The next morning, Shirley Thorne came down the spiral staircase, yawning.
The housekeeper, Mrs. Miller, who was already in work mode, greeted her with a wide smile. "Madam, how did you sleep last night?
"Very well, quite well indeed!" Anyone sleeping on a six-figure mattress wouldn't be in too bad a mood.
"That's good. What would you like to eat, Madam?"
"Whatever!" Shirley Thorne wasn't picky.
After breakfast, Shirley Thorne suddenly remembered she didn't have a car.
"Mrs. Miller, where's Ethan Grant?"
Mrs. Miller replied, "The Master didn't come home last night. If you need anything, Madam, please just ask me."
"Oh, oh, I get it."
Shirley Thorne didn't ask where Ethan Grant had gone. It wasn't her place to inquire.
"I need to go to my parents' house. Lend me a car."
Mrs. Miller smiled and nodded, then led her to the garage in the backyard. Pointing to a leopard-print BMW, she asked, "How about this one, Madam?"
Shirley Thorne covered her face. Such a high-profile, distinctive luxury car...
She...
...absolutely loved it!
"This is the one!"
After Shirley Thorne drove off happily in the leopard-print car, Mrs. Miller quietly reported to Ethan Grant.
"Master, Madam says she's going to her parents' house."
Ethan Grant was in a meeting with his subordinates. There was finally a lead on the incident with the falling chandelier at the press conference, so he was in a relatively good mood.
"Did she say when she'd be back?"
Mrs. Miller said, "No."
Ethan Grant frowned.
He hung up the phone and said to the people below him, "The meeting will continue."
「Five minutes later.」
The conference room door opened, and Ethan Grant walked out with a grim expression, leaving his employees to stare at each other in bewilderment.
'That's it?'
President Grant's shortest meeting in history.
Meanwhile, Shirley Thorne had arrived at the Vampire headquarters—a tube-shaped apartment building with terrible soundproofing.
Shirley Thorne didn't go straight in, intentionally eavesdropping outside the door for a bit.
A sharp female voice could be heard, "Mom, Dad, since my sister has such a huge dowry, shouldn't my bride price be raised a bit?"
If Shirley Thorne's memory served her right, that self-righteous tone and sharp voice had to belong to Gideon Thorne's girlfriend, Riley Lynch.
'She's not much of a beauty, but her dreams sure are.'
"Yeah, Mom, Dad, all of Riley's relatives are big shots. If the bride price is too low, I'll lose so much face."
Gideon Thorne's whining voice followed immediately.
Shirley Thorne sighed. She knew it. Nothing good ever came from these people's mouths.
She strode right in, her tone playful. "Well, well, everyone's here. Perfect. I have an announcement to make."
Inside, Gideon Thorne and the others jumped in fright. When they saw who it was, their expressions turned to utter disdain.
Except for the youngest sister. Though her expression was serious, her eyes were filled with worry.
"I heard what you were saying outside the door just now." Shirley Thorne casually flicked her hair.
'She heard?'
Mrs. Thorne was overjoyed and quickly asked, "So how much are you going to give?"
Except for the little sister, the entire family's attention was instantly fixed on Shirley Thorne, a greedy light flashing in their eyes.
Shirley Thorne found this family utterly ridiculous. She said, "It's not me who's getting a wife. Why should I be the one paying!"
Mrs. Thorne was choked by her words, the joyful expression still frozen on her face. The little sister looked up in astonishment, her beautiful almond eyes wide with disbelief.
'Did the brother-obsessed sister have a change of heart?'
"I'm not marrying him!" Riley Lynch suddenly threw a fit, grabbing her purse from the table and making to leave. "With a sister-in-law like this who doesn't even recognize her own family, how am I supposed to live in the future?"
Gideon Thorne let out a miserable cry and immediately dropped to his knees. "Riley, don't go!"
"How are you going to get a wife with no money! Get lost!" Riley Lynch's attitude was firm. As she passed the doorway, she shot Shirley Thorne a vicious glare.
Seeing the daughter-in-law she'd practically secured about to run off, Mrs. Thorne grew anxious. She moved forward to help her son block the way, then rounded on Shirley Thorne and started screaming curses. "You ungrateful wolf! We fed you, we clothed you, and now you're unwilling to help your brother with such a small thing? If I had known, I would have strangled you at birth!"
How could such words possibly scare Shirley Thorne? She crossed her arms, looking at this pack of bloodsuckers with contempt. "A bride price of one or two hundred million is not a 'small thing.' From now on, don't contact me unless it's an emergency. I'll transfer ten thousand a month to your account. Consider it my contribution to your retirement. Whether you want to give it to your son or your daughter-in-law is your business. Just don't bother me!"
After saying her piece, Shirley Thorne walked past Riley Lynch with her head held high, not even giving them a second glance as she left.
The people in the room never expected this outcome and were all too stunned to react.
Mr. Thorne slammed the table and roared, "Shirley Thorne, don't you forget I still have those photos of you as a compensated date!"
He refused to believe it. No matter how much Shirley Thorne's personality had changed, she couldn't possibly be indifferent to such a scandal. And even if she didn't care, would Ethan Grant not care?
These photos had been authenticated by the police! He didn't understand anything about organized fraud; all he knew was that no man would tolerate a wife who had been a compensated date.
Even if she was tricked into it!
At this thought, Mr. Thorne felt smugly triumphant. Holding the photos, he yelled, "I'll send these to the Grant Family's news agency right now! Let's see what their people think when they find out what kind of wife their president married!"
"That won't be necessary."
A low, deep, and powerful voice came from outside the door.
Shirley Thorne turned to see Ethan Grant, dressed as impeccably as ever in a tailored suit. With a blank expression and a disdainful look in his eyes, he strode toward them.