Chapter 167
Chapter 167
Harrison tried once again to feed a cherry to Roxanne, but this time she dodged it.
"I won't eat it until you spill the beans. Are the Porsche and the villa really connected to you?" She
demanded.
"Of course, they're connected to me," Harrison grinned, then added, "The boss of the Rodriguez Group
and I share the same last name. Five hundred years ago, we might have been family."
"Cut the crap," Roxanne glared at him and said, "I need a straight answer."
Harrison remained casual as he said, "I'm dead serious. Five hundred years ago, the boss of the
Rodriguez Group and I were indeed family."
"Harrison!" Roxanne was getting impatient, "If you don't come clean, I won't forgive you."
"Anne!" Harrison grabbed her hand, "I've already told you the truth. How could I possibly be connected
to the Rodriguez Group? If I were, would I have ended up bankrupt, my house seized by the bank, and
had to share a cramped rental with you?"
"But how can I keep winning these big prizes?"
"When luck hits, you can't stop it. Nothing to do about it."
Roxanne fell silent. She was deep in thought, quietly analyzing everything.
Even though Harrison was anxious, he kept cool on the surface, casually holding her hand and making
a swearing gesture with the other.
"Anne, I've never lied to you. If I am, then may I..."
"Don't just swear on anything." Roxanne covered his mouth, "I trust you, that's enough."
But she was still filled with doubts.
During a staff dinner at a hotel with Oliver Lewis, they were unable to secure a private room. However,
when Harrison made a call, the hotel manager treated them like royalty, offering complimentary meals
and drinks. As they left, the manager even gifted Harrison a bottle of wine worth over two thousand
dollars, constantly trying to please him.
One time, Oliver found himself in trouble, which resulted in him and his family being taken to a police
station. Despite the fact that Oliver's sister and her husband were acquainted with the police, they were
unable to secure their release. However, with just one phone call, Harrison was able to enlist the
services of a highly successful lawyer who worked for the Rodriguez Group and earned millions of
dollars per year. His name was Mr. Johnson.
And there was more.
When Nathaniel Martinez wanted to take revenge and tried to shut her company down by sending in
the Bureau of Industry and Commerce, Harrison didn't even get involved. He just got some so-called
acquaintance to take care of everything.
There were just too many coincidences.
Even the over two hundred thousand dollars in Vincent's bank account was surprising. How could a
lifelong farmer with a herd of livestock have so much money saved up?
She glanced at Harrison, then at Vincent. Her seemingly calm but actually questioning gaze shifted
between the two.
Both of them were tense!
Harrison casually chuckled and said, "Anne, the way you look at me is terrifying, as if I've done
something to hurt you."
"Harrison, Vincent." Roxanne deliberately changed the subject, "To celebrate our big win today, let's go
out for a nice meal."
Vincent enthusiastically agreed and said, "We should celebrate my lucky draw – a huge villa for our
family."
Roxanne suggested, "Let's have seafood."
"Sounds good," Vincent responded.
"I'm going to use the restroom, and then we can head out," Roxanne added.
Vincent and Harrison exchanged glances and began to whisper.
"Harrison, I think we should come clean to Anne. Lying to her makes me uneasy," Vincent said.
"No way," Harrison responded.
"But I feel like we've done something wrong," Vincent persisted.
"If you don't want Roxanne to leave, we have to do this my way," Harrison fired back.
"But lying makes me feel guilty," Vincent fretted.
Their voices were so low they were barely audible. So when Roxanne sneakily approached the
restroom door, she heard nothing.
She pretended to use the restroom, then left. They all headed to the restaurant for dinner.
Roxanne and Harrison walked arm in arm.
Roxanne turned her head to look at the tall, handsome man beside her.
"Harrison, I want our marriage to be honest and respectful. Are you sure you're not hiding anything
from me?" she asked.
"What's going on in that little head of yours?" he replied.
He gently tapped her forehead. "What could I possibly be hiding from you? I've already told you
everything."
Roxanne just smiled and didn't say anything else.
After dinner, Roxanne took out her work laptop. She claimed she had to work overtime. But in reality,
she was searching for the name of the boss of the Rodriguez Group.
However, she couldn't find what she was looking for.
All the search results told her that the boss of the Rodriguez Group was a very low-profile and
conscientious businessman.
There were no pictures or names.
Roxanne tried various ways of searching but still found nothing.
Back in their room, Harrison hacked into Roxanne's laptop with his phone.
He could clearly see what was displayed on her screen.
Not only was Harrison a businessman, but he was also an IT whiz. His skills were no less than those of
Roxanne's ex-boyfriend, Dominic Thompson.
During the 6G incident, he and Dominic defeated a foreign hacker team together, protecting the
Rodriguez Group's 6G-Technology.
To see what Roxanne was doing on her laptop was a piece of cake for him.
However, Harrison had started to sweat. Roxanne was beginning to doubt him.
Luckily, from the get-go, there wasn't a speck of news or info about him online.
Looked like he had to step up his game.
Harrison shot a text to Vincent, who lived next door, "Dad, how much longer does Anne need to
recover?"
Vincent replied, "Why the sudden interest?"
Harrison said, "I wish she could get pregnant sooner."
Vincent responded, "The doc checked her out last week and said she's in a bad way, poor nutrition. If
she doesn't take care of herself, having a kid will only make things worse. Sure, recovery might work,
but it's slow as hell, at least half a year."
Harrison said, "If only Anne could get pregnant sooner."
Vincent replied, "What was it you said back then? That you'd never be interested in an ordinary woman
like that, and now look who's in a rush?"
Harrison said, "Dad, I'm in the middle of a crisis. Can you stop with the jokes?"
Vincent said, "All right, as long as you can hold onto perfect little Roxanne, I'm all ears."
The next day.
Roxanne was having breakfast, sipping milk, and eating goose liver.
Her fork gently touched the delicious goose liver on her plate. Content protected by Nôv/el(D)rama.Org.
Every day, Vincent would prepare a top-notch plate of goose liver for her.
Apparently, it was a gift from some wealthy relatives.
Roxanne looked up and asked, "Vincent, Harrison said you keep a lot of livestock in the countryside.
You must have a farm there?"
Vincent got a bit nervous and replied, "Yes, I have a farm, with some relatives helping to look after it."
Roxanne smiled and said, "Next time you're free, take me there."
Vincent glanced at Harrison.
Harrison immediately agreed, "Sure, you can see where the meat you eat every day comes from."
"Okay." Roxanne replied with a smile.
At work, Harrison knew every single browsing history of Roxanne's computer.
Harrison went to the tech department and knocked on the door of Chief Technology Officer, Dominic's
office.
Harrison knew Dominic's personality inside out.
In this world, probably no one loved Roxanne more than Dominic.
Dominic's love was more hidden, more painful.
Roxanne didn't even know the real reason Dominic left her; she once thought he cheated on her.
Dominic had been carrying this misunderstanding.
Every time he saw Harrison, Dominic could hide his emotions very well.
He always kept his cool in front of Harrison, "What's up?"
"Do you feel suffocated with the life you're leading?" Harrison closed the door and walked over.
Dominic slightly furrowed his brow.
Harrison sat down on the sofa and said, "Clearly, you're jealous of me, yet you pretend to be
nonchalant."
"I don't know what you're talking about." Dominic continued typing, "What's there to be jealous of?"
Harrison got up from the sofa, walked over, and tried to pick up the photo frame on Dominic's desk.
Suddenly, Dominic covered the frame with his hand and put it in the drawer.
"Don't think I don't know. That's a picture of Roxanne."
Dominic locked the drawer and denied, "No, it's not."
Even though Harrison was hostile towards Dominic, he didn't want to expose him.
After getting to know Dominic's past, Harrison felt sympathy for him.
"I'm here to talk business." Harrison sat back down on the sofa, "Roxanne is digging into me; I need
your help."
Dominic got up, walked around his desk, and sat down in front of the sofa, "Why don't you just tell her
the truth?"
"I'm afraid of losing her." Harrison was very candid.
Dominic said, "Roxanne won't leave you, even if she knows your real identity and you deceived her. I
know her."
Harrison replied, "She's not your wife. Of course, you can talk lightly."
Dominic said, "Harrison, if you keep provoking me like this, I won't help you maintain the company's
network security."
Harrison replied, "You won't leave."
Dominic said, "That's not necessarily true."
Harrison said, "You're here to help me because of Roxanne. Only if Roxanne divorces me will you
leave."
Dominic fell silent and didn't say anything.
Harrison said, "You must hope more than anyone that Roxanne's marriage can go smoothly and
happily, and you definitely don't want to see her hurt, right?"
Dominic replied, "The one who deceived her is you, not me."
Harrison retorted, "You should understand my benevolent lie more than anyone, just like when you had
to deceive Roxanne because of a malignant brain tumor, you said that you fell in love with a rich girl."
When Harrison mentioned the reason he left Roxanne, Dominic's eyes became complicated.
Thinking back on the past, it really felt like fate was playing tricks on people.
A hint of loneliness flashed in Dominic's eyes as he asked, "When did you find out?"
"If I want to dig up info on someone, I can always find it." Harrison leaned back against the pillow on
the sofa, continuing to chat with Dominic. "I'm going to ask you a favor. I want to wait until Roxanne
gets pregnant and has a child. Then I'll come clean."
"You think that with the bond of a child, Roxanne won't want to leave you?"
"Exactly."
"You still don't understand Roxanne; she won't just break up with you over a small matter."
"I understand her. She takes marriage more seriously than anyone. But I don't want any accidents."
Dominic paused briefly, fixing his gaze on Harrison. His eyes were filled with comfort, reassurance,
envy, jealousy, and pain.
Roxanne was already married. He should be happy, so why did he feel so bad?
He gave a bitter smile and said, "Love is truly wonderful. The person who belongs to you, no matter
how big the gap between you is, she'll always be yours."
Just like Harrison and Roxanne.
One was the top dog of Seraphim Haven. The other was just your average Joe.
One was high and mighty, sitting on top of the world.
The other had to bust her hump for over a decade just to scrape together enough dough for a down
payment on a tiny house in Seraphim Haven.
But these two, as different as chalk and cheese, somehow ended up together.
Dominic gave a bitter laugh and said, "What's not yours is not yours. No matter how tight you guys are
or how much you want to have it, it's all for naught."
Just like Dominic and Roxanne.
They were about to tie the knot back then...
Ah, forget it.
Better left unsaid, better left unthought.
Otherwise, he was the only one left with a bitter taste.
Dominic looked at Harrison and said, "I can help you. I just hope you two can be lovey-dovey no
conflicts. You must promise me, even if you guys clash, you must sweet-talk her until she's chirpy
again."
"I could be your friend, actually," Harrison admitted.
Dominic rolled his eyes and said, "I don't want to be your friend."
They were love rivals.
If it weren't for his health issues, there was no way Dominic would have given Harrison the green light
to go after Roxanne.
Harrison frowned and asked, "Why don't you give Evelyn a shot?"
"You know why I left Roxanne," Dominic gave another bitter smile, "Why would I want to hurt another
girl?"
…
Roxanne had been tailing Harrison for days. She hired a private eye and spent a ton of money to find
out if his swanky digs in Grandeur Meadows really had been foreclosed by the bank.
All the info pointed to Harrison's house being indeed seized by the bank and auctioned off below
market value to repay debts.
All this fake news was Dominic's doing.
For a hacker whiz, this was a piece of cake.
Unable to find any dirt on Harrison, Roxanne was even more puzzled.
If Harrison had nothing to do with the Rodriguez Group, how could she explain all these coincidences?
She didn't buy that she was just lucky to win a free mansion.
In Seraphim Haven, without 5 million bucks, there was no way you'd be able to afford a 500-square-
meter mansion.
She didn't believe it was just good luck.
One day.
The top saleswoman from East Adjacent Estates delivered her property title.
It was the same short-haired middle-aged woman who had served her that day.
She seemed quite capable, and she said a lot of flattering things.
Roxanne quickly realized she could get some info from this saleswoman.
The next day, she found the short-haired saleswoman in private, addressing her as "madam."
The saleswoman was taken aback. Roxanne was the boss lady of the Rodriguez Group. There was no
way she should be calling her "madam."
She said, "Ms. Martinez, just call me Susan."
"You don't look much older than me; there's something I'd like to discuss with you."
"What is it?" The saleswoman asked cautiously.
Roxanne cut to the chase and started to question the woman, "Can you tell me what's the real scoop
behind the mansion I won? I don't buy it that I just got lucky and won a mansion. Is there someone
behind the scenes trying to give me a house? As long as you tell me the truth, I'll pay you."
Had she figured that out?
The saleswoman was on edge.
She couldn't say anything.
She gave a hollow laugh and retorted, "Ms. Martinez, are you overthinking? You really just got lucky
and won a mansion. There's no other scoop. We've been running the buy a house, win a mansion
promo for a while, you know that."
"If you tell me the truth," Roxanne pulled out a black bag from her purse, "there's ten grand in here, all
yours."
She specifically took out a stack of large bills and placed them in front of the saleswoman.
"Real money, ten grand, you can count it."
Faced with the temptation of money, the saleswoman was wavering.
The economy was in the doldrums these days; selling houses was no longer profitable.
Ten grand was no small sum.
Seeing the saleswoman's eagerness, Roxanne was sure there was more to the mansion.
It definitely wasn't just good luck that she won.
"If you tell the truth, you can take the money anytime."
"Really?"
"If you don't believe me, verify the bills first."
The middle-aged saleswoman had a family to feed, and she was under a lot of financial stress.
She really wanted to take the money, she checked them, they were all real.
Ten grand was more than enough to cover her salary for a long time.
"Then I'll take it." After taking the money, the saleswoman said, "I can tell you, there's definitely
something fishy about the mansion you won. It was all arranged."
"Do you know who arranged it?" Roxanne was eager to find out as soon as possible.
The woman nodded, then slowly began to explain...