Chapter 156 – Twisted Fate of a Billionaire’s Daughter Undercover

Stevie composed himself and entered the room, beaming politely.

“Mr. Jones, it’s been a while,” he greeted.

“Mr. Ramos, it’s been so long since we last met!” Nathaniel greeted back with a grin, albeit coughing.

Upon noticing that, Stevie suddenly remembered that the elder was sent to the hospital in the middle of the night last week. The news was that Nathaniel was gravely ill. Even so, he seemed to be doing well right now. Stevie realized it was not the right time to bring it up.

After he quickly came to his senses, he sat beside Vivien and asked, “Why didn’t you tell me that you’d be coming here to Bluepond? I could have arranged for someone to pick you up.”

Nathaniel replied, laughing, “It’s alright. It’s not my first time coming here, not to mention that the purpose of my visit is to discuss an important matter with you.”

While Stevie had a rough guess, he pretended to be clueless about it. “May I ask what brought you here?”

“Good news! It’s good news,” Nathaniel exclaimed, followed by a few coughs. Shifting his gaze to the man behind him, he ordered, “Carl, bring the file to Mr. Ramos.”

Carl swiftly took out the file he had already prepared in his briefcase, put it on the table, and faced the couple in front of him. “Mr. and Mrs. Ramos, this is the compensation Mr. Jones is giving to your daughter.”

After Carl’s brief explanation, Nathaniel sighed. “It’s our fault. I failed to discipline my descendants, leaving Ashlyn to suffer at their hands. These days, every time I think of her, I feel I haven’t fulfilled my responsibility as an elder. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been so disappointed to divorce Gordon.”

Stevie and Vivien looked at each other briefly, none of them making an attempt to touch the so-called compensation. Stevie looked back at Nathaniel and said, “All that is in the past now. There’s no need to talk about it.”

“Come on. I know these things are in the past, but I can’t just ignore all the harm that our family has caused to Ashlyn. I know you don’t need this, but to relieve me of this weight, take this small token,” Nathaniel pleaded.

Stevie’s first reaction after Nathaniel’s words was to frown, but he managed to conceal his displeasure and said with a stiff smile, “Don’t worry about that. As you surely know, Ashlyn doesn’t keep grudges. It’s been almost a year now. She surely doesn’t even remember these things.”

Nathaniel sighed again and said, “This is all my fault. It was because of my stubbornness that Ashlyn suffered in our family the way she did. But that is over now. From now on, anyone that dares say anything wicked to Ashlyn will have me to deal with.”

Vivien’s eyebrows furrowed as she finally understood why Nathaniel was here today. Stevie tried to keep his expression neutral, but he couldn’t stop the frown that finally made its way to his face. “Well, I’m a little confused. Ashlyn and Gordon have been divorced for almost a year, right?”

“Yes, but you know that young people nowadays have different mindsets. Didn’t you read the news that was circulating on the internet a few days ago? They may be divorced, but they love each other. We can’t be the ones to keep them away from each other, right?” Vivien raised her eyebrows at the nonsense she was hearing and asked in a not-too-polite tone, “Are you trying to say that Ashlyn and Gordon got back together?”

Nathaniel wasn’t done talking, and Vivien’s interruption annoyed him. Under normal circumstances, he would have shown his annoyance, but he was in a vulnerable position. He covered the small frown he had let slip up and then smiled before answering, “Gordon loves Ashlyn, and we all know Ashlyn loves Gordon. They only divorced because of some misunderstandings. But now that the misunderstandings have been cleared up, nothing is stopping them from getting back together.”

Vivien was fuming with anger, and Stevie could feel it, so he held her hand to calm her down and looked at Nathaniel pointedly. “You are right. They have the right to love each other. We are Ashlyn’s parents, but we don’t have the right to interfere in her love life. You’ve said a lot since you came in. What is it exactly that you want to say?” Stevie cut to the chase. He was tired of entertaining this conversation.

Nathaniel, who didn’t get the impatience under Stevie’s tone, chuckled and answered, “You’re right. I should make my intentions clear. I came here today to let you know that Gordon wants to remarry Ashlyn. Carl, bring the betrothal gift out.”

Carl nodded and then brought out another document. This time, though, he didn’t just place it on the table. He opened it instead and put it before Stevie and Vivien. Although she was annoyed, Vivien couldn’t help but glance at the document. She had to admit that the Jones family was ready to spend a fortune to get her precious daughter back. But it still didn’t move her. The Ramos family didn’t lack money. They didn’t need the betrothal gift from the Jones family.

After reading through the document, Vivien couldn’t stop the dry chuckle that escaped her lips. Nathaniel misunderstood her laughter and frowned. “Are you not satisfied with the gift?”

Vivien looked at him emotionlessly and said, “Not satisfied? Don’t sell us so short. We have only one daughter, and she will eventually inherit all our property. We don’t care about this betrothal gift. We only want our daughter’s happiness. If this is what she wants, then we will give her our support. If it’s not what she wants, we will not force anything on her.”

If Vivien was being honest, she didn’t want her daughter to join the Jones family again. They had looked down on her daughter before and even made her feel useless. Why were they so eager to bring her back in? They finally realized what they had lost, but it was too late.

Nathaniel knew Vivien’s words were ironic, but there was nothing he could do. He had to act humble since he now wanted Gordon to marry Ashlyn. Nathaniel pretended he didn’t comprehend Vivien’s words. “You’re correct, Mrs. Ramos. I think a proposal of marriage is in order. Young people today are not as conservative as we do. They are impulsive and have trouble controlling their actions. They are not to blame, and Gordon is just as culpable. He failed to protect Ashlyn as a man should. The news about them staying in a hotel room has been out for a while. I think they should get married as soon as possible. If they get married, people will think they love each other. The sordid gossip will disappear. Don’t you think so?”

This bastard! Vivien cursed silently. She would have cursed him out loud if it would not damage the relationship between the two families. Stevie had a serious expression as well. Nathaniel pretended to suggest this proposal all for Ashlyn’s sake, but Stevie was annoyed by this pretense. Times had changed when it came to relationships. Things were much more open than they used to be. Ashlyn and Gordon had not made up, and even if they did, sex would be a normal thing between them. Nathaniel acted as if it was something shameful.

“I disagree,” Stevie said. “Only Ashlyn and Gordon know what is best for them. I think we should not incorporate ourselves into their affairs. I know that you have the best intentions, but young people today do whatever they want. If something bad happens because of your good intentions, it will defeat the purpose.”

Nathaniel’s expression went still. “You’re right, but now that Gordon still loves Ashlyn and vice versa. It can be difficult for people from prominent families to get married. They don’t always find someone who loves them for who they are. I want to have a great-grandson as soon as possible.”

“I get what you mean,” Stevie said. “We feel the same. We don’t get involved in Ashlyn’s private affairs. If she loves who she’s with and he treats her well, we trust her decisions.”

Nathaniel was aware that his proposal idea was being easily rejected. He changed the subject. “One should marry someone who loves them. It would be good for them to live that way.” The rest of the conversation with Nathaniel remained focused around other topics.

Nathaniel did not leave until eight o’clock that evening. Vivien and Stevie looked at each other with stern faces after Nathaniel was gone.

“What is wrong with the Jones family? They were mean to Ashlyn before, and they still have the audacity to propose marriage between her and Gordon!” Vivien snapped.

“Does he think we want the betrothal gift and compensation?” Stevie was angry, too. “That old man would do anything for interests!”

Stevie was able to see things clearly after the conversation. Nathaniel was usually aggressive. This time, however, both Stevie and Vivien replied to his suggestion sarcastically, and Nathaniel kept a smile on his face the whole time. Nathaniel was so shameless, and it made Stevie and Vivien disgusted.

Stevie and his wife blamed Nathaniel and wanted nothing to do with him, and Nathaniel, too, was unhappy with them. As soon as the car drove out of the villa, the smile that had been plastered on Nathaniel’s face all through immediately faded.

Carl looked at the cold expression on the old man’s face but didn’t dare ask what was going on. Nathaniel’s anger had been bottled up for so long that he hit his walking stick as hard as he could on the car floor and yelled, “Who gave them the right to say that to me? I’ll see how long they’ll keep this on!”

Carl glanced at Nathaniel briefly, wondering what he had in mind now. Tentatively, he asked in a low voice, “What happened, Mr. Jones?”

“Isn’t it obvious? They said they don’t care what people say. How could they say that to my face? I’d like to test and see how far they don’t care!” Nathaniel snorted. “Devin stayed in Ashlyn’s apartment last night, didn’t he?”

Carl thought about it for a second and then answered, “I think so. He left at five o’clock this morning.”

“Ashlyn has no morals whatsoever. If she wasn’t Stevie’s daughter, I would have never let her marry Gordon.”

“I don’t understand, sir.”

“I don’t need you to. I want you to spread some news that Ashlyn is pregnant with Gordon’s baby,” Nathaniel said with a small smile at the corner of his lips.

Carl looked at his boss in shock. “But we don’t have any evidence. Even if this gets out, no one will believe it.”

“Don’t be a spoil joy, Carl!” Nathaniel snapped discontentedly at Carl. “It doesn’t matter if it’s the truth, and we don’t need everyone to believe. Even if just a few people believe it, it’s enough. Stevie and his wife said that they didn’t give a damn about rumors, right? Well, let’s see how they’ll react when everyone starts talking about Ashlyn being pregnant.”

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