Chapter 6 Lydia's POV

"Ivor, let go of me!"

I struggled hard, stepping back several paces.

Ivor's eyes were filled with rage, as if I were the one who had betrayed him.

"How do you even know Simon? How could someone like you possibly..."

I couldn't help but let out a cold laugh, cutting him off.

"You were going to say how could someone like me know a man like Simon, right? Since you already know I'm Simon's lover now, I'd advise you to keep your hands off me. Otherwise, when Simon finds out, you'll have more trouble than you can handle."

People were coming and going at the entrance of the banquet hall. I had no desire to keep dealing with him, so I got into a car by the curb and left.

When I got home, Hector and Marlowe were already sitting on the couch waiting for me.

I headed straight for the stairs, but they called out to stop me.

"Lydia, what exactly is going on between you and Simon? How come you've never mentioned him before?"

Marlowe glanced at me and pulled Natasha, who was sitting beside her, closer.

Natasha was wearing a white dress, smiling sweetly at me, but the smile never reached her eyes.

"Sis, something this big — how could you not discuss it with the family?"

I laughed coldly and shot back without holding back: "Discuss it? Didn't your mom just want me to introduce Simon to you? If I had discussed it with you all, I'm sure you would've just pushed me aside."

Marlowe and Natasha both went pale. Then Natasha put on a pitiful, wronged expression.

"Sis, I'm only saying this for your own good. Simon has been abroad all this time, and now he comes back and suddenly announces he's with you. I think he might have ulterior motives. Besides, I've heard Simon has always kept his distance from women — that's way too unusual."

Natasha had just returned from New York today and had missed the charity dinner.

Otherwise, she never would have let me get close to Simon.

Hearing that, Marlowe chimed in from the side: "Natasha's right. That Simon — I just couldn't read him tonight. He seemed dark and guarded. Lydia, you should focus on your engagement to Ivor and stop seeing Simon."

Watching these two put on their act in front of me, I found the whole thing almost laughable.

Standing in the living room, I tilted my head back slightly and said plainly: "Fine. I can stop seeing Simon."

A flicker of joy crossed both Marlowe's and Natasha's eyes.

But the next second, I put on a look of feigned distress.

"But you both saw it — Simon announced in front of everyone tonight that he likes me and wants to be with me. He didn't even give Ivor a second thought. If you won't let me see him and we end up offending the entire Levitt family, don't come looking to me."

At those words, Hector — who had been silently going along with Marlowe and Natasha — finally let a trace of worry show on his face.

Nobody could afford to offend the Levitt family.

Just then, there was a knock at the door.

Ivor appeared at the entrance, furious and flustered, his eyes blazing with anger, staring straight at me.

He had even forgotten to mind Hector and Marlowe standing nearby. He stormed in and grabbed my wrist hard.

"Lydia, those hickeys on you that day at the mall — were they from Simon?"

He had been left behind at the banquet hall entrance and had been turning it over in his mind the whole ride here.

He must have suddenly remembered the marks on me that day and come to confront me.

Hearing his words, both Marlowe and Hector were taken aback.

Natasha, standing to the side, let envy and resentment flash through her eyes.

"Ivor, calm down first. I'm sure my sister just had a moment of weakness — please forgive her this once."

Ivor's brow was tightly knitted, looking like he wanted to crush my wrist.

"I know you have a man on the outside. This is a business arrangement — I can look the other way and we each do our own thing. But what are you trying to pull right now? Are you actually going to break off our engagement for Simon?"

I looked at Ivor with contempt and yanked my wrist free. "Ivor, was that slap earlier not enough for you? I can give you another one."

Ivor's eyes filled with disbelief. He gritted his teeth and said, "The Levitt family is that powerful — why would they ever want a wild girl like you? You're nothing but a novelty to them."

"Exactly, sis. What if Simon gets tired of you and throws you away? You'd end up a bitter woman nobody wants. I think Ivor is the better choice."

I knew exactly what she was scheming, so I crossed my arms and said, "If you think he's so great, why don't you marry him yourself? Consider it my gift to you."

Natasha, who had just been playing the understanding, good-natured role, immediately dropped the act and showed her disgust and alarm. "Who said I wanted to marry him!"

The words had barely left her mouth before she realized her mistake, and she quickly looked nervously at Ivor, whose expression had gone dark. "That's not what I meant, I..."

Ivor had completely run out of patience. He swept his gaze around the room, his face cold. "Lydia, I'm giving you one last chance. Who are you choosing?"

He clearly had another woman on the outside, and yet here he was, showing up at my house in the middle of the night trying to win me back.

Not because he cared that much, but because of the engagement between our two families — it had been arranged by the generation before us.

Ivor's grandfather and my grandfather were old acquaintances, the kind of bond forged through life and death.

The will he left behind stated that Ivor had to marry me in order to inherit the family business.

That was why he was so scared right now.

I stood before him, calm and steady, and said each word clearly: "Ivor, I am not going to marry you."

I had no desire to marry a man who didn't love me, just for the sake of family interests.

Even though Ivor's grandfather had always treated me well, I still couldn't bring myself to go through with it.

"Fine, fine, fine. Lydia, don't come crying to me later. When Simon dumps you, don't expect me to take you back."

Ivor stormed out in a fury, slamming the villa door hard enough to shake the walls.

Hector looked at me with a heavy expression, but in the end said nothing, got up, and went upstairs.

Seeing him walk away without a word, Marlowe felt a knot tighten in her chest. She turned to me with a grave tone: "Lydia, this was a perfectly good engagement. Why did you have to go and ruin it like this? Don't you think about this family at all?"

I had no interest in listening to her lecture. I said bluntly: "If I could marry into the Levitt family, wouldn't that be better than marrying Ivor? You'd do better to worry about your own daughter."

Marlowe's face turned beet red.

She had always wanted Natasha to land a connection with the Levitt family.

Now I had taken that from her, and of course she wasn't going to let it go.

Hector was different — he didn't care about any of that. For him, having me tied to the Levitt family was nothing short of a windfall.

Either way he was selling off his daughter. Naturally, the richer and more powerful the buyer, the more he stood to gain.

But watching these two miserable, that was enough to put me in a good mood.

I went back to my room and lay down on the bed, turning the events of the day over in my mind. It still felt unreal.

The male escort I had randomly picked up at a bar turned out to be the heir to the renowned Levitt family.

I stared at the ceiling and let out a long, heavy breath.

A man like Simon — he certainly didn't lack for women. So why me? And why would he say something like that at the banquet?