Chapter 184 The Mistress
"Scared?"
"Are you here to torture me?"
He shook his head. "No, I couldn't bear it."
"Have you considered what might happen to me? Threatened by you on one side, tormented by Nicole on the other... Joshua, are you trying to drive me to my grave?"
"You won't die." Joshua's voice, in contrast to Brittany's trembling tone, was surprisingly gentle. "Brittany, you'll live to be a hundred."
That was his sincere wish for her. A hundred years.
"Joshua! I can give up everything and let you control me, but please don't be so ruthless. How humiliated would the Everlys look when Nicole creates a scene?"
As she spoke, tears began glistening in her eyes.
She didn't want to cry, but she couldn't help it.
Joshua sighed. "Okay, Brittany, I was just joking."
Brittany stayed quiet.
"Really, I'm just teasing you," he said. "How could I let Nicole find out? If she makes a fuss, how could you still be by my side like now?"
"But what about what you said earlier, about 'like before’?"
"I'll protect you," he assured her as his hands encircled her slender waist. "I'll make sure you can stay by my side as long as possible."
Brittany fell silent for a moment, then turned around to face him.
Joshua's arms still looped around her waist, pulling her closer into his embrace. "What do you want to say?"
"Are you still afraid Nicole will find out?"
“Scared? Of course, I'm scared. After all, I'm about to get engaged to her; we've even set the date. At this crucial point, I can't afford any mistakes.”
"You're about to get engaged, and yet you come to meddle with me?"
"I can't let you go." Joshua said, "The truth is, I really want to be with you."
Brittany couldn't help but curse, "You're insane!"
"Curse if you must." He just smiled, unconcerned by her anger, "I'm marrying Nicole, but I still crave you. I had to devise a plan to make you come back."
"Aren't you worried about hurting Nicole's feelings?"
"If you don't tell, and I don't tell, how would she know? Huh?"
"You scum..."
Joshua silenced her lips, "I don't like those words."
Brittany looked at him, her heart-stirring. If Joshua was so afraid of Nicole finding out, then...
"Don't get any crooked ideas," Joshua saw right through her, "If you spill this to Kimberly, I guarantee, your Everly family and the Everly Corporation won't be able to take a step in New York."
Her last bit of hope was extinguished.
Brittany no longer harbored thoughts of resistance.
She knew all too well that whatever Joshua wanted her to do, she had to comply without resistance.
His words were never empty threats; they were statements of fact.
Should Brittany defy him, he'd surely follow through.
"Alright." Brittany nodded, "I'll listen to you and try my best to cooperate. In the end, it's just like being a mistress, isn't it? I’ll have to be kept in the shadows to protect myself."
There was a shadow in Joshua's eyes, "A mistress?"
"Yeah, that's what I am now." Brittany said with a smile, leaning close to him, just a breath away from his lips, "It's you, Joshua, who made me a mistress from an independent, single woman."
As she finished, her lips were fiercely sealed with his.
Joshua's kiss was like a release.
Brittany didn't resist; on the contrary, she was very responsive.
She tilted her head back to meet him and eagerly kissed him back, even standing on her tiptoes and wrapping her arms around his neck, their embrace deepening...
Joshua had intended to bring anger, to punish.
But Brittany defied the script, enticing him so thoroughly that he lost all sense.
"Typical..." she said with a light laugh when they parted, "Men really love this."
Red veins threaded through the whites of Joshua's eyes.
"I haven't had dinner yet. I'm starving," she said. "Should we order delivery, go out to eat, or... do you want to cook something?"
"I'm not touching you today," Joshua replied, maintaining a respectful tone. "I said I'd be polite."
"Oh, so you can be polite about that sort of thing?"
"Nothing's impossible when you're with me," Joshua said as he released her. "Let's head out. What are you in the mood for?"
He bent down to grab his car keys.
"I'm up for anything," Brittany shrugged. "Can I head back home after we eat?"
"Stay over tonight."
"Sure."
She was acting just as Joshua had hoped she would.
But her compliance, rather than satisfying him, left him feeling like there was a knot in his chest that he couldn't shake.
He walked toward the exit, instinctively reaching out for Brittany's hand, then thought better of it and simply lifted his elbow.
Brittany glanced at the gesture, quickly caught on, and linked her arm through his. "Let's go."
It all seemed so natural.
As if nothing had happened, as if they were still in love, as if time had rewound to the days when they were a happy couple with a future looming bright ahead.
Inside, however, Brittany felt nothing but hatred.
Hatred for his infidelity, his coercion, his relentless grip on her, which subjected her to this humiliation.
She despised herself too, for misjudging so terribly and choosing such a man.
He truly didn't deserve her.
Joshua asked nonchalantly, "What did you do during the days you took off?"
"Do you want the truth or a lie?"
"A lie."
"I stayed in, not feeling too well," Brittany answered. "I'm better now."
After a pause, Joshua inquired, "And the truth?"
Brittany tilted her head to meet his eyes. "I spent those three days revisiting our entire history, from when we met to when we broke up. Then I got rid of everything connected to you, to us, not leaving a single item behind."
"Oh." His response was calm. "Good for you. Time to start over—no need to leave any trace of me in your world."
"I hope you get tired of me soon," Brittany said. "After all, a woman gets boring if kept around too long. With your status, you can have any woman you want. It's okay to change things up now and then."
"That's not an option."
"Why not?"
"Because," Joshua said, "none of them are as pure as you."
Brittany laughed. "Fair point."
At Willowbrook Estate, Isabella sat on her bed, rubbing on body lotion.
Her phone chimed with a new message.
She glanced at the message that Amber had sent.
"Isabella, someone spotted Lynda and Grace together today. It seems like they're up to no good. Keep your eyes peeled."
Isabella replied, "Got it."
No sooner had she sent the response than the bathroom door swung open, and Sebastian emerged.
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