A Replacement Bride

Chapter 375

Joaquin leaned his back against the chair while retaining his devil-may-care smile. "Why do you think I'm leaving, Mr. Hall?"

He threw the question back to Jayden instead, and the latter's countenance turned grimmer by the second.

Very quickly, Jayden found Joaquin raising an arm, bringing it across Katherine's back, and resting it on her chair.

It was evident that the man was asserting dominance, a blatant challenge toward Jayden, who locked his brows into a tight furrow in response.

"Mr. Levisay, even if you're Kathy's husband, you don't need to have this much animosity toward me, is there? Kathy and I go way back, no matter how. Don't you think you're… being unreasonable? Have you ever thought about how Kathy would feel? Are you expecting Kathy to sever her ties with all her friends?"

A snort of laughter escaped Joaquin upon hearing Jayden's words, but his gaze remained undiscriminating, looking as though nothing Jayden said would get to him at all.

"Look at what you're saying, Mr. Hall. Of course not. That's not what I mean at all. I just think it's inconvenient for Kathy and me to stay here for long. After all…" At that, he quirked a brow and blurted cheekily, "We need our sex life too. It's ultimately not so convenient if we stay over in somebody else's house."

Cough, cough, cough…

Katherine choked upon hearing Joaquin's startling words, and she gazed at Joaquin with her brightly lit eyes widened with shock.

I swear to God, you are a shameless b*stard, Levisay! How can you say something like that like it's nothing?!

Jayden, too, was stupefied, and he parted his lips only to realize he was rendered at a loss for words, unsure of what to say.

It took him a long time to recover his voice, but a ringtone interrupted him before he could even speak up.

tightly and glanced at his phone screen. His pupils suddenly shrank subtly

woman—ignoring Joaquin, of course—while standing up. With that, he headed into the study with his phone, leaving the couple in the

disbelief when

say that in front of other people?!" she chided with what sounded like feigned anger,

gazed composedly at her with brightly lit eyes. "Since he's 'other people', you don't have to

peevishly at him as redness tinted her face and the tip of her

so deliberately, do you?! These things…"

ashamed, Joaquin was, in fact, proud of what he did, and he quirked a brow while glee enveloped his eyes. "I'll naturally be upset when he has thoughts that he shouldn't have toward you, and it's even more impossible for nothing to happen when he and I are in the same space. I've

already sorted everything out.

ate her congee, but something inexplicably odd was

Joaquin was being jealous, and as mortified as she was,

on revealing it to the man lest

…

became much grimmer and more terrifying as he answered the call inside

pressed on, looking like

place after showing up. I tried reaching him, but he wouldn't answer my calls

as grimness enveloped his face. "Why would something like

them, but it's like those people have disappeared into thin air. We can't reach them at all. I don't think this is coincidental. It must have something to do with

left the conversation hanging, animosity flashed across his

biting the bullet. "We're still looking into it, but they're very sneaky. They didn't leave