Chapter 275: Came to Drink with You
Winona had originally wanted to get some information from Rodolfo, but she hadn't expected coming up empty-handed. Instead, she found herself in more trouble. "I don't have any extra space for you to stay. Figure it out yourself,” she declared.
Matthew's apartment was a modest one-bedroom unit, and even if there were extra rooms, she couldn't let someone like Rodolfo, whom she knew nothing about, stay there.
"I'm a bodyguard. My job is to protect you, and I can’t do that if I’m not by your side,” Rodolfo countered, frowning as he realized Winona indeed had no spare room for him. “I can crash on the couch.”
Winona didn't budge an inch. "You can buy a tent and set it up outside. As for the ‘gentleman’ you mentioned, he and I are merely business partners. I haven't even seen his face and I don't even know if we're talking about the same person. In this situation, I can't trust someone he arranged to live in my house."
She assumed the "gentleman" was the enigmatic faceless man. Emerson Tate, along with two others who had initially approached her, had also called him in a similar manner. Yet, Winona harbored the suspicion that others were orchestrating events from the shadows.
Was the person in the third-floor apartment of the hillside villa the faceless man, or someone else?
Turning to Rodolfo, Winona demanded, "Unless you can tell me who the middle-aged man with you in City A was."
Rodolfo's expression was unyielding. "I don't know any middle-aged man. I left after saving you, but I did call the police for you before leaving. The person you saw might have been a cop."
Liar.
Winona rolled her eyes and limped to the door to see him out. She had twisted her ankle on a rock in the parking lot downstairs, and now it was swollen and throbbed painfully with each step.
Rodolfo was definitely here to mess with her.
Annoyed, she ordered him to leave, "Please go."
Outside, Zachary was about to knock when the door swung open. Warm light poured out alongside a woman’s playful voice, brushing away his building anger and resentment, even eliciting a smile. “Being proactive this time, huh?”
Winona had been focused on looking at Rodolfo but hadn't noticed anything outside the door. The sudden voice startled her.
She turned to see Zachary's strikingly handsome face and asked, "What are you doing here?"
His smile vanished instantaneously. "If you didn't know I was coming, then who were you talking to just now?"
Rodolfo, with his imposing demeanor, was conspicuously settled on the couch, catching Zachary’s eye immediately.
He hadn't noticed earlier, as all his attention had been on Winona, leaving no room for other distractions.
Zachary frowned. "Who is he?"
In the three years he was married to Winona, he had never seen her bring unrelated people home. Business was conducted outside, otherwise, he wouldn't have learned about her impressive side business until long after their divorce.
Winona was about to speak when Rodolfo stood up from the couch. Tall and long-legged, he quickly walked to the door and said to Winona, "I'll pick you up tomorrow morning."
He gave a curt nod to Zachary. "Mr. Bailey."
After Rodolfo had left, Winona turned to Zachary. "What are you here for?"
She thought she had made herself clear last night.
Zachary’s face remained stoically stern. "I'm in a bad mood. Came to drink with you."
Winona raised an eyebrow. "What did you say?"
She thought she had misheard. If Zachary needed a drinking buddy, he should go find Samuel, not his ex-wife.
No man, if his intentions were entirely innocent, would casually invite a woman to drink alone. The implications were too risky.
"Go find Samuel to drink with," Winona advised, moving to close the door.
Zachary raised his hand to stop her. "He's out of the country for half a month."
Winona didn't know Samuel well and certainly didn’t have his contact information. Even if she did, she wouldn’t bother confirming.
"Then go find Dylan, or Anthony, or hire some company. Just leave me out of it," Winona said irritably, running her hand through her hair. Seeing Zachary still holding the door, she decided to play her trump card. "I'm on my period, so I can't drink."
"Your period is at the end of the month. It's only mid-month now," he retorted, "still half a month away."
Winona's face flushed with embarrassment. She hadn’t expected Zachary to know even this intimate detail. "You even keep track of that? Zachary, you're a pervert!"
Zachary sneered, half amused, half irked. "You've had the same cycle since our marriage. I’m not blind."
"Yeah, you're not blind. You're just too cold-hearted to see my worth for three years."
"What worth?" Zachary shot back, pressing a hand against the door as he squeezed through the gap. "Ordering takeout for me, cooking for Matthew, lying in my bed calling his name. Or getting drunk and crying, saying you should've listened to him and not married me."
Winona, caught off guard by his accusations, didn't notice he had already slipped inside. "That was all before we got married."
"But the way you treat Matthew differently than me wasn't before marriage. You thought he saved you, so you fell in love with him. When you found out it was me who saved you, all I got was a 'thank you.' He lent you three billion when he was flush with cash, and you were so grateful you treated him like a god, even prayed to his image every day!"
Winona felt the accusation sting. Zachary was deliberately casting Matthew in a saintly light, almost like he wanted to erase him from her life.
"And the money I spent on you back then—it far exceeded what he gave. Yet you never appreciated me, always wanting a divorce, and after the divorce, you wouldn't even talk to me!"
For the first time, Zachary spoke so much without interruption, leaving him out of breath. "Do you have any water here?"
Winona's anger simmered over as she sneered, turning towards the couch. She had entirely forgotten wanting to keep Zachary out, her mind clouded by rage. "No, if you want to drink, drink your own piss."
Zachary pursed his lips, his tone softening a notch. "Girls shouldn't be so crude, always talking about dirty things."
"Can't stand me?" Winona mocked, "Then leave."
"No, you talk, I'll listen." Zachary walked to the couch as if he owned the place, frowning at the spot where Rodolfo had been sitting.
Winona said, "Can you have some decency?"
"If I had any, I wouldn't be chasing you."
It was painfully evident how steadfast Winona was in her desire to sever ties with him.
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