A Warm Marriage After Rebirth

"You jest, Mr. Winters. Michelle was just being impulsive and spoke without thinking! Please, Mr. Winters, be the bigger person and don’t stoop to her level! It’s all a misunderstanding, a complete misunderstanding! If we had known Seraphina Sterling invited you, we absolutely wouldn’t have come to bother you!"

"From what Miss Galloway just said, it didn’t sound like a misunderstanding in the slightest! That my status is beneath Mr. Grant’s, and I’m not worthy of the best suite at the Stelluna Hotel? What a joke! I haven’t heard a joke this hilarious in a very, very long time!" Ronan Winters clearly had no intention of letting this matter end so simply.

"Miles Galloway, tell me, how do you think I should punish your precious daughter?" To hear such menacing words from such a gentle voice... it was truly a waste.

Only then did Michelle Galloway snap back to reality, finally grasping the gravity of her situation. ’A man even Dad is terrified of must be someone important.’ She quickly shed her arrogant demeanor. "Mr. Winters, I misspoke! I apologize! I’m sorry!"

The corners of Seraphina Sterling’s mouth lifted in a smirk. ’Michelle Galloway certainly is shameless. One moment she’s running her mouth, the next she’s bowing and begging for mercy.’

The moment Michelle Galloway saw the mockery in Seraphina Sterling’s eyes, it was like a switch was flipped, and rage boiled up inside her. "Mr. Winters, this is all Seraphina Sterling’s doing! She knew you were coming, so she deliberately goaded me into saying those things! This woman is treacherous and cruel; you’d be wise to keep your distance from her!"

Seraphina Sterling simply took a sip of her tea, as if Michelle Galloway weren’t screaming at her at all. ’If she wants to dig her own grave, then let her.’

"And you think I’d believe you? If I, Ronan Winters, couldn’t see through such a transparent lie, I would have died countless times over by now! Do you know what happens to people who try to sow discord and play tricks in my presence?"

Ronan Winters flashed a cruel smile. "I either make it so they can never speak again, or I break their arms and legs. It all depends on my mood!"

As a young woman whose life revolved around showing off and mocking others, Michelle Galloway had never encountered anything like this. Her face instantly drained of color. Her mind conjured images of herself, mute or missing limbs. ’I could never live like that!’

"However, I’m in a good mood today. As long as you give Seraphina Sterling a sincere apology, we’ll let bygones be bygones." Having enjoyed the show long enough, Ronan Winters put forth an incredibly tempting offer.

Seraphina Sterling glanced quickly at Ronan Winters. She hadn’t expected him to propose such a thing. ’This isn’t his usual way of handling things; it doesn’t fit his reputation!’

Michelle Galloway immediately turned to Seraphina Sterling. "I’m sorry. Everything that just happened was my fault. I shouldn’t have run my mouth like that. I apologize! I hope you can forgive me!"

Michelle Galloway clenched her fists tightly. ’I will get payback for this humiliation! As long as I can cling to the Grant family! As long as I become Mr. Grant’s woman, I’ll make Seraphina Sterling pay for today’s shame a hundred times over! I’ll grind her into the dust! The one who gets the last laugh is the real winner!’

Seraphina Sterling took no pleasure in kicking someone when they were down. "My time is precious. The door is right behind you. I’ll trouble you to leave at once."

But in Michelle Galloway’s eyes, this was just Seraphina Sterling treating her as if she were beneath notice. Seraphina couldn’t even be bothered to look at her during the apology, and the hatred in Michelle’s heart intensified.

Just as the two turned to leave, the door swung open again. Terrence Grant walked in, dressed in a black overcoat. Among everyone present, his gaze landed instantly on Seraphina Sterling.

’Shouldn’t she be resting in the hospital right now? What is she doing at the Stelluna? And why is she sitting with Ronan Winters? Has she forgotten? He was the one who kidnapped her friend to threaten her.’

Terrence Grant was not pleased. Of course, on top of everything else, there was the simple fact of it. ’She’s having dinner with another man?’

Michelle Galloway was finally seeing him in the flesh, face-to-face with Terrence Grant. Her heart began to race. ’If I could actually win over a man this handsome and make him my boyfriend, imagine how impressive it would be to take him out!’

Nothing was even close to being settled, yet Michelle Galloway was already planning how she would show him off.

Seeing the displeasure on Terrence Grant’s face, Miles Galloway quickly explained, "Mr. Grant, my sincerest apologies. Due to a mistake by the hotel staff, the suite I booked was occupied by Miss Sterling."

Miles Galloway’s words snapped Michelle Galloway out of her daydream. Seeing Seraphina Sterling still nonchalantly sipping her tea, the perfect plan for revenge instantly formed in her mind.

"Mr. Grant, you can’t actually blame the staff for all of this. When the mix-up happened, the server did his very best to resolve it. But Seraphina Sterling stubbornly refused to give the suite back to us! I told her over and over that my guest was you, Mr. Grant. A person of your stature deserves only the finest suite in the Stelluna! The other rooms are simply not fit for you to even set foot in!"

"But that Seraphina Sterling was as stubborn and immovable as a rock, shamelessly squatting in the suite we booked! She has absolutely no respect for you, Mr. Grant! You have to teach her a lesson, make sure she remembers it, so she’ll learn who she can and cannot provoke! She can’t keep acting so high and mighty, looking down on everyone!"

A vicious glint flashed in Michelle Galloway’s eyes. ’Let’s see how you get out of this one. I may not be able to handle Mr. Winters, but I can certainly handle a country bumpkin like you!’