third person's POV
Cliff grabbed at the chance like it was his lifeline and said eagerly. His pheromones surged wildly from excitement, and his pupils trembled a little from how anxious he was.
"I knew you didn't like her, already stopped sponsoring her, and deleted all her contacts. Vanya, I was being sincere..."
"Let go!" Vanya yanked his hand away, her movement stirring up a sharp gust. "You already slept with Melinda. Don't you think it's a little late to say this now?"
"What..." Cliff instantly froze on the spot, his cedar pheromones suddenly going still like they were frozen. His pupils shrank to pinpoints, the fur on his wolf ears bristled uncontrollably, and it was like all the strength had been drained from his body.
"You... how did you..."
"Did you want to ask how I knew?"
Vanya said coldly, her lily of the valley pheromones full of open contempt, stabbing at him like ice picks, "You put Melinda in the Thompson family business just so she could find a chance to humiliate me, right? Why are you pretending to be clueless now?"
A while ago, Cliff took Melinda everywhere with him, wanting everyone to know she was his favorite. Now he was even holding her and saying these fake things.
"Melinda joined the Thompson family business?"
Cliff was stunned, "I didn't know about this! Let me explain..."
"Enough!" Vanya cut him off. "I came here for something. If you doubt who I am, go ahead and check. I don't have time for your love games, Cliff. Please move."
Cliff looked at Vanya's determined face, and it felt like a knife twisted in his chest.
He quietly clenched his fists, but in the end, he could only step aside helplessly.
Vanya turned around and went into the company. Cliff's face was as pale as paper. Elliot, who rushed over, put his coat on him and said, "Cliff, it's too cold. You drank so much. You'd better go back soon."
"She knew everything..."
"What?"
"She already knew about me and Melinda..." Cliff's voice was really low.
He thought that if he cut all ties with Melinda, he could forget what happened that night.
But now it seemed like the things I'd done couldn't be changed at all.
"Cliff, let's just go first..." Elliot watched from the side, feeling a bit sorry.
Cliff looked grim. "Why was Melinda at the Thompson family business? Go find out."
"Cliff, maybe we should ask Miss Coleman first?"
"I didn't want to have anything to do with that woman anymore!"
It was all because he got soft-hearted and helped Melinda at that time.
At that time, I just thought the girl was pitiful, and since she did have some talent, I took extra care of her. I didn't expect that it would make her start thinking about something else.
Over here, Vanya had just pushed open the president's office door when she was suddenly pulled into someone's arms.
She froze, looked up and saw it was Theodore, and the scene of her throwing herself into his arms after being drugged that day flashed through her mind.
Her face turned red and she tried to break free, but Theodore just held her tighter: "Was Cliff holding you like this downstairs just now?"
Vanya paused. "You saw it?"
She looked around at that time, but just didn't notice that at the window of the upstairs office, Theodore had been watching all of this.
Theodore chuckled softly, "Good thing you pushed me away, or if it had been any later, I would have rushed down and given him a good lesson."
"Theodore, technically he's my partner, what gave you the right to hit him?"
"You were protecting him?"
"I wasn't covering for him..."
"So that was hinting I could just take it?"
"Theodore!" Vanya pushed him away, her face red.
There was so much tenderness in Theodore's eyes, full of affection, not hiding his doting at all: "Just kidding with you, don't be mad."
"You couldn't make this kind of joke again!"
"It's no joke." Theodore paused and added, "I mean it, this is serious."
Vanya realized he wasn't joking and tried to calm down: "You should ask what I think. I never said I'd agree."
"So I'm seriously asking for your opinion now." Theodore leaned in, so close they could feel each other's breath. It was so quiet around them that they could hear each other's heartbeat.
"Vanya, would you be willing to go out with me?"
Vanya's heart was beating fast.
Even though she had been married to Cliff, no one had ever confessed to her so seriously.
Theodore took off the family crest from his chest and put it in her palm.
He smiled and said, "This is the Theodore family head's badge. Now that I give it to you, it's like I'm putting my life in your hands."
"Theodore! What nonsense are you talking about?" Vanya quickly pushed the family crest back to him.
The Theodore family crest was really important—even as an outsider, she knew that. He actually gave something so important to her.
"Vanya, I never took back anything I gave away." Theodore pinned the family crest on her chest.
This family crest stood for the leader of my family. With it, I basically had absolute say in the family.
He looked at Vanya, smiling with his eyes, and said softly, "You were the one I chose as my partner."
Vanya's heart was pounding like a drum, and for a moment she didn't know how to respond.
In her last life, she was all about Cliff and had never been chosen so firmly by anyone.
Theodore's words made her start to waver inside.