Free Web NovelChapter 326: Chapter 324: The Proposal Plan
"Are you... serious?"
Mia Grant watched him with suspicion.
Yates Donovan sighed helplessly and pulled her back. "Wanna bet? Let’s just stand here by the theater exit and wait."
"Wait for what?"
"You’ll see in a minute."
Ten minutes later, four or five theater employees struggled to push out a moon-shaped flower wall of pink and purple blossoms on a cart.
"See?" Yates Donovan jutted his chin. "If I hadn’t shown up, you would have seen this thing the moment the movie ended."
"..."
Mia Grant believed him.
"But Kian Keller didn’t propose to me. That pigeon’s egg of a diamond... no, wait, it wasn’t a ring at all. It was a brooch."
"He brought it as a formal apology."
"Is that so?" Yates Donovan’s tone was nonchalant, almost careless.
Mia Grant found this strange. She shook off his hand and turned to face him.
"You came back today just to ruin Silas Grant’s proposal? Then why weren’t you nervous when you heard Kian Keller was proposing to me?"
"Because I knew he wouldn’t succeed."
Mia Grant crossed her arms. "Is that all?"
Yates Donovan met her gaze, a small smile playing on his lips. "There’s another reason. I know you would never marry him."
"If you absolutely had to get married and choose a formal partner, Kian Keller wouldn’t be your choice."
"Why not?"
"A gut feeling."
"Then would Silas Grant be my choice?"
"The chances aren’t high, but it’s not impossible. Who knows, you might have a sudden lapse in judgment and say yes. So I still have to be on guard."
The only reason Yates Donovan could accept this flock of admirers around her was on the premise that he was the primary partner.
If she were to enter a long-term, official relationship with any one of them, the current balance would be shattered, and his position as the "primary partner" would become meaningless.
He knew very well that if she could only choose one, he wouldn’t be her top pick.
She held grudges. Even if she didn’t mention it, the thorn was still there in her heart. If she were to marry, she would definitely choose someone who had never hurt her from the very beginning.
So, this happy outcome for everyone involved was actually a good thing for him.
Demanding too much just gets you kicked out of the game.
And Kian Keller was a prime example. He was already on the edge.
That’s why Mia Grant would never choose him.
As for Silas Grant, to be honest, his desire for control was just as strong, no less than Kian Keller’s.
That was something Mia Grant was very resistant to.
But Silas Grant’s advantage was that his position in Mia Grant’s heart was different from everyone else’s.
After all, he was the one who had truly saved her life.
From their previous conversations, it was clear that Mia Grant was particularly fixated on the time she was locked in the Grant Family’s basement.
This highlighted Silas Grant’s value.
Mia Grant mulled this over seriously and nodded in agreement. "You have a point. But, I’ll say it again: I have no intention of getting married."
"What if someone gets some leverage on you and uses it as a threat?"
Yates Donovan asked suddenly.
At his words, Mia Grant lowered her arms, her gaze turning sharp. She smiled and asked, "You want to try?"
Yates Donovan raised an eyebrow. "I meant them. Even a cornered rabbit will bite, you know."
"What about you? If you were pushed into a corner, would you threaten me too?"
"Never thought about it. I’m not the marrying kind, either."
"However..."
The man took a step forward, leaned in close, and asked in a low voice, "I’m just curious, if I did that, what would you do?"
Mia Grant raised a hand to push his head off her shoulder, frowning. "Sorry, but you don’t have what it takes to threaten me."
It was a fact.
"Ah..." Yates Donovan’s tone was full of regret. "What if they did, then? Would you cut ties with them completely?"
"Why are you always asking about them?"
"Of course. One rival eliminated is one less for me to worry about. Makes my life easier."
"You have no idea how much trouble it is to manage this harem." He raised his arm to sling it around Mia Grant’s shoulder.
Mia Grant took a step forward, making him grab at empty air. "No one’s asking you to work so hard."
"Tsk." He caught up, wrapped his arms around her from behind, and started walking her toward the exit. "What kind of thing is that to say?"
"But let’s get back to business. That old dog Silas Grant definitely won’t give up. He’s always been two-faced. Don’t believe any promises he makes you—he probably doesn’t even believe them himself."
"You need to keep your guard up and watch out for him."
"I won’t be in Jynsia for a while, so I can’t be there to bail you out every time."
"Next time you decide to ’bail me out,’ could you give me a heads-up? When he gets angry, I’m the one who suffers the consequences."
"Fine, I’ll be more careful next time."
"But speaking of which, what unforgivable sin did Kian Keller commit to make you and Silas Grant so angry?"
"Care to share?"
Mia Grant ignored him.
Since she wouldn’t say, he decided to guess.
"Don’t tell me it’s what I just said, is it? Did he get a little leverage on you?"
"It’s strange, though. Did it really take him this long to figure it out?"
In the car, Mia Grant’s hand froze as she was buckling her seatbelt.
"What do you mean?" Her expression turned cold.
Seeing her reaction, Yates Donovan knew he had guessed right.
’Man, how am I so smart?’
"What do you know?"
"First, let me declare that I’m not like them."
"How are you any different?"
"In every way." Yates Donovan smiled. "I would never stoop so low as to secretly dig up your little secrets like they do."
Mia Grant laughed at that. "Did you forget about the time you investigated my background?"
Yates Donovan maintained his nonchalant air. "That’s why I said I’m different from them. I was investigating your parents."
"My starting point was wanting to help you find your family."
"Other than that, I’m not curious about all the other odds and ends."
The words had barely left his mouth when a shadow drew near, stopping right in front of him. Mia Grant leaned in, propping a hand on the center console between them. She looked down at him, her eyes as soft as water. "Really not curious, baby?"
That one word, "baby," made Yates Donovan’s entire body tense up, his mind going blank.
Mia Grant smiled and pinched his chin. "If it’s really as you say, then you should have stopped after you found out Yuri Sinclair is my father. So why haven’t you given up yet?"
"You say you’re not curious, but you’re still making little moves behind the scenes."
"I’ve told you time and time again that it was just a fabricated dream. But you refuse to let it go."
"The reason I haven’t confronted you about it like I did with Kian Keller isn’t because you’re special to me."
The man’s gaze flickered, but the smile on his lips widened at her words.
Her expression darkened. "It’s because you can’t find anything."
"And because you haven’t crossed my bottom line yet."
Kian Keller’s mistake was self-righteously testing her.
Yates Donovan hadn’t gone that far yet.
"If you keep provoking me so brazenly, the next person Silas Grant corners at the airport and beats up will be you."
"Remember to leave yourself an escape route. Find a spectator just like yourself to come bail you out."
With that, she coldly pushed him away and sat back in her seat.
Before she could buckle her seatbelt, the man beside her gave her no chance to react and pounced back.
