My Clingy CEO Husband

###Chapter 44: I Suspect He Doesn’t Like Girls

Claire Sinclair’s voice was buzzing with excitement, completely shedding the seriousness of the conference. "Ethan! Stop looking at those reports! Your mother found an absolute treasure today!"

Ethan Hawthorne’s pen paused. He had a bad feeling. "What collectible did you buy this time?"

Claire Sinclair: "Not an object! A girl! A living, breathing one! The kind that sparkles!"

Ethan rubbed the bridge of his nose, exasperated. "Mom, I’ve told you many times..."

Claire Sinclair cut him off, her tone sharp and final. "This time is different! Let me tell you, Ethan Hawthorne, you *must* meet this girl! You *must* pursue her! If you let her get away, our mother-son relationship is over!"

The over-the-top declaration almost made Ethan laugh. "Is it really that serious?"

Claire switched into investor mode, her thoughts perfectly organized. "Alright, let me give you the preliminary due diligence. First, she’s stunningly beautiful with exceptional grace, absolutely worthy of holding the title of Mrs. Hawthorne. Second, her IQ and EQ are both off the charts. I just tested her with that classic M&A case of your Uncle Warren’s, and her approach to breaking the stalemate was even sharper than those old geezers on the board back in the day! Third, her personality is totally my style—decisive and sharp, but not without warmth. She’s practically a spitting image of my younger self... no, an upgraded, optimized version!"

Listening to his mother’s rare excitement, Ethan found it somewhat amusing.

He still hadn’t told Claire Sinclair that he and Maxine Rhodes had gotten their marriage license. He was mainly afraid that once his mother knew, she would immediately pour all her enthusiasm into doting on her new daughter-in-law.

He was afraid this excessive attention would put immense pressure on Maxine, who was focused on her career, and even more afraid that it would scare her away.

He wanted to wait until she had truly fallen in love with him before they met, rather than have her forced to endure everyone’s scrutiny simply because of her status as Mrs. Hawthorne.

The other end of the line went completely silent.

Claire Sinclair: "Hello? Ethan? Can you hear me? Is the signal bad? Your mother has paved a golden road for you; you need to start running! This kind of top-tier prospect is in high demand!"

Ethan Hawthorne: "Mom... I know. But I’m really not interested. Alright, I have to go. I have a meeting."

Claire Sinclair: "..."

Listening to the dial tone, Claire Sinclair clutched her phone, letting out a helpless sigh after a long moment.

’That exasperating son of mine! You’ll live to regret this!’

When she returned home, Lawrence Hawthorne was in the courtyard watering his orchids. Seeing his wife, he looked up and asked gently, "How was the summit?"

Claire Sinclair tossed her bag on the sofa, not even bothering to change, and hurried over to her husband, lowering her voice. "Darling, I think our son might... have a problem."

The watering can in Lawrence’s hand remained steady as he watered the flowers, his tone calm. "What problem could he have? Isn’t he managing the company just fine?"

"It’s not about the company!" Claire’s voice dropped even lower, laced with worry. "It’s a personal problem! I suspect... he doesn’t like girls."

Lawrence chuckled at her words, set down the watering can, and turned to his wife. "My dear, what makes you say that?"

"You should have seen his attitude today!"

Claire was getting angry just thinking about it. "I introduced him to a one-in-a-million girl, and he rejected her without even hearing me out! Not a shred of curiosity! How many years has he used the ’my career comes first’ excuse? Before, he’d at least pretend to look at a photo. This time, he couldn’t even be bothered to pretend."

The more she spoke, the more convinced she became of her theory, her brow tightening. "This is too strange. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire! I’m sure of it—he already has someone in his heart, and it’s someone he doesn’t dare let me know about!"

Lawrence pondered for a moment before gently patting his wife’s shoulder. "Let’s just wait and see. Don’t jump to conclusions. I think our son is perfectly normal."

Claire Sinclair sighed softly. "I hope so."

But the suspicion in her heart only grew stronger.

That evening, the sky changed abruptly. Dark clouds, like cotton balls soaked in ink, hung heavy and oppressive between the high-rises, making it hard to breathe. The meteorological station issued an urgent red alert for a severe rainstorm.

Ethan Hawthorne was still at the office, handling an international video conference that couldn’t be postponed, while Maxine Rhodes had returned to the apartment early after the summit ended.

She walked to the window, watching the trees outside swaying wildly in the fierce wind. She checked that all the doors and windows were locked, a strange sense of unease quietly spreading through her heart as the sky grew darker.

Her phone vibrated in her palm. The screen lit up with a message from Ethan Hawthorne.

"The weather’s bad. Lock the doors and windows. My meeting might run very late."

The words held his usual calm and restraint, betraying little emotion, yet in this kind of weather, they inexplicably offered a sense of security.

Maxine’s fingertips paused on the screen for a moment before she replied, "Got it. Be careful on your way."

The torrential rain began to pour down instantly. A moment later, a ghastly white bolt of lightning, like a sharp blade, ripped through the dark sky, and at almost the exact same instant—

"BOOM!!!"

A massive clap of thunder exploded overhead, rattling the glass windows! In response, the lights throughout the entire apartment building went out, plunging everything into an all-consuming darkness.

"A power outage?"

Maxine Rhodes froze completely. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

This was what she feared most: a torrential thunderstorm, especially during a power outage.

The fragments of her childhood memories, the ones she had deliberately tried to forget, were like ghosts breaking free from their shackles, magnified infinitely in the darkness, tearing mercilessly at her nerves.

It was on a stormy night just like this one. She had been so hungry at dinner that she couldn’t resist taking a single bite of her younger brother’s favorite braised pork.

That one bite lit the fuse.

Her mother’s sharp nails dug cruelly into her thin arm as she dragged her, cursing, "You worthless baggage! Reincarnated from a starving ghost, were you?! How dare you fight your brother for food?!"

Her father stood by, not stopping it, his face filled only with disgust and impatience, as if he were looking at a piece of unsightly trash.

The couple roughly dragged her, crying and struggling, all the way to the small, dark, cluttered storage room and threw her inside.

"Eat, eat, eat! That’s all you know how to do! Stay in there and reflect on what you’ve done! You can come out when you realize you were wrong!"

"Crying? You cry one more time and see what happens! You’ll be spending the night in there!"

The CLICK of the lock was more terrifying to her than the thunder outside.

Outside the door were her parents’ soft, cooing voices soothing her brother, the sound of cartoons from the television—a normal, warm home.

Inside, there was only her.

Every flash of lightning was like a monster baring its fangs and claws. The deafening thunder seemed to explode right above her head. She clamped her hands tightly over her ears, curled up in a cold corner, her small body trembling like a leaf in the wind. She didn’t even dare to cry too loudly, knowing that no one would come to comfort her, that it would only earn her a longer confinement.

That feeling of being abandoned by the entire world, that loneliness and fear, was carved deep into the marrow of her bones.

Even as an adult, Maxine Rhodes couldn’t escape that instinctive helplessness. She fumbled her way into a corner of the sofa, wrapped her trembling arms tightly around herself, and buried her face in her knees.

The faint glow of her phone was the only piece of driftwood she could cling to at this moment, the only thing to ward off the devouring darkness beside her.

Another clap of thunder cracked without warning. Pale-faced, Maxine flinched in terror. Almost instinctively, she picked up her phone, her fingertips already tapping on Ethan Hawthorne’s WeChat profile picture.