The Pampering CEO: Don't Mess With My Secretly-Married Sweet Wife
Chapter 193 Digging A Pit

Several snowflakes fluttered down in pale specks.

Wayne was sketching on the canvas, while Susan was drawing up a blueprint on the stool next to him.

From time to time, she would breathe into her hand.

"What a blockhead I am! It must be very cold for you to stay here outside with me. Come, give me your hands. I'll warm you up a little," Wayne said, the feeling of concern lacing his voice.

After that, he walked up to Susan. However, just as he reached out for her hand, she avoided it and shoved her hand into her pocket. Then, putting on a smile, she said, "It's okay. I'll put my hand into my pocket and it will warm up later."

Seeing how resolute Susan was, Wayne did not press the matter on. He smiled at her in return and said," Susie, I'm done with my sketching. Do you want to have a look?"

Then, without waiting for Susan to answer, he showed his sketch at her. Susan looked at it and realized that he had been sketching her all this time.

In the sketching, she was sitting on a stool, her eyes fixed on the blueprint in her hand. She had the look of intense concentration on her face that gave her a cold and elegant vibe, which was then softened by the several pieces of snowflakes that landed on her

shoulders.

The entire sketch was incredibly pleasing. The shading was spot-on and the hues used were perfect. It was indeed a masterpiece.

"Do I look that good?" Susan was surprised.

"Trust me, Susie. You look a hundred times better than the drawing," Wayne said, his eyes contained a strange light that Susan could not read.

Initially, Susan was having a good time admiring the sketch. However, the things Wayne said had spoiled her mood, and the feeling of discomfort that she had been getting these few days rose from her stomach pit once more.

After spending a few days with Little Leaf, she felt he was a little strange. She had a hunch that he was courting her, but she did not have solid proof of that. That was why she did not say anything to him. What if she was just imagining things? It took her so long to finally reconcile with Little Leaf, so she did not want to spoil their friendship.

With that thought in mind, Susan smiled, "Aw, you're really such a sweetheart, Little Leaf. If my husband heard that, he would be very jealous."

Wayne was stunned for a moment. Then, he asked, " Susie, you are married?"

"Yeah," Susan answered naturally, "I came back this time because I need a distraction. He's waiting for me at home. Anyway, remember to pay a visit to us later."

After much deliberation, this was what Susan came up with. Since she could not say it out loud, she could only try a roundabout way and hope that he would understand. "Yeah, I will," Wayne answered as he forced a smile on his face.

"The weather is getting colder, let's head back," Susan suggested.

"You go back first. I still want to draw for a while," Wayne said. He smiled at her, but there was a wisp of sadness in the depth of his eyes.

Susan ignored it. She then quickly packed her stuff up and went back.

Wayne looked at her back for a long time as his brow slowly furrowed.

As an experienced male host, he was equipped with a n arsenal of tricks on how to steal a woman's heart, yet Susan was impervious to all the skills that he employed on her.

Just now, she even told him that she was married.

This meant that she knew he was courting her, and her answer was a no.

Wayne could not fathom why it would become like this. His fair face and his melancholy air had always been his aces in the hole. He had never failed to curry the favor of a woman before, but apparently, Susan was his Waterloo. No matter what he did, she

remained as solid as a rock.

He had promised Isabelle that he would make Susan fall head over heels for him in a week. Now that it was almost a week, he had made no progress at all.

Just when Wayne was racking his brain, his phone rang.

"How is the progress?" Isabelle's gloomy voice wafted from the other side of the line.

Susan was having a tough life recently. The Shelbys' situation was getting worse day by day. Her father's hands were tied facing Julian, so he unleashed all his fury and anger on her. i

She had lost count of how many times her father had beaten her in these few days. Initially, she thought Madam Shaw would give her a hand since she had taken care of her for a long time, but to her dismay, there was no news from Madam Shaw at all.

Isabelle reckoned that Julian must have done something. After all, if he were going to exact revenge on them, he would make sure that there was no loophole in his plan.

Right now, there was only one thought in Isabelle's mind.

If she was going to hell, Susan was going with her.

Wayne hesitated for a moment and said, "Can you give me more time?" "No!" Isabelle's face contorted. She had waited for too long, and she was running out of patience. "You said you can make it in one week, so I gave you a week. If you can't do it, then forget about our deal! I won't give you a single penny!"

Wayne became anxious, "I'm already doing my part. How can you not hold up your end of the deal? You knew about Susan's identity. Do you have any idea how much I have to risk to take up your order? You can't do this to me!"

"Blame yourself for having a father who loves to gamble," Isabelle said coldly, "I've already prepared the money for you, and it's up to you whether you can get the money or not. As long as you take care of Susan, the money is yours. Now, tell me, can you do it, or can you not?"

"Yes, I'll do it," Wayne answered through gritted teeth.

"Good," Isabelle said contentedly.

She had used up all her savings to hire Wayne, but she felt it was worth so long as she could destroy Susan.

Wayne hung up the phone. Even though he promised Isabelle that he would get his job done in time, he was not really that confident.

Susan did not buy anything he said or did.

Wayne was very anxious, but his experience told him that he would only push Susan further away if he went too hard on her.

As such, he could only do it step by step and play it by

ear.

Several days had passed yet he still made no progress at all. Susan still treated him like her friend. Then, one day, Isabelle called him and asked about his progress again.

This time, Wayne gnashed his teeth and said, "Susan i s madly in love with me. Can you send me the retainage now?"

"Are you certain?" Isabelle sounded delighted.

"Of course. You can send me the retainage now," Waned said, "The people there are rushing me to pay the gambling debt." 1

"Don't worry. You will get the money that you deserve, but now, I want you to do one last thing for me," Isabelle said slowly.

Wayne's expression changed after he heard what Isabelle wanted him to do. After a long while, he said," Julian Shaw will kill me if I do this to Susan."

"There is nothing to be afraid of." Isabelle continued to say, "I'm sure you know Julian's attitude towards me. If you can take care of Susan, I will be the future Mrs. Shaw. Do you think I still can't keep you safe? Besides, if I ever become Mrs. Shaw, I will never forget about the help you gave me today."

Wayne did not know what would happen afterward. In his memory, Julian was very nice to Isabelle.

Therefore, he felt whatever Isabelle said was reasonable.

His eyes changed and then he made up his mind. He said, "Okay. I'll do it."

Isabelle then repeated her plan to Wayne. She made sure that he remembered every detail before hanging up the phone.

"Susan, I want to see if Julian will still accept you or not this time," hissed Isabelle as a wicked glint flashed across her eyes. "Julian, you still don't know where Susie is yet?" Seth asked.

It had already been a week. He had lost track of Susan for a whole week.

Recently, other than trying to sound out Susan's whereabouts from Jacob, he had dispersed all his men to look for Susan at every railway station, airport, and bus station. There was no purchase history of Susan buying any transport tickets in the ticketing system, so she either used another person's identity to buy a ticket or she took a transport that did not require identity verification. Julian felt exhausted. Looking for a person in such a huge world was like looking for a needle in a haystack. He left no stone unturned and he had expired every way to look for Susan, yet he still could not replace her.

Needless to say, this was not the main issue. The main issue was that he could not look for Susan on a grand scale. He did not want everyone to know that Susan was missing as it would only make the situation even

more complex.

After all, Susan was his wife. She was the daughter-in-law of the Shaws. There were so many criminals out there, and if everyone knew that Susan was alone, it would put her in grave danger. 1 Since Jacob refused to tell him Susan's whereabouts and he could only look for her in secret, things had got into an impasse.