Chapter 483 - 479: Nora Ainsworth’s Disguise
Jean Grant held her phone, turning things over in her mind. Finally, she sent him a text message.
Sure enough, half an hour after she sent the text, he returned.
Closing the door, Nicholas Ainsworth took off his overcoat and stood by the bed. "What did you say in your text?"
Jean Grant looked at him seriously. "I’ve thought it over. The main reason I married you was because I wanted to be happy. You haven’t brought me happiness, so I’m letting go. From now on, you can fool around with whoever you want. The only condition is that we go to the Civil Affairs Bureau and get a divorce."
He raised his hand and slapped her hard across the face, sending Jean Grant staggering onto the bed.
Her ears were ringing. She sat up, clutching her face, and looked at him. "Nicholas Ainsworth, a man like you claims he can make me happy? You asked me to steal secrets from my brother’s company. I guess you didn’t expect my own brother to be wary of me, too."
Nicholas Ainsworth stepped forward and pinned her hands down. "Jean Grant, I’m not divorcing you. I’ve said it before, so give up on that idea."
Jean Grant didn’t say anything. ’I’ve already made up my mind.’
"I really have terrible taste in men. I’ve been married twice, and both times I picked the same type of man. I guess I’m not fated to ever get married again in this life."
He let go of her. "If you want a man to truly love you, you have to learn to respect yourself first. You slept with your ex-husband on our wedding day, and a few days into our marriage, you were pregnant with his child. What right does a woman who cuckolded her husband have to ask a man to stay faithful to her for the rest of his life?"
Jean Grant was speechless. Only at that moment did she realize that no matter how much a man said he didn’t care, that it was all in the past, he would always remember it in his heart. It was like a flawless mirror suddenly shattering into pieces. Even if you painstakingly pieced it back together, the cracks would still be obvious.
He threw back the covers, quickly stripped off his clothes, and lay down to sleep.
Jean Grant lay on the inner side of the bed, her body turned away from him. She didn’t sleep well all night.
Only after he left at dawn did she finally fall into a deep sleep.
When she woke up again, Jean Grant changed her clothes and left for the Grant Group without a word.
She had just walked through the doors of the Grant Group when her phone rang. It was Nicholas Ainsworth.
"Where are you?"
"None of your business."
"Are you at the Grant Group?" His eyes were filled with rage.
"Of course. Since you won’t divorce me, I have no choice but to come to my brother for help."
Nicholas Ainsworth gripped his phone tightly. "Don’t be rash. Be good, come to my office. Let’s have a proper talk."
"What is there to talk about?"
"We’ve been together for so long, and you were the one in the wrong first. What, I’m not allowed to lose my temper a little? Come over. I’ll be waiting for you here."
After saying that, Nicholas Ainsworth hung up the phone.
Jean Grant stared at her phone screen, then tightened her grip on it and turned, walking out of the Grant Group building.
Arriving at the Ainsworth Group, she pushed open the door to the CEO’s office.
Her gaze immediately met Nicholas Ainsworth’s. She closed the door.
She sat down across from his desk.
"Do you think there’s any point to this?"
Nicholas Ainsworth grabbed her hand. "Jean, let’s have a child."
Jean Grant didn’t speak. He continued, "I only asked you to go to your brother’s company for the good of our family’s company. What did I do wrong? I promise you, I won’t see other women anymore."
"That’s what you promised last time, too."
"This time, it’s for real."
Jean Grant snorted. "I don’t believe you."
"Then what will it take for you to believe me?"
"Kneel before me. Then I’ll believe you." She was certain that a man as proud as him would never kneel before a woman.
To her surprise, Nicholas Ainsworth got up, walked over to her, and his knees gave way as he actually knelt before her.
"Jean, let’s just live a good life together."
Jean Grant’s heart instantly softened.
"Get up. I’ll agree to it."
Nicholas Ainsworth stood up and embraced her. "The past is the past. Let’s neither of us bring it up again. Jean, have my child."
"Do you really mean it?"
"Whether I mean it or not... you’ll find out in a moment." He picked her up and carried her toward the private lounge.
It began with a passionate kiss with another woman and ended in a bedroom scene with his wife.
Women, sometimes, were just that easy to deal with. A few sweet nothings, a love scene that melted the bones, and all problems were solved.
Walsh had personally rushed back from abroad.
He rarely made an appearance, but this matter was an exception.
He arrived at the Grant Family home in secret.
Nora Ainsworth was currently busy filming a TV series and couldn’t return, so he would have to wait a few days.
So Walsh stayed shut in his room all day, never leaving except to have meals brought in. Even Quentin Grant had no idea what he was tinkering with in there.
A few days passed in the blink of an eye.
Nora Ainsworth finally wrapped up filming.
Her scenes for the twenty-episode modern drama were the first to be completed.
That very night, she hurried back to the city.
"Walsh, it’s been a while."
"Miss Ainsworth, I didn’t expect we’d meet again. Come with me." He turned and entered his room, with Nora Ainsworth and Quentin Grant following him inside.
The door closed. Walsh took out a photo of Toby Dalton’s deceased woman and pointed at it. "We’ll begin now."
Nora Ainsworth sat down and asked, "Walsh, how long will this disguise last once it’s set?"
"If you want the simple version, it can last for three months. However, I suggest you get the complex, in-depth one. No one knows what might happen. With the complex one, someone could touch your face and it would feel no different from a real one. But with the simple one, after the first month, there’s a risk of being discovered during the next two."
Nora Ainsworth nodded. "Then let’s do the complex one. But I want to know, who else knows this Disguise Technique?"
Walsh stroked his beard and answered without hiding anything. "Very few people in the world can do this. Besides my Walsh Family, there are hardly any others."
Nora Ainsworth nodded. "That’s good. When do we start?"
"We start now, of course. However, this process is extremely painful. It’s not plastic surgery, after all. I don’t know if you’ll be able to endure it."
"I can."
"Good. Miss Ainsworth, lie down here."
She did as she was told.
Walsh then took out a sheet of green oil paper and placed it around her neck. He said to Quentin Grant, "Sit beside her and hold her hands down. Don’t let her move around."
Quentin Grant nodded, sat down on a chair, and leaned forward slightly to hold her hands.
Walsh brought over all his tools and said to Nora Ainsworth, "Close your eyes."
She closed her eyes, feeling a little nervous. When something cool was placed on her face, she didn’t feel much at first. Then, after Walsh put something else on top of it, she began to feel a burning heat, which was followed by a stinging pain.
It felt as if the substance on her face was trying to fuse with her skin, and the raw, tearing pain was almost unbearable.
The pain finally became so intense that she wanted to reach up and claw at her face. Walsh shot Quentin Grant a look, signaling him to hold on tight.
The more violently Nora Ainsworth struggled, the more strength Quentin Grant used to hold her down.
Walsh worked on her face methodically.
After a full hour, the agonizing pain finally subsided.
Seeing Nora Ainsworth looking like she was on her last breath, Quentin Grant’s heart ached for her.
He carried her back to the bedroom.
Walsh instructed that she mustn’t move all night, and by the next morning, the mold should have set successfully.
Quentin Grant was on pins and needles all night.
"Nora, does it still hurt?"
"It doesn’t hurt much now," she answered.
"Are you going to Grestin tomorrow?"
Nora Ainsworth hummed in agreement. "There’s no time to waste. The sooner I go, the better. Don’t make any moves on your end."
Quentin Grant sounded dejected. "Walsh said that your kind of disguise will be no problem for half a year, but once that time is up, you must use a special solution to remove it, or else..."
Nora Ainsworth said calmly, "I know the consequences. But I will definitely rescue my mother."
"Does this mean I won’t be able to see you for five months?" Quentin Grant asked plaintively.
"I’ll send you a text every day to let you know I’m okay. If you don’t hear from me for three consecutive days, that means something has happened to me. But I’m going to save someone, not to walk into danger myself. Quentin, sometimes you don’t need to deploy a large force. Have Sierra come and pretend to be me. She resembles me a little, so we can’t let Toby Dalton get suspicious."
"I can’t see you for five months... How can I possibly bear it... You’re leaving tomorrow... I’ll have to be celibate for five months, what am I going to do..."
Nora Ainsworth immediately knew what he was getting at.
"So you want to..."
Quentin Grant leaned closer to her. "What I want to do... don’t you know already...?"
Nora Ainsworth reached out and took his hand. "It’s the middle of the night. If you keep dawdling, dawn will be here, and then you won’t be able to do anything..."
Quentin Grant quickly reached out, gently pulled off Nora Ainsworth’s pants, and began to do as he pleased...
It continued until dawn.
Nora Ainsworth had been tossed and turned for half the night, leaving her with an aching back and tired eyes.
She put on an outfit that was a complete departure from her usual style.
She left the Grant Family home before daybreak.
Once in the car, she called her two little treasures and gave them many instructions before finally leaving, reassured.
This trip to Grestin was bound to be a journey through treacherous waves, with danger at every step.
When Holly Wood got off work, June Walsh asked her to come sing karaoke at a KTV, saying it was a get-together with old classmates.
She’d worked all day and was a bit tired, so she didn’t want to go, but June Walsh said bluntly over the phone, "What, now that you’re with some nouveau riche, you don’t want to be friends with us anymore?"
Holly Wood had no choice but to go.
The KTV was a bit hard to find. Just as she reached the entrance, she got a call from Leon Lynch.
"Hello."
"Are you home yet?" he asked.
Holly Wood told him the truth. "June Walsh asked me to come sing at a KTV. I just got to the entrance."
"Which KTV?" Leon Lynch asked casually.
"Oh, it’s the KTV on the street down from Westgate Street. It’s the only one around here."
Leon Lynch grunted in acknowledgment. "Head back early. It’s not safe at night."
Holly Wood agreed and hung up.
She walked inside and saw many men and women dancing on the first floor of the KTV. Holly Wood went to the bar, asked for June Walsh’s room number, and headed further in.
Before she could even reach the room’s door, someone suddenly covered her mouth from behind. Holly Wood’s heart leaped in shock, and before she could react, she was dragged into one of the private rooms.