Seeing as he had been sidelined, Nicholas spoke in an attention seeking tone, "I'll go lay Christine."
"Stop right there!" Amelia abruptly yelled. The room immediately went silent as a graveyard as all eyes turned to the old woman.
She released Andrea's hands from hers and walked up to Nicholas who was quietly staring at his grandmother. What was she going to do? She wasn't going to refuse the child now, was she?
However, Amelia stretched her hand and took the child from the man. Then, she quietly returned to the couch and sat down, looking at the child.
Andrea turned to Nicholas. The man just shrugged, implying that he was as clueless as her.
After a moment, Amelia looked up and saw everyone staring at her. She pouted childishly and asked, "Are you that clueless? Aren't you going to bring my granddaughter in-law upstairs to rest?!"
"…"
Nicholas did not know what to say to his grandmother's constant character switch. It was starting to drive him crazy!
Turning to Andrea, he shook his head and took her hand. "Grandma's right, you should rest," he whispered.
"But, Christine..." Andrea was reluctant to go without her daughter. She turned to Nicholas who just nodded at her. Without another word, she followed Nicholas out of the room.
Upstairs, in Nicholas's bedroom, the man turned to Andrea and said reassuringly, "Don't worry, grandma won't let anything happen to Christine. If you doubt me, we'll go peep on them a little later."
Andrea shook her head. She realized she was overthinking things. There was no way the old woman would hurt a child.
"There'll be no need for that," she whispered, looking around the room and then asking, "Are we sharing a room?"
Nicholas nodded. "That's the only way to get grandma off our backs. She's like a hawk—always watching."
Andrea raised a brow. "She doesn't trust you much, does she?"
Nicholas shrugged, heading towards the toilet. "Let's just say I tend to live outside of her expectations."
Andrea simply nodding in understand as she set herself on the edge of the bed. It was huge—more than a king-size bed—but hard and uncomfortable, making her frown.
This was the expression Nicholas was met with as soon as he came out of the toilet. As a man who had worked with different types of people and seen various expressions—ranging from fear to love to hate—, it wasn't hard for him to read the one on Andrea's face: disapproval.
However, he said nothing about it. Instead, he explained to her the important things she needed to know about his family since she was going to be living with them.
All the while, Andrea listened with rapt attention. At the end of the brief introduction, she realized that he had not spoken about any of his family members asides his grandmother.
Though she was curious to know why, Andrea did not plan on trespassing or intruding in his matters. After all, their marriage was nothing but an agreement. Even though there was no written agreement, she was sure neither of them would appreciate an intrusion of privacy from the other.
***
For the rest of the afternoon, Andrea remained inside the bedroom. Nicholas had left for a meeting and Christine was most likely still sleeping in Amelia's room. So, she pretty much had all the silence she needed to attend to important matters.
After lunch, where she sat with her jovial and chatty grandmother-in-law and Isabel, she returned to the room. Almost immediately, her phone that had been lying on the bedside table started ringing.
Andrea picked up the phone to see a private number displayed on the screen. After a second's delay, she hit the receive button. A deep, but familiar voice spoke from the other end.
"I see you've taken the first step, Andrea," the man spoke with a hint of pride in his voice.
Andrea laid back on the bed and hummed in response. It was the man at the cafe, the one who had brought her the file. She couldn't miss his voice.
"How did you know? Have you been keeping tabs on me?"
The man's laughter filled Andrea's ears before he said, "Trust me, I keep tabs on everyone, Mrs. Alistair."
"I see. What do you want? This time around, I need to know," Andrea said, changing the topic. "Why do you insist on helping me bring down the Smiths? What is your gain in it?"
"I told you..." the man drawled, his voice deepening dangerously. "Harold messed with the wrong set of people, so all the Smiths must pay."
"But, I'm a Smith too... Harold's daughter," Andrea retorted, daringly.
"Arabella's daughter..." the man corrected quickly. He added, "Your mother was someone I could lay down my life for. I would do the same for her daughter."
Andrea frowned. Whatever this man had with her mother, it's something she would like to know. But, it was obvious the man had no intention of revealing more than needed.
Before she could finish thinking about it, the man spoke again.
"Listen to me, Andrea. Now that you've married the youngest and richest bachelor in Primrose City, you have to be very careful. Nicholas isn't just anyone. He's someone you shouldn't mess with. But—"the man paused and his voice became more serious—"if you play your cards well, he'll be the greatest asset in your plans. I trust you understand?"
"I do, but I believe you already know that our marriage is an alliance?" Andrea asked instead.
"It doesn't have to remain that way," the man replied with a throaty chuckle. "You are a woman. Win him over to your side and everything will be easier for you... For us."
Andrea sighed. "How?" she questioned. Even though she was a smart person, when it came to certain things, she could easily pass for a fool.
"You're Arabella's daughter. Find a way," the man replied and what followed was a beep sound.
Andrea sighed and removed the phone from her ear. What did this anonymous person expect her to do?