As he watched Nina walk off side by side with Roland, Ethan’s face turned so dark it was almost scary.
Those two seriously dared to leave together right in front of him, acting like nobody else existed?
Did they even still see him, the President, at all?
Ethan lifted his leg, ready to go after them and drag Nina back to get an explanation.
Even if she wanted to needle him, did she really have to use Roland as a shield?
But Tiffany suddenly grabbed his arm, tears spilling down her face like she’d been wronged to the core.
“Ethan, was I not supposed to come here?”
“The late Mr.
Blackwell watched me grow up.
And now I’m carrying a child.
Are we really not even allowed to come pay our respects?”
“Why did Mr.
Calnan humiliate me like that with those nasty words?
Did Nina say something in front of him?
Is that why he misunderstood the two of us?”
Leopold was useless, total dead weight.
He couldn’t even handle Nina, one woman.
No way Ethan wouldn’t kick him to the curb after this.
The Ashford family had spent a lot of effort planting that man beside Ethan as their inside eye.
And now Nina had ripped him out just like that.
Tiffany was furious, practically choking on the rage in her chest.
So there was no way she was letting Nina have an easy time.
She said it on purpose, every word calculated, just to push Ethan into thinking in the worst possible direction.
Nina used to be meek as a little lamb.
Now she dared to be this rude to the Blackwell family.
Wasn’t it obviously because she’d latched onto Roland and found herself a backer?
Tiffany frowned and let out a soft sigh, putting on a look like she was genuinely worried for Ethan.
“Hopefully I’m just overthinking it.”
“Nina has been by your side for so long.
She knows a lot about you.
And Mr.
Calnan has always been against you.
What if the two of them…” teamed up to come after you?
“She wouldn’t.” Even if the whole world betrayed him, Ethan still believed Nina never would. Follow the newest chapters on g.com.
And yet, whether he liked it or not, suspicion crept in.
Just how many secrets was she hiding from him?
In all of Uppergate, there was basically no one he couldn’t investigate—unless the Calnan family had stepped in and tampered with things.
Then he thought of that man from the other day, calling Nina “my little princess” again and again, all swagger and no brakes, even threatening to flatten the Platinum Palace to the ground.
Other than the Calnan family, who else in all of Uppergate would dare be that arrogant?
At that thought, Ethan pulled out his phone and made a call.
“The Vice President seems way too idle lately.
Have the Cabinet find something for him to do.
Send him around to visit the allied nations…”
Wasn’t Roland obsessed with making friends all over the world?
Fine.
Then he could get out there and bond properly with those allies.
The farther away, the better.
Best of all, he shouldn’t come back.
The Cabinet side was in a real bind.
After circling around it for a while, they finally said carefully, “This…
may be very hard to pull off, sir.”
“What’s so hard about it?
If it were easy, why would I need you people?” Ethan had zero interest in excuses.
He only cared about the outcome.
Nina was his lawfully wedded wife.
Nobody got to covet her.
Nobody.
“Ms.
Calloway, can you teach me that move where you jab someone’s palm with chopsticks?
Last time His Excellency beat me till I looked wrecked.
I need to learn a few tricks to stay alive here…”
Roland really did know how to seize every possible chance to stay close to Nina, doing everything he could to build a connection with her.
During the days Nina was recovering at Fragrance Garden, he sent over the freshest fruits and vegetables every single day.
Morning, noon, and night, his greetings never once missed a beat. Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
Even though Nina had ignored him from start to finish, he still kept at it like he had all the patience in the world.
To be fair, he understood boundaries pretty well.
Every time, he stopped at just the right point, never so pushy that he became annoying.
Nina gave a faint little “Oh,” then said, “But I heard Ethan got hurt too, didn’t he?”
Wasn’t it supposed to be a fight?
Why was he talking like he was the only one who got hit?
“But I got the worst of it, didn’t I?
That means I was the one who got beaten up.” Roland forced a grin and pointed at his face.
“Look at this.
It’s still swollen.”
He was trying like crazy to suppress the irritation churning inside him.
That day, Nina and Ethan had clearly fallen out hard, things so tense they looked one spark away from blowing up.
So why was she still asking whether Ethan had been hurt?
Did she still care about that man that much?
Couldn’t let him go, huh?
Nina had just opened her mouth, ready to roast Roland a little, when a sharp, forceful middle-aged woman’s voice sliced straight through the air and cut her off:
“I knew it, Nina!
I knew Ethan was hurt because of you!”
Nina’s mother-in-law, Vera, stormed right up to her, all aggression and fury, with Stella trailing behind her, chin newly set back into place.
Stella’s eyes were still red.
The moment she saw Nina, smug delight flashed across her face without even trying to hide it.
It was obvious she had just spent quite a while crying and tattling in front of Vera.
“You little brat, you’ve gotten more and more out of line.” Vera’s face was cold, her voice sharp enough to scrape skin.
“Ethan is the head of a nation.
He represents the image of the whole country.
Fine, maybe you don’t know how to take care of your husband, but how did you even let him end up injured?”
Vera had never liked Nina’s family background in the first place.
The more she looked at her, the less pleasing she found her.
And now, hearing that both her son and daughter had suffered because of this woman, the anger in her chest surged so hard it was practically exploding.
What made it worse was that Nina didn’t lower her head, didn’t admit fault, didn’t even pretend to soften.
She just stood there with that indifferent, couldn’t-care-less expression on her face.
That only made Vera angrier.
“I’m talking to you!
Are you deaf, or did the cat get your tongue?” As she shouted, she lifted her hand and slapped toward Nina’s face.