Chapter 33 The Person in Her Heart
Donovan called his subordinate to check on Chloe's mother's situation.
He also made a special inquiry about the events on the day he and Chloe tied the knot.
His assistant reported that Chloe's mother had suffered from pulmonary secretion accumulation on that date, and with the hospital fees, Chloe needed to come up with sixty grand.
Chloe had initially refused to marry him and then had second thoughts. Donovan finally understood why. She needed the money.
She had no affection for him, it wasn't a game of hard to get. Donovan felt a twinge of disappointment.
One thing, however, puzzled Donovan. After doing the math on the money he'd given her, which totaled up to around three hundred thousand dollars—even without the additional one hundred and eighty thousand given in a fit of pique—it was more than enough to cover the sixty thousand hospital fee. Plus, he'd told her that upon completion of the task, she would receive an income of not less than five million dollars. 'So why was she insistent on getting that one million from him? Was it greed?' Donovan pondered.
At three in the afternoon, Chloe returned home.
"How was the meal at Sofia's mom's place?" Donovan asked languidly as he lounged on the couch.
Chloe had used the excuse that she was going to Sofia's house to eat for being out that day. Sofia lived in the Maple Valley suburbs and went home every weekend.
"It was delicious," she replied.
"Oh? What did she cook?" Donovan inquired.
"Uh?" Chloe didn't expect Donovan to care about such minutiae. "She made Grilled Sausages and Baked Potato Salad—just the usual home cooking."
Donovan eyed her intently. "Chloe, don't you know that your nose will grow when you lie?" He taunted.
"What? I'm not lying," Chloe stammered, her eyes flickering and blushing ears betraying her.
"It's not a bad thing to take care of your mom, so why not admit to it?" Donovan continued. It seemed Donovan was deeply disappointed in her. He went straight upstairs.
Chloe stood there stunned, thinking, 'How did he know?'
'Donovan shouldn't have known about her mom's hospitalization—did he ask Jacob?' Chloe pondered.
She gave a start and quickly sent a WhatsApp message to Jacob: [Did you come by my place?]
Chloe didn't reveal any information. it was merely a probing text. If Jacob hadn't visited Donovan, he would surely tell her that she was making no sense.
Jacob: [Chloe, your place is really huge. I've never seen such a big villa in my life. I asked Donovan for money, but he refused. How about you give me a million? One million is nothing for a rich lady like you.]
Upon reading the message, Chloe was furious, and her response was curt: [Scram!] It appeared Jacob had indeed tried to extort money from Donovan.
Suddenly, Chloe felt overcome with a sense of guilt towards Donovan.
Chloe tossed her backpack aside and dashed upstairs, where Donovan was in the middle of changing his clothes. Suddenly, she wrapped her arms around him from behind, resting her cheek against his back. Since their last encounter, she had learned that showing a little vulnerability was an effective way to win Donovan's favor.
"What's this about?" Donovan asked, his tone noticeably softer than before.
Hugging him felt so comforting. The skin-to-skin contact was simply soothing.
"Did you find out about the issues at my house?" Chloe inquired.
"Jacob told me everything." Chloe realized that Jacob had indeed visited and even tried to extort Donovan.
"Pay him no mind. I certainly don't. Let me apologize on his behalf. Is that okay, honey? I have exams coming up, but once they're over, I can spend every day at home taking care of Samuel." She felt the warmth from Donovan's body comforting, and her words came out almost coquettishly.
"So you're begging now?" Donovan asked.
"It was my fault, after all," Chloe responded.
"After your exams, you won't have to attend any more tutorials, right?"
"Right."
Donovan said, "The sooner you're done, the better." He stepped forward and slipped on his shirt.
Chloe understood the subtext in Donovan's words——the sooner her exams were over, the sooner she could distance herself from Brayden. Suddenly deprived of Donovan's physical presence, she felt an unmistakable void.
Chloe figured that Donovan must be annoyed by Brayden since Brayden had caused him so much trouble. She also thought that finishing her exams sooner rather than later was definitely for the best.
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