Elaine was stunned. She jerked her head up and looked into his deep-set eyes in astonishment.She took a deep breath and asked, “You are messing with me, right, Mr. Saldana?”‘A marriage of convenience? With him? A man who I've only seen a few times and known for less than half a month?’ He fixed his gaze at her and continued in a calm voice. “I’ll give you all the freedom you want after our marriage. You can do whatever you want.” Elaine fell silent for a long while. “Are you talking about a deal? Like a fake marriage?”He lowered his head, and although he did not say anything, Elaine knew what he was trying to say.“Why me?” asked Elaine.Ian retracted his gaze and turned his eyes to look at the wine glass. “You don't want to be bound by marriage, and I don't like other people to tell me what to do in my life. If I have to make a choice, I think you're a very suitable person, Ms. Xavier.”Elaine did not say anything.A marriage of convenience... In other words, they would
Edward’s hands, which were flipping through the newspaper, stopped moving, and he frowned. “Why are you asking this?”As Elaine chewed, she asked bluntly, “If the man I want to marry is his son, what will you do?”Edward was astonished and then slammed the newspaper on the table. “Have you lost your mind!?”Jenna was frightened. She did not understand much about her husband's industry, so she did not interrupt. Still, she was a little surprised that Elaine took the initiative to bring up the word “marriage”.Elaine knew that her father did not like Mr. Saldana, so this marriage was an almost impossible task. Nonetheless, she thought about Ian’s words.‘I really don’t want to get married. If Dad were to arrange for me to marry a man that I’ve never met before or something, I might as well choose Ian over that fate.’“Dad, he said that he would give me 5% of the Synergy Group’s shares if I were to marry him. Are you not interested in that?”Edward’s expression became quite excited
Ian’s voice pulled her back to reality.Elaine frowned, walked up to him, and crossed her arms. “Mr. Saldana, I tried to look past your lack of sincerity, but you actually lied to me?”“I lied?” Ian’s hands, which were holding the hem of the collar and adjusting his shirt, stopped moving, and his eyes were fixed on her face.Elaine looked up at him. “My father said that Mr. Juan Saldana has only one son, and he’s mentally ill. So, Mr. Saldana, are you trying to make a fool out of me?”Ian gave off a soft chuckle and said nothing.“What are you laughing at?” Elaine wondered.He walked aside and poured a cup of coffee calmly and slowly. “I didn’t make a fool out of you.”“Then I... I don’t think you look like a mentally ill person,” she murmured.‘What’s going on here?’Ian took the cup of coffee, walked to the couch, sat down, laughed, and explained calmly, “Juan Saldana does only have one son, but that’s the life that he discloses to the public.”Elaine stared at him and sank
Although Juan had never visited his son, it was uncommon for him to have not abandoned him. The amount of money he paid to the psychiatric hospital every year was worth millions of dollars.Marco had someone to personally serve him in the psychiatric hospital. After all, his father was the well-known Mr. Saldana—the hospital would definitely not treat him badly, and he would surely not suffer while staying there. Marco’s mental illness was congenital. Sometimes, he would act normally, but the onset would send him into a rampage from time to time.There was no other way but to place him in a psychiatric medical center and provide him with quality food, drink, and treatment.Nolan laughed. “What a pity.”“But Mr. Saldana has another son.”“Another son?”Quincy remembered something. “Yes, Mrs. Saldana said that Mr. Saldana was quite a playboy in private back then. He had an extramarital affair with another woman when Mrs. Saldana was pregnant, and the affair went on for six whole ye
Quincy put his glasses back on.Saydie always felt that it was very awkward for him to wear glasses. She felt that it was not pleasing to the eye, so she stretched out her hand, intending to snatch them off his face again.“Stop it. Mrs. Goldmann is here.” Quincy evaded her hand.She explained bluntly, “You look even uglier with glasses on.”Quincy was rendered speechless while Maisie burst into laughter.She walked to Saydie and patted her on the shoulder. “Saydie, don’t keep bullying Quincy just because you think he’s a pushover. If you were to bully him until he loses his mind, he’d lose his job as the person in charge of Blackgold’s brain.”Saydie nodded. “Yes, Ma’am.”Quincy was at a loss for words.Maisie left Blackgold with Saydie and got into the car. Her gaze landed on Saydie while they were in the car, and she asked meaningfully, “Saydie, do you really hate Quincy that much?”Saydie paused for a bit, wondered for a while, and replied, “No.”Maisie supported the side
“What makes you think I’m the same as Lucy?” Elaine crossed her arms. “Lucy has had a hard life, and now that there’s a man who can take care of her, you can finally rest easy. But just in case you don’t know this, I don’t need it.”“You…”“Dear, there’s no need to rush Elaine. In fact, it’s not a bad thing to get married later in life. It won’t be too late for Elaine to think about it when she meets her Mr. Right.” Jenna tried to persuade Edward gently.Edward snorted. “If she had the ability to think about it, she wouldn’t have been deceived.”“Dad, I didn’t lie to you.”“You didn’t lie? You’re doing so because you deliberately want to piss me off. Are the Saldanas a family that you can think about marrying into? You didn’t even go around gathering more information about Juan’s son, and you’ve chosen to believe in him!”‘Sure enough, he still cares about the Saldanas.’Lucy wondered. “What about the Saldanas?”Elaine did not answer Lucy but explained, “Ian is the other son of
Edward waved his hand to ask his secretary to leave. She walked out and closed the door.He walked to the couch grumpily. “You’re too arrogant, kid, coming up here to talk business with me. Let me ask you, who is Juan Saldana to you?”Since Edward went straight to the point, Ian didn’t hide. “He’s my father.”Edward paused. “Isn’t his son Marco Saldana? Since when did he have another son?”Ian laughed. “Would he tell the world that he has an illegitimate son?”Edward paused again. People who had influence would not admit they had an illegitimate child because that was frowned upon.The children could only live in the shadows and could not be brought to life. They were very much taboo.Edward didn’t keep questioning him. The son from Juan Saldana’s marriage had mental issues and would not be able to inherit the family business, so it would be different if he had an illegitimate son.However, Juan didn’t seem like someone who would let an illegitimate son take over his empire.
“Yes, we’ve had too many presents in the past, and I’m out of ideas now. Then I realized I haven’t gotten him any antiques yet.”Christina nodded and had a short chat with her before leaving and letting the young people spend time instead.Barbara had tea with Maisie at a cafe nearby when Maisie remembered something and blurted, “I think I saw someone today.”Barbara asked, “Who?”“Ian Summer.”Once the name came up, Barbara froze. It had been a while, and she didn’t seem to remember much anymore.“Where did you see him?”“When I was on the way here. It was just a glance, but I felt he looked familiar.” Maisie said that while her eyes were on Barbara’s face and chuckled. “Why? Do you still have a thing for him?”Barbara rolled her eyes. “Nonsense! If Helios hears this, he’s going to be so jealous.”“It’s fine then. It’s been so long. I thought you would feel bad if I mentioned him.”“No way!”She didn’t feel bad, but there was regret in her heart because she liked him so muc