Yes, I Have a Child with the Villain

Gavin Grant: "The moment you suddenly gave the Whitman Family such a favorable deal, I knew something was off."

Our Grant Family never does business at a loss.

A social obligation?

The Whitmans haven’t done anything that would require us to owe them a favor.

Adrian Grant: "Grandpa, you’re overthinking it. I owed her a favor, so it’s perfectly normal to give them a better deal on the project."

"A better deal? That was a giveaway."

"Even if it was a giveaway, it was what we had to do. After what happened at your birthday banquet, if Vincent Fuller and the others had really fallen into that trap at the manor and word of the scandal got out, the resulting turmoil in our group’s stock price is not something we would have wanted to see."

"..."

At the mention of this, Gavin Grant’s mood soured.

He waved his hand dismissively and changed the subject. "All right, all right. Since you’re willing to get to know this girl, I can rest easy. I’ll arrange a meeting for you two."

Adrian Grant: "..."

He picked up the photograph, not saying much more, and simply asked, "Where did you get this picture?"

"I got it from Franklin Whitman. I invited him out to play chess last weekend and casually asked if he had any unmarried daughters."

"..."

Ever since returning to the country, Gavin Grant had started pressuring him to get married, and it was becoming more and more frequent.

Adrian Grant never imagined his grandfather would just grab anyone and ask if they had an unmarried daughter at home.

"You’re still in contact with the Whitman Family?"

"What’s wrong with that? I get along with him."

"Grandpa, you’ve only played a few games of chess with him."

"If you gave me a great-grandson to look after, would I still need to find people to play chess with?"

"..."

Adrian Grant left in silence to attend his next dinner engagement.

Ten p.m.

After putting her child to sleep, Caroline Whitman was about to take off her makeup and shower when she suddenly received a call from her cousin, Lily Young.

Lily Young: "Sis, are you asleep? Come pick me up from The Celestial Club, room 527! It’s an emergency, hurry!"

Caroline Whitman: "What’s wrong? What happened?"

Lily Young’s voice was low. "I stumbled into the Skylar Family’s private party. May brought me to a gathering, but who knew Vincent Fuller and Luna Lynn would be here? I’m too embarrassed to say I want to leave early. Sis, please come get me, I’m begging you!"

Lily Young was socially anxious. It was one thing to be around so many people, but with members of St. Hector’s F4 also present, she was on the verge of tears. Her only choice was to ask her worldly-wise cousin for help.

Caroline Whitman: ...

’What is going on lately? Why does everyone around me keep running into the main characters from the book?’

She was silent for two seconds. "Okay, give me half an hour."

Lily Young was her cousin. Since she had called asking for help, Caroline couldn’t just leave her hanging.

After hanging up, Caroline Whitman changed her clothes and went to the children’s room to check on Ryan Grant. He was sleeping soundly.

Adrian Grant was coming home late tonight, and for once, the little guy had been remarkably understanding and hadn’t pestered her with too many questions.

’Then again,’ she thought, ’ever since he successfully acknowledged him as his father, Adrian seems to come back no matter how late it is.’

Because of that, Ryan had a sense of security, which was why tonight, for the first time ever, he hadn’t stayed up waiting for him to come home before going to sleep.

After some thought, Caroline Whitman left a note for her son on the nightstand in case he woke up and found no one home. She also asked Miss King to check in on him.

The Celestial Club.

Caroline Whitman got into the elevator and took out her phone to call Lily Young. She remembered the room number was 527.

"BEEP—"

No one answered the call.

She stepped out of the elevator, turned into a long corridor, glanced at the private room numbers, and without a second thought, pushed a door open and walked in.

Three men, two women.

There was also a huge cake on the table.

Caroline Whitman’s eyes quickly scanned the room. Lily Young wasn’t there, but she was surprised to see Adrian Grant.

She froze. The people inside all turned to look at her, equally stunned.

Caroline Whitman took a step back and glanced up at the room number: 521.

’That damned 1 was pretending to be a 7.’

She silently glanced at the people inside again, her gaze finally landing on Adrian Grant.

The lighting in the room was dim. Adrian Grant sat alone in a corner, his posture upright and elegant, radiating an air of detachment.

She looked at him, and he was looking at her.

Clearly, Adrian Grant was the more surprised of the two.

His expression seemed to ask, ’What are you doing here?’

"Sorry, wrong room."

Caroline Whitman offered an apologetic look. Just as she said that, a call from Lily Young came in. She answered it as she started to walk out.

"I’m at the club."

Lily Young: "Sis, you’re here? We all just left suddenly. I’m already on my way back with May.

You have no idea how awkward it was just now. I was mortified.

We were playing Truth or Dare. Wanda Sutton got a dare to hug Vincent Fuller for ten seconds, and guess what? Vincent actually didn’t refuse.

Then Luna Lynn got a dare as a penalty to kiss Chase Ford!

Oh my god! They actually kissed... and then guess what? Vincent Fuller didn’t say a word, just punched Chase Ford and dragged Luna Lynn away."

"..."

"Hehe, sorry to make you come all this way for nothing, Sis. I’m heading back with May now."

"It’s fine. As long as you’re okay."

Caroline Whitman stopped walking, hung up the phone, and was about to turn and leave when a voice suddenly called out from behind her, "Miss Whitman?"

She turned around. It was Chase Ford. There was a small bruise at the corner of his mouth.

Caroline Whitman casually glanced at the private room behind Chase Ford. It was indeed 527. The door was open, and it was empty inside. It seemed the party had broken up quickly.

She feigned a little surprise. "Mr. Ford, what happened to your face?"

Chase Ford touched the corner of his mouth. It was unclear if he was savoring the memory or just lost in thought. He just smiled and said, "I got punched by a madman."

Inside private room 521.

Evan Shaw turned to Adrian Grant. "Was she here for you?"

Don’t ask how he was so sure—just chalk it up to a man’s sixth sense.

Adrian Grant: "No."

’From the way she acted, it was obvious she’d walked into the wrong room.’

’What he was wondering was why Caroline Whitman was here all of a sudden. Was the child asleep at home?’

’Is the child home alone?’

At this thought, he stood up and glanced at the time. "We’ve had your welcome-back dinner, and we’ve celebrated your birthday. I’m heading back first."

Evan Shaw: "Hey, don’t go! It’s still early. I just got back to the country, and it’s rare for all of us to get together like this. You’re leaving already?"

"It’s too late. I need to get to bed early. I have work tomorrow."

"..."

With that, Adrian Grant left the room.

He left the five of them in silence.

"Wait, was he always like this?" Evan Shaw turned to his friends, finding it strange.

Yvonne Grant brushed back her wavy hair and picked up her wine glass. "I have no idea. This is the first time we’ve all gotten together in a while. I don’t think I saw him much at the old man’s birthday party, either."

Zane Carson: "Over the past month, he really has been coming out to hang with us a lot less. Even when he does, he always rushes back before nine."

Evan Shaw: "You don’t think he’s in a relationship, do you?"

They all exchanged glances, their eyes finally settling on Yvonne Grant. She put down her wine glass.

"Don’t look at me, I don’t know either. But I did hear the old man talking these past few days about arranging a marriage with some family’s daughter, so he probably isn’t dating anyone."

"Adrian’s going into an arranged marriage?" Chloe Carson asked curiously.

Miles Morgan put his arm around Chloe Carson and chuckled languidly. "There’s no way he’d go through with an arranged marriage."

Zane Carson: "I wouldn’t be so sure. With his grandfather pressuring him personally, he might actually do it."

Evan Shaw: "I bet he’ll agree to his grandfather’s arranged marriage."

Yvonne Grant: "I bet he won’t."

Miles Morgan: "I bet he won’t, either."

Chloe Carson: "I’m not playing."