CHAPTER 189
Bruno’s spirits rose as he continued scheming.
When Noah had come back into Madeline’s life, it was as if the wretched girl had won the lottery, acting as if she owned the entire world. She wouldn’t even acknowledge her own father. Now that Noah had abandoned her, she no longer had his protection!
Bruno decided on his course of action. Dusting off the trash that clung to his clothes, he headed straight for the Maple Forest Villa with Kingsley in tow.
When he reached Madeline’s residence, he stood outside and studied it. The more he gazed at it, the better it looked.
“Mr. Bruno, a residence in this area ought to be worth a considerable amount, shouldn’t it?”
“Of course it is. The three main roads are easily accessible from here, and it’s a large villa as well. It’s worth one billion, at the very least. Mm, that’s not bad at all. As long as we can find someone trustworthy to buy this place, we’ll have the start-up capital for what we want to do.”
“Mr. Bruno, this is Ms. Madeline’s residence, though. Isn’t it rather inappropriate for us to do that?” Even Kingsley was shocked by Bruno’s outrageous scheme.
“Pah, I raised her! I’m her father, and I’m in difficulties now. What objections could she have to helping me out? Anyway, I wouldn’t be in this sorry position now if she hadn’t tricked me!” Bruno indicated the dirt and debris on his clothes, feeling perfectly justified in his course of action.
At Bruno’s reply, Kingsley let the matter drop. After receiving his orders, he
quietly contacted the real estate agent.
Bruno felt extremely satisfied when he heard Kingsley making arrangements on the phone and swaggered right up to the front door, ringing the doorbell.
Inside the villa, Madeline was relaxing on the sofa, feeling very sleepy. Noah had gone back to the company headquarters after lunch, and she had brought Thomas back here with her. She was in a bit of a food coma after eating a little too much.
She was planning on taking a good long afternoon nap when the doorbell began ringing insistently without signs of stopping.
The noise hurt her ears and gave her a headache. Reluctantly, she got up and
went to open the door groggily. When she saw Bruno standing outside, her headache got even worse.
“What are you doing here?” Madeline frowned, not bothering to conceal her displeasure. She was far too drowsy to engage in a battle of wits with her wretched father. Furthermore, the unpleasant odor wafting from Bruno’s clothes was hard to stomach.
“What do you mean? I’m your father, can’t I show up whenever I like? Move out of the way!” When Bruno saw how groggy and disheveled Madeline was, he felt even more certain that Noah had abandoned her, and she was now wallowing in self-pity.
Without waiting for her to speak, he shoved her aside and strode through the door.
Madeline blinked stupidly at him, and an unpleasant premonition assailed her. Nothing good could come from Bruno’s presence here today.
Meanwhile, Bruno swaggered into the villa and openly cast a covetous glance around. Already, he was mentally calculating the value of this place.
The villa’s location and architecture was one thing; the interior also had to be taken into consideration. If this place was furnished with expensive luxury items, the price of the
entire residence would soar through the roof.
“Madeline dear, the Quincy family is powerful and their business is worth millions. I’m sure Noah’s compensated you handsomely now that you’ve parted ways. He gave you this villa as well?”
Bruno took another look around, now
that he had a clearer idea of how much this place could be worth.
At a rough estimate, the villa was worth at least 15 billion dollars. On his last visit, he had been in a hurry and not in a position to take a closer look around. He had not expected that Madeline would furnish her house with antiques! This was only the ground floor, no less. He was quite sure that the other two floors would have tons of expensive items.
Bruno’s mental calculations filled him with the utmost glee! Once he managed to find a buyer for this place, the Grant family would be able to reverse its fortunes!
“What?” Madeline stared at Bruno, half- suspecting the man had gone mad.
“Don’t bother pretending, my girl. I already know that you and Noah have separated!” Bruno could not hide his glee as he spoke, as if such a calamity was an occasion for celebration.
“So, what are you planning to do?” Madeline was not in the mood to explain to Bruno that she and Noah were still very much together. Instead, she immediately demanded to know the purpose of his visit.
“What am I planning to do? I want to help you safeguard your property, of course! I know all about your scandal with that pretty boy; it’s all over social media. Let me drop a word of advice in your ear. Even ifContent © .
Noah’s given you a good sum in compensation, you
shouldn’t let other people take
advantage of you. That pretty boy is bad news!”
Madeline almost burst out giggling. Pretty boy? Joseph could certainly pass for one, provided one looked only at his strong jawline.
“Let’s do things this way. Whatever money Noah gave you as
compensation, keep that and use it for your living expenses. It would be better to sell this house, though, since it’s definitely pretty valuable.”
“Bruno Grant, are you telling me that you came all the way here this afternoon, just so you could sell my house?” Any lingering drowsiness Madeline might have been experiencing dissipated at once. What was more, she felt that her eyes had been opened in no uncertain
manner.
She did not know if normal fathers would behave like Bruno if they found out that their daughter had been cruelly
abandoned and divorced by her husband. Would they hurry over as well, intent on selling her possessions?
Up until now, Bruno had not uttered a single word of sympathy or even tried to console her.
“Madeline, don’t be so harsh. I’m only doing it for your own good. You should stop assuming my good intentions are schemes to swindle you!” Bruno was displeased that his motives had been unmasked so quickly.
“If it’s for my own good, then I think it’s better if I stay put here. It’s a good location, and I don’t plan on moving any time soon. If there’s nothing else, please do leave.” Madeline’s temper rose.
What sort of shameless person was Bruno anyway?
“What’s the point of you living alone in this gigantic house? Are you still under the impression that you’re a rich man’s idle wife? Anyway, my reputation is in tatters because of you! I don’t even have any clean clothes left. Shouldn’t you take some responsibility?”
“I see. That’s your true motive. You think that I’ve been abandoned by Noah and I’m not under his protection anymore, so you hurried over to seize control of my possessions?”
“So what? If you hadn’t tricked me during that livestream, I’d have been able to reverse my fortunes. All I want now is for you to compensate me. Is that so wrong?” Bruno retorted eloquently, feeling unusually self- righteous.
“Bruno Grant, are you really my father?” Madeline was so furious her hands
were shaking.
“Of course I’m your father. You ungrateful little snake, you’d refuse to acknowledge your own father just for the sake of a bit of money, wouldn’t you?” Bruno’s matter-of-fact admission was like rubbing salt into Madeline’s wounds.
She had really hoped that Bruno would say he was not her real father, so she could deny any sort of blood relation to such a grasping, shameless,
unscrupulous man.
Unfortunately, Bruno had not done so. He was indeed her biological father. Her entire body crawled at the thought of such a humiliating bloodline.
“Very well then. Since you want to sell this house, sell it.” Madeline steadfastly suppressed her desire to chop Bruno.
into tiny pieces and forced herself to calm down. She looked at him, her gaze becoming increasingly colder.
Since he had stooped to this level, there was no reason for her to be considerate any longer!
Madeline did not want to bother with Bruno anymore. She went to the bar counter and sat down, then pulled out her phone. Rapidly typing a message, she sent it off.
“You’re serious? Well then, I’ve always said that you were a smart girl, Madeline, even when you were little. When I finally turn my fortunes around, I’ll make sure I repay you handsomely!”
Related Posts