썬 57%
youshen
Are there really people dumb enough to blow their own cover dese days? Edwing thought.
She figured she’d already done her good deed for a stranger. She had zero interest in sticking around for a “happy family”
moment.
She pushed back her chair, stepped away a few paces, and put space between herself and Kelvin.
Her eyes lowered, her voice even. Tll have someone send over a meal plan. Just stick to it, she said. “If there’s nothing else. I’m heading out.”
At seventeen, Kelvin already ran the family business, cutting the ugh the corporate world with a cool, decisive edge.
He clocked the way Edwina held herself, guarded and sizing him up, and he caught the faint, unmistakable hint of disdain she barely bothered to hide.
Interesting, he thought to himself.
With a small smirk, he deliberately stepped into her path, blocking her way and laying it on a little thick. “Come on, I’ll walk you out.”
At those words, Imelda’s eyes lit up from the pillow. In all these years, she hadn’t seen Kelvin be this forward with any woman. Suddenly her illness felt meaningful.
‘I I push this just a little, maybe I’ll end up with a cool, gorgeous granddaughter–in–law,’ she thought.
“Yes, let Kelvin walk you out,” she chimed in “It’s a lousy time to catch a cab.”
Edwina’s face didn’t move. “Thanks, but no.”
She just wanted out of the hospital, away from Kelvin.
That fathomless air he carried and those unreadable eyes put her on edge. She hated anything she couldn’t control.
And right now, Kelvin was exactly that. Even if he meant no har, she didn’t want him orbiting anywhere near her.
Kelvin started to press it, and Edwina’s voice went colder. “I have personal business. Mr. Gibson, you understand the concept of respecting someone’s privacy, right?”
Out in the room, Helene, late because of traffic, wore a pinched, anxious look.
She dropped her voice and snapped at Lanette, who’d brought up earlier. “What happened? How the hell is that bitch Edwina here?”
Her mind spun, panic pressing tight against her ribs. ‘She even at me to sucking up to Mrs. Gibson. So what’s next? What else does she think she can take? Is she trying to steal my engagement to Kelvin too?
If she gets the Gibson family’s marriage promise first, what place do I have left in the Simmons family, or in Grindel City’s upper crust at all?
Lanette jumped to soothe her. “Miss Simmons, don’t panic. I listed for a while. The Gibsons don’t seem to know Edwina is
“I don’t know why she’s here. I did hear her mention a meal plan Maybe she used to cook for Imelda. Just a lowly help. Nothing to worry about,”
Throwing her weight around like that, Lanette didn’t notice she managed to insult herself 100.
1/3
12:26 Thu, Jan 1 A Q
Chapter
Helene finally cooled Right A small–town nobody like her could never tie herself to the most Grindel City, she thought.
* 57%
prestigious C
Gibson family in
Whatever reason Edwina had for hiding that she was a Simmons if she wouldn’t say it. Helene certainly wouldn’t expose it in front of the Gibsons. That would only help her.
She pinched her voire into something sweet and affected, swept, and poured gas on the fire.
“Do you even know who you’re talking to?” she said to Edwina. That’s the CEO of Gibson Group. He offers to walk you out and you act ungrateful?
“And this is Mrs. Gibson’s goodwill. Turning him down like that aren’t you being a little disrespectful to an elder?”
Edwina gave Helene a calm, sidelong look.
Now she wanted to slap a big label on her for “not respecting your elders, desperate to perform in front of the Gibsons.
This time, though, Helene managed one thing Edwina appreciated. She pretended not to know her.
Edwina had no intention of letting Kelvin find out she was a Simmons. Whether that engagement happened or not, and with whoever, she wanted no ties to him.
In her book, getting tangled up with people she barely knew was nothing but trouble.
She didn’t push back when Helene took a swipe at her. She leaned in instead. “You’re right. I’m terrible at respecting elders. So. Mr. Gibson, that’s far enough.”
‘Honestly, if Helene could just end up with Kelvin, that’d be one less headache for me, Edwina thought.
Helene blinked, caught off guard. She hadn’t expected Edwina te just take it. What is she up to now?‘ she wondered.
Lanette rushed to make Helene shine. “Miss Simmons’s always been beautiful and kind.
“She heard you were sick and has been worried nonstop, Mrs. Gison. She flew back into town just yesterday and came straight here today.
“She even got up at dawn to make seafood chowder and burned her fingers”
As she talked, Lanette lifted Helene’s hand so everyone could see the Band–Aid on her finger.
Helene put on a coy little smile. “Why bring that up! It’s nothing it’s just what you do for people.”
She sent Edwina a pointed look, and the difference between them was suddenly obvious.
Kelvin’s brows tightened, his eyes turned cold. His voice droppe “You had that seafood chowder sent over
Helene missed the edge in his tone and stepped forward, eager take credit. “Yeah, Kelvin, did you try it? If you liked it. 1 can make some for you too.”
His face went even darker, the air around him turning icy.
Even Helene, slow as she could be, realized something was off
She stammered, her voice trembling, “Kelvin, what’s what’s wrong?
He turned to the caregiver, voice flat and cold. “Throw that theros out. Starting now, she and anything she brings do not
enter this room.
“She doesn’t get within a step of my grandma.
2/3
3/3
12.6n Thu an i
Chapter 6
“Yes, sir,” All four professional caregivers answered at once, their harp yes landing like a slap across Helene’s face.
57%
She stared in disbelief, eyes filling with tears. “Kelvin, I worked so hard on that. Even if you don’t like it, you don’t have to humiliate me like this, so you?”
Her shrill voice made Edwina’s ears ache.
Edwina cut her a cool glance. She hadn’t even had time to trace here the chowder came from before Helene rushed hersell
How does someone like that even catch Kelvin’s attention?‘ she seethed inwardly. If their engagement falls apart. I’ll be the
e left to clean up the mess.
With a helpless sigh. Edwina spoke. “She probably didn’t know, Seafood is usually considered good for you.”
Helene didn’t appreciate the assist. She snapped. “This is between me and Kelvin. A cook like you doesn’t get a say
“Quit pretending to be all sweet and understanding. What are you, some slick little vixen? Don’t think Kelvin and Imelda can’t see right through your shady little schemes.
Edwina kept her face blank. ‘Say one more word and I’m just wasting oxygen.
Even the usually even–tempered Imelda had had enough. With a better option in sight, Helene no longer mattered to her.
Her voice came out hoarse and cold. “My condition means I can eat seafood.”
“So tell me. Miss Simmons. You made me seafood chowder. Was that meant to honor me, or were you trying to kill me?”
୦
AD
Comment
