“Accompany me to the Graham Estate tonight. Grandpa wants to see you.”
Abigail stared at the stack of canceled orders in her hands. She was already extremely frustrated, to begin with, but hearing Sean’s voice now only added fuel to her fury. Thus, she said indifferently, “I’m not in the position to visit the Graham Estate.”
At the other end of the line, Sean was quiet for a few seconds before ordering, “We’re not divorced yet. You cannot decide whether you want to go or not.”
Due to certain reasons, Sean was raised by his grandparents, Colby Graham and Lina Toth, and listened to everything they said. Therefore, he didn’t object when they wanted him to marry Abigail. During three years of his secret marriage to Abigail, his understanding of the obligations of a husband and a wife, besides the monthly coitus, was visiting the Graham Estate regularly to show Colby and Lina how blissful they were as a form of assurance.
Whoever made the elderly couple sad was Sean’s enemy.
If this call had happened any other time, she would have thought that he was being self-centered and demanding again. Yet, right when her company was in a crisis, he called and threatened her to go to the Graham Estate with him.
She couldn’t help but let out a contemptuous chuckle. My three years of love and dedication were for nothing. Not a single shard of it had touched Sean. For Joan’s sake, he’s willing to go as far as exterminating me.
So, she took a deep breath and went straight to the point. “Will you solve the crisis at the studio if I go to the Graham Estate with you?”
Sean agreed without even thinking twice. “Okay. I’ll pick you up tonight.” After he hung up, his spirits were better than he imagined, and his lips even curved upward unintentionally.
He rarely took the initiative to contact Abigail and he would usually ask his assistant to contact her whenever Colby wanted him to visit with her. However, he decided to make this call personally because she had been throwing a tantrum recently. So, in his opinion, this call would serve as an out for her.
…
Sean called an internal line and gave his order emotionlessly, “Find out what issues L.Moon has encountered. There’s no need to inform me about anything and just take care of it straight away.”
Before the day was over, more than half of the canceled orders at L.Moon were restored. While Luna was still worried about the 2.8 million that they owed to the factory, the customers with canceled orders had all returned to her. They agreed to raise the price to compensate for the losses of the studio, and some even directly transferred the final payment without further prompting.
So, she turned to Abigail with a look that was mixed with surprise and concern. “Did Sean do this?”
Abigail’s heart, face, and words were equally cold as she uttered, “Yeah. A meal in exchange for 2.8 million. That’s a good deal.”
At 7.00PM, Sean arrived on time to pick her up, and they went to the Graham Estate without any exchange of words.
Before they entered the yard, he stopped in his tracks suddenly. When he caught sight of the deadpan look on her face, he grumbled in disgruntlement, “With this expression of yours, Grandpa will definitely smell a rat.”
In a split second, she curled her lips into a professional smile. “Fret not. I’ll finish the act since I’ve already given you my word.”
Sean’s eyes turned gloomy, and a ball of frustration welled up in his chest. She says that she’s acting, which means she still wants a divorce. But I’ve already solved the crisis for her studio. Why is she still unhappy? There was only one reason he could think of, and he asked in sarcasm, “Did you already find your next husband?”
Abigail wiped the smile off her face and answered provocatively, “So what if I did?” Does he think that he’s the only one with special privileges and then condemn me if I do the same?
The spot between his brows twitched in annoyance, but before he could say anything, the main gates swung open, and Dahlia greeted them with a surprised smile. “Mr. Sean and Ms. Abigail, you’re back!”
Sean held back his tongue and muttered softly in acknowledgment before walking in. After they were indoors and changed into indoor slippers, one of them went upstairs to look for Maverick, Sean’s father, while the other went to the living room to meet Colby and Lina.
Lina called Abigail to her side and observed her body. “You’re still not pregnant?” she asked and sighed. Then, she steered the conversation away. “It’s alright. Try again next month.”
Although her last statement carried no blame, it sounded like a curse to Abigail. There was no need for complicated incantations from Lina. Just those words were enough for her to tense up as it served as a regular reminder that this marriage was never equal when it started.
Before this, she would prepare for pregnancy so diligently because she thought that Lina was sincerely concerned about her. Until one day when she accidentally overheard Lina’s conversation with Dahlia, the butler, and heard the disdain in her voice. “Back then, I agreed to their marriage solely because I wanted her to bear our family a descendant. Her grandfather owes us a life, so it has to be paid with life as well, and I can only acknowledge that the debt is paid after a child is born. Otherwise, I wonder whether the Quinn Family is just taking advantage of us because we’re indebted to them.”