Yes, I Have a Child with the Villain

"President Grant, should we head back to the old residence or The Seraphic?" the driver asked, a little uncertain, after Adrian Grant got into the car.

He hadn’t been driving for him as often lately, and he was finding it difficult to read his boss’s intentions.

Two hours ago, he’d been told to get the car away from the hospital immediately.

Half an hour ago, he was told to wait a while before driving to Azure Heights.

From the back seat came Adrian Grant’s emotionless voice. "The Seraphic."

"Yes, President Grant."

The driver said no more and focused on driving back to The Seraphic.

The next day at work, she received a juicy piece of gossip from Lily Young.

Lily Young: [Caroline, bombshell gossip! Wanda Sutton is getting engaged!]

Caroline Whitman: [Huh?]

Lily Young: [It’s next month! The marriage alliance is with Chase Ford!]

An image of Chase Ford’s face flashed through Caroline Whitman’s mind. This time, she was truly shocked.

She knew the book’s plot could be changed—after all, she herself was a prime example—but she never imagined it could change this drastically.

She thought having a child with Adrian Grant was absurd enough, but this was even more outrageous.

Caroline Whitman: [Why him?]

Lily Young: [According to the grapevine, they were both slipped one of *those* drugs last night and woke up in the same room the next day.]

Caroline Whitman: "..."

She knew things could go wrong at these big banquets, but she hadn’t expected the probability to be one hundred percent.

’Thank goodness I didn’t go last night.’

Caroline Whitman: [How did you find out such private inside information?]

She was a little curious.

’Logically, prominent families like that shouldn’t let this kind of news leak.’

Lily Young: [Heh, one of my old classmates was working part-time as a server at the banquet last night. She saw them in the room with her own eyes and secretly told me this morning.]

Caroline Whitman: [...]

It was the same old story. She knew Lily Young was well-connected, but she never expected her "classmates" to be everywhere.

Lily Young: [Hehe, I wonder if we’ll get invited to their engagement party. Oh, by the way, Caroline, if they invite you, remember to bring me along, okay?]

"..."

That afternoon, Caroline Whitman received an engagement invitation from Wanda Sutton and Chase Ford.

It was for the very next day.

’Holy crap... Isn’t this a little too fast?’

Even Franklin Whitman was shocked when he heard the news.

Beyond the shock, he found himself in a dilemma.

On one hand, there was the Sutton Family, whom Caroline Whitman had told him to avoid doing business with.

On the other hand, there was the Ford Family. He’d had some dealings with Chase Ford’s father recently because of a shared interest in fishing.

The main point was, the invitation had come from the Ford Family’s side.

So, he pushed open the door to Caroline Whitman’s office.

"So, uh, did you get the invitation from the Sutton Family?" Franklin Whitman asked bluntly as soon as he walked in.

"I did."

"Are we going? The Sutton Family is involved, you know," Franklin Whitman asked calmly.

"..."

Caroline Whitman gave her answer. "Of course, we’re going. We have a partnership with the Ford Family, after all."

Franklin Whitman: "..."

Just then, a thought struck Franklin Whitman, and he suddenly grasped the key point.

"Hiss... You told me not to get tied up in business with the Sutton Family, but now the two families are forming a marriage alliance. They’ve instantly become a community of shared interests."

"But we’re currently doing business with the Ford Family. So what does that make this situation?"

"..."

There was a reason she had told Franklin Whitman not to partner with the Sutton and Fuller families.

’First, the Whitman Family, in its initial state, wasn’t strong enough to secure a partnership with the Fuller Family.’

’Second, given Vincent Fuller’s personality—the type to do anything for a beautiful woman—if they actually did partner up, it wasn’t impossible that he would pull some domineering-CEO-style breach of contract.’

’But no matter how much she planned, these two people, who had no connection in the book’s plot, had somehow ended up in a marriage alliance.’

Caroline Whitman naturally caught the teasing tone in Franklin Whitman’s voice. She could only say, "What else can we do? We’ll go, of course. After our contract with the Ford Family ends, we can consider not renewing it next time."

"Oh."

Late that afternoon, just before the end of the workday, Caroline Whitman received a message from Jane Lawson.

Jane Lawson: [Caroline, my sister is awake. See when you’re free, I’d like to treat you to a meal.]

Caroline Whitman: [As long as she’s awake, that’s what matters. You don’t have to treat me to a meal. Why don’t you tell your sister to treat me to a meal after she’s fully recovered?]

Jane Lawson: [Oh, okay. My sister says no problem.]

Caroline Whitman was about to turn off her phone when a call came in from Adrian Grant.

"Are you free tonight?" Adrian Grant’s voice came from the other end of the line.

Caroline Whitman subconsciously asked, "Did you pick up Ryan?"

It wasn’t strange for that to be her first thought. Tomorrow was the weekend, and logically, as long as neither of them was working overtime, they would usually spend it with their child.

Adrian Grant: "No, it’s just to have a meal."

As soon as he said that, Caroline Whitman, who had been feeling calm, suddenly felt a new sense of nervousness.

"Um, I don’t have anything planned for tonight... We can have dinner together," Caroline Whitman said, feigning composure.

"Alright. I’ll pick you up then."

"Oh."

After hanging up, Caroline Whitman suddenly realized Adrian Grant hadn’t told her what time.

’Making me wait without knowing the time is torture.’

So, she dialed his number again.

He picked up instantly.

"What’s wrong?" Adrian Grant asked.

Caroline Whitman replied in a normal tone, "You didn’t tell me the time."

"In an hour, if that’s okay with you?"

"Yes, that’s fine."

After her calm reply, she hung up immediately without waiting for him to say anything else.

At this point, she was no longer in the mood to think about finishing work.

Adrian Grant’s words, "just to have a meal," kept flashing through her mind.

’What does he mean, *just* to have a meal?’

’Is there such a thing as a *not-just* meal?’

Caroline Whitman was now mulling over his words with a mix of excitement and complicated feelings.

It was obvious.

One of the three great delusions in life—’He likes me’—had reared its head again.

Caroline Whitman didn’t consider herself to be dense.

She wasn’t so oblivious that she couldn’t sense when someone liked her.

But thinking back on her interactions with Adrian Grant over the past few days, she could really feel that he was different from before.

Caroline Whitman cut off her train of thought, clocked out, and went home.

「Half an hour later.」

Adrian Grant’s call came right on schedule.

He was already waiting downstairs.

Caroline Whitman answered the call, went downstairs, and saw his car. A glance at the driver’s seat revealed that it was none other than Adrian Grant himself.

So, she walked to the passenger side.

"What would you like to eat?"

Adrian Grant asked in a pleasant voice after she got in.

Caroline Whitman shot him a sideways glance. "You’re the one who invited me, and you’re asking me?"

Adrian Grant chuckled. "Alright, then we’ll go to the place I booked."

Caroline Whitman had no objection to that.

She just hadn’t expected Adrian Grant to take her to The Gilded Spoon, a private kitchen she used to frequent.

As far as she could remember, she had never brought Adrian Grant here, nor had she ever mentioned the place to him.

Caroline Whitman asked nonchalantly, "You’ve eaten here before?"

Adrian Grant: "Mhm, a few times."

They entered the private room he had reserved, and she didn’t even need to order. Before long, the dishes began to arrive one after another.

Almost all of them were her favorite dishes.

’There it is again,’ she thought, ’one of the three great delusions.’

’Could Adrian Grant have secretly asked Ryan about her?’