My CEO Husband Says I'm Irreplaceable

Chapter 49: Chapter 49: Are You Serious?

’How could he still be in the mood to continue?’

She must have lost her mind just now, bewitched by him to the point of losing all sense of propriety right here in the car.

The man’s lips came down again, and Vesper quickly turned her head away.

"No!"

"You don’t like it here? We can go somewhere else?"

"I don’t want to."

’I just saw Elias Hawthorne tonight. How can I turn around and get entangled with his nephew...’

Jared Hawthorne’s dark eyes narrowed, but he eventually let go.

He never forced a woman.

Vesper quickly looked down to straighten her clothes, re-fastening the knotted buttons he had pulled open one by one.

Outside the car, Gwen braced herself and knocked persistently on the window.

Joyce Rivers also walked over.

Just then, the front passenger door swung open, and Vesper quickly got out.

"President Hawthorne, thank you for bringing me back."

Joyce Rivers immediately pulled Gwen around the front of the car to peer at the driver’s seat.

"President Hawthorne..."

Before she could finish, Vesper had already slammed the car door shut with a loud BANG, completely blocking their view.

The black Maybach slowly pulled away, vanishing into the deep night in an instant.

Joyce Rivers’s brow furrowed as she looked at Vesper. "Vesper, are you deliberately trying to keep us away?"

They didn’t even have a chance to say hello to President Hawthorne.

Vesper smiled faintly. "Miss Joyce, you’re overthinking it. President Hawthorne has other matters to attend to and was in a hurry to leave."

After saying that, she turned and walked straight towards the entryway.

As Joyce went to get the car, Gwen quickly caught up to Vesper, her tone laced with resentment and sarcasm.

"Vesper, don’t think that just because President Hawthorne is polite to you, it means he actually cares about you.

"He’s courteous to you only because he has good manners, not because he likes you!"

Vesper didn’t break her stride, her voice indifferent. "If he doesn’t like me, does that mean he likes you?"

"Of course!" Gwen puffed out her chest, her tone carrying an odd sense of superiority. "I’m cleaner than you."

Vesper nodded faintly. "Mm, you’re certainly artless."

"Of course!" Gwen replied reflexively.

A small smile touched Vesper’s lips.

Once she realized what Vesper had said, Gwen flushed with humiliation and anger, stomping her foot.

"Vesper, you tricked me! Stop right there!"

"What’s all this?"

Hearing the commotion, Milton looked up from the sofa at the two of them rushing in.

Vesper smiled faintly. "Ask my sister."

Gwen wouldn’t dare tell the truth. She pursed her lips and huffed, "It’s nothing!"

Milton didn’t press the issue and turned to Vesper. "Vesper, you met President Hawthorne tonight. What was your impression of him?"

"It was alright."

’At least it wasn’t too bad,’ she thought.

Milton’s tone was full of praise. "President Hawthorne is dashing and handsome, with an extraordinary presence. What’s even rarer is his superior intellect and keen judgment. He dominates the business world at such a young age. He’s truly one of heaven’s favored sons, blessed with both looks and wisdom. I just knew you’d take a liking to him."

’Dad is just like Mr. Spencer, praising him to the heavens. It’s all so over the top.’

Vesper sighed internally, but her expression remained neutral. "I wouldn’t go so far as to say I like him. Let’s just spend some time together and see how it goes."

’Her relationship with Jared was a tangled mess, impossible to sever and even harder to sort out.’

’The more eager she was to distance herself, the more entangled they became.’

"Dad, if my sister doesn’t like him, I can take her place!" Gwen immediately seized the opportunity, her tone urgent. "President Hawthorne is mature and dependable. I have a very good impression of him."

’She has absolutely no shame. This is a blatant attempt to steal him away.’

Vesper picked up her teacup and took a small sip, her expression serene.

"When did you meet him?" Milton’s sharp gaze swept over her. "You two just came back together. Don’t tell me... you went along tonight, too?"

Gwen flinched, her eyes instinctively darting away.

Seeing her guilty expression, Milton understood everything. His face immediately darkened.

"This is absurd! What were you doing tagging along?"

Just then, Joyce Rivers walked in from outside and said softly, "We were just worried Vesper would be nervous and uncomfortable during her first meeting with President Hawthorne, so we went to help her assess the situation."

"That’s right, Dad. Miss Joyce and my sister are both very concerned about me. They were afraid that President Hawthorne would only find out about my past in Ashmore after we were married and hold it against me, so they made a point of telling him in advance, just so he’d be prepared."

She smiled ever so gently, her tone unhurried, as she placed the teacup lightly on the coffee table and slowly stood up.

Not bothering to look at their expressions, she simply gave a faint yawn.

"I’m tired. I’m going to my room to rest."

Milton watched her retreating figure and called out, "Take a bath before bed to relax."

After she disappeared up the stairs, Milton slowly turned, his gaze sternly fixed on the two women before him.

"What good would it do you to ruin the marriage alliance with the Hawthorne Family?"

"And you, Gwen! How dare you covet your own sister’s engagement!"

"Let me tell you, even if this marriage really does fall through, it will never be your turn."

Gwen’s nose stung, and her eyes instantly reddened. "Dad, why can she have it and I can’t? In your heart, am I really so inferior to Vesper?"

Without waiting for Milton to respond, she turned and ran back to her room, crying.

Milton pointed at Joyce, his voice full of reproach. "Look at this fine daughter you’ve raised! You just let her cause trouble like this!"

"Milton, I know your heart only has room for Vesper’s mother." Joyce’s eyes were filled with sorrow, and her voice took on a wronged tone. "But I bore you children! I’ve been with you for over twenty years! Gwen is your biological daughter, too. Why can’t you think of her for once with such a wonderful opportunity?"

"If you weren’t so blatantly biased, why would Gwen feel the need to compete with Vesper for everything?"

...

"What happened to your lips?"

Justin Hawthorne glanced at his gloomy and visibly unsatisfied nephew, then asked with a soft chuckle.

Jared shot him a sidelong glance and sat down on the sofa across from him.

"Uncle, don’t pry into my private life."

"OK, want one?"

"Not my thing."

Justin Hawthorne took a cigar from the humidor. He pinched the cigar lightly between his fingertips, placed a dedicated cutter securely at the tip, and with a gentle flick of his wrist, snipped off the cap with a clean SNAP. His movements were fluid and precise.

With practiced movements, he held the cigar at an angle over the flame, rotating it at an even speed to let the flame toast the foot evenly. Only when the edge was slightly caramelized did he bring it to his lips for a light puff.

The pale blue flame flared and then died out.

He took an unhurried puff, letting the smoke swirl in his mouth without inhaling it into his lungs, then slowly exhaled a long, lingering ring of smoke.

A rich, deep aroma spread through the air, carrying notes of wood and faint leather, creating a calm yet oppressive atmosphere.

"Now that’s more like it. Nothing beats this."

Jared raised an eyebrow at him. "Why the sudden return? Things not busy lately?"

"I have a shipment stored at your port. I’ll be back for a few days to pick it up."

"Alright." Jared tapped his fingers lightly on the desk. "But someone’s got their eye on that shipment. The warehouse suddenly caught fire a few days ago. Luckily, my men found it in time and got it under control just as it started, so there was no damage."

"Found the arsonist?"

"Still looking into it."

Justin Hawthorne raised his wrist, brought the cigar to the edge of the crystal ashtray, and gently tapped off the ash.

"Aren’t you going to tell me about that Miss Grayson? Are you serious about her?"

"Yeah."

"Good taste." Justin Hawthorne smiled faintly. "It’s just that her sister and stepmother... they’re quite a handful."

Jared looked up at him. "How do you know?"

"Her sister deliberately faked a twisted ankle during a toast to spill wine on me. She was hoping to use the opportunity to get close and seduce me while I was changing." Justin chuckled softly. "He’d seen plenty of these cheap little tricks before. He could see right through them."

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