Chapter 227: Chapter 225: Hayes Hughes’s Seduction

Mia Grant suddenly realized what Silas Grant meant by that.

If...

If he was serious, then his meaning was crystal clear.

From the very beginning, his agreement to the marriage wasn’t a reluctant compromise—he had been after her all along?!

She sucked in a sharp breath.

The elevator doors opened, but Mia Grant was still standing inside.

Simon Adler was about to step in when he saw her and paused.

The sound of footsteps brought Mia Grant back to her senses, and she looked up.

Their eyes met. She was the first to react, raising an eyebrow. "You didn’t go to the office?"

"I came to see you about something," Simon Adler said.

Mia Grant was on her way to eat and asked if they could talk in the restaurant.

"Let’s go somewhere else."

Hearing this, Mia Grant had a good idea of what he wanted to talk about. She held the elevator door open and let him in. "Come on, let’s go to my room."

At her room, Mia Grant pushed the door open and went inside.

When she didn’t hear footsteps following her, she turned back in confusion to find Simon Adler still standing outside the door.

"Aren’t you coming in?" she asked, puzzled.

At the doorway, Simon Adler snapped out of it. He glanced at her, then stepped inside and closed the door behind him.

Mia Grant forgot about her sore backside when she went to sit down. The moment she touched the sofa, she nearly shot back up. Fortunately, she managed to stifle the urge and didn’t cry out in front of him.

Simon Adler didn’t notice the change in her expression.

It wasn’t until he passed the large bed in the center of the room that he frowned and averted his gaze.

Once he was seated, Mia Grant spoke first. "Have you seen my brother since this morning?"

"Yeah."

Mia Grant sighed. "He misunderstood our relationship, but I already explained it to him. He..."

As she spoke, her gaze hesitantly scanned him. "He didn’t get physical, did he?"

Simon Adler’s face looked fine, no injuries. She couldn’t be sure about anywhere else, though. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

But he definitely seemed off today.

Simon Adler glanced at her but didn’t answer the question.

’Not get physical? As if.’

His reaction confused Mia Grant.

"Why would he still fight you? Did you run your mouth again?"

"..." Simon Adler replied, "Is this some kind of victim-blaming?"

"I just find it strange. Why would he hit you for no reason? Didn’t you explain?"

"You still don’t understand him. Once he’s suspicious, he won’t listen to any explanations."

"He only trusts his own intuition and judgment."

"To him, any other explanation is just a guilty attempt to cover things up."

"Of course, he didn’t just fight me because he misunderstood our relationship. It was mainly because I helped you hide your identity and brought you to the Hughes family."

"Ah." Mia Grant nodded. "In that case, you deserved it."

"..."

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Opening them again, Simon Adler got down to business. "What’s your plan now?"

Mia Grant asked, "What did he say to you?"

"He just settled the score with me and didn’t mention anything else, which is why I came to ask you."

"What a coincidence." Mia Grant spread her hands. "Same here."

She got a beating yesterday, but they didn’t discuss a single serious matter.

"He didn’t say anything about sending you back to the capital last night?"

"Nope." Mia Grant looked at him. "If he had, I wouldn’t be here right now. I’d have been long gone."

Simon Adler frowned, his gaze roaming over her face before finally landing on the glaring red mark on her neck.

She leaned forward to pour some water, and the loose collar of her shirt slipped, revealing her pale neck.

The marks on it were exposed to the air, naturally not escaping his notice.

Mia Grant took a sip of water. "Is my brother at the office?"

"He went to a meeting."

’Then I’d better not call.’

After a moment’s thought, she said, "Since he didn’t bring it up, he probably doesn’t plan on making me go back."

"I wouldn’t be so sure. He doesn’t want to see you taking risks," Simon Adler said with certainty.

Mia Grant didn’t think so. "But he said he wants to marry me."

"..."

Simon Adler’s head snapped up.

He stared into her eyes, and after confirming she wasn’t joking, he abruptly fell into deep thought.

’Marriage.’

’It’s not something Silas Grant is incapable of.’

’No wonder.’

’He agreed so readily from the start, never showing any sign of resistance.’

’It turns out he was never interested in those blind dates. The one he wanted all along was Mia Grant.’

"No wonder," Simon Adler said, his tone unreadable. "I’m even starting to think we were all part of his plan, including the old man."

He could have used the old man to get Mia Grant to come to Portia, and he’s more than capable of pulling a switcheroo on the wedding day.

Everything would have fallen perfectly into place.

Mia Grant understood his meaning in an instant. She denied it almost without thinking, "He wouldn’t do that."

Simon Adler looked at her.

"Didn’t you just say it yourself? He wouldn’t let me take risks."

"For now, let’s act like nothing’s happened and stick to the original plan."

Mia Grant changed the subject, asking:

"Is the old man out today, or in the backyard? I’ll go say hello."

"Don’t bother. I just asked. He’s resting upstairs."

Mia Grant glanced at the time and found it odd. "At this hour?"

They exchanged a look, understanding the unspoken message in each other’s eyes.

The old man’s routine was always regular. He was an unwavering early-to-bed, early-to-rise person and was rarely in his bedroom outside of sleeping hours.

He was either out having tea with friends, discussing financing, attending events, or playing golf in the backyard.

Normally, he had more energy than young people like them. Coupled with his youthful mindset and refusal to act his age, the old man looked more than ten years younger than he actually was.

Mia Grant lowered her eyes. "You go up and test the waters."

"Why don’t you go?" Simon Adler knew that whenever she opened her mouth, it was for something troublesome.

"I don’t have a good reason."

"And I do?"

"Make one up."

"...Why don’t you make one up?"

They were at a standstill for a moment before each took a step back and decided to go up together.

As soon as they got out of the elevator, they were stopped by a servant.

The servant bowed slightly and said the old man was busy and didn’t have time for visitors at the moment.

Mia Grant pinched Simon Adler’s arm from behind. He winced in pain, but got the hint and quickly spoke up, "We have something urgent to discuss with the old man. It’s about Silas Grant."

"You know how we’ve been helping find him a match for a blind date? Well, we’ve run into some problems."

Hearing it was about Silas Grant, the servant hesitated. "Please wait a moment, you two."

The servant went into the room and came back out two minutes later.

"The old man said to talk about it at dinner tonight."

Simon Adler parted his lips to speak, but Mia Grant was faster. She smiled and nodded. "Alright, we understand. Thank you."

With that, she shot Simon Adler a look.

Neither of them spoke in the elevator.

It wasn’t until they were back in the room with the door closed that Mia Grant’s expression shifted. "The family doctor... still no breakthrough there?"

"The old man’s medical team is centered around six directors from the Hughes Portia Private Hospital."

"They’re all sharper than the last. You can’t get anything out of them."

"So you’re saying every path is a dead end?"

"Not exactly." Simon Adler stared at her for a few seconds. "There is one way, but you probably won’t agree to it."

"What is it?"

"One of the directors, a cardiac surgeon, is Hayes Hughes’s mentor. And his daughter once publicly declared her love for Hayes Hughes."

"If you agree, we can have Hayes Hughes go and seduce her."

"..."