Entangled in ambiguous intimacy.
Talia, couldn’t even wait for her period?
I began preparing to leave. I organized and archived all the company’s affairs, ready to hand them over to Talia.
But she kept pressing me to get a vasectomy.
I told her, “There are still some things at the company. Wait until I finish dealing with them.”
She stared at me for a long time. “You’re agreeing to the vasectomy?”
I didn’t answer. Instead, I handed her the organized files. “Take a good look at these. They’re the company’s core operations.”
She tossed them aside. “What’s there to look at? Grandpa already gave you everything. Everett, don’t forget, you’ll always be a servant of our family.”
“If it weren’t for the Westbrook Family, you’d never have become chairman of the group.”
That’s what she believed. That’s what everyone around her believed.
But only I knew, I was the God of Wealth, reborn through eight lifetimes. Wherever I, Everett, went, fortune followed.
It was I who chose her. I, who made their family great. Not the Westbrook Family who made me.
Gideon also heard the news that Malcolm had returned. He threw his coffee cup to the floor by Talia’s feet.
“You’re crazy. Do you even know what kind of person he is? Back then, he—”
“What about back then?”
Talia interrupted the old man, turning to look at me with disgust.
“If Everett hadn’t set me up back then, I would’ve been Malcolm’s wife by now.”
“He saw Everett humiliate me with his own eyes and couldn’t bear it, so he went abroad. Grandpa, why do you always defend Everett? Why did you force me to marry him?”
“He’s clearly just a disgusting rapist!”
Rapist.
She finally said these words that had been in her heart for years.
That’s right. Back then, I had been taking her to the hospital, but who would’ve thought the old man would trick me, too?
She had been forced and so had I.
But she never believed that. She had been dead set on believing I loved her and orchestrated everything to force her into marriage.
She kept crying, “Everett, you promised me three years. If I found Malcolm within three years, you’d let me go, right?”
“I found him. Malcolm is back. Our wedding doesn’t count. I want to marry Malcolm. I will never marry you!”
“Fine!”
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “I promise you!”
Her body trembled slightly. “You really promise?”
Yes, I really promised, but the wedding in half a month would still go on, just not with her as the bride.
She chased after me, still unbelieving.
“If you really agree, then I’ll replace the groom at the wedding with Malcolm.”
I nodded again.
“But the vasectomy you promised is still mandatory.”
I found it ridiculous. “Talia, you’re not even my wife. What right do you have to demand I get a vasectomy?”
She spoke with righteous indignation. “Because you ruined my first time, Everett! Do you know how important a girl’s first time is?”
“Do you know how much pain that incident caused Malcolm? He’ll never experience the pleasure of a first time in his whole life. Everett, I hate you!”
She truly did hate me, but I still had to tell her. “It was Malcolm who drugged you back then. I won’t take the blame for him.”
As always, she didn’t believe me.
“No matter what, you must get a vasectomy before our wedding. Otherwise, Malcolm won’t feel secure.”
In the prayer hall, Talia sat on Malcolm’s lap.
“Don’t worry, baby. Before our wedding, I’ll definitely make Everett into a castrated man. I want to make sure he’s never a man again, as revenge for you.”
