What about giving up all my shares just to beg Father to spare his life?
It was all a complete joke!
5:23 AM & σ
<
It was all a complete joke!
Seeing him like this, I instantly understood.
m 100.
He was rebor
So, his “I’ll repay you in the next life” from last time? All lies.
Even with a second chance, he didn’t want to marry me.
It didn’t matter.
I didn’t plan on having him either.
“Mr. Sterling, my business acumen might not be inferior to my elder brother’s.”
Jax’s voice was neither servile nor overbearing. In just a few words, he pointed out the Sterling family’s current business dilemma, analyzing it even more precisely than Caleb.
“I can help the Sterling family turn losses into profits within three months.”
My father’s shock turned into wild joy.
I saw the way Seraphina looked at Jax. It changed too, becoming astonishingly bright.
She quickly composed herself, walked to Caleb’s side, and put on a caring act.
“Caleb, you’ll have to take good care of my sister from now on.”
Caleb’s grim gaze fell on my left prosthetic eye.
That was the eye I lost when I took a knife for Seraphina.
Caleb’s eyes filled with disgust. He spoke each word distinctly, “Please, Mr. Sterling, cancel this engagement. Grant me my freedom. I’d rather start from scratch outside.”
My father’s face instantly dropped.
His stern gaze landed on Caleb.
“Cancel the engagement? Do you want everyone in the city to mock the Sterling family, to say we’re untrustworthy?”
Caleb frowned, his gaze fixed on my face–specifically, on my dull, grey prosthetic eye.
His tone was distant. “I’m not worthy of Miss Aria. Please, Mr. Sterling, fulfill my request.”
Seraphina immediately stepped forward, her face full of feigned distress, as she chastised him.
“Caleb, how can you say that? You’re hurting my sister’s feelings too much.”
Caleb looked at her, his eyes instantly filling with deep affections.
<
“If I cannot be with the one I love, I’d rather never marry.”
I almost burst out laughing.
What a dramatic display of undying love.
A flicker of joy passed through Seraphina’s eyes, quickly replaced by her usual thoughtful expression.
“Don’t be impulsive. Have you forgotten those enemies? They won’t spare a struggling man like you. I can’t stand by and watch you ruin your life.”
Caleb was visibly moved, his gaze growing even more fervent.
The smile on my lips could no longer be hidden.
“Well, in that case, why don’t both Caleb and Jax become live–in husbands for Sister?”
“That way, the engagement isn’t broken, and all you ‘lovers‘ get what you want.”
“After all, the contract never said Sister couldn’t have two at once.”
“As for who’d be the main husband, and who’d just be a ‘plus one‘ or ‘side piece–well, Sister can decide that herself, can’t she?”
Seraphina’s face flushed crimson. She glared at me, feigning coyness. “Sister, what nonsense are you spouting!
My father’s gaze shifted to me, carrying a hint of scrutiny. “You really don’t want either of them?”
I nodded, my voice firm. “No.”
Jax and Caleb looked at me simultaneously.
Their eyes held the same contempt, as if saying, “If even we don’t want you, who possibly would?*
My father was silent for a moment, then asked, “Then, who do you want to marry?”
“I want Julian Thome, the only son of the Thorne family,” I declared.
The entire room gasped.
My father stood up in shock.
“Are you insane? He’s known as the city’s most notorious playboy! Fortune tellers even say he won’t live past thirty!”
The Thorne family was vast and wealthy, far surpassing our Sterlings.
But Julian Thome was idle and dissolute. Two years ago, he’d fallen gravely ill, and all doctors said he wouldn’t live past thirty.
Anyone who married him would suffer a living hell.
Even with the Thome family’s promise to give their daughter–in–law twenty percent of the company’s shares, no one in high society dared to marry their daughter into the Thome family.
I calmly looked at my father. I cut straight to the chase.
5:24 AM c c
<
Even with the Thome family’s promise to give their daughter–in–law twenty percent of the company’s shares, no one in high
society dared to marry their daughter into the Thome family..
I calmly looked at my father. I cut straight to the chase.
“I’m willing to marry into the Thome family for the future of the Sterling family.”
“But you must give me ten percent of the Sterling family’s shares as my dowry.”
The shrewd glint in my father’s eyes sharpened.
His reaction was expected.
His favoritism had never been for me, so how could he willingly give me shares?
I chuckled softly.
“Dad, my appearance is… flawed. If I go to the Thorne family, I’ll be without any backing. If you don’t give me some leverage, how can I establish myself?”
