Diana chuckled softly when she heard that. Now, she understood how Sean had managed to convince Alice. "That was your brother's idea, not mine," she said, not planning to get involved in the battle between her two children.Diana took a screenshot of the text she'd sent to Sean and sent it to Alice. When Alice read it, she realized that her mom hadn't forced her to show up at all. Her mom had just casually asked Sean to pass the message along.Alice couldn't believe it! Sean had twisted the truth just to get her out of the picture. She'd wasted two hours on a pointless blind date and missed out on Macie's home-cooked meals.Her lips curled into a cold smile as she thought of the reason behind this. It was obvious that Sean wanted to see Macie and have her cook for him. If that weren't possible, he'd still stick around and eat whatever was available."Alright. That's all I wanted to know. I'm hanging up now, Mom," Alice said before ending the call. Without missing a beat, she called
Sean hadn't yet returned to the Hart residence, but Diana had already received a message on her phone, and her expression darkened. Sean had gone to Macie's place with the CEO of Brightech Studios. The two of them bought groceries and stayed for almost two hours before leaving. Diana had already had someone look into Brightech Studios because of Macie, and she found out that the CEO had a thing for Macie. It wasn't exactly a secret at the company either.Diana thought Macie was certainly fortunate. Even though she was an orphan, she was always surrounded by wealthy suitors. She was previously married to Edward, and now she had two influential men vying for her attention.Initially, she thought that she could delay things a little and wait until Macie joined Hart Group before stepping in. But now, she couldn't afford to wait a second longer because Sean had left work early, personally picked Macie up, and went grocery shopping just to have a meal at her place. Perhaps that might
Julian listened to their conversation from the sidelines and asked what had happened to Alice. Sean briefed him about what Sharon had done, and Julian frowned. He remarked, "Now that Sharon has the Hale family backing her, she even dares to pick on Alice.""Elias already made her apologize and compensate Alice. I doubt he'll let her hurt my sister again," Sean said. If it happened again, he wouldn't settle it privately. He figured that spending the whole Saturday walking around and shopping should've been enough to teach Elias a lesson. After all, the most exhausting part was not the spending but having to follow along during the whole shopping trip. Even a donkey would end up with its hooves worn down.As Sean recounted, Julian's mind drifted elsewhere. Alice had her family protecting her, but what about Macie? Yosef from the Fowler family would look out for her, but he was old. How much longer could he really keep her safe?Guilt and a sense of inadequacy washed over Julian as
"Mr. Hart, if you're so tough, why don't you fight Mr. Fowler and see if you can win?" Julian asked dryly.After Sean was done washing his hands, Julian stepped in to wash his. Julian couldn't beat Edward before because Edward had definitely trained, while he hadn't."Edward practiced judo and kickboxing when he was young. He didn't stick with it long-term, but he knew the basics," Macie revealed. Julian's face instantly shifted, his expression clearly saying he'd known it all along.Sean then pursed his lips slightly before saying, "A gentleman settles things with his words, not fists. Mr. Fowler and I prefer to fight with words." Julian was rendered speechless. "It seems like you know quite a lot, like how Edward started learning martial arts in elementary school. Did Mr. Fowler Senior tell you that?" Sean asked Macie. From what he'd heard, Edward and Macie's marriage had been nothing but a hollow arrangement, without real connection or affection. So, Sean doubted that Edwar
"Let me help you, Macie. Otherwise, I'd feel bad just lounging around," Julian offered. He noticed Sean standing in the doorway of the kitchen, so he decided to join him.The two tall men flanked the entrance, instantly blocking the entire doorway. Macie looked at them and said, "The kitchen's really small. If you both enter, I won't be able to move. So, please step outside. It's kind of stressful having the two of you staring at me like this."To be fair, neither of them was someone she felt totally at ease around. Macie didn't want to imagine what it would be like to have two pairs of eyes watching her cook, but felt that it wouldn't be too pleasant. "Mr. Atkins, if you feel bad about it, you could always head home. That way, Macie will have one less mouth to cook for," Sean said, leaning against the doorframe. Julian shot back, "Sure, as long as you leave too, Mr. Hart. That way, she doesn't have to cook at all, and you won't be bothering her.""I'm here because she invited m
Alice replied to Macie almost immediately. Alice: "I figured that you wouldn't want to ride home with Julian if I told you earlier, so I just asked him to go straight to you. But I didn't expect my brother to also show up. It's so weird, May. He got off work early and went out of his way to pick you up."I messaged him about it, but he hasn't answered. I've been thinking about it for the past 30 minutes, and I still can't figure it out. There's only one explanation, and that's because my brother—"Macie stared at her screen as the messages rolled in. As she read Alice's last text, she got a bad feeling. She hurriedly picked up her phone to send something to stop Alice from finishing that thought, but Alice beat her to it.Alice: "He pissed you off again, and this is his way of making it up to you! What did he do this time? Seriously, you just got out of the hospital a few days ago. Is he some kind of beast?"Maice thought to herself, "No. Actually, this time, he's not making amen