Crystal’s One Night of Love
Chapter 280

Chapter 280 Innate Need For Conquest

Right then, Henry figured it out.

Crystal's foremost priority was her children. He came after them.

The discovery made him ill at ease.

As he gazed down upon her delicate features, he seemed to see another version of himself, a version that held all memories of him.

He did not give in to her. But the next day, he found himself returning to the Miller residence.

They sky grew dimmer as the evening progressed.

Henry did not head indoors immediately. He leaned against his car, lighting a cigarette and taking slow drags, smoke veiling his face.

The Miller residence echoed with children's laughter and spirited play in the living room, infusing the surroundings with vibrant energy. Yet, this liveliness felt somewhat foreign to him.

After he finished smoking, he walked into the living room.

A young and unfamiliar handsome boy occupied a seat.

Toys were scattered around him, and he seemed somewhat awkward.

Before Henry could inquire about the boy, Crystal walked over with a tray of freshly baked cookies. She crouched down before the boy and said tenderly. "Christopher, these are fresh from the oven. Give them a try."

The boy appeared somewhat bashful as he sampled a few cookies.

"Is it good?" Crystal ruffled his hair affectionately.

"It is!"

Skyler came up next to him. "Christopher, Mommy put lots of milk in them! Why don't you come back

tomorrow?"

A blush crept onto the young boy's face as he nodded in agreement.

Henry's brow furrowed with concern.

No matter how he looked at it, this boy named Christopher appeared like a young daughter-in-law raised by the Miller family.

He felt that a conversation with Crystal was imperative.

Later at night, when the children had finally gone to bed, Henry knocked on the door of the children's room. "Convenient to talk? I want to discuss something about Skyler with you."

Crystal was always open to discussing their children, so she looked down at Skyler who was nestled in her arms and murmured, "I'll be in your room in a moment."

A while later, she entered his room, which was dimly lit.

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Henry, who had taken a shower, sported a casual white bathrobe that highlighted his strong build.

While Crystal sized him up, Henry did the same and snorted. "You're all bundled up. Why, are you afraid I'll do anything to you?"

Crystal ignored him. She settled on the couch across from him and asked gently, "What is it about Skyler you want to discuss?"

"Who's Christopher to the Millers? Who is he to Skyler? And if my guess is right, he has Rh-negative. blood, doesn't he?" Henry didn't beat around the bush.

Crystal lowered her gaze. "You've got it right."

Tension hung in the air.

Henry looked at Crystal.

In her pale pink sweater dress, she projected a gentle demeanor, but behind that facade lay remarkably assertive actions.

Not wanting to attract his parents' attention, he said in a low yet stern voice, "That's a living, breathing human being, not some item you can trade! Crystal... how much did you spend to come to an agreement with his parents?"

Crystal let out a chuckle.

He's accusing me of being immoral.

Crystal refused to bear the brunt of this blame.

Despite the late hour, she placed a phone call to Edith. "Miss Sage, could you retrieve the first document from my safe at the office? Yes, bring it over to the Miller residence."

With that, she hung up the phone.

Henry's brows knitted in puzzlement.

An hour later, Edith arrived, handed over the document, and departed swiftly.

Crystal passed the document to Henry. "The answers you're searching for are within these pages."

Henry stiffened after reading the contents.

As a legal expert, he had never imagined himself performing such an outlandish action until he read that document.

It was him.

He was the one who had pumped two hundred million into Christopher's father's company.

He was the one who had engaged in golf rounds with Christopher's father.

He was the one who had decided to have Christopher's continuous presence by Skyler's side throughout their upbringing

Since the start, it was all him, or perhaps the other version of hum

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He raised his head to look at Crystal.

***

She was standing quietly before the floor-to-ceiling window. After a while, she murmured, "Henry, even if I don't want to, I have to admit that you two are different people." For those three years, Henry had single-handedly nurtured Skyler.

He had cherished Skyler to his core, and he had been prepared to make monumental sacrifices.

Yet, despite the rationality and composure the figure before her displayed, he was not the identical individual he once was.

It was not that Crystal wanted to give up on him, but that she simply received nothing besides sorrow from the entire matter. She stood in the darkness of the night, loneliness radiating off her back.

Henry's lips curled ever so slightly.

Certainly, he had many ways to plead his case, yet the words refused to cross his lips, for Crystal seemed to be in despair. Is she... longing for the other me?

It was snowing outside.

The room enveloped them in warmth, courtesy of the heater. The floor-to-ceiling window was covered in a layer of mist.

Crystal drew on the glass window absent-mindedly. Her voice was slightly raspy as she said, "Henry, you turned me into someone like you, but you left me behind and gone back in time."

The figure before her was not the Henry Miller she loved.

Their spirits were fundamentally incongruent.

Despite their shared intimacy, she felt empty inside.

Crystal's current look was enough to make a man's heart flutter.

Henry approached her unhurriedly, then wrapped his arms around her lithe form from behind. He leaned into her ear and whispered, "Is he truly remarkable? What is it about him that captivates you, hmm?" He knew he should not feel this way, but the discomfort still grew in him.

He envisioned a scenario wherein this woman had reveled in the company of another variant of himself. cavorting unabashedly in the embrace of their shared bed, her cheeks flushed and her voice intoxicating all because of another man.

The thought of it kindled an acute sense of unease within him.

Crystal tilted her head slightly. "You want to know?"

Henry hummed in response, and he began kissing her from her cheek to her ear, down to her neck. Those tender, reverential kisses mirrored an act of devotion.

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Crystal turned around and reciprocated his kiss.

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After a long while, as she leaned against the crook of his warm neck, she said, "If you want to see it, I'll show it to you."

As the night grew deeper, Crystal went back.

She left a videotape with Henry, allowing him to watch it at his own pace.

In the dark gray bedroom, Henry was in a bathrobe, leaning against the bedframe and operating the

remote control.

The next second, he was stunned by the scene before him.

It was the last lovemaking session between Henry and Crystal, with him sitting in the study and Crystal tending to him with care in his embrace. She was pregnant at the time, around four months along. Henry watched intently, observing her long legs on the bedsheet.

His heart threatened to pound out of his chest.

He saw another version of himself gently tugging Crystal's long hair and tenderly kissing her. "That's enough, Crystal. That's enough."

He witnessed them sharing a heartbreaking kiss.

Hints of blue light illuminated the dimly lit bedroom.

The videotape lasted all ten minutes, but Henry watched the scene again and again.

Early in the morning, Henry could not maintain the same demeanor. He went downstairs and immediately asked a housekeeper about Crystal.

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With a smile, the housekeeper said, "Mrs. Miller left early in the morning. It seems she went to the airport to pick someone up."

Henry felt a little disappointed.

He sat down and had a cup of coffee, his thoughts consumed by Crystal's despondency from the night before as well as the intimacy they once shared in the videotape.

He could not believe that Crystal would act in that way for a man.

Throughout the last six months, they had had sex on numerous occasions, where he assumed he had relished moments of gratification. However, upon witnessing the contents of the video, he recognized that Crystal, nestled in his bed, had never relinquished her grip, not even once.

Perhaps it was a man's innate need for conquest, for he found himself growing impatient to have her.

He yearned to witness her submission, to observe her ablaze with the fervor of passion.

Yet, the tendrils of temptation had lingered throughout the night, only for her to vanish at dawn.

Henry was ensnared by the emotional and physical yearning of her.

The law firm buzzed with ceaseless activity.

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He was no longer the youthful figure capable of casting aside his professional obligations to chase after his wife, but she was still the reason behind his frustration throughout the morning. When noon came, he called her, and she picked up.

Following the events the night before, their dynamic had shifted. After all, Henry had been imparted with shocking knowledge.

Leaning back against the chair, he loosened his tie. In a tone softer than usual, he said, "There's a musical this evening. Melora said it features your favorite actress. How about we go on a date?"

At Seeas Corporation, Crystal stood by the tall window and gazed at the snowfall outside.

She knew that Henry was courting her, and with her understanding of him, she presumed that his actions. were a direct response to the video.

He surely yearned for more.

He hungered for it, but Crystal did not want to give it to him, at least not right now.

She gently brushed her fingers past the icy glass and let out a soft chuckle. "You can't even replace someone to watch a musical with you, Mr. Miller." Her words were laced with a playful tease that he was sure to appreciate.

With surprising honesty, he replied, "We'll start with the musical. Then, we'll stay out in a hotel and enjoy the snow with a glass of red wine."

Crystal lowered her gaze and flashed a faint smile.

He just wants my body, doesn't he?

"Your proposal is undeniably enticing, but... I'm committed to a business dinner this evening." Crystal lied and she reckoned he knew that.

However, a man has all the patience in the world if he really wants to pursue a woman.

Sure enough, he remained calm.

In a soft voice, he asked, "What about this afternoon? Will you be free in the afternoon? Shall we meet?"

As she watched the falling snow outside, her smile faded. How persistent.

Nonetheless, she agreed to the meeting. "I'll be in the company gym at half past four. I have an hour."

The gym...

Henry felt a little disappointed, but he reminded himself that it was better than nothing.

The call ended.

Crystal recalled the message Jamie had sent to her an hour ago that read: Mr. Miller has fired Lara.