Free Web NovelChapter 479: Chapter 479: A Deal
The "third brother" Mitchell Sheffield spoke of was his younger brother, Jim Sheffield.
"What?!" Lana Grant was utterly shocked. She stared at Mitchell Sheffield in disbelief, her face a mask of astonishment. "Marry Nina off to your brother? That... that’s ridiculous!"
"Nina is just in her early twenties, and your brother is over fifty! How can they possibly get married?!"
Seeing Mitchell Sheffield lower his head in silence, Lana Grant continued, "Besides, didn’t his new wife just die a few days ago? They haven’t even held a funeral yet. How can he already be plotting to remarry so soon?"
Mitchell Sheffield put down his book and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. The mere mention of his third brother gave him a headache.
His expression turned cold as he said in a low voice, "What’s the point of a funeral? Ivy Draper’s family came a few days ago. Jim gave them 600,000, and they just took her body away!"
Jim Sheffield told Ivy Draper’s family that she had frozen to death in the snow disaster. They didn’t question it—they just took the 600,000 and left with her body.
Hearing this, Lana Grant asked in surprise, "Their daughter died under mysterious circumstances, and the Drapers didn’t even investigate...?"
Mitchell Sheffield snorted with contempt. "Investigate what? They made a total of one million off of one daughter. The Draper family didn’t lose out."
At this, Mitchell Sheffield sighed again, his face a picture of resignation. "Our mother is worried about Jim. She’s afraid he’ll have no one to look after him, so she asked me to find him a new wife—someone young and obedient. As it happens, Caleb Summers was also looking to marry Nina off. When I mentioned it to him yesterday, he agreed on the spot."
Lana Grant was even more stunned. "He agreed?" she said in disbelief. "How could Caleb Summers agree to that? ...Doesn’t he know? Jim has already had four wives die!"
Including the recently deceased Ivy Draper, Jim Sheffield had now had four wives die, all under mysterious circumstances. How could Caleb Summers have the heart to marry Nina Summers off to him?
’This is too ridiculous!’
Mitchell Sheffield’s gaze returned to his book. He said gruffly, "Summers knows, of course. He was transferred from a backwater department to a core division last year, and now he wants to climb even higher. The city is about to start its reconstruction efforts. Our parents have also agreed—as soon as Nina marries into the family, they’ll pull some strings to get him promoted to a director position."
Lana Grant lowered her head, her expression a mix of helplessness and pity. "That poor girl, Nina... Mindy Walsh’s parents died young, and now that Mindy is gone too, Nina has no one left to depend on..."
Lana Grant had a daughter of her own. She thought to herself, if it were her Wendy Sheffield being married off to an old man whose four previous wives had died, she would never be able to accept it!
’Caleb Summers is just too much!’
Mitchell Sheffield, however, was indifferent. In his view, given Nina Summers’s current circumstances, marrying Jim Sheffield was a good option for her.
He turned another page in his book and said in a low voice, "A woman has to get married eventually... Besides, this is a matter of mutual consent. You shouldn’t worry about it."
******
Nina Summers had no idea that her father had already arranged for her to marry Jim Sheffield. After a steaming bowl of instant noodles, a sense of comfort washed over her, and she slept soundly until the next day.
She slept for so long that when she woke up the next morning, she felt completely dazed.
After getting dressed, she went downstairs and found the rest of the family busy in the courtyard.
Grace Sutton, her grandmother, and Miss Lowell were working efficiently. Having spent all of yesterday cleaning the courtyard, they had already tilled and fertilized the vegetable patch and were now sowing seeds.
Perhaps nourished by water from the Arcadian Space, the few fruit trees in the backyard had surprisingly survived. Though their leaves had all fallen off, the recent rise in temperature had caused them to sprout new buds.
Melody Summers pruned the fruit trees and secretly scattered some fish and shrimp fry from the Arcadian Space into the pond.
Beside her was a white cat, Albus, who was currently batting a fry that had leaped onto the bank back into the water with his paw.
Noticing Nina Summers standing in the doorway watching her, Melody Summers wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand and said with a smile, "You’re awake? We left breakfast for you in the dining room. Go on and eat!"
Nina Summers nodded, a little embarrassed. "Thanks, cousin," she replied.
In the center of the dining table sat a rice cooker, still keeping its contents warm. Inside was a thick, golden millet porridge stewed with sweet pumpkin. Next to the cooker was a stack of beef-filled pastries, pan-fried to a golden brown on both sides. The fragrant aroma was incredibly appetizing.
Nina Summers couldn’t help but swallow. Although Caleb Summers’s workplace occasionally distributed employee benefits, it was usually just staples like rice and flour. Sometimes there was chicken, but never a luxury like beef.
—Even when there was chicken, it was reserved for Chester Summers. Zoe Kane would stew the meat until it was tender and make it into baby food for him, while Nina Summers wouldn’t get a single bite.
Seeing the beef pastries on the table now, Nina Summers eagerly picked one up and wolfed it down. Only when she was on her second did she slow down to savor it. The savory meat filling was juicy, and Nina felt a bliss that reminded her of life before the disaster.
After breakfast, seeing that everyone was busy, Nina Summers felt awkward just standing around and offered to take out the trash.
Many of the neighborhood’s trash cans had been destroyed in the blizzard, so Nina Summers had to drag the large bag of garbage quite a distance before finding a new one.
Just as she finished throwing out the trash and was about to head back, she heard the clicking of high heels behind her.
Nina Summers turned to look and saw a tall woman walking toward her. The woman had a sharp, short haircut. Despite the gloomy, rainy day, she wore a pair of large sunglasses that concealed nearly half of her face.
For some reason, Nina Summers felt the woman’s gaze fixed on her. It made her skin crawl, and she lowered her head, planning to leave quietly.
In the instant they passed each other, the short-haired woman in sunglasses spoke first, stopping her. "You’re Nina Summers, aren’t you?"
Nina Summers froze. She stopped, turned back to the short-haired woman, and asked with a puzzled expression, "...I am... Who are you? Do I know you?"
Nina Summers didn’t live in The Metropolis Residences, so she couldn’t understand why someone here would know who she was.
The short-haired woman smiled. She hooked a finger under her sunglasses, lowering them to reveal a pair of sharp-looking eyes.
Meeting Nina’s confused gaze, she spoke in a low, serious voice, "Let me introduce myself. My surname is Walsh. I’d like to make a deal with you..."
