After Divorce I Married a Tycoon-Chapter 9: Are You That Desperate?

These words sent such a jolt through Hughes that he wondered if his ears were broken.

’A top-tier magnate with hundreds of billions in assets... actually wants to become an online streamer?’

Before Hughes could recover from his shock, he heard Adrian Sutton say with a troubled frown,

"But I don’t have any talents, and I can’t dance. What should I stream?"

Seeing how seriously he was considering it, Hughes asked with a trembling voice,

"Boss, are you... serious?"

"What do you think?"

Hughes looked as if he’d seen a ghost.

’What in the world got into the boss?’

’He’s a tycoon who earns millions a day, a mysterious figure countless wealthy families are desperate to curry favor with...’

’So why, out of the blue, does he want to become an online streamer?’

’Aren’t all the corporate groups under his command enough to keep him busy?’

"I’m asking you a question. Why are you spacing out?"

"Ahem, Boss, I just gave it some thought. Given your lack of particular talents, I have a few options for you to consider."

"Go on."

"Rely purely on your looks. With your face, Boss, just by sitting there without doing or saying a thing, you’d still attract hordes of fangirls and rich women."

"I don’t need to attract those kinds of people."

’He only needed to attract Claire, and that was enough.’

’So if he just sat there streaming like a block of wood, he definitely wouldn’t be able to attract Claire.’

"Then you could consider mukbang streams, eating while selling products."

As soon as he said it, an image flashed through Hughes’s mind: his boss in a stream, shouting at the top of his lungs, "Three, two, one, the link is live!"...

It was a little terrifying.

He broke out in a cold sweat.

Seeing his boss shoot him a harsh glare, Hughes shuddered and tentatively added,

"Or you could form a boy band and do group streams."

"The company could find a few young, handsome college guys with different styles and eight-pack abs. You would be the center..."

Before he could finish, Hughes felt an incredibly sharp gaze pierce him.

He was instantly baffled.

’Aren’t group streams super popular right now?’

’Why does the boss seem so opposed to the idea?’

He couldn’t figure out what was wrong with his suggestion.

Finally, as if bracing for death, Hughes said,

"Boss, I have no experience with the live streaming industry, so I really don’t know what other formats there are."

"I think... if all else fails, you could just do thirst traps..."

’Telling a top-tier magnate who earned millions a day to become a thirst-trap streamer...’

Hughes thought he must have lost his mind to make such a reckless, terrible suggestion.

He closed his eyes, waiting for the Boss to pass his death sentence, but a long moment passed in silence.

But when Adrian Sutton heard the words "thirst traps," his eyes lit up.

’I wonder if his physique could catch Claire’s eye?’

’If he could seduce her, make her blush and her heart race for him, that seemed like a pretty good idea.’

But seeing his boss’s current expression, Hughes’s mind was thrown into complete disarray.

’His boss had rejected proper pretty-boy streams, mukbangs, and group streams.’

’So why, of all things, did he seem so interested in becoming a thirst-trap streamer?’

’Just where in the process had things gone so wrong...?’

*

Roxanne Peyton and Stella Thorne dropped Claire Mercer off at Crestfall Villa.

Stella Thorne had heard that she’d spent the previous night with a strange man and was excitedly gossiping about it.

When she learned he was an unbelievably handsome guy, she got even more excited and asked slyly, 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

"Did anything... not suitable for children... happen between you two?"

She finished with a suggestive wink.

Claire Mercer looked exasperated and poked her on the forehead.

"Stella Thorne, what is going on in that head of yours?"

"Even though I’ve asked Gavin Sinclair for a divorce, we haven’t officially finalized it yet. I’m still technically married."

"I could never do something as morally corrupt as having an affair."

The car soon arrived at Crestfall Villa, and Roxanne Peyton and Stella Thorne left to catch up on sleep.

She opened the door and entered the house alone, only to see Gavin Sinclair sitting on the living room sofa, his face dark and sullen.

"What are you doing here? Have you signed the divorce papers?"

Gavin Sinclair didn’t answer her question, interrogating her instead.

"Claire Mercer, where were you last night?"

Claire Mercer changed her shoes as she walked into the house and replied coolly,

"None of your business."

Gavin Sinclair was infuriated by Claire Mercer’s attitude.

Thinking again of the photos he had received last night, his fury reached its peak.

"We aren’t even divorced yet, and you’re already so eager to find a man on the side? Have you no sense of marital fidelity?"

Claire Mercer found his words incredibly ironic.

"You’re the one who cheated. You’re the one who parades his mistress all over town. What right do you have to question me?"

Seeing that she didn’t deny it, the rage in Gavin Sinclair’s chest flared up again.

"Are you that desperate for company?"

"Yes, I am that desperate for company."

Claire Mercer met his gaze with her cold, emotionless eyes, deliberately provoking him.

"I’ve been living like a widow these past two years of our marriage. Now that we’re getting a divorce, am I not allowed to go have a little fun?"

Gavin Sinclair’s voice suddenly rose, a clear sign of his extreme anger.

"Are your standards that low? Are you willing to stoop so low? You’d even stoop to being with some filthy male escort from a bar?"

Claire Mercer laughed and shot back,

"He’s more handsome than you, has a better body than you, is more considerate than you, and knows how to take care of someone better than you. Why wouldn’t I be interested?"

Gavin Sinclair never imagined she would actually compare him to a male escort.

And in her eyes, he—the great heir of the Sinclair Family, the richest in Rhonia—couldn’t even measure up to a mere escort?

His chest heaved rapidly with rage, his eyes fixed on Claire Mercer, blazing with fury.

He took a deep breath before asking,

"What did the two of you do last night?"

"We didn’t do anything."

"Didn’t do anything? A man and a woman alone in a room together—do you take me for a fool?"

"Didn’t you say the same thing when you and Scarlett Jewel were alone together in a hotel room?"

Gavin Sinclair: "..."

Claire Mercer couldn’t be bothered to argue with him over such pointless matters.

Ignoring his burning rage, she appeared perfectly calm.

"Since you’re here today, let’s go to the Civil Affairs Bureau later and start the divorce proceedings."

She really didn’t want to waste any more time in this pointless entanglement with him.

Divorce, divorce. It was always about divorce.

Gavin Sinclair narrowed his eyes at her and asked through gritted teeth,

"Claire Mercer, are you sure you really want to divorce me?"

Claire Mercer stared at him, her gaze unwavering.

"I’m sure."

At her resolute answer, Gavin Sinclair’s heart, which had been churning with rage, suddenly felt as if it had been seized by a ruthless hand.

He had assumed her talk of divorce yesterday was just something said in a fit of anger, that she would get over it after making a scene.

He never expected that not only would she find a male escort and stay out all night, but she would also propose going to the Civil Affairs Bureau to finalize the divorce today.

After staring at her blankly for a long moment, Gavin Sinclair suddenly sneered.

"So desperate to divorce me. It couldn’t be because of that escort, could it?"

At this, Claire Mercer sneered.

"Gavin Sinclair, how dare you ask such a question?"

"Do you think everyone stoops to having affairs like you do?"

"Let me tell you, not everyone lacks a moral compass like you and Scarlett Jewel."

Gavin Sinclair flew into a rage out of humiliation.

"Claire Mercer, must you be so vitriolic?"

"You, Sinclair, were the one who did it. Are you afraid of people talking?"

"Besides, I’m making way for your first love, your ’white moonlight.’ Yet your reaction makes it seem like you’re unwilling to sign the papers and go through with it."

"What, you don’t want to divorce me?"

Her question left Gavin Sinclair speechless, unsure how to respond.

He wanted to deny it.

But for some reason, though the denial was on the tip of his tongue, he couldn’t bring himself to say it.

In truth, he was well aware of how good Claire Mercer had been to him over the past two years, of everything she had given.

It was just that before she asked for a divorce, he had never truly faced any of it.

If he were to ask himself if his heart had ever stirred for her, the answer would have to be yes.

But it was Scarlett Jewel who had risked her life to pull him from an exploding car, suffering severe injuries in the process. He couldn’t let her down.

On top of that, she suffered from depression and had always been in poor health, which made it even harder for him to let her go.

Gavin Sinclair was deeply conflicted. On one hand, there was his "white moonlight" who had saved his life.

On the other, there was his legitimate wife who had cared for him with all her heart for two years.

He didn’t want to give up either of them. He didn’t want to divorce her, didn’t want to just let her walk away.

"You know your situation in the Mercer Family better than I do."

"If you really divorce me, do you think the Mercer Family will still have a place for you?"

At his words, Claire Mercer fell silent.

As the eldest daughter of the Mercer family, she might have seemed to lead a glamorous life, but only she knew what her days had truly been like over the years.

But so what if she was unwelcome at home? That wasn’t a reason to give up on the divorce.

She was an adult now. She could support herself with her own two hands.

She didn’t need to depend on anyone, much less walk on eggshells around them.

"Whether the Mercer Family has a place for me or not is my business. You don’t need to worry about it."

Seeing that she was dead set on divorcing him, Gavin Sinclair felt a strange sense of panic.

"Claire Mercer, if you divorce me, do you think you can find a man better than me?"

"You’re an unfavored daughter of the Mercer Family and a divorcée. Do you really think any outstanding man would want you?"

His words made Claire Mercer laugh in disbelief and anger.

’How could she ever have been so devoted to such a vile man, caring for him without complaint for two years?’

’Calling her former self blind in both heart and mind was a perfect description.’