Maxwell prepared a boiled egg and a few slices of toast, placing a clean cup in front of Lily and elegantly poured her a glass of milk. The boiled egg was indeed delicious, and at least, Lily enjoyed it wholeheartedly.
"Is it good?" The man asked gracefully, reading the newspaper.
Lily nodded and gave him a thumbs-up.
"Aren't you afraid that I might have spiked your food with something?" Maxwell teased after seeing how satisfied she was with her meal.
Midway through a sip of milk, Lily choked and looked at him with a mix of concern and fear. "What do you mean?"
She knew this breakfast wasn't as innocent as it seemed!
Maxwell set his newspaper aside and pointed to a picture of a woman on the magazine cover. "Just joking. Look at this; you're quite famous now, making the front page of the morning news."
The woman in the picture was none other than Lily. It was an article from a few days ago, and now it had made it to the top of the morning news. Lily reached out to grab the paper, a rare softness in her gaze as she looked at Maxwell.
“Did I do something wrong? Explain it clearly. Stop threatening me through food!”
“If your answer satisfies me, I’ll have all copies of this morning’s edition retracted, and I’ll terminate our contract without you owing me anything. How does that sound?” Maxwell leaned back in his chair, his expression holding a hint of anticipation.
Lily felt a wave of relief but didn’t show it. If Maxwell was willing to end their contract, it couldn’t be better. So, she rested her chin on her hand and looked at him with an innocent expression. “I promise I’ll tell you everything you want to know!”
“Who is the father of your child?” Maxwell asked seriously.
The softness on Lily’s face instantly turned into a frosty, uncomfortable frown.
“Can’t you ask something simpler? That’s a private matter,” Lily replied, lowering her head and biting into her toast.
Her attitude only deepened Maxwell’s suspicion. According to the information Elias had dug up, Lily had left home at sixteen. Her father, Gregory Bennett, had spread the word that his eldest daughter had gone to study abroad in America, but after two years, there was no trace of her, as if she had vanished from the world. Based on the child’s age, during the time she was pregnant and the child was one year old, there was no news of her. The only suspicious gap was the two years she was missing.
Moreover, if they could locate the father, it would prove that Lily had no connection to Monica. However, this woman never talked about those years.
Maxwell gave her a cold stare. "I'm very curious about this. If you tell me who the father is, I'll end our contract immediately, and I won't make things difficult for you. Think it over."
The air became still, thick with tension. After a while, Lily finally looked directly into Maxwell’s eyes. "Can you tell me why you’re so curious? Or maybe explain why you even made me your fake girlfriend?"
Since they were being frank with each other, Lily wasn’t afraid to ask all the questions on her mind.
She looked at him and continued, "Technically, the first time we met was in Ethan Montgomery’s office when I was covering for him. You were the patient, and I was the doctor. Although something unexpected happened that day… you know very well that I wasn’t the one who leaked your health information. In fact, you don’t care what others think about you. If you did, a healthy man like yourself wouldn’t have gone to the hospital without a reason. I don’t know what your real goal is, but you deliberately dragged me into this mess, blackmailed me over a trivial matter… Tell me, Mr. Thornton, what exactly do you want? Have you succeeded in your goal?"
Maxwell remained calm, staring at her just as coldly as before. "You tell me who the father is, and I'll tell you what my real intentions are. Deal?"
Lily took a deep breath. "Fine, deal!"
Clearing her throat, she began, "I initially planned to study abroad because Camila always found ways to make my life miserable. But my father, Gregory, didn’t agree. Another reason was my mother’s situation. So, I ran away with a group of friends. I was sixteen at the time. After one unexpected night, I got pregnant. That night, I had too much to drink, and I might have been drugged without knowing it. I was completely confused and couldn’t see the man's face clearly. I don’t know who the father is. If you look closely, though, our child has slightly curly black hair, with sharp, well-defined features. My guess is that his father is Middle Eastern, possibly Egyptian, Iranian, or maybe even Iraqi.”
Maxwell had been eagerly awaiting the truth from Lily's lips, but he hadn’t expected her to spin such a tale with a mix of sincerity and humor.
He furrowed his brows. “I don’t want to waste my breakfast listening to nonsense."
Clearly, Maxwell didn’t believe the half-joking, half-serious story Lily had just told him.
Lily could only shrug helplessly. "Whether you believe me or not is up to you. Everything I’ve said is true. Now it’s your turn. What’s your motive? Why are you so interested in me?"
"You really want to know?" Maxwell beckoned her with his finger.
For some reason, when Lily heard Maxwell's tone, she suddenly wanted to shake her head. She wanted to say, "No, I don’t want to know." But her curiosity got the better of her. In the end, she nodded and walked over to where Maxwell was sitting.
He leaned in and whispered in her ear, "Because I want to sleep with you."
Lily, in a fit of anger, grabbed the glass of milk and splashed it all over Maxwell. “You pervert!”
Maxwell raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that what you said last night? That you wanted to sleep with me."
Just as she was about to turn around, Lily froze on the spot. She spun back to face Maxwell, "What did I say last night?"
"You said, 'I want to sleep with you because I have feelings for you,’" Maxwell replied.