CHAPTER 72: CHAPTER 72: PROBABLY LOST THEIR MINDS

Ruby Sullivan packed up the medicine box and turned her back to Ethan Sterling, saying, "I’m going to take a shower first. You can either sleep at The Sweetery or on the sofa. You can also use Honey’s blanket. I don’t have any clothes for you to change into here, so... After your shower, you can put your underwear in the washing machine and hang it out on the balcony. It should dry by tomorrow, or replace them in the morning at home."

She thought about it and realized there was nothing else to explain, so she walked briskly to her room to find clothes and take a shower, never glancing at Ethan Sterling on the couch, as if there wasn’t a big man sitting in the living room.

In the bathroom, the hot water showering onto her body finally made her aware of her injuries. Apart from the rope burns around her wrist, her face was swollen to the point of numbness. Her back had been kicked, and she had forgotten what her knee had bumped into, now covered in a bruise.

Ruby Sullivan pushed her hair back with both hands, closed her eyes, and felt the warmth of the water, but her mind was filled with the chaos of tonight.

The dim light, the roaring music, she was pinned on the sofa, unable to hear the sound of slaps landing on her face, only feeling dizziness with each slap, as if it were all unreal. Suddenly she was dazed, seemingly back to that night when someone pinched her nose and forced alcohol down her throat, just like being forcibly medicated.

She felt vulnerable, helpless, engulfed in fear, tightly wrapped and blocking all her paths. She wanted to cry, howl, scream hysterically, but she could do nothing but let others have their way.

Ruby Sullivan slowly squatted down, hugged herself, curling into a small ball.

After slimming down and diligently learning various fighting techniques, she thought she was truly strong, but it was just blind arrogance.

The little ability she had was only enough to snatch Rhonda Sullivan’s shoes and throw them into the trash bin, immature like an ungraduated elementary school student, rejoicing for it, foolishly.

She thought her return was fully prepared for a big comeback, but without a man’s help, she found she couldn’t do anything...

In the living room, sitting upright on the sofa, Ethan Sterling received a call from Howard.

Gemma Joyce kept crying, insisting that Tyler Aldrin wanted to get into the cosmetics business, found her, and requested her help to dig into Wenny’s network. She hadn’t expected Tyler to have amorous intentions herself and claimed innocence.

Ethan Sterling hung up the phone, looking even grimmer. Thinking about Wenny’s injury, he wanted to crush Tyler’s bones and muscles underfoot!

All things considered, the grudge between Tyler and Ethan was quite childish.

Tyler fancied a celebrity who was once a brand ambassador for The Sterling Group. He made a grand gesture to prove his sincerity, once making countless headlines, but later the celebrity had no choice but to publicly reject him.

Tyler felt humiliated, using crude methods to embarrass the celebrity at a socialite gala. Ethan Sterling certainly wasn’t fond of interfering, but that celebrity was their brand model, and negative news would impact The Sterling Group, so he couldn’t ignore it.

After playing the protector, Ethan Sterling developed a grudge with Tyler.

However, Tyler single-handedly treated Edwin Sterling as an enemy; Ethan never thought Tyler, being so insignificant and undeserving, could occupy space in his mind. Business matters would be dealt with accordingly, never considering making the other party uncomfortable. After all, the two are not competing companies and have no major conflicts of interest.

But now Ethan Sterling felt it necessary to expand The Sterling Group’s territory a bit, showing Tyler a lesson of what courting disaster means.

He was coordinating plans in his head when he suddenly heard a scream from the bathroom.

Ethan Sterling was startled; his legs forgot the pain as he jumped up from the sofa and rushed into the bathroom. "What’s wrong?"

The glass door of the shower room was fogged. Ruby Sullivan was crouched on the ground, burying her head in tears.

Perhaps surprised by his intrusion, she jumped, and after some moments of silence, her body shrunk tighter, shouting loudly with her head buried, "Get out!"

Ethan Sterling was dumbfounded too. After she screamed, he quickly turned his gaze aside, shut the door halfway, and said in a stern voice, "Call me if there’s something." Then he gently closed the door.

He didn’t know what was happening to him, why his mind was filled with things about this woman, because she was Ruby Sullivan? But when had he ever been patient with Ruby Sullivan before?

Every time he saw that fat woman, he felt embarrassed, but day after day, he ate the meals she prepared, accepted her care, until she suddenly disappeared, realizing her cooking was exceptional, her care meticulous...

Ruby Sullivan cried enough in the bathroom, changed clothes, wiped away the fog on the mirror, and checked around. Apart from the face swollen out of shape and slightly red eyes, there was nothing wrong.

After all, he had seen her crying, there was nothing to hide.

She felt like escaping a disaster alive, who could laugh at her for crying?

After comforting herself internally, Ruby Sullivan gathered her courage to open the bathroom door, only to see Ethan Sterling sitting on the chair in front, startled.

"Why are you here?"

Ethan Sterling stared at her with a stoic face, not answering, instead stood up and gently hugged her into his arms. Five years, at most five years, he wanted the Thornebright Group erased.

Ruby Sullivan tried to push him away but couldn’t move him. She was about to speak when suddenly her mouth was blocked by him.

Ethan Sterling blocked her mouth with his own!

Ruby Sullivan’s mind went blank for a moment, foolishly wide-eyed and at a loss for what to do.

Ethan Sterling didn’t care about her emotions, just wanted to push her against the wall, kissing deeper, and deeper still. Hugging her tighter, and tighter still.

Ruby Sullivan regained a shred of reason commanding herself to push this man away, but more irrational thoughts made her want to follow his madness, sinking into it regardless of right or wrong, cause or effect.

After a brief confusion, she stretched her arms to hold his neck, jumped gently to hang onto him.

A night of madness.

When Ruby Sullivan opened her eyes, she thought she had a somewhat unrealistic dream, until she heard the calm breathing by her ear and felt the accessible body, confirming last night’s events.

She tilted her head to look at Ethan Sterling’s exquisite sleeping face, truly as beautiful as a painting, unparalleled.

Indeed, it held true that he could rely on looks for a living, yet he was also talented.

Envy-inducing.

She scrunched her nose, somewhat indignantly thinking. As she was about to get up for a shower, she was pulled back by Ethan Sterling on her shoulder, losing balance and fell back, heavily upon his chest, making her ears hurt uncomfortably.

Ethan Sterling exaggeratedly coughed a few times before opening his eyes, saying softly with full tenderness, "Attempting to murder your husband, huh."

Ruby Sullivan looked at him dumbly, somewhat dazzled, having to remind herself that he wasn’t playing with her romantically because he was half-asleep. Who was he? Ethan Sterling, a man without feelings, couldn’t do such things, even if this was for novelty and amusement, she must not believe it!

She took a deep breath, calming her facial features, "Are you crazy?"

Ethan Sterling blinked, seemed to have some deep thought, then smiled brightly, "Crazy." Afterward, he raised his head and captured her lips again.