Ivanka immediately opened her eyes, and her expression changed slightly. “Who is it?”The hairs on her body seemed to be standing on end, but she was rather tense at the moment and did not even notice that.After a while, Ivan’s cheeky voice came from the door. “Haha… It’s me. Are you free at the moment? I have something to ask you about.”He said “ask”.The way he said it was very humble and respectful. It gave Ivanka the impression that he had come to ask her about some legal matters.She pondered for a while and eventually got up to open the door for him.Then, she saw Ivan waving as he greeted her with a smile. “Hello, we meet again.”Ivanka frowned. The look in her eyes clearly signaled that she was displeased at the mention of their previous meeting, when Ivan walked in on her and Michael.But little did she know it was exactly why he came over.Ivanka stepped aside. Ivan strode in and casually sat down on the couch.Closing the door, Ivanka walked over and sat opposite
He quickly said, “It’s really not what you think… He truly likes you. He’s just bad at expressing himself, and he cares too much about his pride.”Ivanka snorted in laughter and did not believe a word he said.Ivan gave an awkward smile. Damn it! What on earth had Michael done to make her loathe him so much? She did not buy anything he said!Ivan sighed with resignation. “I’m telling you. Michael never truly abhorred you to begin with.”Ivanka suddenly blinked. But in the next moment, she came to her senses. As it seemed, Ivan was here to help Michael convince her. He was doing this for his friend’s interest. If she remarried Michael, she would work exclusively with Barkworth’s Group instead of Sadler’s Group. This would bring Michael more profit.After all, her net worth was quite high.She thought that “net worth” sounded rather sarcastic and dehumanizing.Sometimes she genuinely thought that she might as well be an ordinary person. That way, people would not approach her with
“He thought that my father and I reached out to his grandpa to set him up, so that everyone would find out that we had slept together. Then he would have to take responsibility, and I would successfully marry him. He hated how I pulled this trick on him, right?”Ivan was flabbergasted.Damn it!He should not have mentioned that!He quickly shook his head and said firmly, “It’s all a misunderstanding! This has nothing to do with you and your father. Master Barkworth was the one behind it. He knew that Chiara set you up and sent you off to another man that night, so he decided to seize this chance. He replaced the man with Michael. As a result, you and Michael ended up sleeping together.”Ivanka looked away and refused to say a word. Her eyes were filled with coldness and mockery.That day, when she woke up, she was in shock. But once she realized that the man next to her was Michael, she felt panicked yet ecstatic at the same time.She felt that losing her virginity to Michael wa
A strange emotion flickered in Ivanka’s eyes. She remained silent.She did not plan to kick Ivan out and waited.Naturally, Ivan would gladly continue. He wanted to explain everything to her, so he said, “After Michael learned that he has cancer, he got even more depressed. Xander kept finding a way to treat him and stall for time. Since it was an early diagnosis, only the few of us knew. He refused to let us tell anyone else. At that time, he was even more inclined to get a divorce. But you know… sometimes people are complicated. Even though he wanted to divorce you, he was rather reluctant. So he kept stalling.”Ivanka frowned wordlessly. She did not know whether she should believe what Ivan had told her. Frankly, she likely did not trust him at all.Ivan could tell what she was thinking. He sighed wearily. “I know… You might not believe me. You might even suspect that it was Michael who asked me to come over and talk to you. But I just want to tell you the truth.”Ivanka snorte
Ivanka looked at Ivan coldly in silence.“You two only met by chance! He wasn’t stalking you. That bar was huge. He often goes there for business,” Ivan explained.When Ivanka remained silent, he took a deep breath and continued, “Michael thinks Jonah and Elio are bad news. He’s worried they’ll hurt you. That’s why he stepped up and suggested getting back together. Also... he did it because he likes you! He’s always been looking out for you, though his way of doing it can be pretty infuriating.”He wanted to say that Michael was being too overbearing, but he could not bring himself to say it.Ivanka remained calm as Ivan scrutinized her. His mouth twitched, and he could not help but ask, “You still don’t believe any of this, do you?”Ivanka smirked. “To me, he’s worse than Jonah. Are we done here? If you are, you can leave now.”Ivan was speechless.Ivanka did not bother trying to make him leave earlier because she knew he would stubbornly stay. So, she only asked him to leave a
Rosie saw Xander and Ivan as her own grandsons even though they were not biologically related to her. She was very fond of them and had watched them grow up together with Michael.As for Ivanka, that went without saying—she had always treated her as if she were her real granddaughter!Ivanka just smiled and said, “Rest is important. We’ll visit you often.”Rosie shook her head. “I wish you all could be with me every day, but I know work comes first. It’s just so rare for you all to stay tonight. Besides, I got plenty of sleep.”Everyone laughed. Rosie might be tired because she had been accompanying them all morning, which was understandably tiring. Therefore, they did not plan to let her stay with them for too long in the afternoon.However, Rosie was in an exceptionally good mood and in high spirits on this particular day. She enthusiastically chatted with them until dinnertime.Samuel was surprised to see so many people in the mansion when he returned. His expression darkened
If he were younger, Samuel would have been very shrewd. But with age, he behaved more like a child.When Michael did not explain why Ivanka had come over, he frowned. “You know what I meant.”Michael looked at him silently.Samuel could not help but say, “When will Ivanka learn some shame?!”Michael frowned. “Do you think she enjoys seeing a grumpy old man like you? She wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for Grandma.”Samuel snorted coldly. “I’d be more than happy if she didn’t come at all. She always uses Grandma as an excuse to visit. It’s like she’s trying to win you back. Can’t you see what she’s trying to do?”Michael turned away. Clearly, he was unwilling to engage further with Samuel’s comment. Samuel gritted his teeth. “You mustn’t fall for that woman! Don’t get caught up with her. She’s not a good match for you.”Michael’s gaze turned cold as he shot Samuel a sharp glance. “If it weren’t for your matchmaking back then, I wouldn’t have gotten involved with her, would I?!”
Michael chuckled coldly and ignored Samuel.Samuel frowned and glared angrily at Michael. “Why are you laughing?”Michael pursed his lips but remained silent.If Ivanka had a strategy, she would have used the period around their marriage to showcase her strengths and demonstrate to him and the Barkworth family how capable she was. She would have shown that she was far superior to Tanya in her potential contributions to Barkworth’s Group.Instead of seizing this opportunity, Ivanka chose to do nothing significant. She remained quiet and unnoticed, which caused Samuel to increasingly dislike her.With Fernando’s passing and the actions taken by Theodore’s family, they gradually pushed her toward a dead end.Michael’s gaze turned cold as he thought about that.“You figure out how to tell Ivanka to stop coming here yourself. This is the last time she sets foot here. She’s not allowed back in here again!” Samuel commanded sharply.He genuinely feared that Michael would fall head ove