Free Web NovelChapter 186: Chapter 176: Standing at the Door, Are You Waiting for Me to Carry You In? (2)
She met the man’s icy gaze. "Weren’t you the one looking for other women?"
"What are you talking about!" Joanne denied with a dry, forced laugh.
An awkward silence fell. She grabbed the red wine in front of her and started drinking.
She took a deep breath to calm herself. ’Don’t forget why you came here today.’
The living room was thick with awkwardness. Elliot didn’t speak, and Joanne didn’t know what to say either.
In the bedroom, Georgia was pacing back and forth anxiously, terrified that Joanne would suddenly barge in.
’What else could a woman be doing, coming to a man’s room alone in the middle of the night?’
’She refused to believe that a man and a woman alone could just "talk" under the covers.’
Georgia stood by the door, straining her ears to hear what was happening outside.
Outside the door, Joanne had drunk quite a bit of wine, and a faint blush appeared on her delicate face.
Elliot glanced coolly at Joanne. When it came to women he wasn’t interested in, he remained completely unmoved, no matter what they did.
’He was disgusted with her to his very core; sleeping with her was out of the question.’
"Joanne, about the engagement... let’s just pretend I never brought it up," Elliot said after taking a sip of wine.
Joanne was growing anxious, wondering why Elliot still hadn’t taken the bait.
When she suddenly heard him say that, her mind went blank, and the seductive charm on her face vanished completely. "What?"
"Don’t think I don’t know about the little games you’ve been playing behind my back!" Elliot set down his wine glass and walked into the study.
Joanne panicked. ’How could this be so different from what she’d imagined!’
Joanne smoothed her dress and hurried after Elliot into the study. "Elliot, we’re supposed to be getting engaged soon! How can you go back on your word?"
"Do you think I’d still marry you after seeing this?" Elliot pulled a file folder from the study.
"What is it!" Joanne frantically snatched the folder from Elliot’s hand.
’It can’t be that. It’s impossible!’
Her trembling hands fumbled with the folder. When she saw the report inside, her eyes nearly bulged out of her head.
She looked up at Elliot in disbelief. "How did you get this!"
"Did you really think I wouldn’t be able to find out about the surgery you had in Vesperia!" Elliot pulled the full report from the folder.
He placed it in front of Joanne. The word "infertility" seemed to be magnified, seared into her vision. "Was this why you rushed to leave the country back then?"
Her secret exposed, Joanne was at a complete loss. It took her a long moment to react, and she frantically grabbed Elliot’s arm. "It’s not what you think! I can explain!"
"And what good would explaining do!" Elliot pulled his arm from her grasp. "Joanne, based on your past alone, I would never marry you!"
"Elliot, what happened in the past was all becau—" In her panic, Joanne tried to explain, but she nearly made a terrible mistake.
The name reached the tip of her tongue, but she forced it back down.
"What about the past? You hid abroad for so many years simply because you were afraid. What’s wrong? The words are on the tip of your tongue, but you still don’t dare to say them?"
Joanne clapped a hand over her mouth, speechless. ’I can’t say it. I can’t say it.’
"Go back and tell your mother the engagement is canceled. Tell her not to get her hopes up!" Elliot deliberately raised his voice, hoping Georgia could hear him from inside the bedroom.
In the bedroom, Georgia was straining her ears and only managed to catch two words: "engagement canceled."
The soundproofing was too good. After listening for what felt like an eternity, those were the only words she could make out.
’Why was the engagement canceled now?’
Joanne was unwilling to leave. She couldn’t bear to let such a good opportunity slip away.
But she never expected Elliot to have something like this up his sleeve. ’When did he find out what happened in Vesperia?’
"Still not leaving? Do you want me to call security?"
Joanne’s face went from pale to livid. If he actually called security, it would be the ultimate humiliation.
Reluctantly, she snatched her handbag from the sofa and stormed out in a huff.
As Joanne rode the elevator down, she grew angrier and angrier.
He was the one who had approached her and proposed the engagement, and now he was the one calling it off. Someone must have put him up to it.
And it had to be a woman!
Joanne wracked her brain. In all these years, the only woman who had been close to Elliot was that little bitch, Amanda Thorne.
It had to be her. There was no one else.
"That woman really looks like a hooker!"
Although Joanne couldn’t hear what they were discussing, she could tell from their scornful looks that they were definitely bad-mouthing her.
Already furious, she spun around and cursed, "What are you looking at!"
The elevator chimed as it stopped on the first floor, and Joanne stomped away furiously in her high heels.
"Look at how she’s dressed. What’s the difference between her and a prostitute?" the other woman said disdainfully.
Back in the apartment, Georgia, still hiding in the bedroom, heard the sound of a door slamming and uncertainly got to her feet.
’Is Joanne gone?’
Just as she was wondering, Elliot’s voice came from outside. "Open the door!"
Georgia slowly opened the door just a crack, peeking out with half her face. "Is Joanne gone?"
Elliot grunted in affirmation and turned to walk back into the living room.
Georgia timidly glanced around the doorway and confirmed that Joanne was indeed gone.
Only then did she breathe a sigh of relief and step out of the room.
She saw an opened bottle of red wine and two glasses on the coffee table.
They must have drunk it when Joanne was here.
Georgia forced herself not to think about what might have happened between him and Joanne. They drank wine... did that mean they had already done what was bound to happen?
But then why did he tell Joanne the engagement was canceled?
Everything Elliot did was a mystery, impossible to figure out.
Even now, she still didn’t understand why Elliot had broken up with her back then in Akashima.
’If it was about his pride, then he had definitely won!’
Elliot picked up one of the glasses from the table. Seeing the red lipstick stain on the rim, he frowned and threw the glass into the trash can.
He poured a fresh glass. "Want some?"
Georgia saw his action and shook her head, getting straight to the point. "I’ve fulfilled your first two demands. What’s the third?"
Red wine was meant to be savored, but he downed it in a single gulp.
The deep red liquid disappeared into his mouth. He then set the glass down on the table.
His narrowed eyes were like sharp blades, staring at Georgia as if trying to peer deep into her heart.
Their eyes met. Seeing the profound depth in the man’s gaze, she eventually looked away.
"Let’s go. I’ll take you home."
Inside the quiet, cramped car, Georgia sat in the passenger seat, occasionally stealing glances at the man beside her.
’He gave her two demands, and now the third has just vanished?’
’Or was there never a third demand to begin with?’
The car sped along, stopping in front of her apartment building a little over ten minutes later.
The central locks clicked open, but Georgia didn’t get out immediately.
She turned her head to look at him. "Elliot, what about your third demand?"
Elliot stared at her fixedly, his voice hoarse. "Marry me."
"What!"
"That’s the third demand. Marry me."
Elliot gazed into her eyes, repeating himself, word by word.
Each word was like a hammer blow to Georgia’s heart, a heavy strike that made it ache with the shock.
Her wedding to Zane Lennox was tomorrow, and yet here he was, proposing to her at a time like this.
"Georgia, the choice is in your hands. I expect to hear the answer I want tomorrow."
Tossing and turning, Georgia picked up her phone and glanced at it. It was already three in the morning.
She hadn’t felt the slightest bit sleepy since she got back.
Elliot’s words, "Marry me," kept replaying in her mind, refusing to fade.
She clutched an invitation she had yet to send, her heart a mess of complicated feelings. Georgia couldn’t feel any of the joy a bride was supposed to feel.
She lay quietly in bed as the sky gradually brightened with the first light of dawn.
Nancy Hughes’s voice came from the door. "Georgia, get up! The makeup artist is here!"
Nancy was knocking loudly on the door, and Georgia finally responded in a daze.
She walked over and opened the door. Nancy took one look at her and shrieked, "Your dark circles are so bad! Did you have insomnia last night?"
Having not slept all night, Georgia sat on the bed, her head spinning. "Nancy!" she said weakly.
"Please, have a seat for a moment! The bride will be ready soon!" Nancy said with an apologetic smile, then turned back to Georgia. "What’s wrong?"
Georgia hesitated for a moment before saying, "It’s nothing. I’m just a little hungry."
’If even she couldn’t figure out an answer, how could anyone else possibly understand?’
It was still early. Georgia washed up, hastily took a couple of bites of bread, and then sat in the chair, letting the makeup artist work on her face.
The wedding had been arranged in a hurry, but Zane had done his best to make it perfect.
Georgia finished her makeup, changed into her wedding dress, and came out of the room.
Nancy had also changed into her bridesmaid dress. They heard the deafening CRACKLE and POP of firecrackers from downstairs.
She helped Georgia walk outside, pouting. "Normally, a bride is supposed to leave from her family home for the wedding. What’s the deal with you leaving from a rented apartment!"
Georgia just smiled, unconcerned. Hayley Sullivan had never liked her, so there was no way she would have let her leave from the Thorne Family estate.
Downstairs, Jared Thorne and Hayley Sullivan were waiting by the car.
Hayley was clearly dressed up for the occasion, but the look on her face was anything but happy.
After all, it wasn’t her own biological daughter getting married, so what did it have to do with her?
Jared Thorne, on the other hand, was naturally delighted. As long as they were allied with the Lennox Family through marriage, the Thorne Family would surely be saved.
The Lennox Family would overcome their current crisis sooner or later. The fact that Zane could invest so much money in them proved they still had plenty more.
"Dad, Stepmom!" Georgia said with a brilliant smile.
Jared Thorne replied happily, while Hayley Sullivan just gave her a strange look.
Hayley had met Yara Joyce before. Yara couldn’t be described as a stunning beauty, more of a gentle, delicate flower.
When Georgia was younger, Hayley thought she bore a slight resemblance to Yara around the eyes, but looking at her now, she felt Georgia was far more glamorous than her mother had ever been.
Hayley always looked at her strangely, but Georgia paid it no mind as Nancy helped her with her dress and guided her into the sedan.
