Chapter 12 A Leash That Keeps the Dog in Its Place

• Denzel stole a confused glance at Christopher before taking the man’s phone from his hand. As he briefly skimmed through the notification, he chuckled and said, “Is this yours? Not even 100,000? That’s pretty thrifty of her, you know. What a breath of fresh air, huh? Anyway, whenever I give those women my credit card, they always spend everything without leaving a single cent to spare. Because of them, I’ve become wary of lending my card to others.”
• Denzel placed the phone down and shook his head scornfully as he spoke. Right after that, his expression returned to its former solemn state as he said, “Honestly, I think you’ve gone too far by marrying her on a whim just because of that incident all those years ago. You’ll be labeled as her second husband from now on—how shameful it is. Besides, aren’t you afraid of your old man’s interrogation? The Waynes will complain for sure; they won’t let you off easily for giving away the title of Mrs. Wayne without a second thought.”
• “Go to hell!”
• Christopher casually grabbed a pillow and flung it toward Denzel’s face.
• “Who cares if they complain? Did they have to tell me whenever they brought a woman home as their wife?”
• Then, Christopher raised a brow in disagreement and continued, “A piece of paper doesn’t mean anything to me; it’s nothing but a leash…”
• He paused for a moment, and a sense of maliciousness surfaced in his alluring eyes. “A leash that keeps the dog in its place.”
• Denzel tensed up momentarily at Christopher’s response before the corners of his mouth curved menacingly. “How merciless. What did she do to you? Back then…”
• “That’s enough. If there’s nothing else, just leave. I had a tiring day, so I’m going to bed.”
• “It’s your wedding night—are you really going to sleep here tonight? You can’t possibly let your wife sleep alone in the house.”
• Then, a startled cry escaped his mouth—Christopher was grabbing him by the collar.
• “Kindly get yourself out of here.”
• Then, he cast him aside without saying anything else.
• To say that it was their wedding night… Wasn’t Diane having the time of her life as she swiped his card and spent his money on this very night?
• After kicking out his buddy, Christopher swiftly slammed the door shut. Without another glance at his phone, he went over to the king-size bed in the middle of the room.
• Meanwhile, at the entrance to the hospital, Emilia’s face scrunched up helplessly after enduring Diane’s fierce warning. She rushed over to Maria’s side and complained, “Look at her, Mom. She had this credit card with her all along, but she wasn’t even willing to pay for Dad earlier. Now, she’s screaming at me for buying a few pieces of clothing. Who even is that friend of yours? To have this much money on them—Diane, don’t tell me you’ve found yourself a sugar daddy.”
• Emilia was afraid that Diane would attack her in the middle of her taunting, so she hid behind Maria’s back timidly. Although Diane’s blood was boiling, she didn’t feel like explaining anything to them. She simply put away the card and said, “This card belongs to my friend whether you believe it or not. Emilia, you’d better return all the money that you’ve just spent; it’s someone else’s.”
• Even so, Diane knew that her words didn’t sound threatening at all, so she quickly left the hospital despite Maria’s desperate efforts to stop her.
• Diane knew that her family could never be satisfied with anything; she didn’t want to imagine what would happen if they found out about her marriage with Christopher.
• In fact, Emilia’s selfish shopping spree today was the perfect example of an aftermath. No matter what, she couldn’t let them know about it for now.
• Earlier that day, Diane merely took the card in the spur of the moment as she was taken aback by Christopher’s words. She had never planned to spend his money, but in the blink of an eye, she’d actually used up quite a lot of it.
• What should I do now?
• Diane didn’t stay at the hospital for the night—she wanted to avoid the two women’s endless pestering, and she didn’t need to take care of her father since he was still in the ICU. Hence, she returned to Christopher’s second home.
• Tonight was their first night as a married couple, but she wasn’t looking forward to anything. Nonetheless, she didn’t expect that Christopher wouldn’t come home at all.
• It wasn’t only that night—he didn’t show up for the rest of the week either. It was as if they weren’t married at all.
• Regardless, Diane couldn’t care less about Christopher’s long absence—it was only a marriage of convenience, after all. That week, Diane bounced between the hospital and her office as she lived a busy and hectic life.
• At the hospital, Maria was constantly trying to get Diane to spill the beans regarding the credit card; at her office, it was just the start of the week when she was bombarded with shocking news.