Chapter 23
“Enough.” Mason, who had stayed quiet all the time, suddenly shouted directly at Alexander. “I know what your family means. Do me a favor and tell your grandpa this: I will never marry my granddaughter into the Harrington family even if she stays single forever.”
Grace’s face instantly went pale. She thought, ‘No, that can’t happen. I’m gonna marry Alex.
She spoke up, “Grandpa ”
Mason ignored her and continued, “And for the record, I’ve only ever had one granddaughter–that’s Ronie. Anyone else, I don’t know where they came from, and I sure as hell never acknowledged them.”
With that, Mason waved his hand. “Simon, show them the door.”
Grace’s face flushed red. It felt like someone had ripped her pride to shreds and stomped on it in front of everyone. She looked up at Veronica, her pitiful eyes burning with hatred underneath.
Veronica just raised her brows and met Grace’s stare with ease.
Alexander looked shocked. He blurted out, “Mr. Weston, how can you treat Grace like this?”
In the blink of an eye, Grace wiped away her hatred and slipped back into her usual poor–me expression.
Veronica chuckled and said in a playful tone, Tity. She’s not anything to us.”
Alexander snapped, “Veronica, you…”
Grace’s eyes welled up with tears. “Ronie…”
Veronica’s smile froze slightly. “You leaving or not? I swear you will regret it if you stay any longer.
Alexander and Grace glanced at Mason, but he sat there totally unbothered. With no other choice, the two of them left the room, sulking.
They hadn’t gotten far when they heard Simon’s voice from behind. “Sir, Mr. Stephen Harrington just called. He wants to talk about the engagement.”
Mason replied coldly, “Forget it. Tell him we don’t match. The engagement’s off
Alexander stopped in his tracks but didn’t dare look back. He hunched his shoulders and hurried out the door.
Veronica beamed when she heard what Mason said. She cooed, “Grandpa, you’re amazing. Nobody in the world can compare to you
Mason, who had just been fuming, immediately lit up with laughter. “Look at you. Everyone else is fighting to marry into the Harrington family, and here you are–grinning from ear to ear ‘cause the engagement’s canceled.”
Veronica said, “I don’t plan to get married yet. I’m still young, Grandpa. I just wanna stick around and spend more years with you.” She clung to Mason’s arm with a sweet smile, gently swinging it like she was coaxing him.
Truth was, she had no interest in being tied to the Harrington family. With Mason standing in the way, that worked out perfectly. So of course, she needed to butter him up first.
Still smiling, Veronica listed off all the ways the Harringtons had been rude or out of line.
Mason listened with a warm smile, and when she finished, he finally said, “Sounds like you really can’t stand the Harringtons”
Veronica nodded fimply
Mason clapped and said, “Alright then. We’ll cut ties with them for good.”
Veronica hesitated to say, “Grandpa, you’re the best. But, um… what about the business……
Edwin, who had been quietly standing by, spoke up, “Ronic, don’t worry. We’re in real estate. Our dealings with the Harringtons are minimal. It won’t really affect us.”
Gavin added, “Even if it did, who cares? Alexander came here just to humiliate you. How can we endure that and still partner with
them?
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5:10 PM P.
Chapter 23
Mason nodded, “Gavin’s got a point.”
Veronica looked around at everyone–her grandpa, her cousins–all standing behind She said with a smile. “You guys are so sweet”
She couldn’t deny that it warmed her heart.
Knowing that breaking off the engagement with the Harrington family might hurt the Weston family’s business, Veronica had already. made up her mind to make up for it in other ways.
She had a few promising ventures lined up and was planning to talk to Edwin about them sometime soon.
While Veronica was busy figuring out how to cover the loss, Stephen was furious after Simon’s call. He thought, What the hell is Mason doing? We agreed on the engagement. Why suddenly back out like this?‘
Just then, Ruben walked in with the phone. “Sir, it’s Alex
Stephen asked, “What does he want now?”
He sounded annoyed, but deep down, he was actually pleased that Alexander had called on his own. That didn’t last long though, because the second Stephen heard what Alexander said, he nearly blew a fuse and was ready to cut him off for good.
“That idiot. Goddamn moron. Stupid beyond saving. Stephen slammed the phone down and kept cursing,
Once he’d cooled off a bit, he turned to Ruben and said, “Tell Raymond to deal with this mess himself.”
“Yes, sir, replied Ruben.
Thanks to Ruben passing the message along, Raymond got word during a company meeting that the engagement between the two families was officially off.
Raymond thought, ‘Seriously? I’m in a meeting for a few minutes, and I lose my fiancée?
Seeing the name of the person behind it all, Raymond put on an icy smirk. He pulled up his older brother Larry Harrington’s contact and shot him a quick text: There’s an opening in Sales. Have Alexander report in the company tomorrow,]
Meanwhile, Alexander was having lunch with Grace in Cloudhaven. As soon as Raymond’s text came through, his whole face dropped. Whatever spark he had was instantly gone.
Grace looked up from across the table and asked, “Alex? What’s wrong?”
Alexander looked miserable. “Uncle Raymond wants me to intern at his company.”
Everyone in the Harrington family knew that the so–called gentle and refined Raymond was anything but. Outside, people thought highly of him, but inside the family, they all knew he was a ruthless hardliner.
If one didn’t have much experience or a strong will, they wouldn’t survive a day under him.
Alexander was always in awe of Raymond. He thought, ‘Suddenly asking me to report in his company? It’s definitely not something good
Still, no matter how badly he wanted to bail, Alexander couldn’t say no to his father or uncle. He’d already pissed everyone off by secretly backing out of the engagement with Veronica. If he defied Raymond, he might not walk away in one piece.
With no room to back out, he had no choice but to suck it up and
And just like Alexander feared, Raymond didn’t have anything good waiting for him. On his first day, he got thrown into the Sales Department and was assigned to the Aurelias branch.
He barely lasted two days before getting ordered to go on a business trip in Aurelias, a place in the other end of the world.
Alexander wanted to cry. He thought about complaining to Raymond, but in the company, he couldn’t even get close to him. At home, he didn’t dare whine in front of his parents either.
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Chapter 23
All he could do was clench his teeth, pack his bags, and board a plane to Aurelias with a team of colleagues.
Back in Cloudhaven, Grace was still at home, waiting eagerly for Alexander to come visit her.
As for Raymond, after kicking Alexander off to Aurelias and handing off work to his assistant, he finally had time to catch the next flight to Cloudhaven.
