Chapter Ninety
Chapter Ninety
Max wanted to relive the sensation of last night, but he couldn’t remember anything at all—not even a blurry image in his mind. This made him even more regretful and unwilling to accept that he had made love to his wife while being completely unconscious.
Just as he was about to touch Bella's chest, she gently pushed him away and spoke in a tired and somewhat coquettish tone, “Last night was enough. I can't continue anymore. Besides, you were so drunk last night that you had no control, and now I’m extremely tired and have no energy left.”
Hearing his wife’s words, Max felt both happy and confused. He didn’t know how to feel about what Bella said because he couldn’t remember experiencing any of it. Did they really make love? But he couldn’t doubt her since the love marks on Bella's neck and chest, along with her exhausted state, were clear evidence of how crazy their last night had been.
Seeing Max standing there lost in thought, Bella pouted and asked, “What are you thinking about? Don’t you believe me?”
Max quickly reassured her, “Of course I believe you. It’s just that it happened when I was too drunk... Alright, you must be very tired this morning. How about you take the day off today?”
Bella’s expression brightened a bit as she crossed her arms and leaned on the edge of the bed nodding slightly. She truly didn't feel like going to work this morning.
Noticing that Max was still pondering about last night, she continued, “I’ve been thinking.”
“Thinking? About what?” Max asked.
“About... having a child. I know I said before that I wasn’t ready because I wanted to focus on my career since things are going well. But if I keep prioritizing work, who knows when we’ll have a child… What do you think?” Bella said softly, then looked up at Max’s reaction.
As she expected, Max was overjoyed, grabbing her hands with a look of immense satisfaction. “Bella, you’ve finally come to your senses. You should have thought this way earlier. I’ve always longed for our child. It’s wonderful that you’ve made such a wise decision.” Max couldn’t contain his happiness, wanting to jump and embrace her tightly.
But before he could get closer, Bella pushed him away. She internally scoffed at his jubilant demeanor but maintained a happy and cheerful facade. Max, still immersed in his joy, didn’t notice his wife’s unusual expression.
Bella didn’t want to interrupt his happiness but also didn’t want to prolong the conversation. She glanced at the clock and pretended to urge her husband. “It’s getting late. Don’t you have to go to work today?”
Only then did Max realize the time, but as the CEO of the company, it didn’t matter if he arrived late. “I’m not in a hurry—”
“Hurry up and go. I want to rest today and don't want to be any disturbances. Last night was exhausting,” Bella feigned fatigue and wanted to continue sleeping.
After hearing his car leave, Bella sighed in relief, finally able to relax in the large bathtub. “Ha… does that jerk really think I want to have a child with him? Ridiculous. He wanted a child with me but poisoned me not to get pregnant. I can't tell if you’re a human or an animal, Max,” Bella muttered bitterly to herself in the bathroom.
Although she felt disgusted and hated this man, she had to continue playing the role of his wife to the end. Max’s reaction this morning was as she had anticipated, but she still had been worried because Max wasn’t a fool who was easily deceived.
To fool Max, Bella had to be meticulous from the beginning. Even though Max didn’t really care about her, he was observant and had excellent observational skills. If Bella showed any coldness towards him, he would become suspicious immediately.
The affair between her and Levi had been hidden from Max until now, partly because Bella knew how to maintain her distance from Levi and control her emotions when the three of them were together, and partly thanks to Pearl.
As for the love marks on her body, they certainly weren’t from Max. After her bath, Bella still couldn’t believe how a few simple lies had made Max trust her without question. Perhaps Max had longed to make love to her, and seeing her in bed with seductive sleepwear and hearing her words convinced him that they had been intimate last night.
…
Max's mood was very good, extremely good. Usually, if he encountered employees arriving late to work, he would get angry and scold them, but today, not only did Max not scold anyone, he even cheerfully chatted with the latecomers, surprising everyone.
As soon as Max entered his private office, he saw Pearl sitting in his chair. Her demeanor was extremely arrogant and bossy as she sat in his workspace, reading the documents on his desk as if she were the rightful owner there.
The moment she saw Max, Pearl happily got up and sweetly clung to his arm. However, this time, Max didn't feel any joy; he only felt annoyed by Pearl's earlier behavior.
This wasn’t the first time Pearl had sat at his desk, but in the past, Max had overlooked it and didn’t feel there was an issue, so he didn't remind Pearl. However, this time he found it incredibly displeasing.
"What's wrong with you? Why are you frowning?" Pearl didn't understand why Max seemed so annoyed.
Max sighed and gently removed Pearl’s hand from his arm. "Pearl, since you disrespected Levi, I warned you to know your place. Don't you understand?"
Confused by Max's attitude, Pearl still didn’t grasp what she did wrong to be scolded. "Why are you scolding me?"
Max looked at Pearl, evaluating her from head to toe, and then he thought of Bella. He began comparing the two women in his mind: on one side was a gentle, beautiful, and capable wife; on the other, a sweet, beautiful lover who was becoming increasingly arrogant and bossy.
Just like that, Max knew which woman was truly more suitable for him. Putting aside appearance and background, Bella was indeed the most fitting choice because she was competent at work and understood her position and limits.
But most importantly, Bella had decided she wanted to have a child with him, which was what he cared about the most. The thought of his wish coming true made Max forget that he had once agreed to a plan to make Bella infertile.
Seeing that Pearl still hadn't realized her mistake, Max didn’t elaborate further and simply said, "Nothing…"
Pearl didn't know what was on Max's mind; at the moment, she was only concerned about the results of the general health check-up.
"Do you know the results of the health check-up yet?"
Max knew what Pearl was referring to, but now everything had changed since Bella expressed her desire to have a child with him this morning. Max frowned slightly and said, "Not yet, it might take a week to get the results."
Hearing that, Pearl nodded slightly, as she knew that a general health check-up couldn’t yield results quickly. But she still very much wanted to know if the outcome would come true. Even though Bella had been taking the drug daily for a week, it still couldn’t completely guarantee that Bella would lose her ability to conceive.
"Just keep mixing that drug into her drink; maybe a week won’t be enough to make her infertile, but just a little longer and… you get what I mean, right?" Pearl caressed Max’s face and whispered in his ear. Her tone was sweet and seductive, but her words carried an air of cruelty and evil.
Max clenched his fist because he had previously agreed to Pearl's plan to make Bella infertile. Now, even if Max wanted to retract, he couldn't. Indeed, Pearl's plan seemed very reasonable and convincing at the time because Bella firmly didn't want to have children with him, so to maintain his position, Max had agreed to Pearl's plan.
But now everything had changed; Bella wanted to have a child with him, and he wanted that too. While career and status were very important to a man, especially to Max, who was obsessed with them, he also wanted a child. His child had to be born into a complete family and come from a wealthy background.
Pearl's plan could be considered almost successful now, but nothing could confirm that Bella had become infertile.
But contrary to what Max thinks, Pearl has a completely different way of thinking.
As long as Bella couldn’t conceive, their future child would inherit the fortune Bella would inherit from her father and this company. But to achieve that, the first step was to make Bella unable to have children, then Pearl would give birth to a child for Max, and Max would raise their child under the guise of his and Bella's adopted child.
But what annoyed and displeased Pearl the most was that Max hadn’t proactively mentioned having a child with her. At times, Pearl wondered if Max didn’t want to have a child with her. But that thought was quickly cast out of her mind.
