Chapter 4

Sherlyn was even more confused after hearing what her mother said. "Ring? When did I receive a ring— "Wait. I remember now, Mom. An anonymous fan sent me a diamond ring by mail yesterday! I was worried the media might cook up some nonsense news article if they saw it, so I just put it away instead of wearing it." Lilliana was overjoyed to hear that. "That's it! Mister Jeremy must've had a crush on you for a long time, and he's trying to win your heart by faking an anonymous fan! I got someone to investigate the people who came yesterday. It turns out that their leader was none other than Mister Jeremy's personal assistant! "Sherlyn, the Holdens are a first-tier family, and Jeremy has shown his utmost sincerity toward you! He's really in love with you, and nothing will go wrong if you marry him!" Jeremy Holden... Sherlyn could not help blushing, and her heartbeat quickened. She heard of his name before despite never meeting him in person, and she knew him as the scion of Holdens—a first-tier family. He was respected and feared by many in the business world! It came as a surprise to her that even Jeremy was one of her fans, and he turned out to be so madly in love with her that he sent people to her home to deliver the betrothal gifts. If anything was to blame, it was her irresistible charm! - That afternoon, Corinne returned home with a delicate photo frame in her arms. She changed into house slippers and immediately went straight upstairs. Sherlyn happened to be heading down, and she blocked Corinne on purpose. "What's that in your hand? Did you steal the jewelry from my betrothal gifts?" Corinne stopped and said without turning a hair, "It's mine." "I want proof. Show it to me!" Sherlyn has always disliked her younger sister, who was raised in the countryside since childhood. She felt that Corinne was a disgrace to the Carew family, and it was unsurprising that she never had any respect for Corinne. Sherlyn reached out and snatched the item in Corinne’s arms. "Tch! The way you hold it makes me think that it was some sort of jewelry, but it's nothing more than a picture of your mother, that mistress!" 'My mother isn't a mistress!' Corinne reached out to grab the photo frame, but Sherlyn deliberately dropped the photo frame onto the ground. "Oops! It slipped off! My bad!" Corinne's eyes reddened as she looked at Sherlyn stepping on the photo frame on the ground. It was an old photo of her mother that she managed to find in one of the Carews' old photo albums. Earlier in the day, she brought it to the store to have it restored, enlarged, and framed, as she planned to put it in her room as a table setting. Corinne angrily grabbed Sherlyn's clothes and hissed, "Pick. It. Up. Now." Sherlyn was not frightened at all as she uttered, "How dare you touch me! I'll have you know that I'll soon marry into the Holdens. If you dare to mess with me, the Holdens are going to make life difficult for you!" Corinne was stunned. 'The Holdens?' Her scalp tingled when she heard that name since the man who forcibly dragged her to get engaged the day before also shared the same surname. "Are you referring to that first-tier family?" Sherlyn had a smug look on her face. "Yeah! What's wrong? Are you scared? Well, you should be! Jeremy is my loyal fan and suitor. He wants nothing more than to marry me now! All the good stuff you see over there are for me from the Holdens last night, and you'd better not touch anything! If you break any of them, you won't be able to afford the compensation!" Corinne turned to look at the betrothal gifts and went blank for a moment. Then, she came to a realization—Jeremy must have got absolutely nuts. To think that he sent his men to deliver the betrothal gifts to her home! Corinne's eyes flashed brightly as she thought of something, and she turned to Sherlyn, saying, "Guess I'll have to congratulate you, then! Though, are you sure that a high-bred family like the Holdens will accept a scandal-tainted celebrity from the entertainment industry?" That remark was a touchy issue for Sherlyn. "You don't need to worry about that. Mister Jeremy loves me very much, so it's only normal for him to protect me!" "Are you sure about that?" Corinne grinned and said nothing more. She picked up her mother's photo, patted the dust off, then turned around and went upstairs. She was initially worried about finding a way to get rid of Jeremy who she accidentally messed with the previous day. Since Sherlyn was so eager to marry him, that happened to settle everything for Corinne. Sherlyn snorted coldly, but she thought to herself, 'Corinne might be a country girl, but her remark made perfect sense. The Holdens were a first-tier family, while Sherlyn was an actress no one recognized. If the Holdens' elders found out about her scandals, they would certainly have a bad impression of her.' With that in mind, Sherlyn decided to retire from showbiz at once. Compared to marrying into the Holdens', the petty profits she made in the showbiz industry were nothing. She was about to call her company to inform them that she would be terminating her contract and retiring from showbiz, but her phone rang before she could make the call. She was clueless as to why there had been so many spam calls recently. She did not plan to answer the call until she saw that the caller was a benefactor she had just slept with recently. Since she had also intended to break things off for good, she decided that she might as well answer it. "Where are you, babe? I miss you so much. Come to the hotel and spend the night with me!" Sherlyn uttered in disgust, "Don't call me 'babe'. That might not sound disgusting to an old fart like you, but it sounds disgusting to me!" "What the hell did you just say? Did you just call me disgusting? Have you forgotten how you begged me to help you snag a role that could win you the next Lotus Award?" Sherlyn was uninterested. "I've left the industry, so I don't care about the Lotus Award anymore. Find someone else. Oh, and don't ever call me again!" On the other end of the line, the greasy-haired, red-faced old man turned livid with anger. He had taken great pains to get a diamond ring for her and had it sent to her by mail, but his gesture was all for naught. 'Damn you! So you're rejecting me after you received the ring? Ungrateful woman! You can kiss goodbye to your hopes of making a living in the industry. Just wait. You'll be blocked from securing any more projects in the future!' - Three days later, the Carews hosted a marriage banquet for their daughter, and many relatives and friends were invited. Lilliana deliberately asked Marvin to make a grand show so her precious Sherlyn would be married off in the best possible manner. "Look, the Holdens' wedding entourage is here! What a sight to behold! They really do live up to their reputation as a first-tier family! The cars are all limited-edition luxury vehicles!" "I've only seen the first car in magazines! The price is worth ten Bugattis!" "I'm so jealous of Sherlyn! She's so lucky to marry someone as awesome as Mister Jeremy!" Sherlyn, who was wearing a wedding dress, beamed triumphantly as she listened to the 'oohs' and 'aahs' of all her relatives and friends. Corinne was nowhere to be seen, and Sherlyn figured that she might be hiding somewhere in jealousy. 'Hmph, let her wallow in her jealousy! That's all she can do!' Sherlyn was about to meet her groom, and she eagerly looked forward to finding out what kind of man Jeremy was. He was definitely super handsome, and he was surely going to kneel on one knee in front of her to make his passionate confession under everyone's envious looks... The wedding entourage stopped at the gate of the Carews' villa. Jeremy got out of the car in front, looking dignified and elegant. Tommy gave a signal for the group of best men to get out of the cars behind. Dressed in suits and leather shoes, they followed Jeremy to the gate of the Carews' villa, where the phrase 'Congratulations to the Newlyweds!' was pasted. All of a sudden, Jeremy stopped walking and looked up toward the roof of the villa. There, on the attic's small balcony stood a woman in pajamas. She was leaning against the balcony fence as she looked down to watch the festivities. After a brief moment of eye contact, the woman immediately turned around and slipped away. Corinne had a bad feeling. It seemed that Jeremy had noticed her when she was on the balcony earlier! Then again, she believed that he might not be able to recognize her because she was not wearing makeup at the moment, unlike the super heavy eyeliners she wore the other day. To be on the safe side, she felt that it was better to leave her home. Down at the entrance, Tommy was puzzled when he saw Jeremy stop walking all of a sudden. He leaned closer to remind the latter, "Sir, the entrance to the Carews' villa is right in front. Why don’t you get in now."