Besides, it was Amir Hallow who ran the Hallow Family, his word was law, so if she tried to stop him in front of everyone, it would have been pointless. She just lowered her head and quietly ate the bowl of sweet, silky pudding—*every careful bite carried the elegant scent of osmanthus blossoms in her mouth.*
The Hallow Family was a strange place. Every time, it gave Charlotte Miller a new understanding. Take the matter of birth control for example—when Amir Hallow asked for it, the housekeeper managed to retrieve a box within five minutes and respectfully delivered it right to Amir's hands.
There was something irresistibly seductive about the man's hands. When those elegantly slender fingers picked up the box of pills, Charlotte's gaze involuntarily quivered. *How merciless this was—men wanted a moment's pleasure, yet it was women who had to bear the consequences. Taking too many of these pills could lead to habitual miscarriages.* Charlotte hoped that yesterday was the first and last time in her life she'd have to swallow one of those pills.
*Why did women have to make things harder for each other?* If she hadn't made things hard for herself, none of this shame would have come to her today.
Amir set the box of pills on his palm. His dark eyes swept across the tiny, mosquito-sized characters printed on the label, then he looked up at Ava Walker with a depth that made one's skin crawl.
In the blink of an eye, the box arced from his hand and landed right on the table in front of Ava Walker, steady as could be. "Only you know if it feels good after you've tried it. She took a double dose; so will you..."
His cold voice cut through the tense air, breaking the silence that had been stretched so tight. Everybody's eyes were fixed on that box of pills—more precisely, they watched Ava's every move. Their faces were a gallery of vivid expressions.
Kinsley Lee, Amir's mother, couldn't hide a gloating smile, and Ayla Kim looked both aggrieved and resentful, though she dared not speak up. The strangest reaction belonged to Amir himself, who did absolutely nothing. He just took his time sipping from his glass of milk, the white liquid clinging to his lips like a pale mustache.
If a man's wife was forced to take birth control and he didn't react, that was the strangest reaction of all.
"Why should I take it? I won't..." Ava Walker acted like a child and tossed the box to the floor, but her voice clearly betrayed her fear.
Amir didn't say anything. The housekeeper went over, picked up the box of pills, and wordlessly set it right back in front of Ava.
"Let her leave after she's finished it." Amir finished his cup of black coffee and told the housekeeper this in a low voice. The sound of the cup hitting the table felt like it was pounding on everyone's heart. *These past few days at the Hallows—was there even a single meal she could finish without a knot in her stomach?*
His meaning couldn't have been clearer. If Ava didn't take the pills, she'd be stuck in that dining chair all day long.
"Let's go." Amir took Charlotte's hand and stood up. He had to get to work.
Once he was gone, the Hallows all retreated to their own rooms. Only Ava sat there—she couldn't leave. *She had forced herself into a corner. All she could do was watch as another woman now claimed the seat she used to occupy, at the side of the man she loved, and walked out with him.*
*What she couldn't get after all those years, that woman snatched up in just three days. What a cosmic joke.*
In the car, his scent flooded the small space—the Hallow Family's black coffee had a rich aroma that clung to his clothes, and now it gradually diffused through the air. There was even a trace of mint, probably from his aftershave.
"What are you thinking?" Amir asked, glancing at Charlotte beside him. When she was quiet, she might have been a girl in an oil painting, but this girl had a very different mind.
"Nothing." Charlotte's gaze stayed on the traffic outside the windshield. The bustle on the street was a harsh contrast to the calm inside the car—*two completely different worlds.* And now she was in the same world as him. *The feeling was strange, as if a little bug was crawling across her heart—impossible to catch, yet oddly ticklish.*
"Is it that you can't say, or just don't want to?" Amir kept one hand on the wheel while reaching over to hold her small hand with the other. It was soft and delicate, but a bit cold.
"Neither, I just don't know what to say. This marriage happened too suddenly." Charlotte answered honestly. *It took real guts to lie to this man. Beneath his calm exterior was an irresistible dominance, the kind of man who had to be in control of everything, even people's hearts. If you were beside him, there could be no disloyalty—he required complete submission.*
"No problem, we've got all the time in the world to get to know each other..." The corner of his mouth curved upward, and instantly, he became so alluring it could stop your breath. *So it wasn't just women who were born trouble—men like him were, too. Ava got into trouble for his sake, after all.*
The silence in the car thickened, their breathing the only thing mingling together...
Outside, Hallow Clan Tower stood in the pale light of morning, its exterior walls sheathed in panels of silver-gray glass. The giant, silver letter "H" floated on the building, catching the sunlight with a cold gleam and overwhelming presence.
His private elevator led straight up to the top floor—his office.
Daniel Parker saw Amir Hallow arrive with Charlotte Miller and was visibly surprised, "President Hallow, good morning, madam..."
"Daniel, take Charlotte to set up her new employee paperwork, then arrange her job." Amir sat down with Charlotte on the sofa, holding her hand as his thin lips parted, "If you have any work problems, just come to me or to Daniel."
"How much trouble could a waitress cause?" Charlotte cracked a smile, an expression that said you're overthinking it.
Daniel felt like he'd been struck by lightning. There was a ringing in his ears and his eyes stung with the threat of tears. Working for Amir was already stressful enough—but now he had to handle matters for both the president and the president's wife.
Waitress? Did he hear that right?
*This was exactly the kind of place where problems happened most easily...*