Seeing this, Ryan became anxious. “Mom, our cover’s blown.”
Meanwhile, Theodore lowered his gaze and asked Eliana, “How did you end up with Ryan and his family?”
Eliana blinked in surprise. “You know Mr. Jenson?”
Theodore looked at her, a bit confused. “You really don’t know who they are?”
Eliana answered truthfully, “Ms. Jenson came to Starlight to talk about a partnership. Supposedly, it’s for the charity auction in two weeks. Oh, and she said she was introduced by Mr. Jean.”
“Introduced by Mr. Jean?” Theodore repeated, glancing at Beverly meaningfully, only to see her press a finger to her lips, her face full of pleading.
Just then, the waiter returned and said to Eliana, “Miss, your table for four is ready. Please follow me.”
“Should I rejoin them?” Eliana asked.
Theodore withdrew his gaze, his expression complicated, and nodded. “Go ahead.”
When Eliana came back looking perfectly calm, Ryan and Beverly let out a quiet sigh of relief.
Coincidentally, just a minute later, Theodore and his group were seated at the table right next to Eliana’s. After a brief greeting, they all went back to their own conversations.
After the food was served, Beverly paused and said, “Let’s dig in.”
Eliana stopped writing, capped her pen, closed her notebook, and carefully put everything away in her bag.
Ryan watched as she turned her head, the slender curve of her neck catching his eye. He picked up his fork and placed a piece of fish on her plate. “I heard their fish is freshly caught. It’s really delicious. Ellie, you should try it.”
Theodore glanced over and saw Ryan placing the fish on Eliana’s plate. Even though they weren’t touching directly, it still bothered him.
‘Did he just call my wife… Ellie?‘ he thought, feeling a twinge of annoyance.
Eliana looked at the fish on her plate and then at Ryan, about to say she could serve herself, but then she saw him serving everyone else too, as if she wasn’t getting any special treatment. So, she decided to let it go.
Meanwhile, one of his senior staff noticed that Theodore had suddenly gone silent. He quietly called out, “Mr. Russell?”
Theodore snapped back to himself and said in a low voice, “Go on.”
Just as Theodore finally managed to focus on the conversation, he heard some commotion from the table next to them.
“Ellie, on your mouth,” Ryan said.
“What’s on my mouth?” Eliana asked.
“A bit of sauce. On the corner of your lips, Ryan replied.
Eliana reached for a napkin on the table, but her fingers brushed against Ryan’s.
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She froze for a split second, then jerked her hand back and wiped the sauce away with the back of her hand.
Ryan was barely holding back a laugh as he handed her a napkin. “Don’t rush. I was just about to hand it to you.”
“Thanks.” As Eliana reached out for the napkin, Ryan lightly held her wrist and gently wiped the sauce off the back of her hand.
Theodore, who had been watching them closely, suddenly put down his fork and said to the foreign businessman, “Excuse me for a
moment”
ᎤᏃ
“What?” The foreign businessman blinked, clearly baffled by his abrupt departure.
But Theodore had already gotten up and walked over to Eliana’s table, his tone icy and emotionless. “Mrs. Russell, did you touch something
dirty?”
At his words, Ryan immediately let go of Eliana’s hand. It was obvious that “something dirty” wasn’t just the sauce.
Theodore then said, “Come on, I’ll take you to wash your hands.”
“Okay.” Eliana saw the restrained look on his face and instantly had a bad feeling.
Sure enough, as soon as she stepped into the restroom, there was a sharp click as Theodore locked the door behind them. The next second, he immediately closed in on her.
Eliana backed away until her waist bumped against the sink, forcing her to stop. “Theodore, this is the ladies‘ room.”
Theodore acted like he hadn’t heard her at all. “Turn around,” he ordered.
Eliana thought that he probably wouldn’t dare do anything reckless with people right outside, so she turned around, her back facing him.
Theodore leaned in close to her ear and said, “Stick your hand out.”
As soon as Eliana obeyed, he grabbed her wrist and shoved it under the faucet, scrubbing it as hard as doing laundry. She was pretty sure he’d scrub her skin right off if he kept going.
She protested, “Hey, calm down.”
Theodore’s voice was icy. “Quite a charmer, aren’t you? Maybe I should’ve just made you quit your job and become a housewife.”
His words were harsh, but when he saw her hand turning red, he felt heartbroken and let her go.
But then, Eliana suddenly splashed a handful of cold water right in his face.
For a moment, Theodore just stood there, stunned. Then he wiped the water from his face and shot her a glare.
“Mrs. Russell, you better have a good explanation for that,” he said, his voice low and threatening.
“I just wanted to calm you down before you said something you’d regret and made everyone upset,” Eliana shot back, her face flushed with
anger.
Seeing the anger on her face, Theodore was still feeling annoyed. After watching Ryan fawn over her just now, he could just imagine how troublesome those male clients usually were.
Out of impatience, he ended up blurting out a secret he shouldn’t have revealed. “Didn’t I tell Nolan to stop assigning you to male clients?”
“What did you just say?” Eliana stared at him in shock, her anger and frustration clear on her face. “Who are you to decide something like that for me?”
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A rare flicker of panic flashed in Theodore’s eyes before he stubbornly argued, “I’m your husband. I have every right to keep any potential threat away from you.”
Eliana let out a sneer. “So, is it me you don’t trust, or are you just not confident in yourself?”
“Alright, I just don’t trust those male clients!” The next second, Theodore suddenly cupped her chin, forced her to look up, and crashed his Tips down on hers.
Furious, Eliana started pounding on his chest. ‘This jerk! Every time he can’t win an argument, he just gets rough with me, huh?”
But the harder she fought, the deeper his kiss became. In the end, her strength faded, and she could only stay upright by leaning against his other hand, which was firmly supporting her waist.
When the kiss finally ended, Theodore’s anger had mostly faded away.
After Eliana shot him a glare, her eyes full of flirty annoyance, she slapped his hand away and reached for her lip gloss to fix her makeup. But Theodore’s gaze darkened. He suddenly snatched the gloss from her hand and said possessively, “No touching up. Better let everyone see it.”
“Theodore!” If she went out looking like this, everyone would know what they were up to.
“If you don’t want to go out, then don’t,” Theodore replied, leaning in again.
Eliana hurriedly pushed at his chest.
Just then, there was a rattling at the door handle, and someone outside asked in confusion, “Why is this door locked?”
Theodore paused. Catching this opportunity, Eliana quickly pushed him away, rushed to the door, unlocked it, and slipped out in a hurry.
“Why would anyone lock the door for no reason?” the woman outside murmured.
She turned around, only to suddenly bump into Theodore as he calmly walked out from inside.
“Ah!” The woman let out a startled scream, but Theodore just strode out with perfect composure, looking nothing like a man who’d
wandered into the wrong restroom.
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