Chapter 175: The hard times are just beginning
Win … Selena nodded, but couldn’t stop bellyaching in her mind.
Being engaged only meant that The Grant family was willing to take charge, but without the formalities and the wedding, the title of fiancée was worthless.
She was no Lindsey, as evidenced by Charlotte and Laura’s attitude.
No one knows that the mother of The Grant family has a high opinion and Charlotte would not take care of Lindsey as if she were her own sister without her approval.
But Aurora is too happy to listen to anything she says.
Aurora does, and after her coffee, she goes happily back to the gardens, not listening to Selena, but thinking she’s too shy to make it big.Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.
For three days in a row, Lindsey and Bruce’s reasons for splitting up changed in a myriad of versions amidst the overwhelming media publicity. The only constant was that she had become a sympathetic Cinderella.
Early that morning, Lindsey receives a call from Hector and is relieved to learn that Bruce has woken up.
She had changed her mobile number and only Hector knew about it. She was willing to put up with it, Bruce might not be.
He has his stage and should not be tied down by childishness.
At noon, Lindsey unexpectedly sees the news that Bruce has gone to the most prestigious tailor shop in B City to have his wedding dress custom-made, and calmly gives Edward a call.
—
Bruce sat in his car and saw Aurora coming out of the tailor’s shop through the window, his inked eyebrows knitted into a deep Sichuan frown as he instructed the driver to drive.
Cary had not yet recovered from his injuries and had insisted on following him despite them because he was unsure.
He woke up in the morning and was lost in thought, spending a long time alone in the training room.
He and Carl stayed outside and tried to knock on the door several times but couldn’t bear to disturb his peace and quiet.
Lindsey had left, she hadn’t stayed at the house since she returned to B. She knew that Kaley couldn’t stand her.
But the outcome at hand was too much for him and Carl to accept, let alone Bruce.
“To Nine Lakes Mountain.” Bruce pressed his brow, staring wearily out the window at the street scene.
He had been too careless to think that Aurora would do anything outrageous on an occasion like that, and he had underestimated the extent of her and Kaley’s impudence.
After Lindsey had been called away by the guards and he had taken a sip of the tea brought to him by The Palvin family logistics, he had felt paralysed and could not muster any strength.
If it hadn’t been for that, he wouldn’t have been pushed into her room by someone Aurora had arranged in advance.
He had no face to meet Lindsey and did not even have the courage to explain to her what had happened.
This had happened under the noses of the parents of Gu and Su, and he could not excuse or refute it, even if nothing had happened, he had to take the blame for it or not.
“The young lady is on Edward’s side, Hector is following.” Cary spoke, careful of his tone. “Do you want to go and meet her?”
Bruce was just about to say yes when a message came in on his phone. Tapping it open, it was all pictures of Lindsey with a doctor, the way she looked at the other man with dependence.
“No.” Bruce mumbled back and looked down to text Carl.
A few moments later, Carl replied.
Jimmy, 26, orthopaedic surgeon at the third hospital, Claus’s protégé and Lindsey’s brother.
Before Lindsey said she loved her brother, he was sure he could win her heart and that she would stay with him for the rest of his life.
He even thought that if she wanted to do something, he would do everything he could to help her achieve it, and if she didn’t want to get married, he would just live his life like that.
It turned out that Lindsey really didn’t love him.
“There’s something that Hector had promised the young lady not to say, and I’ve thought about it and decided to tell you anyway.” Cary saw his long silence and received another text from Carl, so he had to speak up again. “The last time Chris was attacked, the young lady was injured.”
“What did you say!” Bruce looked at him cross-eyed and incredulous. “Lindsey was injured?”
“A scapula injury, no film was taken at the time, the young lady’s brother helped to heal it.” Cary craned his head to look out the window. “The young lady also said for Hector never to tell you.”
Bruce fell silent, raised his hand to his watch and ordered coldly. “Go to the third hospital.”
Cary breathed a quiet sigh of relief and kept praying in his mind that Lindsey’s senior brother would keep his mouth shut.
What had happened that day at the Royal Garden had now spread throughout the upper circles of B. Aurora’s purpose in tricking Bruce into going to the tailor’s shop was only not that simple.
As she thought about it, Cary picked up her phone, unlocked the Internet and looked up today’s news reports.
Sure enough, all the headlines were about the two men’s impending marriage.
Cary was intent on reminding him, but considering that he might do something irrational, she fell silent again.
When they arrived at the third hospital, Bruce got out of the car, wrapped in cold air, and went upstairs without saying a word.
Cary instructed his driver to stay close to him and ordered the men who had been secretly following him to follow.
Bruce found Jimmy’s office and barged in without knocking.
Jimmy had just finished checking in on him, and when he saw him, he flinched for a moment and realised that he was the eldest grandson of The Grant family.
Bruce narrowly avoided it, grabbed his arm with a lightning-fast grip and asked in a deep voice, “What’s your relationship with Lindsey?”
“Lindsey was blind to see you!” Jimmy couldn’t move, and he became more and more angry. “She’s got nothing but love for you!”
Bruce looked at him steadily for a moment, let go of his hand, and turned away in disbelief.
Jimmy was breathing heavily, trying to shake off his hand, which had almost been wrung off, and Lindsey had taught him nothing but to teach him those sick tricks.
After a moment’s rest, Jimmy sat back in his chair, opened the drawer and took his phone out, calling Lindsey again.
Her phone had been unavailable since he saw the news and he was really unsure.
As he had done countless times before, the call still didn’t go through and he had to put it away in frustration.
Bruce went downstairs, physically and emotionally exhausted, and got into his car, burying his face in his palm for a long time.
Cary sighed and gently instructed the driver to leave for Nine Lakes Mountain.
When he arrived at Nine Lakes, he was surprised to see Aurora waiting at the foot of the mountain.
“Do you want to stop?” Cary asked, then realised he shouldn’t have asked and told the driver again, “Keep driving, don’t mind her.”
Bruce closed his eyes, as if he hadn’t heard.
Outside the car, Aurora’s hands hung down, fists clenched, nails digging deep into her flesh as she watched in despair as Bruce’s car drove past her eyes.
She’d lied to him about Lindsey being at the tailor’s shop with a man, and he’d been there.
But he didn’t even get out of the car and told the driver to leave. She wasn’t happy about this, so she sent him the photos she’d taken, thinking that he’d finally get over it.
It turned out that he had left the three houses without doing anything.
Whatever Lindsey had done, he believed it wholeheartedly. Not just him, but the whole of The Grant family trusted Lindsey. Several days had passed since the engagement, no one from The Grant family had arrived and she could not get into The Grant Residence.
The bouncer at the door only recognises Lindsey! She is really upset!
Resigned to the fact that she appeared to have won, but in fact had lost everything.
Lindsey had suddenly disappeared from B City in the past few days, and no one knew where she had gone. The people sent there only knew that she had gone with Edward, but they did not know, where Edward had hidden her.
And The Grant family didn’t look for anyone either. Everything was quiet, as if they had given up on her completely.
Aurora was scared when she thought of Selena’s comment that she might have gotten herself into trouble. That’s why she didn’t want to offend Old Mr. Grant and came to Nine Lakes to wait for Bruce.
However, he didn’t even look at her, treating her like she was nothing.
“If The Palvin family lets her live in the old house in the future, clean up that yard in the back office and leave it as it is.” Bruce spoke, his warm and cold voice cold and eerie. “There will be no wedding, so don’t worry about any messages she sends.”
“Understood.” Cary nodded and couldn’t help but sigh again.
There were plenty of family men of equal standing in this town, so how did Aurora end up with Bruce?
Bruce got out of the car and went straight upstairs to the study.
Old Mr. Grant was sitting alone by the window, facing a small tree outside, with an in-house journal in his hand.
The wind was blowing in through the window, blowing the pages of the book and making a “clattering” sound.
Bruce remembered how Old Mr. Grant had looked so worried when he had first returned to China, and his eyes darkened as he gently walked up behind him and stood. “Grandpa …”
“In all my life, no one has ever dared to countenance me so blatantly.” Old Mr. Grant lifted his cup of tea and took a gentle sip. “You go back to the army in peace and bear it patiently. lindsey is a member of The Grant family when she enters, and I will not let her suffer for nothing.”
Bruce pursed his lips and nodded heavily. He would go back, but before he did, there was one thing that had to be done.
He’d heard Hector talk about the night, and the thought of Lindsey nearly dying made him want to grab Burton and lynch him a million times over.
He won’t interfere with Grandpa’s discipline of Kaley, but there are some scores he must settle on his own.
—
T3, B City International Airport.
Lindsey checked his luggage, put on his volunteer hat, found Edward, his face scrunched up into a bitter frown, and raised an eyebrow in jest. “Regret it?”
“No…” Edward exhaled sullenly and lifted his finger to point at Jesse in the crowd. “She’s looking for you.”
Lindsey turned around, raised a smile and waved at Jesse, greeting him with a brisk step. “To see me off or to see him off?”
“To see you off, of course.” Jesse glanced at Edward with a look of disgust. “Aurora’s going to have a hard time, trust me.”
“I know.” Lindsey’s eyes turned momentarily lost. “But there’s still a lot of anger bottled up inside that doesn’t hurt after all.”
Jesse gave her a hug and didn’t continue the conversation. She was going to say that the outcome, in fact, was a good thing. Considering she was grieving, she wouldn’t rub salt into her wounds.
Wouldn’t The Grant family be that easy to reckon with, or in Old Mr. Grant’s face, with such unorthodox tactics.
Her hard times had just begun, she just didn’t know whether she would continue to hold out or bow down and admit defeat.
“Come on, I’ll buy you dinner when I get back and thank you for setting this up for me.” Lindsey waved and turned back to Edward, pulling him along with her with aplomb to squeeze into the group photo and smile for the cameras.
She’ll be back, she hasn’t done what she promised her grandfather, Aurora won’t be able to beat her that easily!