Chapter 8
Twilight Villa was lit up. The guests had dispersed and the servants were cleaning up after the dinner party.
The champagne towers, long tables filled with desserts, and elaborate decorations had been taken down one by one, revealing an air of post-revelry desolation.
In the living room, Quinlan and Grannie Blake were still up.
Complaining to Grannie Blake, Quinlan said, "I told you that this woman shouldn’t be kept around. She’s a scourge. She has caused so much trouble in such a short time.
“It’s Mr. Lawrence we’re talking about here! If something happens to him, will the Lawrence family be able to let it go?
"Get her out before the Lawrence family comes knocking on our door. Let Micah divorce her. If she and Micah are no longer together, the Lawrence family won’t make things difficult based on their current ties with us."
Tiffany gave Micah a sidelong glance. Upon hearing his mother say these words, a look of disgust and coldness flashed across his face.
The relationship between mother and son was hard to put into words.
As he listened to the rambling complaints and unpleasant words in the living room, a wave of anger rose in Micah's heart.
"Since you’re so cowardly and scared, why don't you go and divorce Dad? That way, you won’t have ties to the Blake family, and any trouble from the Lawrence family won't come your way either."
Quinlan panicked. "Micah, that's not what I meant. What I meant was that since you don't like her anyway, you might as well take this opportunity to get rid of her.
"Don't you have someone you like? When the time comes and you marry her, I’ll be sure to treat her well."
In that instant, Tiffany felt the atmosphere around her go cold.
Micah’s eyes were black and stern, filled with a chilling cold aura. The corners of his lips were curved in a mocking sneer. "You didn't care about me for so many years, but now you suddenly do.
"Who I like and who I marry is my business. You have no right to interfere."
Quinlan’s face turned slightly paler.
It was exacerbated by the sight of Tiffany taking in the entire confrontation like a spectator, which made her grind her teeth with hatred.
However, before she could say anything, she heard an order from Micah. "Twilight Villa is too small to accommodate you. Tomorrow, you’ll move back to the old mansion."
Tiffany was shocked to hear this.
Was Micah throwing Quinlan out?
No matter how much Quinlan begged and pleaded in the living room, Micah remained unmoved as he instructed the servants to pack her things so that she could return to the Blake family’s mansion first thing in the morning.
There was a great distance between the Blake family’s mansion and Mount Bauhinia. One lay in the south, while the other was in the north. The straight distance between them ran through the whole of South City’s urban area.
Despite all that, Tiffany was overjoyed. Quinlan gave her trouble every day, and now that she was leaving, Tiffany would have a clear mind.
When Grannie Blake's efforts to beg for forgiveness fell on deaf ears, she came to talk to Tiffany and asked about Mr. Lawrence’s situation.
Upon hearing that everything was fine, she breathed a sigh of relief.
She then looked at Tiffany, stopping short of saying something.
Tiffany knew what she wanted to ask. "I don't know Mr. Lawrence, and I wouldn't have pushed him for no good reason. I just thought I should give him a hand when I saw he had trouble walking."
Grannie Blake’s discerning eyes could tell a lot about people, and she knew that Tiffany was not lying.
Without saying anything more, she let her go back to rest.
Tiffany had just returned to the bedroom when she saw Micah coming out of the bathroom with a bath towel around his waist. His figure was tall as he had long legs, and his eight-pack abs were extraordinarily captivating.
There were even water droplets flowing from his lower abdominal lines into his towel, making her imagination go wild.
His messy wet hair wiped away the usual sharpness and dignified persona he had during the day, giving him a more untamed and nonchalant aura.
Tiffany felt a rush of heat in her nose, and she got a shock as she wiped it.
She was having a nosebleed.
All she did was take one look.
How humiliating.
Micah’s eyes were cold. "Get out."
Sure enough, the protectiveness he showed toward her downstairs had just been a superficial act. Deep down, he was still cold to her.
Tiffany turned around and walked away. She accidentally hit the door with a bang and grimaced in pain.
The impact caused her to come to her senses. She turned around to look him squarely in the eye. "Honey, we still haven’t consummated our marriage. Why don't you make it up to me tonight?"
Micah’s eyes became slanted as they were filled with hostility.
He pinched her chin and forced her to look up at him. "What did you say?"
Looking at his darkened face, Tiffany finally came to her senses and said while laughing sheepishly, "I said, I came to give you an antidote to the poison. Let go of me first."
She wanted to bite off her tongue just then, for it was an aroused trance that had made her say such a thing.
Despite the thought, she could not help but look at his chest.
Once Micah lay on the bed, she took advantage when she was inserting the needles to give him a few more strokes.
This made Micah furious, and he was about to strike when she held him down. "Don't move."
He felt a little pain as a three or four-inch-long gold needle was pricked in his chest, but he did not dare move any longer.
He suddenly remembered Fred’s words from earlier. As he fell into a drowsy spell, she voraciously put her hands all over him, making him clench the back of his teeth.
What he used to think was a rumor had now been proven to be true.
"Tomorrow, you move out too."
Of course, that plan failed.
It was all because of Charles Blake’s arrival.
Tiffany looked at the man sitting on the sofa, sipping his coffee. His features bore a slight resemblance to Micah’s. Then, she noticed that the atmosphere of the entire villa had stiffened because of his arrival. She scratched her head.
In all the days since she had married into the Blake family, whether it was the wedding or the dinner party last night, this man had never appeared.
If she had not seen him today, she would have thought Micah did not have a father.
Although the two looked alike, their temperaments were worlds apart.
Micah was noble, refined, strong, and stern—like a fearsome wolf.
Although Charles had a strong presence, there was a coldness and ruthlessness between his eyebrows. He was like a cold, venomous snake that would do anything to get what it wanted, even if it meant abandoning his family.
Charles had come because of last night’s dinner party.
"Mr. Lawrence is now staying in the hospital, and his family is allowing us to give an explanation.”
Micah said, "I’ll take care of it."
Charles nodded his head and looked at Tiffany. "Tiffany, right?"
Tiffany greeted him as ‘Dad’.
"I heard that it was thanks to you that Micah was able to regain consciousness?"
Those narrow, cold eyes were full of scrutiny, making Tiffany tense up.
"If you’re referring to the ward-off aspect of the wedding, I can only say that my husband is extremely lucky."
Charles let out a chuckle that did not reach his eyes. "Tiffany, you’re truly something else."
The sudden placement of hands on her shoulders relieved Tiffany of some of the tenseness.
Micah held her and nodded at Charles. "Dad, I’m going to take her to the hospital first to formally apologize to Mr. Lawrence."
His palms slid down from her shoulders, and he took her hand in his. The pair then left together.
With that, the matter of Tiffany moving out was left up in the air.
Grannie Blake was pleased by the sight, and once the two had left, she warned Charles, "I like Tiffy very much. You mustn't hurt her."
"Then we’ll have to see whether he has the ability to protect her."
When they arrived at the hospital, Mr. Lawrence had already woken up. His family members all wore a look of hostility when they saw Tiffany.
Jessie had also come to apologize, but she was not accompanied by Braxton. Instead, she came with Julian.
The two of them looked furious when they saw each other.
As Julian and Mr. Lawrence were old friends and the former had treated him as a patient, Mr. Lawrence decided not to pursue the matter out of respect for their friendship.
Jessie heaved a sigh of relief and confessed to her mistake with full sincerity, saying she did not mean to do what she did.
As for Tiffany...
Mr. Lawrence raised his hand. "Everyone, please leave. I’d like to have a few words with her alone.”
"Grandpa, she has evil intentions. I'm not leaving."
"Out!" Old Master Lawrence frowned as he reprimanded sternly.
Whenever his temper rose, no one in his family dared to talk back. Soon enough, Mr. Lawrence and Tiffany were the only ones left in the ward.
Once everyone had left, Mr. Lawrence smilingly took her hand. His affectionate tone carried a tinge of respect. "Last night, I thought I was mistaken, but I didn't think it was really you.
"Tyler is just concerned and worried about me, so if he said anything offensive, I hope you won't hold it against him.
"I'm sorry that the person you asked me to help you look for hasn’t been found yet."