Hearing the mention of Phoebe's name stoked Erica's anger into open flame. Her tone rose, growing haughty and commanding. "Matthew Huo, remember, both you and the title of Mrs. Huo are mine! As long as I don't give up, Phoebe will never have either."
As for Matthew's heart, though…she didn't know if it was possible to ensure it belonged to her. She could only make sure that his body and the title would be hers. She was confident of that because of Carlos and Debbie.
His heart or feelings would never be hers to control.
A new smile crept onto Matthew's face, more genuine than the last one. His tone softened as he said, "From now on, as long as you are obedient and don't leave me, I will give you more of what you want." But if she didn't listen to him and kept trying to escape, that would be another story.
"What do you think I want? Tell me," Erica said warily. Whatever her husband had in mind, she would see if she was interested in it.
Matthew retrieved a black card from a drawer and placed it on the desk before her. He handled it as carefully as if it was a loaded gun. "Here is twelve billion. If you don't run away and get pregnant with my child in three months, the money will be yours."
It was a diamond-level bank card owned by ZL Group. In fact, the account was already in the name of Erica Li.
However, Matthew would not tell her the truth, not unless he won her heart completely first.
It was always possible that he would lose both his wife and his fortune in the end. These days, it seemed to be growing harder and harder to ignore.
"What?!" As usual, Erica was too excited to know what to say. Waiting for her voice to come back to her was difficult.
She thought, 'Twelve billion! I have never seen so much money!
Please, can someone pinch me? I need to know if I'm dreaming now!'
"You didn't hear me wrong," Matthew told her almost solemnly. "You will have all this if you don't run away within three months and get pregnant with MY child."
Erica couldn't fail to notice how he emphasized the word "my." Why was he talking nonsense? Did she look like a woman who would have an affair? She couldn't even keep up with Matthew every night. How could she have the energy to deal with another man?
Erica picked up the bank card and kissed it. "Deal!"
She could get twelve billion dollars for having a child with Matthew. Laughter rumbled in her heart, and she struggled to hold it inside. 'Oh my, I'm going to be a rich woman. Hahaha…'
A giddy, whimsical smile took over her face, and it still hadn't faded when she strolled out of the building moments later.
If she had twelve billion dollars, she wouldn't need to go to school anymore. She could buy Matthew's company, let him work for her, and then keep a bunch of young men for herself; he could be just part of her own personal harem. And if he didn't like it, what did that matter? She would give him the cold shoulder every day, as he had done to her so many times.
Out on the street, wrapped up in her fantasies, she at last was unable to contain herself. Ignoring the other pedestrians, she burst into unmitigated laughter like a maniac.
Everyone nearby dutifully ignored the woman's foolish antics—except for one man who spotted and recognized her as he parked his car nearby. "Hi, Rika!" he called, waving as he walked up to her briskly. "What's wrong with you?"
"Oh, Sheffield!" Erica turned to him, beginning to come back to herself, but her delirious smile had yet to fade.
"I'm glad you recognize me," Sheffield said, hiding his uneasiness. "I thought you'd gone nuts, laughing like that out in public. Did you just come out of Matthew's office?"
"Yes! Sheffield, do you think…" Erica cast a look over her shoulder, up at the towering building she had just left. "Can ten billion buy the whole ZL Group?" The remaining two billion would be enough for her to squander after that!
Rather than answering immediately, Sheffield leaned in and felt her forehead with the back of his hand. "Hm, you don't have a fever," he remarked. "Rika, don't you know?"
"Know what?"
He pointed up at the building, which shone gloriously as it always did. "You meant, could ten billion dollars buy this company?"
Erica nodded immediately.
"Well," Sheffield explained, "the market value of ZL Group has just been reassessed. It's worth thirty-six trillion!"
"What?" Erica mouth was open wide enough to fit an egg in.
Sheffield added, "Dollars!" In comparison, despite his hard work, the market value of Theo Group had just reached one trillion dollars.
"Oh! I can't believe it!" Erica was completely dumbfounded. Was her husband that rich? How could she not have known?
She'd been aware that the Huo family was wealthy, of course. But she'd assumed its value would be somewhere in the tens of billions, maybe.
Reality seemed to have slapped her hard in the face and was telling her, "Erica Li, your husband is fabulously rich; he has a mountain of money.
And if you play your cards right, you can sit on the top of the mountain with him."
No wonder that Phoebe was trying to deprive Erica of the position of Mrs. Huo, even at the expense of her own child! That scheming woman had to have already known how rich Matthew was!
Compared to all that wealth, an unborn baby was probably worthless in Phoebe's eyes.
"Rika, Rika…" Seeing that Erica had spaced out, Sheffield snapped his fingers in front of her eyes. "Are you with me? Didn't you know about this?"
He had assumed that everyone would know that the Huo family was one of the richest families in the world. It seemed odd to him that this would be unknown to anyone close to Matthew—let alone his own wife! Then again, Matthew had always been too low-key, and it sometimes led to misunderstandings.
"Sheffield, thank you for telling me this!" Erica said. With so much money at stake, now she was more determined than ever to drive Phoebe away.
Sheffield nodded. "Oh, you're welcome. It's my pleasure. By the way, I think I should tell you that recently, some women have been acting very, um, restless. They think that you and Matthew don't love each other and have started to covet your husband. So from now on, the two of you should probably show off your love for each other more often! These women are unscrupulous, and are bound to cause trouble for you otherwise. So you have to make sure they know that you two are deeply in love, understand?"
Erica stared at him, somewhat baffled. 'Show how deeply in love we are?' she echoed in her thoughts. Perhaps Sheffield had missed the memo, but Erica and Matthew didn't love each other that much. What was she supposed to do?
Well, she had to admit that she seemed to have fallen in love with Matthew, this extremely wealthy man. But he seemed to be in love with someone else. What should she do to fix that and win his heart completely?
Erica barely noticed when Sheffield said goodbye and headed into the building. All she was thinking about was money, the twelve billion dollars in the black card and the market value of ZL Group.
At night, in the Su family's dining room
It was a rare night, with all the Su family members present—the exception being Tessie, who had been sent to the slum.
Fanya and Camille were having dinner quietly. Lyman, who was sitting in the host seat, couldn't help but complain about Phoebe. "Matthew Huo used to take care of our company from time to time. But now because of you, he doesn't pay much attention to us anymore—just our company, which it seems he's interested in acquiring for himself. If he succeeds in that, we'll be reduced to bankruptcy!"
Hearing this, Camille glanced at Phoebe coldly and hissed, "Loser!" Phoebe was in a low state. She had gone to great lengths to build a relationship with Matthew, but all her efforts had been in vain. What was more, she had even lost a child, which doubled her misery.
Despite being scolded, she didn't dare lose her temper. She bit her lower lip and spoke, her voice low. "Dad, Mom, Camille, it's really not my fault. It's all because of Erica. She's so arrogant—her meddling ruined everything!" As well, she knew that Matthew loved Erica so much that Phoebe no longer had any chance of interfering with their relationship.
