Chapter 10

Brooklyn was envious of the upper crust. They didn't need to hesitate to spend a few hundred dollars on medication, nor did they need to stress themselves out over the money to pay for their bills. All they needed to do was just live peacefully in estates like this.

"The main thing you need to take note of at the Wood family's estate is that you'll see other people once you leave this building." Heather paused and turned to smile at Brooklyn. "All of them are Mr. Wood's enemies."

"Are you referring to Mr. Victor or whatever his name is?" he asked, thinking about his encounter with Victor the other day.

"Oh, he's one of them." Heather pushed a pastry to him. "Don't be so on edge—you used to be really obnoxious, didn't you? I heard that you rejected Mr. Wood's proposal to his face and said something like 'No one would marry a cripple.' Why are you so submissive now?"

"Huh?" Brooklyn smiled awkwardly. Had he ever been that obnoxious? He knew nothing about that.

"Or are you scared now that you've been brought back here?" Heather propped her jaw on one hand. "That can't be. You're not the type, are you?"

"I'm not scared of Dimitri." Brooklyn was telling the truth. In fact, he was relatively dependent on Dimitri. The latter treated him so well that he could almost believe he really loved him.

Heather faltered and gaped at him. If she were to be honest, anyone who could say something like that had to be a fool.

"Forget it." She waved a hand and handed him a phone. "This is your new phone. You can use this from now on."

"Alright."

"I've already saved my and Mr. Wood's numbers inside, but I would advise you against looking for me. I'm generally too busy to help." Heather seemed like she had a lot of free time, but she'd actually squeezed some time out of her schedule to speak to Brooklyn about this.

She was afraid that he would get into trouble if she were to keep anything from him. When that happened, she would only have to waste more time resolving the issue.

She suddenly remembered something important. "There's another thing—you might be Mr. Wood's fiancé, but you're not his destined partner. His destined partner stays here, too, but in one of the neighboring villas."

She pointed in a direction, her expression becoming odd for a split second. Then, she chuckled and said, "Her name is Lorraine Carlson, and she hates you with every fiber of her being. So, I'd advise against you leaving the house.

"You should also avoid her if you do come across her, or your life might be in danger. Even if your life isn't at risk, you'll still get hurt."

"What?" Brooklyn looked astonished. "Why does Dimitri want to marry me if he already has a destined partner?"

"Your marriage to Mr. Wood is a political one that was agreed upon by your respective families. Ms. Carlson might be Mr. Wood's destined partner, but her family doesn't like the fact that he's crippled." Heather smiled. "All you need to do is marry Mr. Wood. He'll deal with everything else."

Brooklyn sighed in relief when he heard that, but he still felt a little uncomfortable. He asked Heather in a small voice, "Does Dimitri love me?"

Heather snickered at that. Then, she shook her head and said, "How would I know the answer to that? It's not like I can read Mr. Wood's mind. Why don't you ask him directly?"

Brooklyn would never dare. He shook his head vigorously and said, "Forget it."

"Come on, don't be so insecure. Have more confidence in yourself—Mr. Wood chose you among so many others, which means he acknowledges you." Heather's jaw was still propped on her hand as she smiled at him. "You should be more arrogant around others, Zachary, or they'll look down on you."

"Me?" Brooklyn pointed at himself.

"Yeah. You used to walk around with your nose in the air all the time, didn't you? Why do you seem like a different person now that Mr. Wood's brought you back?" Heather was questioning him, but it also seemed like she suspected something.

"I just… wanted to be a bit more obedient this time," Brooklyn mumbled, feeling insecure. He was afraid Heather would see through him.

If she could sense that he wasn't like Zachary, the more so Dimitri would. It looked like he had to act more stuck-up.

After preparing himself, he took a deep breath and cleared his throat, saying, "There's no point in me telling you so much. It's none of your business, anyway."

"You're right. It isn't." Heather got up to leave, a small smile playing on her lips. It was hard to tell what she was thinking.

Brooklyn decided to head back to his room once she was gone. He didn't know what else he could do. When living at the underground level, he'd been busy making food deliveries every day and stressing out over ways to make more money.

He'd also had to care for Liza, so he basically didn't have any free time. Now, he stared at his phone, wondering what he could do.

He checked it to see only Dimitri's and Heather's numbers saved—Dimitri's name was the only one in his list of WhatsApp contacts, too. He thought about his old number and tried to log in to it. However, the number had already been canceled.

Brooklyn sighed. It looked like "Brooklyn York" would be gone from this world for a period.

He started playing a game that seemed to come with the phone. He found that he had no idea how to play it and didn't have the desire to play it. It soon became boring. After some thought, he decided to get some rest.

Brooklyn was about to go upstairs when he heard a maid speaking to someone at the entrance. "Ms. Carlson, Mr. Wood really isn't around."

He stopped and turned to see who it was. A woman with blond curls stood there, donning a form-fitting dress and white heels. Her beautiful face had an annoyed look on it as she stood there with her arms crossed.

She looked at the maid and said, "Get out of my way. I have to see Dimitri today, no matter what."

"Mr. Wood isn't around," the maid said patiently. "Maybe you can drop by tomorrow."

"Where could a cripple like him be, if not at home?" Lorraine said snobbishly. She tried to push the maid aside as she snapped, "Get out of my way!"

"Mr. Wood has a job, Ms. Carlson. If you don't have anything else to say, please go home. There's no way you're seeing Mr. Wood today." The maid's tone was firm; she didn't seem scared of Lorraine at all. It was evident Dimitri had trained her well.