If they hadn't broken up, it meant that Skylar was cheating, and she'd made Joe the third party. 

He would be a third party with a marriage certificate. 

If that was the case, Skylar was really a deceptive person! 

"I'm not sure." Joe didn't want to accuse Skylar unjustly. 

"Don't worry, Mr. Martin. I'll investigate it now!"

"Alright."

Skylar was busy from 9:00 am until noon. Daniel ordered takeout for lunch. It was fish and chips. 

Besides Daniel, there was another employee in the store, Caleb Gardner, an 18-year-old boy. 

Apparently, he didn't like studying, so he'd started working with Daniel after he'd graduated from high school. 

There were always customers of various nationalities at the store. Caleb could switch between Albionian, Bierstadian, and Francorien easily when he spoke to them. He probably had a flair for languages. 

Daniel gave him a monthly salary of 3500 dol

"How much more would you give me?" Skylar asked. 

She was fine with coming early. They agreed that she would get off work at 3:00 pm, so she was okay to stay back for another hour. If she could finish this job earlier, she could get on with her next plan. 

"What about 100 thousand dollars?"

If this had been a few days ago, Daniel wouldn't have dared increase her pay. But after he saw her restoration skills, he knew that she was far better than any industry master. 

He'd thought about it. After these two paintings, he planned on recommending Skylar to the auction house. 

Skylar thought about it for a moment and agreed. 

Caleb wanted to say something, but he recalled Alexander's warning. So, he kept quiet. 

…

At Williams Residence, Jeffrey returned home from a business trip. When Sadie told him about her call with Skylar, he was so angry he threw his glass of water on the table. 



He was stunned for a few minutes. That was fast. 

He replied suspiciously, "Are you there, Ms. Sullivan?"

There was no reply.

Paul stared at his phone for another ten minutes. 

There were no further replies from Skylar. Paul breathed a sigh of relief. He must have been overthinking just now. 

Skylar didn't know that Paul was overanalyzing her replies. After her shower, she was already feeling sleepy. 

She asked Joe whether he'd prefer the left or right side of the bed. Then, she laid down immediately. 

Before she slept, she saw Paul's message when she was switching her phone to silent mode. She had checked it and set it aside. 

Joe brought his clothes into the bathroom. When he was closing the door, he saw that Skylar was already asleep. 

He was slightly surprised.

Was she pretending to be asleep?

She looked pretty convincing. Her acting skills were so good, one would think she was a trained actor.

After half an hour, he walked out of the bathroom, fully dressed. He saw that Skylar still had the same sleeping posture. 

He couldn't help but think that she was quite persistent. 

He wasn't used to sleeping beside a woman. After he lay down on the bed, he realized that Skylar wasn't moving at all. 

When he heard her even breathing, his face fell. He couldn't believe she was really sleeping! 

When he turned to turn off the lights, he realized that there were two pillows in the middle of the bed. It divided the bed into two, making the boundaries extremely clear. He raised his eyebrows coldly. 

Was she… guarding herself against him? 

Joe pursed his thin lips. 

She was clearly overthinking! Her actions were totally unnecessary. Even if she had been naked before him, he wouldn't have even taken a glance at her.  

Joe fell into a dreamless slumber. 

…

When he woke up, he thought it was still midnight. He was stunned for a moment when he saw a ray of sunlight seeping through the curtains, 

Had he slept through the entire night? 

At the same time, Skylar turned over and woke up. 

When she opened her eyes and saw Joe sitting in front of her, she was a bit dazed. She was really not used to her new marital status. 

She smiled awkwardly at Joe. "Good morning," she said.

Joe paused for a second on Skylar's pale face. "Good morning."

"I'm going to change." Skylar got out of bed. 

Joe got up too. He put on his watch and looked at the time. It was 7:15 am. 

They took turns washing up. Then, they walked out of the room around the same time. 

Gloria had woken up early. She had heard from Edgar that Joe and Skylar were still sleeping. She had waited for them from 5:30 am to 7:30 am. The more she waited, the happier she felt. 

She knew Joe very well. He was healthy when he was young, but after he'd grown up, he suffered from insomnia for no reason. 

It was rare to see him sleep for such a long time! This had only happened after he'd shared his bed with Skylar. In the past, he would only wake up at this hour if he had jet lag from working overseas. 

When she saw the two of them walking down the stairs, she smiled broadly at them and said, "Come have breakfast. I've prepared both Western and Chinese dishes."

"Are you feeling better, Grandma?" Skylar was concerned with Gloria's health. 

"I'm feeling better. Don't worry about me." Gloria was concerned that Skylar would worry about her too much. 

She knew herself well, and she knew how much longer she could hold herself together. 

She wished that she could hold on until Joe and Skylar were really together. Did Joe think that she didn't know they weren't an actual couple? 

She was a shrewd old lady!

Gloria stared at Joe. 

He was good-looking. He looked less cold today since he was well rested. "You look like you've had a good night's sleep!"

"Yeah, it wasn't too bad." Joe intentionally ignored Gloria's teasing gaze. 

"Not bad? Didn't you fall asleep before 10:00 pm last night? You slept past 7:00 am this morning. Last night's sleep was more than you had in a week, right?"

Gloria couldn't stand his cold face. He'd slept for almost ten hours, but it was just "not bad"?

Joe was speechless. 

Is she even his biological grandmother? 

Skylar looked at Joe when she heard Gloria. Was his insomnia that bad?

She'd heard Gloria talk about it before. She hadn't paid much attention then, but now she felt slightly alarmed after hearing it in person. 

Hadn't he fallen asleep easily when she'd given him a massage the day before?

"Skye, Edgar said he couldn't remember the acupuncture points you showed him. Could you come back and demonstrate it for him again tonight?” Gloria asked Skylar. 

"Okay, Grandma," Skylar agreed happily. 

There were indeed a lot of acupuncture points on the head. It was hard to remember them after just one time. 

She'd draw a diagram with all the acupuncture points marked clearly for him tonight.

Joe's eyes darkened when he saw how readily Skylar agreed. It made him believe that she was a scheming person. 

Not only was she trying to please Gloria, she was also taking the opportunity to get close to him. 

Perhaps he should ask Paul to investigate Christopher. 

Their three-year contract might need to be terminated earlier. 

He couldn't allow a scheming person to be around Gloria. He realized that he had been way too hasty when they had registered their marriage. 

…

Skylar arrived at the antique street and parked her car. She took her phone before she got out of her car. 

Only then did she notice the WhatsApp text message she received. She hadn't had the time to check her phone this morning. 

She saw that it was Paul. She asked, "Were you looking for me, Mr. Ziegler?"

Paul had just checked in at work. When he saw Skylar's reply, he replied immediately, "I need a favor from you. Are you free now?"

Skylar asked, "What is it?"

Paul quickly sent over a few photos of emerald charms. He'd spent a lot of time choosing them last night. 

Paul said, "I've gotten rid of my old one. I returned it to the person who gifted it to me. Could you help me take a look and see which of these emerald charms are suitable for me?"

Skylar looked at the time. It was 8:55 am. She replied, "I'm busy now. I'll let you know tonight."

Doubts arose in Paul's heart when he saw Skylar's reply. 

Tonight? Would she have time tonight? 

He should be in Joe's office by now, but Joe hasn't arrived yet! They must have enjoyed themselves last night…

In a few minutes, Joe arrived and gave Paul his next task. "Look into Skylar and Christopher's current relationship. I want to know every single detail."

Paul was shocked. "You want me to investigate Ms. Sullivan?"

"Be thorough about it," Joe replied coldly. 

He suspected that there must be a reason why she'd agreed to marry him suddenly. Something must have happened to motivate her to approach him.

"Alright!" Paul answered, but his expression was one of utter confusion. 

Hadn't Joe and Skylar spent the night together? Why did Joe want to investigate her today? 

Was his desire not satisfied? It didn't seem like it…

Before Paul had met Skylar, he'd suspected that she had an ulterior motive for marrying Joe. However, after meeting her, he didn't think that Skylar cared about Joe that much.

He asked hesitantly, "Mr. Martin, do you suspect that Ms. Sullivan and Christopher are still together?"

If they hadn't broken up, it meant that Skylar was cheating, and she'd made Joe the third party. 

He would be a third party with a marriage certificate. 

If that was the case, Skylar was really a deceptive person! 

"I'm not sure." Joe didn't want to accuse Skylar unjustly. 

"Don't worry, Mr. Martin. I'll investigate it now!"

"Alright."

Skylar was busy from 9:00 am until noon. Daniel ordered takeout for lunch. It was fish and chips. 

Besides Daniel, there was another employee in the store, Caleb Gardner, an 18-year-old boy. 

Apparently, he didn't like studying, so he'd started working with Daniel after he'd graduated from high school. 

There were always customers of various nationalities at the store. Caleb could switch between Albionian, Bierstadian, and Francorien easily when he spoke to them. He probably had a flair for languages. 

Daniel gave him a monthly salary of 3500 dollars. It included meals and covered basic welfare and commission, but it didn't include accommodatio

Chapter 16