My CEO Husband Says I'm Irreplaceable

Chapter 59: Chapter 59: Jared Hawthorne, You’re a Liar

Jared Hawthorne shot him a cool glance and didn’t reply.

"Got a wife and now you’re keeping secrets, even from your own uncle?" Justin Hawthorne sighed, his tone teasing.

The tips of Vesper Grayson’s ears flushed red. She lowered her gaze and focused on her food. Only she knew what Jared Hawthorne had been about to say!

"If you’re so curious, how come we never see you bring a woman home?" Zachary Hawthorne put down his chopsticks and huffed in displeasure. "All these years out and about, who knows what you’ve been busy with!"

"Rest assured, it’s nothing illegal like murder or arson." Justin Hawthorne lifted his teacup and took a sip, a lazy smile on his face. "Besides, didn’t I come back just to annoy you?"

"Dad, Justin knows what he’s doing," Sharon Chandler chimed in with a smile, smoothly diffusing the old master’s anger.

Just then, Jared Hawthorne picked up a piece of salt-and-pepper pork rib and placed it in Vesper Grayson’s bowl. "Nanny Linton’s cooking is just as good as any restaurant’s," he said, his tone natural.

"Thank you..."

Vesper Grayson thanked him in a small voice, then buried her head and focused on her meal, trying to avoid everyone’s probing gazes.

Nearby, Gwen Grayson stared intently at the pork rib in the bowl, burning with a jealousy so fierce it felt like it would incinerate her from the inside out.

’Why her? How did such an outstanding, wealthy man end up with Vesper Grayson of all people!’

The meal was a joyous affair for most at the table, but for Gwen Grayson and Joyce Rivers, it was like having a fishbone stuck in their throats. Their hearts were tight with frustration, and they couldn’t taste a single bite.

After the meal, Milton Grayson led Joyce Rivers and Gwen Grayson to their car first.

Jared Hawthorne, with one hand in his pocket, followed closely behind Vesper Grayson.

Just as they reached the main gate, Vesper Grayson spun around abruptly. Her almond-shaped eyes were wide as she glared at him, her cheeks puffed in anger.

"Jared Hawthorne, you’re a liar!"

"When have I ever lied to you?" he asked, raising an eyebrow, his expression open and honest. "From start to finish, this has all been your own misunderstanding."

"You said you were from Ashmore!"

"Yes, and also from Northolme," he countered. "Is there a conflict?"

"..."

’There wasn’t a conflict.’ Vesper was speechless. She could only blame herself for not digging for more details back then.

Jared Hawthorne took out the photos, glanced down at them, and a faint smile touched the corner of his lips.

"I have to say, these were taken quite well."

Vesper Grayson pressed her lips together. "It seems someone doesn’t want us to be together."

"Do you have someone in mind?"

"Mhm."

Vesper’s gaze darkened slightly. ’Who else could it be but that mother-daughter duo?’

Sending the photos just in time for the two families’ elders to meet was a clear attempt to ruin the marriage. Unfortunately for them, after all their scheming, they didn’t even know who Elias Hawthorne was. They certainly never expected that the man in the photos was Elias Hawthorne himself.

Jared Hawthorne put both hands in his pockets and leaned in slightly. The warm breath from his lips brushed past her ear, his voice low and magnetic, tinged with a hint of playfulness.

"Miss Grayson, if you’re not satisfied with this marriage, I can have a word with my grandfather and set you up with my uncle..."

"Jared Hawthorne, I don’t like him!" Vesper Grayson’s head snapped up, a flash of annoyance on her face as the words tumbled out.

"Oh?" He straightened up, his dark eyes locking onto hers. "Then who do you like?"

Vesper met his profound gaze, her heart skipping a beat. She pursed her lips and retorted, "You don’t actually expect me to say I like you, do you?"

She paused, then added, "And if I did, would you even believe me?"

"No."

"Then why ask?"

Vesper looked away, cursing him silently in her head.

’This damn man only ever knows how to mess with me!’

Jared Hawthorne gently tucked a stray strand of hair from her forehead behind her delicate ear. The gesture seemed casual, yet it was filled with a restrained intimacy—a quiet and subtle tenderness.

"I’m leaving!"

Vesper’s heart leaped. She hurriedly took a step back, pulled open the car door, and got in.

As the car slowly pulled away, Milton Grayson couldn’t hide the smile on his face. He turned his head to look at her.

"Vesper, when did you and Elias get so close?"

He had thought today was their first formal meeting, but from the looks of it, they seemed like old acquaintances who had known each other for a long time.

Recalling the mix-up during the meal, he couldn’t help but ask, "Don’t tell me you also mistook Master Hawthorne for Elias?"

Vesper hummed a quiet "mhm" and then explained, bit by bit, the misunderstanding from when she went to the meeting in Ashmore.

"Then how did you meet Elias?"

"It’s a long story..."

Before she could finish, Gwen Grayson snorted contemptuously from the back seat. "Trying to be all mysterious! You can’t even figure out who your own fiancé is. What a joke!"

She had never been so humiliated in her entire life! She had a whole slew of provocative words prepared for today, but she hadn’t been able to say a single one.

"Didn’t you misunderstand as well, little sister?" Vesper looked at her, her expression calm, a ghost of a smile on her face. "I just didn’t expect you to be so concerned about me that you would ’righteously sacrifice yourself’ to personally test the character of your future brother-in-law..."

"You!" Gwen’s face turned pale. Humiliated and enraged, she was about to lash out but was quickly pulled back by Joyce Rivers beside her.

Joyce Rivers squeezed her hand, signaling for her to calm down, then said with a smile, "We’re all family. Gwen was just overly concerned and got flustered."

’What a convenient excuse, "overly concerned and got flustered"!’

Vesper coolly withdrew her gaze and said no more.

Back at the Grayson residence, Vesper said a quick word to Milton Grayson and went straight upstairs, dragging Jonathan Grayson, who had been sprawled on the living room floor watching TV, along with her.

The moment she went upstairs, the atmosphere in the living room below instantly dropped to a freezing point.

"Kneel!"

Milton Grayson sat in the main seat, his face ashen, his voice filled with an authority that allowed no argument.

"Dad?" Gwen Grayson looked up in disbelief, her eyes wide with shock.

Although Milton Grayson usually favored Vesper, he wasn’t unkind to her, either. He had never been this furious with her, let alone ordered her to kneel.

She frantically looked to Joyce Rivers beside her for help.

"Milton, Gwen already knows she was wrong." Joyce Rivers immediately jumped to her daughter’s defense, but then her tone shifted abruptly. "If you ask me, this is Vesper’s fault too. She went to the meeting without even figuring out who Elias Hawthorne was. Otherwise, how could Gwen have made such a huge fool of herself?"

"You, shut your mouth!" Milton Grayson slammed his hand on the table and roared, "It’s not your place to speak here! Don’t think I don’t know how much of this was your idea!"

Joyce Rivers’s eyes darted around, but she still tried to defend herself. "I was just trying to secure a good marriage for Gwen! What did I do wrong!"

"Years ago, when Dad wanted to take the two children to Ashmore for a while, you felt sorry for Gwen, saying she was too young and couldn’t handle the hardship, so you insisted she not go. Have you forgotten?"

"It was on that trip that the Old Master taught Vesper medicine, and by a stroke of luck, she saved Master Hawthorne’s life."

"Everything happens for a reason. Do you think you can control fate?"

On the third-floor hallway, Jonathan Grayson clung to the railing, craning his little head as far as it would go to watch the scene below with great interest.

He tugged on the corner of Vesper Grayson’s shirt and whispered, "Big sister, are Mom and second sister bullying you again?"

Vesper ruffled his hair, her voice gentle. "Jonathan, go take a bath first. When you’re done, I’ll tell you a story to help you sleep."

"Okay!" Jonathan Grayson nodded obediently but then clung to the railing again, unwilling to leave. "But before my bath, I want to watch a little longer."

’He’s so young, yet he loves watching a good show!’

"Since you don’t know your mistake, go kneel in the ancestral hall all night, until you finally understand what you did wrong!"

Milton Grayson’s stern voice echoed up from downstairs again.

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