C07
Sienna’s POV
But in the end, I still could do as planned.
My parents were buried in this city. Everything they had left me was here in Washington. I couldn’t just abandon it all, even though I knew I had to make a choice.
“Lance’s engagement party with the Fowlers is in three days,” Howard said, his voice steady. “We can apply for a marriage license before then, and on the day of their engagement, we’ll have our wedding. A double celebration.”
I looked at him, my heart swelling with emotion. He understood me perfectly.
I could already imagine Lance’s face when he found out I married his uncle.
A small smile crept onto my lips, one even a high–caliber sniper couldn’t wipe off. Howard took my hand, leading me confidently out of the break room.
All my colleagues gawked at us, their mouths hanging open in shock and envy.
For the first time ever, I felt like I could walk with my head held high at Apex Solutions Group.
Everyone knew my history. Ever since I was a child, I had followed Lance around like a shadow. People used to tease him, suggesting he take pity on me and make it official. But he always laughed it off, saying I was too familiar to spark his interest.
To the outside world, I was his personal errand girl–someone he could boss around while I, blinded by love, played along as if we were in a relationship.
What no one knew was that behind closed doors, he couldn’t get enough of me. We spent nearly every night together for five years, living in a strange, secretive intimacy.
Yet in the blink of an eye, he became someone else’s fiancé.
Why? Because to Lance–and everyone else–I was nothing but a pathetic follower.
They didn’t say it out loud, but I knew. Behind my back, they mocked me. To them, I was just the daughter of a once–prominent family, fallen from grace after losing my parents.
How could someone like me possibly deserve the heir of the mighty Madron family?
Lance, always perched on his high horse, assumed my love was just an attempt to climb the social ladder. He enjoyed my devotion and took my body for his pleasure, but never believed my feelings were genuine.
And now that he discarded me first, why should I care about protecting his pride?
of fat and Heling Your ide
Right at that moment, Howard made it clear no one in the company was allowed to gossip about us or leak the
news
It was as if he could read every single thought I had, every worry I tried to bury.
The day of applying for a marriage certificate came and I hesitated when we reached the entrance of the county clerk’s office.
No, I chickened out.
The idea of Howard finding out about my humiliating five–year entanglement with Lance–it was unbearable. If we got married, I’d have to face him every day, and the thought of that shame was too much.
I tugged at his sleeve and finally said, after much deliberation, “Thank you for helping me back there, and for giving me a chance to stand tall in front of everyone. But marriage isn’t something to take lightly. I’m not the right person for you.”
“What makes you think that?” His voice grew tense, his breathing uneven.
“People will laugh at you,” I whispered.
“Let them laugh!” he shot back, unwavering. “I don’t care what anyone says.”
He fixed me with a determined look. “Sienna, I’ve waited five years for this moment. Now that you’ve finally let go of Lance, I’m not giving anyone else the chance to take you away.”
I stared at him, dumbfounded.
“If not for you, I wouldn’t have taken over the Madron family,” he continued.
Then he asked softly, “Do you remember the boy you saved in North Carolina all those years ago?”
My thoughts drifted back to when I was thirteen.
My parents, always busy with business, would send me to my relatives in North Carolina during school holidays. One summer, while out exploring, I rescued a boy who had fallen from a mountain and was unconscious.
I took him to the hospital, used my pocket money to pay his medical bills, and left him a note wishing him a speedy recovery before heading home.
On the way back to Beijing, I couldn’t stop thinking about him. But the summer was over, and I had to return. “Sienna,” Howard said, his voice pulling me back to the present. “I took over the Madron family because you liked Lance. I thought if I could give you a future where you’d never have to worry about anything, you’d finally notice me. I’ve always known you’ve been staying by his side for five years, but I didn’t make a move. I thought you’d eventually get tired of him. But I didn’t realize just how blind Lance was.”
His words left me reeling.
