The voice belonged to Rose. She stood on the second floor and looked down at Alex. She seemed to be overcome with feelings.
Her words had stopped everyone in their tracks and made their hearts tremble.
"Rose, what nonsense are you talking about? Hurry up and get down from there. Stop messing around." Sara thought Rose was just spouting nonsense.
Alex prepared to leave the villa in case something else happened.
"Stop! Alex, where's your bracelet?" Rose asked.
Bracelet? he thought.
Alex felt around in his pockets.
Damn, where is it? I had it in my pocket. It must be under my pillow, he thought.
His heart tightened. He looked at Rose again. She slowly lifted her hand, and she held his bracelet up for everyone to see.
Rose had casually walked around the rooms on the second floor and accidentally walked into Alex's room without knowing it. She had sat on the bed and found a bracelet under the pillow.
She had been sure that this was Alex's bracelet. Her heart had filled with mixed emotions. She had sat on the bed and thought about this for a long time. She had not heard any of the fighting downstairs. She had only walked out just now.
Rose walked down the stairs with the bracelet in her hand. She walked up to Alex and asked, "This is your house. Why are you leaving?"
Everyone still could not understand why Rose had decided this bracelet meant that the villa was Alex's home.
"Rose, what happened to you?" asked Sara.
"That's right, Rose, this is my home. Why are you saying that it's Alex's home?" asked Sheldon.
"Stop joking… This isn't fun," said Jade.
"Oh, so you're talking about that bracelet. I left mine in the dorm. The bracelet in your hand isn't mine. Mr. Brown told me earlier that he had also bought a bracelet, right?" Alex tried to think of an excuse to get through this awkward moment, but he was interrupted by Rose.
"Hmph, even now you still want to lie to me? This bracelet looks just like mine, so how could I not recognize it?" Rose said with a wry smile.
Alex was speechless. He remembered that the last time they were at the Angel bar, Rose had put the bracelet on his wrist, and he had not removed it for a long time.
He let out a sigh. It was useless for him to say anything more.
"When I was kidnapped by Luciel, it was… it was you who sent those people to save me, wasn't it?" Rose gathered up her courage to ask him.
Alex remained speechless.
"That time when I was at the Berkeley hotel, and Manager Woodsworth didn't want me to pay. That was also because of you, right?" she asked.
Alex still stood there speechless. He just looked at Rose indifferently. Her eyes started to fill up with tears.
"It was you who asked William Chase to help me, right?" Rose's voice began to choke up with sobs. She felt like her throat was burning, making it difficult for her to speak.
Alex continued to look at Rose silently.
"Ahhh!" Rose burst out crying. Her small, pale face was covered in tears as they rolled down her cheeks.
This man had been helping her all along, and she had been paying him back by taunting him in front of her classmates, denouncing him in front of her family, and humiliating him at hotels, in restaurants, in dormitories, in night markets, and bars.
The person who had been so good to her and helped her get through all these difficult situations over and over again was precisely this man whom she had humiliated.
How shameless she was to do such a disgusting thing to him.
"Ahh!" Rose was crying so hard she couldn't even breathe.
Her family looked at her with stunned expressions.
"Rose, what's wrong with you?"
"What should we do?"
"What's wrong? Don't cry… just breathe."
"What is it? You can tell your grandmother. Don't cry so much, my child."
They gathered around Rose and looked at her worriedly. But Rose walked in front of Alex and gazed at him with tears in her eyes.
"I was wrong. I'm so sorry. I was wrong. Please forgive me." Rose kept saying those words over again. She wanted to hear him forgive her.
"All right, you don't need to say more. I'll forgive you," Alex said with a frown. He hated Rose's actions toward him, but when he saw how much she was crying now and how sincere and humble her apologies sounded, he was quite moved. He felt that she truly meant it this time.
"Thank you," Rose said sincerely. Alex's forgiveness made her feel much better.
"Rose, why are you apologizing to him? What's going on?" Sara still didn't understand what Rose was saying.
"Grandma, don't you understand? He's the one who helped us before," Rose said, looking at Sara with a mournful expression.
Sara looked at Alex in disbelief. She could not accept what her granddaughter had said. She looked at Rose and said, "You think that this villa belongs to him?"
Rose nodded.
Sara did not believe it. She then shifted her gaze toward Jade and Sheldon. At this moment, her perception was being shifted.
How can this luxurious villa belong to this damn swindler? she thought.
She urgently needed Jade and Sheldon to give her an answer that would let her return to normal. However, both her daughter and son-in-law had awkward expressions on their faces. They didn't know how to react, so her heart turned cold.
"Jade, is the villa yours?" Sara still held onto her last sliver of hope.
"No." As things stood, there was nothing Jade or Sheldon could say.
"What?" Sara shouted anxiously. Her eyes went red as she spat the question out, with her eyeballs nearly popping out of their sockets.
"No, you'll understand when I explain... I was going to buy this villa, but… so, oh, anyway, this villa actually belongs to Mr. Ambrose. We're just borrowing it for the day." Sheldon blurted out the truth in a panic.
Sara sat down on the sofa. Her heart had nearly stopped beating.
"Mom, are you all right?" Jade quickly asked.
"Mr. Ambrose, I'm really sorry for making you suffer at my mother-in-law's earlier," Sheldon said, apologizing to Alex.
"Help me up," Sara said to her two daughters after resting for a few seconds with her eyes tightly shut. Jade and Sue, one on each side, helped Sara stand. She walked toward Alex.
Alex looked into her eyes and thought that she was still going to destroy him even then. Just when he was thinking this, she knelt in front of him.
"Mr. Ambrose, I'm sorry. I offended you. Please forgive me," she said quietly.
"Mom, what are you doing?" Her daughters both felt sorry for their mother and tried to help her get back up, but she continued kneeling on the ground.
"If Mr. Ambrose doesn't forgive me, then I won't get up. Mr. Ambrose, I was wrong."
"Alex… or Mr. Ambrose… you see—" Sue and Jade both looked anxiously at him.
"Okay, get up." Alex let out a heavy sigh. He wanted to make her kneel on the ground for a bit longer, but he thought about her age, so he relented.
"Thank you, Mr. Ambrose. Thank you." She was extremely grateful as her daughters helped her to her feet.
"Sue, I don't need your help. I'm still healthy. Let's all sit down. Sheldon, go to the kitchen and cook, so we can let Mr. Ambrose eat. Sue, you don't need to worry about me, just go sit with Mr. Ambrose." Sara's face changed quickly as she urged Sue to sit next to Alex.
This expensive villa was owned by Alex, so it was clear that he was rich and powerful. Sara hadn't expected that Sue would find herself a wealthy man. Now, she had to nurture their relationship.
Sue was stunned. She thought Alex was just a poor student, so how could she imagine that he had such an expensive villa? If they continued to pretend to be a couple, it would probably cause more problems in the future.
"Go on." Sara pushed Sue away. Her daughter was so confusing. When Alex was a liar, she stuck close to him. Now that Alex was rich, she didn't go near him.
"Go, Sue!" shouted her mother.
"What's there to be shy about? We're all family," urged Sheldon and Jade.
Sue couldn't figure out what exactly was the right thing to do, so she lowered her head and walked to Alex's side.
"So, you're rich," Sue said timidly as she looked up at him with a pitiful and shy expression.
Alex didn't know what to say. He had complicated feelings swirling through his heart as he sat on the sofa with her.
"Yes, they look really good together," Sara said as she nodded in satisfaction.
"Seriously mother, please stop," Sue remarked.
"A nice pair… Don't you think so, Rose?" Sheldon said.
Rose's eyes were still red. Seeing Alex sitting together with her aunt, she felt a little bit of pain in her heart. She ignored Sheldon and turned her head away.
Hearing Sara and Sheldon, Sue and Alex became more and more worried. They felt that this flurry of words was getting more and more complicated. Sue kept rubbing her hands together, thinking about how she had asked him to pretend to be her boyfriend.
"Mom, you might not know that Mr. Ambrose has another villa in this district too," Sheldon said. He hoped that Sue could win him over so that Alex could help him. "When you came into the district, did you see that villa on the artificial island?"
Alex gave Sheldon a warning look, but he had already blurted out this information.
"Are you saying that the villa on the artificial island belongs to Mr. Ambrose?" When Sara had come into the residential area, she had noticed that villa. According to Garry, it was the most expensive house in New York City.
"That's right. It's worth forty million dollars," Jade said with a smile.
Rose's mind was a mess. She looked at Alex quietly with her heart racing. She felt that he was a very strange and mysterious man.
"Ah, Mr. Ambrose, I didn't expect you to be so powerful. No, that's not what I mean. I mean, you really have a lot of money. I'm not… Oh my, look at me. Whenever I'm nervous, I always say the wrong thing." Sara became incoherent. Her mind was filled with thoughts of her daughter becoming immeasurably wealthy.
"I'm saying that my daughter can be with you. Sue, you must treat Alex well in the future. Do you understand?" Sara said.
"Sue, you must cherish Mr. Ambrose," Sheldon added.
"I think you and Sue will be able to get along forever," Jade said.
The worry in Alex's heart became heavier. He felt conflicted and wondered how to end this pretend situation in the future.
A calm voice spoke up.
"You guys have misunderstood. Mr. Ambrose and I are not a couple."