CHAPTER 379: CHAPTER 379: ILLICIT FUNDS

Shane chuckled and stopped bantering with her. He turned and walked into the bathroom, used the toilet, and then took her bedside water cup downstairs to fill it with water.

Despite their playful argument, Audrey Sutton wasn’t really angry with him. Seeing him get into bed, she obediently made some space in the blanket for him and handed him her phone screen, asking, "Does this hairpin look good? My mom said she’s kept a dragon and phoenix wedding dress for me, which was passed down from my grandmother, every stitch made by her own hand. I want to buy a headpiece to match it for the wedding."

Shane smiled and said, "Sure, buy it."

Audrey added it to the cart first, saying, "Let me see if there’s a prettier one."

Shane asked, "Why haven’t you used the card I gave you?"

Audrey was momentarily confused as to how he knew she hadn’t used it, then realized he probably hadn’t received any transaction alerts from it. She smiled and said, "We’re family now, why would we separate your money and my money? I’m earning quite a bit from my comics now. You can save that card for the kids later."

"So are you saying I could just mooch off you now?"

Audrey laughed and said, "If you’re shameless enough, go ahead."

"Then I won’t go to work tomorrow. I’ll stay home and cook for you while you earn money to support me."

Audrey teased him, "Alright, whoever goes to work tomorrow is a little puppy."

Shane pulled her into his arms playfully, saying, "Why would I go to work when I have a little rich lady right beside me?"

The mention of "rich lady" reminded Audrey of the generous supporter of her comics. With nothing to do, she chatted about it with Shane, saying, "There’s a really strange reader under my comics."

"Hmm?"

"I feel like they’re a big spender. Ever since my previous comic, they’ve been tipping me tens of thousands each time, never leaving comments or joining the reader group. I reply, but they never respond. It’s so strange."

Shane’s eyes darkened thoughtfully, then he smiled and said, "A man secretly in love with you?"

"Secretly in love? I don’t even know if they’re male or female. I just think this person is bizarre. Do they just have money to burn, or is it dirty money they need to spend somewhere to clean it?"

Shane: "..."

He truly admired her imagination, but with such a wild imagination, why didn’t she consider that the one spending "dirty money" was him?

"No more browsing, I’ll just buy the one we saw earlier. My eyes hurt." Audrey murmured to herself as she placed the order, set down her phone, and rubbed her eyes. Turning over, she held Shane and closed her eyes, saying, "Time to sleep."

Shane reached out to turn off the bedside lamp, embraced her, adjusted the blanket, and closed his eyes.

Outside, the rain pattered, occasionally accompanied by the rumble of thunder. Such a rainy night seemed to have a sleep-inducing effect, and Audrey slept peacefully through the night.

Despite what he said last night about not going to work today, Shane still got up early as usual to workout in the gym.

Audrey also went on the treadmill for a few minutes before going downstairs to prepare breakfast.

The rain hadn’t stopped all night, but it had lessened compared to yesterday.

Shane drove Audrey to the teaching building, watching her walk inside with her umbrella before heading to the company.

As he drove out of the school gates, he saw a familiar car entering the school, and amidst the rain, he checked the license plate, confirming it was Vincent Warner’s car.

What is he doing at the school? Visiting Audrey?

Shane had just driven out of school, but immediately turned around and re-entered through the school gate.

He saw the car in the distance and followed at a reasonable distance.

The car parked at the school office building, and he watched Vincent get out and head straight inside.

After about ten minutes, Vincent came out, returned to his car, and drove away.

Shane breathed a sigh of relief. Apparently, he wasn’t there to see Audrey.

When did he become so suspicious?

He had laughed at Audrey once when she misunderstood him and Phoebe King, asking her if she’d pretend to know nothing even if she knew he was cheating.

Looking back now, how was he different from her then?

Fear of loss made one cautious and even self-deceiving at any sign of trouble.

Next Monday, Shane was scheduled for a business trip, and the weekend forecast predicted rain, making any outings impossible. So Audrey suggested they pack up and go spend the weekend at The Suttons’ with General and Pea.

Shane wasn’t extremely busy these days. Sometimes he worked only half a day and returned in the afternoon, which Audrey jokingly accused him of planning to mooch off her.

He shamelessly replied, "That’s the plan."

Yet, despite his smooth talking, he still had to hold video conferences on her laptop in the evenings.

Audrey didn’t understand his work matters and didn’t disturb him. During his meeting time, she went downstairs to play games with Six.

The meeting lasted about an hour, after which Shane used her laptop to receive some files.

Scrolling casually through her folders, which mostly contained her artworks and school assignments, he stumbled upon a picture that puzzled him.

Though he had almost scrolled past it, he went back to it and clicked on the image...

It was drawn in a stylized Q-version cartoon form, but Shane remembered having seen this shot after Nolan Hawke had posted Audrey’s photo online. As he viewed Nolan’s X profile, he had inadvertently seen pictures of Nolan, and this cartoon character bore a striking resemblance to one of those photos. The attire and posture matched. He could confirm this image depicted Nolan Hawke...

Were they on such good terms?

"Clatter-clatter-clatter—" Footsteps sounded from outside, light and sprightly, unmistakably Audrey coming upstairs.

Shane closed the image, located his files in the folder, and sent them to his phone.

Audrey opened the door, approaching and softly asking, "Are you done yet?"

Shane nodded, "Yes."

As she came near and saw he was no longer on the video call, Audrey spoke louder, "Mom made some snacks and asked me to call you down for a bite."

Shane didn’t respond immediately but closed the windows on her computer, shut it down, and closed it.