Chapter 274: It’s Written All Over Your Face

Chapter 274: Chapter 274: It’s Written All Over Your Face

At the primary crime scene—the basement where Leon Grant had imprisoned Sean Wright and Jaden—the police used Luminol to detect a large amount of bloodstains.

After forensic analysis, the blood was confirmed to belong to Sean Wright and Jaden.

The case was quickly solved, and the police issued a public statement.

Nina Halloway had been holed up at home for days. To smooth things over, she ended up giving Sean Wright’s family one hundred million in compensation.

Ethan Austin could see she was in a bad mood, but he didn’t know why she was so down.

"Nina, can we talk?"

He had prepared a glass of freshly squeezed juice and brought it to Nina Halloway’s room.

The woman was sitting up against the headboard, her face buried in her knees. She shook her head.

She didn’t want to talk. There was nothing to talk about.

Ethan Austin placed the juice on the nightstand. Seeing her with her head buried, not saying a word, he started to worry about her mental state.

"You can’t go on like this. You have to get out, get some fresh air."

She just shook her head again, too lethargic to even speak.

"If you keep this up, I’m going to make an appointment with a therapist for you."

Hearing this, Nina Halloway finally lifted her head.

She looked at Ethan Austin, puzzled. "I’m fine. Why would I need a therapist?"

"Your state of mind isn’t right."

It was a terrifying thing for a normally lively person to suddenly become so silent and withdrawn.

"If something’s on your mind, talk to me. Don’t keep it all bottled up inside; you’ll make yourself sick."

"Nothing’s on my mind."

"Don’t lie to me."

Ethan Austin sat down on the edge of the bed, took Nina Halloway’s hand, and held it tightly in his. "Whether you have something on your mind or not, it’s written all over your face."

Nina Halloway didn’t want to talk and buried her head again.

She lowered her head, closed her eyes, and was just about to ask Ethan Austin to leave when the man suddenly stood up and knelt on the bed with one leg.

He closed in on her quickly, grabbed both her ankles, and yanked her down forcefully.

Like a slippery eel, she slid down from the headboard and ended up underneath Ethan Austin.

The man loomed over her, his arms braced on either side of her body, trapping her firmly within his control.

"I’ll give you something to do, so you don’t keep overthinking."

Nina Halloway was a bit dazed. "What kind of something?"

RIP! The collar of her shirt was torn wide open.

Seeing the veins bulging on the back of his hand as he prepared to rip it further, Nina Halloway’s eyes went wide. She smacked his hand. "You jerk! This shirt was super expensive! Super expensive!"

The back of Ethan Austin’s hand turned red from the slap, but he was unfazed. His gaze was fixed deeply on Nina Halloway. "If you’re really that angry, how about a fight?"

Nina Halloway was furious. She grabbed his collar with both hands, trying with all her might to flip him over and pin him underneath her.

But Ethan Austin was a big guy, steady as a rock. She couldn’t even budge him.

Sensing her intention, Ethan Austin decided to cooperate.

He stopped resisting and, following the slight force from Nina Halloway’s hands, rolled over onto his back on the bed.

Nina Halloway immediately straddled his waist, grabbing his collar from above, determined to rip his shirt as well to vent her frustration.

Watching her strain and scrunch up her nose, Ethan Austin couldn’t help but let out an amused laugh.

When he laughed, her hands stopped, and her lips formed a pout. "What are you laughing at!"

"Laughing at how cute you are."

"..."

"Look at us, we’re already in position. How about... we continue?"

Nina Halloway’s cheeks flushed red in an instant. She patted his hard chest. "Stop messing around."

"We haven’t done it in a long time."

"..."

Nina Halloway’s eyes darted away. "It hasn’t been that long."

"It really has been a while. I’m young and full of energy, with pretty high needs. You understand, don’t you?"

Nina Halloway bit her lip. After a moment’s hesitation, she tried to get off of Ethan Austin, but he grabbed her by the waist and forcefully pulled her back down into his arms.

He turned the tables, flipping her onto her back beneath him. He captured her flailing hands, held them above her head, and lowered his head to kiss her.

「Two hours later.」

Nina Halloway was utterly spent. Her mind was completely blank, with no energy left to dwell on pointless thoughts.

She lay sprawled on the bed, panting delicately like a fish stranded on the shore.

Ethan Austin lay over her back, kissing her shoulders and neck, savoring the afterglow.

His phone suddenly chimed. He stretched out his arm, grabbed his phone from the nightstand, and saw a message from Anne. She was telling him to bring Nina Halloway over for hot pot at her place tonight.

Anne was on her annual leave and couldn’t sit still. She had bought a ton of ingredients, partly to have friends over and partly because she wanted to make her relationship with Evan Ford public.

She had asked Evan Ford, and he had no objections.

He planned to take her home to meet his elders after the New Year. The mere thought of meeting them made Anne nervous.

After all, her parents were no longer alive, and she only had her younger brother to depend on.

After messaging Ethan Austin, she sent a WhatsApp to Sophie Shaw, telling her to bring Mr. Blackwood along.

Putting her phone down, she started preparing the ingredients she’d bought in the kitchen.

Evan Ford appeared silently behind her like a ghost, giving her a fright.

He walked up beside her and started helping her prep the vegetables.

The Noble Young Master had likely never set foot in a kitchen, let alone prepped vegetables. He was clumsy and awkward.

Anne found him more of a hindrance than a help and pushed him away, but he just eagerly sidled up to her again.

"I’m not going to be a freeloader. I’m perfectly capable. Even if I’m not good at it now, I can learn. I’ll get it right eventually."

While they could hire a housekeeper for chores like this, he was more than happy to help.

He felt that living together meant sharing responsibilities. Doing some things together could be a lot of fun.

He kept helping, and even when Anne tried to shoo him away, he wouldn’t leave.

Watching his earnest expression, Anne suddenly felt this man was even more wonderful than she had imagined.

Perhaps because he was so cold, he always wore a sour expression, giving off an unapproachable vibe. The first time she saw Evan Ford, she had immediately remembered his icy face.

"Why don’t you ever smile? Did you have a bad childhood? Lack of affection or...?"

Evan Ford chuckled lightly. "No, my childhood was wonderful. My parents were very much in love, so I certainly didn’t lack affection."

"Then why do you walk around with such a sour face all day?"

"It might be my grandfather’s influence. He’s quite stern. For as long as I can remember, he has been extremely strict with me."

Especially after Mina Ford and Joseph Shaw eloped, his grandfather became even more severe with him.

He remembered his grandfather warning him that when he grew up, he was not to fool around, not to carelessly get a girl pregnant, and most certainly not to ask a girl to be with him if he couldn’t take responsibility for her.

Therefore, before he started a serious relationship with Anne, he had never been deeply involved with another woman. Of course, that also had something to do with his own particular... kinks.

"Oh, so you were strictly disciplined by your grandfather since you were a child. No wonder you like it when I scold you."

Anne raised an eyebrow, looking smug.

Evan Ford’s cheeks flushed slightly. "When Alaric and the others get here, you’d better not say anything reckless."

It was such a private matter. He was worried about Anne’s loose tongue—she had no filter.

If Alaric Blackwood found out about his little kink, he would probably be ridiculed by him for a long, long time.