Chapter 12

It should've been an easy decision, but Nelson still hesitated for a split second.

A moment later, he let out a barely audible "Okay. I won't go back on my word."

Serena wiped her tears and smiled as she threw herself into his arms.

"That's a relief. I'll make it up to Claire. I promise."

Nelson stiffened. His brows drew together, a flicker of unease flashing in his eyes. "…Sure."

Serena didn't push any further. She let him go and gave him a sweet smile. "Then you should head back. I'll take my meds and focus on getting better."

Nelson held her gaze for a second, gave a quiet "Mm," and turned to leave.

As soon as his tall figure disappeared from view, the smile on Serena's innocent face vanished.

"Bitch. I should've kicked her out years ago. Then I wouldn't have had to humiliate myself in front of Nelson today. And with so many people watching, what a damn joke!"

"Alright, alright," Elena said, trying to calm her down. "That girl's already divorced from Nelson. Once you marry into the Cooper family, she'll be a nobody. What do you care what she used to be?"

Serena huffed and sat back down with a pout.

"If you hadn't insisted on protecting the family's reputation, she would've never gotten close to Nelson. That title was supposed to be mine, but you all were too soft to throw her out!"

"It's not that I didn't want to," Elena muttered. "Old Mr. Cooper liked her. I did it for the bigger picture."

Truth was, Elena had always felt uneasy raising a girl who wasn't her own.

If not for Old Mr. Cooper's favoritism and the fear that kicking Claire out would cause him to back out of the engagement, she'd have tossed her out ages ago.

That girl lived on their dime, under their roof, and now had the nerve to turn around and make them look bad? What a total ingrate.

"But now that Old Mr. Cooper's gone, and Nelson's been nothing but good to you these past three years, the marriage is basically set in stone. You panicked tonight. You shouldn't have gone after that woman yourself. Next time, be smarter. Whatever happens, don't deal with it in person, got it?"Serena pouted. "I was just being cautious, okay?"

She'd already failed twice. Seriously, how the heck did Claire keep dodging her traps so effortlessly? She must've been born with some insane luck or something.

Noticing Elena was about to say more, Serena quickly slipped into a sweet tone. "Alright, Mom, once I marry Nelson, I promise I won't stir up any more trouble. This time I just didn't want anything unexpected to happen, so I had someone handle it. But it's done now, and besides, Nelson didn't even say anything about it."

"He may not have said a word, but that doesn't mean there's nothing going on in his head."

Elena's voice was low but firm. "For the next few days, go stick around Nelson more, play the soft card like you used to, got it?"

Serena nodded obediently. "Got it. Thanks, Mom."

—

As soon as Claire stepped out of the villa, the flashy red sports car parked by the curb grabbed her attention—along with the guy leaning against it in a bright pink floral shirt.

She immediately wanted to double back.

Too late.

Adrian spotted her in a flash. Smirking, he grabbed the massive bouquet of red roses from the passenger seat and strode toward her, full of flair.

"Happy birthday, my little princess!" he announced cheerfully.

Claire felt a headache coming on. But she still managed to smile as she accepted the flowers. "Honestly, if you weren't my brother, I'd probably pretend I didn't know you."

"Rude!" Adrian shot back, playfully offended, then went on like he was giving a TED Talk.

"I brought the car out for good luck—bright red, super festive, got it? As for the roses, you're into them! And can you believe this is your brother's first-ever flower delivery? You should feel honored!"

Claire giggled. "Alright, alright! Thank you, Adrian!"

She turned and gave Alyssa a quick nod.

"Miss Grant, my brother's here to pick me up. I'll see you around."

Behind her, Alyssa looked completely stunned.

The second she caught sight of who handed over the roses, she froze.

"That's… your brother?"

Adrian Fields, the man behind XR Entertainment. Practically every top-tier celeb in recent years came out of his company. Their first movie? Box office smashed forty billion. Don't even start on their TV projects—some dramas from years ago are still being rewatched to death by internet fans.

Alyssa had dreamed of signing with XR. And now? The big boss was standing right in front of her. Still pretending to be the harmless younger brother, huh?