Ellena raised her head in surprise, gazing at “Nicklaus” before glancing back at the phone in her hand. "You bought this?"
“Nice try. Cousin bought it for you.” Edward rolled his eyes and began to eat.Ellena sneered at his words. "As if I'd accept it if it was from you."Ellena took the phone out of the small box. A small smile appeared on her lips as she analyzed it carefully.As Edward was the one who had bought it for her, she accepted it. After all, they were already married, so there wasn't anything wrong with giving and receiving gifts.Ellena noticed that there was a SIM card next to her phone. It was the number she had used before.Once she had everything installed, she immediately dialed Chloe's number.The phone only rang once before it was answered.“Ellena." Chloe's worried voice sounded from the other end of the line. There weren't any background noises from her end, so her words were loud and clear. "Are you okay? You weren't piThere was complete silence before Madeline quickly added, "I've been too busy in the past, so I wasn't able to find time to be with you back then. How about you let me make it up to you now? What do you say? Let me apologize for all that lost time." If this had happened a couple of months back, Ellena would've been very ecstatic. In fact, whatever her mother needed, she'd readily provide, as long as it meant that they'd grow closer together. However, after everything that had happened now, she knew that her mother's intentions weren't that simple. How careless of her to use being busy as an excuse! Being busy...her mother had always used that as an excuse, but whenever Naomi was involved, she'd drop everything and run out the front door. She never took any of Ellena's concerns to heart, which resulted in their estranged relationship. Besides, Madeline was a full-time housewife. She didn't even need to manage anything inside the house given the number of maids tha
Ellena raced out of the villa, lowering her flushed face to avoid being seen by the bodyguards who were passing by. As soon as she reached the front gates, she leaned against the columns and exhaled heavily. She must stay far away from “Nicklaus” if she knew what's good for her. The man just didn't know when to stop! Even as the cool breeze brushed up against her face, the warmth still hadn't faded as much as she would like it to. Just as she was about to check the time, a car stopped right beside her. She turned her head almost instinctively to see that the window had been lowered, revealing “Nicklaus’s” cold dark eyes. In an instant, she froze. The moment their gazes collided Ellena felt her entire world stopping before her. A light shiver shot down her spine, followed by the warmth of natural sunlight. Quickly moving her eyes away, she quickened her pace. Edward drove slowly and closely followed her. He kept his car alongside her and said in a low voice with a
Ellena sighed. Back then she hoped that Ralph would give her some. Even if it was only 1%, it would at least make her feel like she was a Smith. Now, it seemed that when she didn’t care about the shares anymore was also the time when Ralph wanted to give it to her. She suppressed a bitter laugh as she thought of all the times she had cried at their words and crumbled at their insults. How ironic! Ellena couldn’t help herself and actually laughed aloud. It was really ridiculous. Although she knew that Ralph had ulterior motives in mind, she still asked, "How many shares are you planning to give me?""As you're my daughter, you'll receive more shares than your mother." He said vaguely, patting his chest. There was silence before he continued, "Don't worry, I won't treat you unfairly. After all, I'm your father." Her shares were more than Madeline's? Ellena pursed her lips. Hm... Since he had already mentioned the shares, how can she make it easy
A large smile appeared in Ralph's face as he leaned back against his seat. It seemed that he had won this argument yet again. He was afraid that Ellena would go back on her word, so he immediately said, “What time you are available? I'm free today." "I don't have the time today. How about tomorrow?" While Ralph was celebrating, Ellena remained indifferent as she organized her things. She wasn't worried at all. After all, Ralph was the one who needed her, so he had no other way around. Back then when she had been in the Smith family, she was far too obedient. Some had even compared her to a yapping dog, and her family always took advantage of that. Ralph was no exception to that rule. That was why he wasn't used to listening to her demands. When Ralph heard her brief response, he frowned in impatience. "You don't have a job right now, right? What else are you busy you with?" "Just because I don't have a job doesn't mean I sit in the villa and do nothing all day lo
However, as soon as the lawyer started reading their contract, Ralph realized just how wrong he was.The old man stared at the way the lawyer browsed through every single word, encircling phrases that didn't make sense and underlining a few terminologies that were hard to decipher by the untrained eye. This man wasn't careless or dense; in fact, he was extremely professional and cautious.The lawyer was none other than Grayson Foster. Although he looked young, he was very prudent when it came to contracts, and loopholes were his forte. He could spot anything from a mile away.The corners of his lips tilted up at the sight of Ralph's surprised gaze. He was sure that the old man had been underestimating his skills the moment he had walked into the restaurant, but he didn't say a word."On Section 26 of the Shareholders' Contract..." Grayson immediately went into it, pointing out all the loopholes that he had caught. There were even superstitious phrases tha
Ellena has finally arrived at the villa. Seeing that the living room was empty, she glanced at the bodyguard standing by the corner. "Is Nicklaus here? Or has he left?" The bodyguard tilted his head in her direction before slowly nodding. "He's upstairs, Young Madame." Now, even the bodyguards had trained themselves to address Edward as Nicklaus rather than his birth name. She smiled, holding the bag in her hand as she went upstairs. "Nicklaus," she called out. There was a certain skip to her steps as she strode down the corridor. Obviously, whatever happened a few hours ago had set her in a good mood. She gazed at the different doors surrounding her. Which room was he in again? She turned her head to see a majestic double-doored room waiting for her at the other end of the hall. Her lips pursed as she moved towards it. She did come from that room yesterday morning, so that was obviously Nicklaus's room. Now that she thought about it, even the doorway i
Seeing that Martin had already gone inside the dining room, Grayson quickly followed close behind. After all, this was an opportunity he wouldn't let go of so easily, not even if Edward didn't appreciate his appearance. A polite smile grazed his lips as he bowed his head in agreement. "Me too."Grayson didn't even wait for the others to say anything more as he took his seat at the dining table. The two men quickly sat together, eyeing the dishes being plated in front of them. Although they may look 'simple', they were way better than those being served at the restaurants they had always eaten every day of the week!Now, only Edward was left standing by the doorway. A dark expression appeared on his looks, and he still made no move to come inside.Ellena blinked.What was wrong with him?Seeing that the two men still made no plans of leaving, he didn't have any other choice on this matter. After a minute, Edward finally walked into the dining room a
Ellena stared at the coffee stains on his buttoned up shirt and raised an eyebrow. She said sarcastically, "You can't even hold a cup of coffee properly. They say that if something's wrong with your hand coordination, your kidney isn't good. Think they could say the same for you?" Edward pursed his lips and placed the cup on top of the table. He didn't bother to wipe the stains from his suit as he stood up. "There's nothing wrong with my hand coordination, I assure you. Unless, of course, you'd like to test it out?" After that, he winked. She didn't even bother to look at him as she turned around and walked towards the door. "Dream on!" Her arrogant voice echoed throughout the hallway just as the door had slammed shut. Edward blinked in surprise. Did this woman grow a pair of wings since she had removed her makeup, that she'd actually dared to challenge him? His eyes flashed with amusement as he stared at her retreating figure. Ellena ran out of th