Stanley’s mind wandered back to Wendy’s delicate face, her soft lips fragrant and

inviting. He had kissed her not long ago, and

the memory of that tender moment lingered.

As Jessica leaned in for a kiss, Stanley turned his head to avoid her.

Jessica missed her mark and pouted. “Why are you avoiding me?”

Stanley couldn’t understand it himself. Jessica was the one he liked. A kiss between lovers was natural. He didn’t like Wendy..

But he had just kissed Wendy. The sensation of her lips was still vivid in his memory. As someone with an obsessive cleanliness disorder, the idea of moving seamlessly from one woman to another left him physically uncomfortable-almost repulsed. It felt

unclean.

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

Zayn’s voice came from outside. “Sir, the antidote is here.”

Antidote?

Jessica froze. She had drugged herself, and Stanley had gone to fetch an antidote?

Stanley removed Jessica’s hands from his neck and stood up. Furious, Jessica grabbed a pillow and hurled it at his face.

“Stanley, are you even a man?”

She had practically gift-wrapped herself for him, even gone so far as to drug herself to entice him. Yet, he still wouldn’t touch

her.

The pillow fell to the carpet after hitting Stanley’s face. He glanced at her expressionlessly. “Get some rest.”

With that, he strode out of the room.

Jessica sat there silently, seething.

Stanley entered the study, his tall frame standing by the floor-to-ceiling window. A moment later, Zayn stepped in. “Sir, Jessica

has taken the antidote.”

Stanley didn’t turn around. “What about the antidote for Imperial Garden?”

“I sent an assistant to deliver it, but when he entered the room, It was empty. Mrs. Hawk had already left,” Zayn replied.

Stanley turned slightly, his brows furrowing. “Where did Wendy go?”

What Wendy didn’t know was that the man who came to her room was sent by Stanley to bring her the antidote.

+20 Bonus

Zayn hesitated. “Sir, someone picked her up.”

‘Picked up?’ Stanley wondered.

She had taken such a potent drug. Who had taken her away?

His frown deepened. “Was it a man or a woman?”

Zayn hesitated again. “That…”

Stanley cut him off. “Forget it. I don’t want to know.”

What did it matter whether it was a man or a woman? He didn’t like Wendy. Plus,

they were getting a divorce. It was none of his.

business.

Stanley dismissed him. “You may leave.”

“Yes, sir.” Zayn exited.

Stanley stood alone by the window, his long, clean fingers tugging at the buttons on his shirt. As he caught his reflection in the

polished glass, he noticed a faint bite mark on his Adam’s apple-delicate and unmistakably left by Wendy.

His mind wandered back to Imperial Garden, where Wendy had lunged at him,

biting his Adam’s apple, then curling up against

him like a kitten, kissing him there and everywhere.

Stanley closed his eyes, irritation appearing on his handsome face. Ever since the intimate moment in the bathroom, he had

found his thoughts drifting back to her more than once.

But it had been a fluke.

The desire he had felt for her was a mistake.

When Stanley reopened his eyes, they were as cold and indifferent as ever, the earlier emotions buried beneath a steely calmness.

The next morning, Wendy sat in a rattan chair while she quietly read a book. Cecelia paced the room, fuming.

“A donkey must’ve kicked Stanley in the head! Ignoring his wife to chase after Jessica? And that Jessica-ugh, I’ve seen enough homewreckers, but to drug herself? She’s the lowest of the low!”

Cecelia was genuinely enraged. The night before, when she arrived to pick Wendy up, she found Wendy sitting on the ground; hugging her knees. When Wendy lifted her head, her face was streaked with tears, looking just like an abandoned stray cat with

nowhere to go.