.”
He grabbed the necktie, which was surprisingly not crumpled, and stood before the mirror to tie it.
Outraged, Layla was about to storm past him and leave when he grabbed her wrist again. “You’re leaving with me.”
“Let me go!” she snapped.
“It’ll do the company’s reputation wonders if we put on a united, loving front,” Stephen explained. He gave his tie one last fix and straightened his clothes. He glanced at his fuming wife and smirked, though there was no amusement on his face as he led her out of the room
When they reached the hotel entrance, Layla begrudgingly got into Stephen’s car. As they drove away, countless cameras flashed after them. People were eager to capture pictures for the next headlining gossip
In the car, Layla clenched her fists and seethed. “You’d better pray you could keep your fancy position as the CEO of Murray Group because the first thing I’ll do once I take back the company will be to ruin your mistress” life!”
Stephen’s predictions had come true: he had once again become the “douchebag” in Layla’s narrative, and he had another “mistress” added to his long list of
nonexistent lovers
He asked tiredly, “Layla, you could have called me to ask if the cheating allegations were true the moment you heard about the scandal. Why did you have to cause a seene at a bar and drop by a hotel with some random man to prove a point?”
