Hannah Lowell never intended to invite Joshua Sutton to dinner; she was just waiting to see Kate get nothing out of Ethan Sinclair, and wanted her daughter to find a better match.
And this Desmond Grant, though not quite as good-looking as Ethan, was generous with his money.
After seeing Kiana Sutton’s photo, he even promised Hannah that as long as Kiana agreed to be with him, he’d give their family a one-million-dollar dowry and a villa.
As soon as Hannah heard this, she tricked Kiana into coming over.
She knew very well that Kiana probably didn’t want to see her, so she played the family card; sure enough, her sentintal daughter still showed up.
As long as they hit it off today, she’d go ho and make Kiana divorce Ethan Sinclair.
Hmph, if she’d known Ethan Sinclair was such a stingy bastard, she never would have tried so hard to get them together in the first place.
Hearing noise behind her, Hannah turned her head for a quick look.
The next second, her expression changed drastically, guilt flooding her face.
Damn it, why is Ethan Sinclair here?
Ethan’s good mood from signing the contract instantly soured the mont he saw Hannah.
This woman, up to her tricks again?
The phone kept ringing nonstop. Ignoring Hannah, Ethan walked to the window to answer it.
"Kate... what’s wrong?"
"Ian, the doctor said I’m recovering well—just two more months and I’ll be discharged..."
While Ethan took the call, his dark eyes stayed coldly locked on Hannah not far away.
Even though Hannah didn’t look at him, she could still feel Ethan’s sharp gaze—like thorns on her back.
Afraid sticking around at the door would arouse Ethan’s suspicion, she pretended to be calm and walked away from the private room door.
Hearing Kate Lynch’s excited, happy voice, Ethan gave a soft laugh. "That’s good."
After he hung up and returned to the private room, Ethan seed a little distracted.
He couldn’t say why, only that ever since he’d seen Hannah, sothing just felt wrong inside.
anwhile, in the next room, Kiana Sutton had been waiting forever but still hadn’t seen Hannah or Joshua walk in.
She was getting anxious, and anyway, Desmond Grant had started off acting gentlemanly but now kept inching closer and closer to her.
Kiana kept retreating until she couldn’t anymore. Suddenly, she stood up and gestured to Desmond, "I’m going to check on my mom and my brother."
She didn’t care if Desmond understood her sign language—after making her gestures, she started for the door.
But how could a toad ever let the swan slip away?
Desmond grabbed Kiana’s arm and forced her back into her chair. "Don’t you get it yet? That brother of yours was never coming."
Kiana stared at Desmond in disbelief, only to see him smirk wickedly. "Your mom took my money, said she’d introduce you to . I wasn’t interested since I heard you were mute, but your mom said you were damn pretty and showed your photo."
Kiana felt like she’d been kicked into an ice cellar, chilled to the bone.
She thought Hannah had changed, but in the end, she was as rotten as ever—tricking her for money, trying to sell her out!
Seeing Kiana so devastated, her face pale as paper, Desmond faked a look of sympathy. "Aww, look at you—you really do tug at the heartstrings. Honestly, you’re way prettier than in your photos. Be with and I’ll make sure you never have to worry about money, and you’ll live like a queen."
Kiana pushed him away with all her strength, her small face twisted in anger and grief from her family’s betrayal.
"Yeah, yeah, that’s the look! Haha, it’s beautiful..."
Desmond moved toward her, but Kiana dodged nimbly and ran for the door.
"Hey—why are you running? You should feel lucky I want you! You think you can really get away?"
Kiana didn’t care about anything else—she just wanted out. She’d barely opened the door when she saw Hannah standing outside.
"Oh Kiana, why are you out here? I just called Joshua, he said he’d—"
Before Hannah could finish, Kiana shoved her hard. Hannah nearly fell but caught herself against the wall, then pointed a finger at Kiana’s nose, shouting, "How dare you—pushing your own mother!"
Kiana stared at Hannah with heartbreaking disappointnt, her eyes red and tears streaming down. "You never called Joshua. You lied to again! You’re my mother—why do you keep lying? Why do you have to do this to ?"
Whenever Kiana got upset, her signing hands would tremble, making her look utterly helpless and pitiful.
Seeing that Kiana had figured out the truth, Hannah didn’t bother hiding it anymore. "Yeah, I only called you. I did it for your sake! What have you gotten in these three years with Ethan Sinclair?"
She paused, then added, "I heard that woman, Kate Lynch, woke up—she’s the one Ethan really cares for. He’s bound to leave you eventually. Of course I have to worry about your future and find you a decent husband!"
"I don’t need it!"
Kiana signed angrily, "I don’t need you ddling in my life! You always say it’s for my own good, but you keep hurting !"
All her hurt, sadness, and despair flooded in, and Kiana sobbed harder than ever.
She didn’t want to see Hannah again, turned to leave, but Hannah blocked her way. "You can’t leave yet!"
An employee heard the commotion outside the private room and hurried over. "What’s going on here?"
Afraid of making a scene, Hannah forced a smile. "Nothing, nothing, just a small argunt between my daughter and son-in-law. I’m just helping them work it out."
Hannah shot Desmond a look, and he walked over and threw his arm around Kiana’s shoulders.
"Honey, whatever it is, we’ll talk it through at ho. I’ll give you anything you want."
Kiana felt sick to her stomach—Hannah disgusted her, and so did Desmond.
She struggled with all her might, but with both Hannah and Desmond hanging onto her, there was no way she could break free.
Just then, the door to the neighboring room opened, and Ethan Sinclair walked out with several n.
When Hannah saw Ethan, her heart clenched violently and her whole body went cold.
Damn that Ethan Sinclair—he was in the next room all this ti!
Hannah was still afraid of Ethan. She rembered that Kiana and Ethan weren’t divorced yet, and worried Ethan might take it out on her. She dropped Kiana and Desmond and slunk away miserably.
Kiana seed to sense what was coming too; she stopped struggling and stiffly turned her head for a look.
eting Ethan’s icy, needle-sharp gaze, Kiana’s whole body trembled.
In that instant, Kiana was overwheld by a cruel realization: she didn’t know whether she should feel happy Ethan had found her and might save her—
or despair because, after seeing all this, Ethan would never let her go.
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