Wyatt and Shannon Everett jogged all the way, actually reaching the villa entrance before Sienna.
Just as the bodyguard had said, a low-key yet luxurious black car was parked quietly by the roadside.
Upon seeing the license plate number, Wyatt’s chest hammered, his heart racing faster and faster.
Across all of Aethelburg, only one person dared to use that license plate: Julian!
Julian. At a young age, he had become the head of the top-tier Forresterer Family and was the current CEO of the Forresterer Group. With assets in the trillions, he was akin to a crowned king in Aethelburg.
Today, Julian had deigned to come in person. What an incredible honor!
Wyatt, beaming with excitement, hurried to the car and spoke with fawning respect, "Mr. Forrester, hello! I was unaware you were coming yourself. Please forgive my failure to give you a proper welcome!"
However, after Wyatt finished speaking, he waited for a long while. The person in the car neither got out nor responded.
’What’s going on?’
The smile on Wyatt’s face froze.
Shannon Everett raised a hand to smooth her hair, assuming a demure, girlish posture. She walked to the car, a gentle, shy smile on her face, and said in a light, soft voice, "Mr. Forrester, you’ve graced us with your presence today. To what do we owe the pleasure?"
Yet after Shannon Everett finished speaking, there was still no response from the car.
’This...’
Shannon Everett and Wyatt exchanged a look. ’What in the world is happening?’
They were absolutely certain they hadn’t mistaken the license plate—this was Julian’s car. But why hadn’t they received a single shred of a response after their repeated, respectful greetings?
Just at that awkward moment, the front passenger door suddenly opened, and a man who looked like an assistant stepped out.
Wyatt recognized him at a glance. This man was Julian’s special assistant, named Samuel.
Wyatt quickly figured it out. Given the Everett Family’s current standing, it was clear they weren’t important enough to meet directly with a major figure like Julian. So, it made sense that Julian would send his assistant, Samuel, out of the car.
As the saying goes, even a doorman at a prime minister’s gate holds rank. Moreover, Samuel was Julian’s chief special assistant. Building a connection with Samuel would be extremely beneficial for the Everett Family.
Having cleared his head, Wyatt immediately put on an enthusiastic smile and went to greet him. "Special Assistant Sutton, hello! Today, you..."
However, Samuel didn’t even glance at him, walking straight toward Sienna, who stood a short distance away.
Seeing this, Wyatt and Shannon Everett felt as if a bucket of cold water had been dumped over their heads. They stood there, stunned, their eyes vacant!
Samuel walked up to Sienna, bowed slightly, and greeted her politely, "Miss Everett, hello. I’ve been sent by the esteemed Mr. Howard to pick you up for a visit to the Forresterer Family home."
’Mr. Howard?’
Hearing that name, a warm feeling spread through Sienna’s heart. ’It’s Grandpa Forrester.’
She had been a lost child, growing up in an orphanage before being adopted by her grandfather and grandmother. From then on, she lived with them.
And Howard had been her grandfather’s good friend before he passed away. He had even held Sienna as a child.
Samuel was holding a string of Buddha Beads. Sienna recognized them at once—they were the same beads Grandpa Forrester had worn for years. It seemed it was truly Grandpa Forrester who had sent Samuel to get her.
Sienna couldn’t very well refuse an invitation from an elder, so she nodded. "I’ll be in your care, then."
"It’s no trouble at all, Miss Everett. You’re too kind!" Samuel said, all smiles, as he eagerly took the suitcase from Sienna’s hand.
After stowing the luggage, Samuel opened the rear door of the car. "Miss Everett, please."
Sienna bent down to get into the car. Halfway in, she suddenly noticed there was someone else inside.
A man.
He was sitting in the back, his long legs crossed casually. He wore a white shirt, buttoned meticulously to the very top—cool and ascetic.
He held a paper document, his fingers long, fair, and well-defined.
Hearing the door open, the man’s gaze finally lifted from the document, and he turned to look toward the door.
As Sienna got in, she found herself looking straight into a pair of dark, profound eyes.
"I’m Julian. I’m here to pick you up on behalf of my grandfather."
The man’s voice was low and slightly husky, yet it carried a lazy gentleness, like a light spring rain falling softly on a lake.
’Ju-li-an For-res-ter?’
Hearing this name, both familiar and strange, memories from Sienna’s childhood flooded her mind.
Her grandfather had once arranged a childhood engagement for her. The other party was Howard Forrester’s youngest grandson, Julian.
’This man before me... he’s the one I’m engaged to?’
’He’s my fiancé?!’
After Sienna got in, the black car shot away from the Everett Family’s gate like an arrow loosed from a bow.
Wyatt and Shannon Everett stood there, dumbfounded, as if struck by lightning. They still hadn’t snapped out of it by the time the car drove away.
’The Forresterer Family, the one they had schemed so hard to connect with, was actually here for Sienna?’
’And Samuel had been so respectful, inviting Sienna into the car?’
’Throughout the entire process, Samuel hadn’t given them a single glance, treating them like insignificant rats!’
’H-how could this be!’
Shannon Everett’s brow furrowed, the gentle expression on her face no longer sustainable. The thing she hated most was being outshone by Sienna. The scene just now was tantamount to having her face thrown on the ground and stomped on!
In the car, Sienna sat quietly in the back seat, secretly sizing up the handsome man beside her, wondering if he still remembered their childhood engagement.
’Hopefully not.’
She always felt that childhood engagements were too fantastical.
However, Julian seemed to see right through her.
The man raised an eyebrow slightly. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he uttered two low, magnetic words, "I remember."
Sienna: "...!!!"
’Speak of the devil.’
Her relationship with Julian was a long and complicated story.
Although she was adopted by her grandfather and grandmother, she didn’t live a life of hardship. Her grandfather’s status was special; even the previous Family Head of the Forresterer Family, Howard Forrester, was a good friend of his.
Howard Forrester would often bring his young grandson, Julian, to visit her grandfather. That was how Sienna came to know Julian.
They were childhood sweethearts of a sort, and their relationship was quite good when they were young. Because of this, her grandfather and Howard Forrester put their heads together and arranged a childhood engagement for the two of them.
Back then, Sienna was still young and didn’t know what a childhood engagement meant. When she grew a little older and understood its significance, she found herself feeling more and more awkward whenever she looked at Julian.
Julian probably didn’t like the engagement either. His attitude toward her gradually became strange, and he would even single her out deliberately. Especially when she played with the older boy next door, Julian’s words would become sharp and barbed, as if his mouth were full of thorns.
This made Sienna dislike him more and more, and they practically became mortal enemies who were always crossing paths.
By the time she reached high school, Sienna’s rebelliousness had hit its peak. Full of defiance, she asked her grandfather to call off the engagement, claiming she had fallen for a male classmate.
When Julian found out, he cornered her in a room. His eyes were as cold as ice at the bottom of a sunless pool as he asked if she had water in her brain to be able to like just anyone.
Sienna had never seen such a gloomy Julian. She had a huge fight with him, and their relationship completely fell apart after that. Later, Julian went abroad to study, and they never saw each other again.
When she got in the car just now, she hadn’t even recognized Julian at first glance.
Compared to her memory of him, he seemed to have changed a lot...