\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 18\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 18\u00a0<\/p>\n
Genevieve froze, her face burning. She couldn\u2019t tell whether it was from embarrassment or anger.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She thought that Tristan was the worst kind of man.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They stayed locked in place until a phone started ringing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tristan flicked his gaze toward the phone vibrating on the nightstand. When he saw the name flashing on the screen, a faint, amused smile curved his lips.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Instead of getting up, he raised a finger to his lips, signaling Genevieve to stay quiet. Then, he picked up the phone, answered at an unhurried pace, and put the call on speaker.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Genevieve\u2019s heart tightened.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Before she could even react, Zachary\u2019s impatient voice burst through the line. \u201cGrandpa wants to see you. Get back here right.\u00a0<\/p>\n
now!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Genevieve didn\u2019t dare breathe too loudly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If Zachary learned that she and Tristan were in the same bed at that moment, her payout would be gone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But Raymond was out of the hospital already? His condition clearly wasn\u2019t stable enough for discharge.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tristan couldn\u2019t be bothered to respond. His long fingers swiped across the phone screen in one swift movement, and he cut the call.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He tossed the phone aside and finally shifted off her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He then stood like she wasn\u2019t even there and began dressing, calm and methodical.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The morning sun traced the hard lines of his muscles.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As he fastened his shirt buttons, he didn\u2019t even turn around as he said, \u201cI\u2019ll have someone bring you a new outfit. Wait here.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The arrogance in his tone made Genevieve want to hit him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She stared at his cold, untouchable profile, drew in a slow breath, and forced herself to calm down.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This wasn\u2019t the time to pick a fight.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She pulled the blanket up tight around herself, her voice deliberately distant. \u201cLast night was an accident.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tristan\u2019s hand paused on the last button.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Genevieve kept going. \u201cSomeone set me up. I wasn\u2019t thinking straight, and you\u2026 you were just there. We\u2019re adults, so don\u2019t take it to heart. Let\u2019s pretend that this never happened.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The words had just left her mouth when even she heard how unconvincing they were.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tristan finally turned around. He adjusted his cufflinks, and something sly flickered through his dark eyes as he looked at her, almost smiling.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSure. We can do that.\u201d He walked back to the bed, leaned in slightly, and his presence dropped over her again. \u201cBut I\u2019ll need to see how sincere you are, darling.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He called her \u201cdarling\u201d again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That word made irritation flare in her chest for no reason.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The casual way he said it made her bristle.\u00a0<\/p>\n
VALACE\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 18\u00a0<\/p>\n
Genevieve clenched her fist under the blanket and said coldly, \u201cFine. What\u2019s the condition?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
If he was going to play games, she\u2019d rather cut straight to the point.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But Tristan only held her gaze, the emotions in his eyes shifting like something dark under the surface.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t answer. He simply smoothed his cuff again and turned to leave.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In an instant, the room was empty except for Genevieve.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Had he just played her?\u00a0<\/p>\n
She ground her teeth, wanting to drag him back and beat him senseless.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Half an hour later, the doorbell finally rang.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A female hotel attendant in uniform wheeled in a clothing rack. A new-season dress hung neatly from it, with matching shoes and a bag set beside it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMs. Whitfield, this is from Mr. Hale,\u201d the attendant said, polite and respectful.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Genevieve didn\u2019t say anything. She quickly got changed, grabbed the bag, and walked out without looking back.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Once she was in a taxi, she gave the driver the studio\u2019s address. Then, she pulled out her phone and called Hannah immediately.\u00a0<\/p>\n
2\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 Chapter 18\u00a0 1\/2\u00a0 Chapter 18\u00a0 Genevieve froze, her face burning. She couldn\u2019t tell whether it was from embarrassment or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-you-chose-her-so-i-married-better"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":219,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192\/revisions\/219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}