Faux Vows, True Desires

Even though Ms. Scott came back with the Fredericks, unless Mr. Coleman gave the green light, neither she nor her car could set foot on the Anderson family's turf. Frederick and Jeannie exchanged glances. They were both aware that something major had gone down between Stefan and Ms. Scott during their vacation.

Stefan had already made it clear: Ms. Scott was not allowed to go into the estate.

Whether Stefan was right or wrong, they had to back him up for now.

So they hopped out of the car, grabbing their luggage.

"Mr. Anderson, Ms. Coleman, why are you getting out? The estate's main house is still a ways off from the entrance. It'll take at least ten minutes on foot. I can drive you."

Ruby was caught off guard by the fact that Stefan would completely ban her from the estate. But she quickly realized that she had two options at this point: either she could chauffeur the Fredericks in, or she was stuck cooling her heels at the entrance.

"We're good. We've been sitting all day on a plane and then in the car. Our feet are about to swell up. A little walk sounds good right about now; it might help with that," replied Jeannie with a calm smile. Bag in hand and Frederick dragging their suitcases, they started walking into the estate.

Seeing this, the security on duty rushed over to help with the luggage.

Another guard dialed inside, and in no time, the butler had sent a car to pick them up.

"Ms. Coleman!" Ruby called out in a hurry.

She could clearly see the entrance to the estate through the wrought-iron gates and panicked when she saw the Fredericks about to enter.

"Ms. Coleman, I'm here for Grandma Savannah. If she doesn't see me, she might worry."

to speed, but one of the guards honestly said, "Grandma Savannah went down the hill. Patrick Anderson went

the hill living with their parents. Grandma Savannah loved chatting with the elderly. There was no way she'd be bored.

the

He hadn't said anything wrong. Why

the

wrong, so he wasn't afraid of a stare-down! If it was a competition to see who had bigger eyes, he wasn't convinced he'd lose! Jeannie laughed.

Ruby was speechless.

the Andersons rolled. They seemed polite to Ruby, but the minute she had a beef with Stefan, they'd unhesitatingly side

Stefan, who are we backing? Who gives you the right as an outsider to ask for our support?" About ten

were sitting on the couch,

hadn't gone to the café with Lucinda, nor had he gone down the hill with Grandma Savannah. Instead, he chose to hang around the estate, admiring the mysterious Ascend Estate. Little did he

alone, under the intense scrutiny of

your daughter Lucinda?" Jeannie broke

hire Stefan to pretend to be her boyfriend because my wife Fiona kept nagging her to get married. She was at her wit's end, so she came up with this

honest account of how things came about, the whole

of events, but the Fredericks were

like he

That sneaky little bugger.

deal. On the surface, Jeannie was nice to Ruby, but deep down, Jeannie didn't want Ruby to

too greedy! Her ambitions

have her cake and eat it too, but there was no such thing as a free