Chapter 446 446

Vernon led her to go up to his penthouse.

Chloe walked past the kitchen, and her eyes darted to the minibar at the corner of the foyer.

She saw an opened bottle and a half-filled glass of wine, "You're drinking tonight?" she asked curiously. It had been a while since Vernon drank alcohol.

She still remembered how much of a drunkard Vernon when she first came to live in this apartment. She often picked up empty bottles of wine, beer, bourbon, gin, and even vodka scattered around Vernon's bedroom every morning. So she knew that Vernon was a raging alcoholic.

If she had to be honest, she didn't really like that lifestyle because Vincent often blamed alcohol for some of his beatings back when he started physically abusing Chloe, saying that he didn't mean it and it was because he got intoxicated.

But as she continued tolerating and enduring, Vincent didn't need to find alcohol as a reason to beat. If he was in the mood to hit Chloe, then he'd do it without hesitation.

Despite her disapproval, she couldn't openly voice her protest because alcohol might be the way for Vernon to de-stress after a long day at work.

"Just a little," Vernon admitted. "I'm just feeling stressed today."

Vernon felt guilty when he got caught drinking. He had been sober for a while because he drank to numb his pain.

Now that he had Chloe by his side, he didn't feel like he needed to drink excessively— well, maybe one bottle every two or three days in case he felt like he needed one, but no more than that.

Today was indeed a special occasion. Naturally, Vernon wouldn't drink when he wanted to touch Chloe. Who the hell would get drunk when you have the most beautiful woman naked on your bed? Oh, Vernon would stay 101% sober every night for that!

But today was special… because he had to brace himself. He'd tell Chloe about his worries and ask her opinion about his problem. It might not be much for many, but for a man like Vernon, opening up to his woman was a huge step he needed to take.

Meanwhile, Chloe worried with Vernon, "If you have to drink to de-stress, that means something difficult is going on. You should tell me!"

"Haha, it's nothing much," Vernon said as he tried to downplay the problem. He sat Chloe on the sofa and went to the kitchen to drink a glass of water to mask the smell of alcohol in his mouth.

Chloe's head followed Vernon's movement and replied, "I know it must be difficult, Vernon. You often drink when you're too stressed!" Chloe bit her lower lip, trying to curb her worry a little. But she had grown attached to Vernon and always wanted the best for him, "Please tell me what's wrong, maybe you can feel at ease after talking with me."

…

Vernon walked back to the living room but stopped before reaching the sofa where Chloe was sitting.

He leaned on the wall about five feet away from her.

Vernon stared back at Chloe, who was staring at him intensely, demanding him to tell his worries.

He sighed as he tried to curb his eagerness to tell his worry to Chloe. If he could, he'd love to throw himself at his woman and bury his face in Chloe's boobs or lap, then tell her all his worries.

She didn't even need to do anything. Just caressing his hair while gently whispering that everything would be alright was enough to satisfy him.

But he was feeling some sort of crisis right now. This feeling of vulnerability was something too foreign for a man like him. He preferred if Chloe would just see him as a tough man that feared and worried about nothing.

'Haha, that's kinda funny. I want her to see me as a man who feared or worried about nothing. But she could easily tell when I'm stressed…' Vernon had a thin smile as he nodded, "Well, couldn't be helped, I guess."

Vernon walked towards Chloe and stood in front of her.

He dropped on his knees before resting his head on Chloe's lap. He wrapped his hands around Chloe's waist and waited for Chloe to put her hand on top of his head before he could say a thing.

Chloe paused for a while, trying to process what was happening right now, "Vernon?" she called.

Vernon looked up at Chloe and stared for a while with puppy eyes, waiting eagerly to be petted.

Chloe frowned for a moment until she understood what he wanted.

Thus, Chloe slowly patted and caressed Vernon's hair with her fingers before asking, "You can tell me if something is burdening you. I may not be able to help much, but you'll usually feel better after letting it out, right?"

Vernon nodded. He returned to bury his head on Chloe's lap before muttering, "It's about Vincent."

Chloe's whole body jolted for a split second before she tried to calm down. She knew Vernon's big problems must've revolved around Vincent and his antiques.

"Y—You can tell me," Chloe said despite her nervousness. "You can tell me everything, Vernon. I'm not scared of him."

'Lie,' Vernon said in his heart. 'Obviously you're scared of him. Your fingers caressed me no more when I mentioned his name, and your soft thighs twitched and tensed right after.'

'But you still try to act calm just to make sure that I didn't panic, so I have to appreciate your effort and I will do the same, Chloe,' Vernon added.

"You know— he invited me to his office today, and he mentioned about my activities that have been crossing his territory in business," Vernon said. "I thought he'll try to repress me, since I know that he's an egomaniac bastard."

"But that's not the case. Instead of repressing me, he told me to make an ad for his new cosmetic line-up, and offered to give me 35% shares for that new cosmetic company," Vernon lifted his head and looked up at Chloe again. There was a trace of vulnerability in his eyes, like a confused boy trying to find an answer, "It's a tempting offer that will speed up the process, but I feel like Vincent is using this as a trap, and I don't know what kind of trap he set. He's unpredictable."

"Chloe, I don't know if I should accept his offer or not. What should I do?"