Seraphina Sterling's eyelashes trembled. 'It was so hard to be reborn. With my greatest enemy still at large, how could I let myself die so easily!'
She offered a faint smile. "Tollan Town is a place of excellent feng shui. If someone were to die here, that feng shui would be ruined, making it even more unsuitable for breaking ground on a new project! Wouldn't you agree, Mr. Grant?"
She was clearly terrified but forced herself to act as if nothing was wrong, the smile on her face surprisingly natural. More importantly, she actually dared to threaten him in a situation like this? 'She has guts!' The Grant Family was investing a fortune to build a resort here, and its feng shui was indeed crucial. But...
"And what if I don't believe in any of that feng shui nonsense?" Terrence Grant's pale, slender fingers pinched her chin. His arrogant tone held a hint of playfulness, as if he were teasing a pet.
Seraphina Sterling was forced to raise her head to meet his gaze. She cursed him every way she could in her mind, finding it hard to maintain the faint smile on her lips. "Even if you don't believe, Mr. Grant, others will, won't they?"
Their gazes locked, one dark and arrogant, the other stubborn and defiant. Neither would give an inch, and the air crackled with tension.
"Hughes, I feel like a night cruise on the Tollan River!" His arrogant and domineering tone made Seraphina Sterling itch to slap him. With a single, powerful move, Terrence Grant seized her with one hand and hauled her to the edge of the Tollan River.
'This lunatic isn't actually going to throw me in the river to feed the fish, is he?' This time, Seraphina Sterling was truly nervous.
Hughes produced a speedboat from who-knows-where, and the sight made Seraphina Sterling's lip curl. 'Such a typical rich boy, always has to have his luxuries, even out here.'
"Seraphina Sterling, where exactly did you hear the news about the resort? If your answer satisfies me, I'll let you go for tonight. Otherwise, you can get ready to become fish food! And trust me, the fish in this river have been hungry for a long, long time!"
The resort project was meant to be a top secret of The Grant Group. Three months had passed from proposal to confirmation and then to preliminary preparations, all without a single word leaking out. Yet, somehow, Cheney and this stubborn girl had found out. He would show absolutely no mercy to whoever leaked this corporate secret!
'So that's what he's after!' Seraphina Sterling mourned her wretched fate once again. 'All I wanted was to buy a house and make a little money from the demolition compensation. Is that too much to ask? How did I end up tangling with someone so difficult to deal with? It's not like I can tell him I know these things because I was reborn!'
Seraphina Sterling mentally rolled her eyes. "That's a strange question, Mr. Grant. Are you the only person in this world with foresight and business sense? Is everyone else an idiot? Anyone with half a brain who actually thinks about it could guess that if Tollan Town is going to be developed, my family's property will become prime real estate, whether for a tourist attraction or a resort."
"Oh? So you're saying you didn't get this information from anyone, that this is all a result of your own thinking?" Terrence Grant's grip on Seraphina Sterling's wrist tightened, and the smile playing on his lips became more menacing. His soft voice dripped with unspoken danger. "Do you really think I'd believe you?"
"Believe it or not!" Seraphina Sterling found herself leaning forward. Terrence Grant was too close, so close she could feel the heat of his body and smell a faint, clean, unidentifiable scent on him.
'She's defied me time and again. He must be in a fantastic mood tonight!' The thought was laced with sarcasm. Terrence Grant released her wrist. "My mood is officially ruined today. And since you're the culprit, you can go and feed the fish!" With that, he gave her a swift kick to the rear and sent her plunging into the river water!
"AHH—" Seraphina Sterling screamed, thrashing wildly in the river. She bobbed under the surface again and again, looking for all the world like she was about to drown.
Her panicked display pleased Terrence Grant. It had been a long time since he'd witnessed something so interesting. "If you make it back ashore in one piece tonight, I'll be the bigger man and let this go. We can consider our slate wiped clean!"
The moment he said that, the girl who had been thrashing about like a drowning non-swimmer immediately popped up out of the river. A bright, brilliant smile bloomed on her face, and her two dimples were especially adorable. "You said it, Mr. Grant! After tonight, we go our separate ways and stay out of each other's hair!"
Without waiting for Terrence Grant to react, she shot through the water like a nimble fish and was already a good distance away.
'I've been tricked again!'
That was Terrence Grant's first thought. She had been acting from the moment she was caught—deliberately defying him, intentionally contradicting him, purposefully provoking him, all so he would push her into the river. Once she was in the water, it was her element, a place where she could finally make her move.
'What a clever girl!'
In the night air, a tall, imposing man stood bathed in silvery moonlight. He watched the nimble figure retreat across the glittering surface of the river, and the corner of his mouth lifted in an unconscious smile. Perhaps he hadn't even realized it himself, but despite being tricked twice, he wasn't really all that angry.
Seraphina Sterling swam for a very long time before finally climbing ashore. When Kimberly Jennings saw her come home soaking wet, the color drained from her face. "Seraphina, what have you been doing? Why are you completely drenched?"
Seraphina Sterling shook her head, having already prepared an excuse on the walk home. "It's nothing, Mom. I was craving some fish and thought I'd try to catch a few down at the river. I didn't catch any fish, but I did fall in."
"Oh, you silly girl. If you wanted fish, you should have just told me! I would have gone to town to buy one for you. I know I can't give you the same life you had with the Sterling Family, but I can still afford to buy you a fish." Kimberly Jennings said, helping Seraphina dry her hair. Her heart ached for her daughter, even as she was touched by her sensible nature. 'Going into the river to catch fish just to save money?'
And just like that, Seraphina Sterling fooled her mother. 'Better to let her feel guilty for a moment than to have her worry constantly.'
She had thought her business with Terrence Grant was finally over and that they could live in peace. But who would have guessed that just as Seraphina Sterling was peeling off her wet clothes, she would hear a loud POUNDING on the door.