Ivan had been repeatedly humiliated by the Walkers-first by Natalie, then by Charlotte, and now by Sky. His face went from pale to flushed before turning an rming shade of red.
He was furious.
He had already lowered himself to show respect to Natalie, someone much younger than him, and even brought Sky-Sophia''s fiancé and his future son-in-w-along to smooth things over.
Not only did Sky refuse to spare him some dignity, but he even outright dered that he was breaking off the engagement with Sophia because of this incident.
A broken engagement wouldn''t affect the Walkers much at all, but for the Sinirs, it was a different story.
Sinir Group had been struggling in recent years, and on multiple asions, Ivan had been forced to seek William''s help.
William had only agreed because of the engagement between their families.
But Ivan had never liked William''s attitude to begin with.
Because of Ivan''s affair, William''s eyes always betrayed his contempt and disgust, even as he maintained a polite smile when dealing with him.
And whenever William extended a hand, he never failed to add, "Consider it a gift for my future daughter-inw, Sophia."
Ivan was infuriated just thinking about it. Sophia-that worthless girl-was just like her mother, Samantha. Completely useless.
She had been engaged to Sky for years, yet she still hadn''t managed to secure him.
If she had seduced Sky earlier and gotten pregnant with the Walkers'' first grandson, then he, Ivan, would finally have something to hold over that smug bastard, William.
His face flushed red with frustration as he cursed Sophia in his heart. Raising that daughter had been a waste. She was essentially worth less than a dog.
Not only had she failed to prove herself when it mattered most, but she had even disappeared at such a critical moment.
"Ivan, this so-called engagement was nothing more than a verbal agreement between Sky''s and Sophia''s grandfathers."
Charlotte stepped forward, her figure towering over Ivan, contempt gleaming in her eyes. "And now that the Walkers are calling it off, a verbal notice is all you''re getting.
"Of course, since we Walkers believe in handling things properly, we''ll be making an official statement to announce the cancetion.
"If you still have even a shred of dignity left, stop trying to sell your daughter like some cheapmodity. Maybe take a good look at how you''ve treated Sophia all these years.
"You sent Samantha off to a convent. Aren''t you afraid she spends every single day praying for you to drop dead sooner?"
Charlotte didn''t bother sugarcoating her words.
Even though Ivan had already punished the housekeeper who bullied Natalie, she had no intention of maintaining ties with someone as repulsive as him.
Just then, Noah stepped forward respectfully.
"Hello, Mrs. Walker, Mr. Sky, and Ms. Walker. Mr. Holden just sent me a message. He has a special gift for Ms. Walker. However, Mrs. Walker and Mr. Sky may view it as well."
He then pulled out his phone and forwarded Marcus'' gift to all three of them.
Natalie nced at Noah, who immediately lowered his voice and exined, "Ms. Walker, Mr. Holden assigned me to protect you. If you''re ever bullied, in danger, or facing any kind of crisis, I am to report it to him immediately.
"Mr. Holden said that even if he can''t be by your side in person, he will still make sure to take care of any trouble thates your way."
Natalie frowned slightly. "Wait... What is Marcus ying at?"
"Mr. Holden said that he''s repaying a debt," Noah replied just as respectfully.
"He believes he has spent years mistaking his true savior for someone else and has only fallen further into debt because of it. So now, he intends to repay it at any time, in any ce, by any means necessary."
Natalie fell silent.
Marcus, that lunatic. There was something wrong with his head.
Before, he had gone out of his way to avoid her, and now, just because of this so- called life-saving debt, he hadpletely changed his attitude.
Could he be any more shamelessly opportunistic?
"Ms. Walker, hurry and take a look at Mr. Holden''s gift," Noah urged.
Seeing Natalie''s unimpressed expression, he silently lit a candle for Marcus in his heart. A fiercely independent woman like her had no patience for his meddling.
"Fine."
Natalie nced at Charlotte and Sky. Both of them were watching her expectantly. They had heard everything; this gift was meant for her. While they had permission to view it as well, they wouldn''t do so until she looked at it first.
"Sweetie, go ahead and open it," Charlotte said gently, her voice warm and affectionate.
The stark contrast between the way she spoke to Natalie and how she had coldly confronted Ivan moments ago made her seem like an entirely different person.
"You look at it first, then Sky and I will check."
"Let''s just look at it together."
Natalie had no idea what kind of gift Marcus had prepared for her, so she simply tapped on the file, allowing all three of them to view it at the same time.
What Noah had sent them was a dossier on Ivan''s mistress, Julia White.
Julia was born in Templeton, Amberton. At 18, she moved to Dithoria State for work, taking on
various odd jobs-dis
waitressing, distributing flyers, delivering food, and even working as a courier.
Back in her hometown, she had a boyfriend named Edgar Presley, to whom she
sent nearly all of her earnings.
Eventually, tired of struggling to
make ends meet, she began
hopping from one man to a
At 23, one of her so-called boyfriends introduced her to Regency Gold Club, where she Ivan.
s?novel
met
Swn ve
From that moment on, she set her sights on him, using every trick in the book to seduce the older man. In the end, she sessfully climbed into Ivan''s bed.
But even after securing her ce by Ivan''s side, she never cut ties with Edgar.
Every year, she returned to Amberton under the pretense of visiting her parents. In reality, she was secretly meeting up with Edgar.
The dossier contained countless photos, one after another, many of which were downright disgusting to look at.
At the very end, there were three paternity test results: Ruby and Ivan, Ruby and Edgar, and Sophia and Ivan.
Ruby wasn''t Ivan''s daughter, she was Edgar''s. Meanwhile, Sophia was indeed Ivan''s biological child.
Natalie clicked her tongue twice and shut the file. So all this time, Ivan had been raising another man''s kid?
The daughter he cherished the most turned out to be the child of his mistress and another man, while the daughter he had always neglected was his flesh and blood.
Natalie lifted her gaze to Ivan and couldn''t help but think that he was cuckolded.
As for Julia''s current health problem? Well, those were just the consequences of ying too hard in her younger years.
Even after getting together with Ivan and leaping into high society, she still couldn''t stay put. She kept sneaking out to indulge her wild side.
The real question was whether Julia had been careful or if Ivan had just been that blind and trusting. For years, he had remainedpletely oblivious to everything she had been up to behind his back.
Natalie clicked her tongue in amusement.
Charlotte, however, quickly covered the phone screen with her hand. "Sweetie, don''t look at such filthy things."
Sky had already seen some of the scandalous photos and was thoroughly embarrassed. Meanwhile, Natalie waspletely unfazed, even clicking her tongue in admiration.
"It''s fine." She smirked slightly. She wasn''t a child, so there was no need to shy away from things like this.
Sex and rtionships? Completely normal.
What truly impressed her was Marcus'' efficiency.
It had barely been an hour since Julia''s housekeeper came here, acting all high
and mighty, yet Marcus had already unearthed everyst one of her dirty secrets.
If this was his gift, then she had to admit it was quite the present.