Simon Quinn’s face immediately darkened, but he still held Chloe.
"That was in the past. Everyone gets slapped in the face sometime in their life. Now I’ve thought it through. Seeing Chloe, I feel that marriage is actually quite nice."
The old man let out a sigh of relief. Although Chloe wasn’t Hugo’s child, she was still his granddaughter. Thinking about this, he felt a bit happy and clapped his hands joyfully.
"Alright then. I just so happen to have picked a suitable day for the wedding next month. You two better start preparing."
After saying that, the old man went upstairs looking quite satisfied.
Jane Shaw sat rigidly on the sofa, ready to throw a punch at Simon, but Hugo quickly grabbed her hand, raising an eyebrow.
"What’s the rush? Trying to get my attention so soon?"
Jane was so angry her chest hurt, she couldn’t even utter a single word.
Seeing that there wasn’t anything for him here, Hugo quickly pulled Eleanor Hollis, kissing her cheek.
"Let’s go. Nothing left for us here."
Eleanor looked on in surprise at the two still remaining with hostile expressions. Is this kind of couple really suitable for marriage?
"Ignore them. I feel Simon is full of swagger now, so he probably does want to get married. Jane is absolutely under his thumb. Let’s go, Eleanor, we’ll go back and be with Marcus. Their affairs are none of our concern."
Hugo was happy, as the matter was finally resolved, and their misunderstanding was cleared.
Sweetly hand in hand, the two returned home, leaving Simon and Jane at the old mansion, tensions high.
Jane kept insisting on taking Chloe away, but Chloe seemed quite fond of this dad, sticking close to Simon. Simon kept casting smug looks at Jane while continuing to feed Chloe, nearly driving Jane to the brink of fainting.
"Chloe, let’s go home."
She said again, trying to be patient, but Chloe was having so much fun with Simon she didn’t even hear her.
Suddenly, Jane felt a sense of grievance. The child she had raised for so many years was suddenly taken away, leaving her heart heavy.
Noticing her change in emotion, Simon quickly came over and embraced her.
"We’re getting married next month. What’s the point of holding back? Admittedly, it was my fault back then. You can punish me however you like, but please, don’t cry. You look truly ugly when you cry."
Simon was clueless about comforting women. His words made Jane’s tears fall for real.
How could the child’s father be such a brute that doesn’t know how to please a woman?
She said angrily, ready to leave, but Simon picked her up and headed upstairs.
"What are you doing?!"
Jane was startled, her face a mix of emotions.
Chloe quietly followed behind, afraid to make a sound. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ 𝗇𝗈𝗏𝖾𝗅•𝖿𝗂𝗋𝖾•𝗇𝖾𝗍
After putting her on the bed, Simon rubbed his chin while looking at her.
"I think we need a proper talk."
Jane looked aside, seeming not wanting to see him even with a glance.
She said coldly, feeling so wronged. Having gotten pregnant inexplicably, now this man was treating her . She was seething.
"I honestly didn’t do it on purpose that night. The collaborator said they had a gift for me at my doorstep. When I reached the door and saw you, I thought you were quite appealing, so I pulled you inside. If you had clarified then, I would never have touched you."
Jane threw a pillow directly at him.
"Did you even give me a chance to speak?!"
Simon was stunned. In truth, about that night, he had forgotten most of it, only recalling how good it felt, with nothing else remembered, not even the process.
"So what do you want to do? We have to get married, otherwise, the child will have no father, which would be so pitiful."
Jane tried to calm herself down; talking any further with him would surely drive her insane.
After closing her eyes to compose herself for a moment, she spoke up again.
"I’m willing to marry, but we must sleep in separate rooms. If it weren’t for Chloe, I wouldn’t marry you at all. Let’s not disturb each other."
A shade of darkness flashed in Simon’s eyes as he slowly sat down by the bed.
"Are you suggesting that you want to cheat on me, and I should just accept it willingly?"
Jane blushed at his words, retorting naively.
In her view, there was nothing to discuss with him. In the end, a contract would have to be drawn up—once signed, it would be settled.
"Tomorrow, I’ll draft a new contract for you. Look it over properly. Once you sign, we’ll marry."
Simon raised an eyebrow, slowly curling his lips slightly.
However, when Jane really placed the contract in front of him, his face was already as dark as night.
"No holding hands, no kissing, even a hug needs your permission—are you sure this is marriage? Even a children’s romance isn’t this innocent."
He pushed the contract aside, unwilling to sign. Signing it would be like surrendering national sovereignty.
"No signature, no marriage then."
Jane’s face was devoid of expression, seemingly not open to any discussion.
Simon gnashed his teeth, taking the contract over and added a few clauses of his own.
Jane leaned over to take a look and found it said she couldn’t mingle with other men, come home late, must report her whereabouts, and certainly couldn’t cheat on him.
Her face was a mix of emotions, tightly clenching her teeth.
Simon signed his name on it and pushed the contract back to her.
"Since you are my wife, naturally you can’t have relations with other men. If you breach the contract, Chloe’s custody will fall to me and you will never see her again."
Simon knew Chloe was Jane’s weakness.
Jane paused, taking the pen but quietly signing her name on it as well.
As soon as the contract was settled, the old man happily chose a date, finally setting it for the eighth of next month, calling it a good day.
Eleanor Hollis found out the news only the next day, thinking the date would be pushed back, but it turned out they were marrying on the eighth.
"I have the feeling they’re like two bombs that explode when contacting each other. And your brother, he isn’t like what I heard."
She said to Hugo, recalling the tense atmosphere that night, feeling there would be drama to expect.
"Maybe he only acts that way in front of women."
Before Hugo lay a computer; he was busy working. While emotional matters were resolved, a pile of work remained.
Eleanor found it amusing, resting her head on his lap.
"But if Chloe was really your daughter, would you still be with me?"