Love’s Cunning Ruse

Chapter 192

Daphne figured Julie was just talking smack, but she did indeed invite her to stay the night.

Because of Julie’s accident yesterday, Daphne straight up asked her company for annual leave. The interview she did with Lionel sold out as soon as it hit the internet, which got the editor-in-chief pretty stoked. So, they gave her the go-ahead for the leave.

Daphne always worked her butt off. Pretty much every year, she didn’t take her leave and just cashed it in for a bonus. But this time she decided to give herself a break and took a whole week off. So, she agreed to crash at Julie’s place tonight.

After dinner, Kieran holed up in his study, leaving Julie, Daphne, and Ivan watching TV in the living room.

Ivan was seriously studying his ABCs. Daphne looked at Ivan and asked Julie, “He’s just a kid, and he’s already hitting the books this hard?”

Julie shook her head. “We just follow his interests. If he likes it, we support it, and if he doesn’t, we don’t push it.”

Daphne admired, “You’re a genius mom. You handle everything so well.” Ever since Daphne met Ivan, he had grown on her.

Julie got up to use the bathroom.

Ivan suddenly put down his iPad and called out to Daphne, “Godmother Daphne!”

Daphne turned to look at Ivan. His voice was so soft and sweet, it melted her heart.

“What’s up, kiddo?” Daphne moved over and hugged Ivan.

“Do you know who Julien is?” Ivan asked suddenly.

Daphne was surprised, wondering why Ivan would bring up Julien.

Ivan thought Daphne was having trouble remembering who Julien was, so he quickly explained, “You know, the short-haired woman who always wears black. She’s gorgeous and a total badass. Don’t you know her?”

Daphne replied, “Yeah, I know her. But why are you asking about the queen?”

Upon hearing this, Ivan nodded, “Oh, so she’s the queen. The kind of woman who holds a scepter and is super powerful?”

Daphne thought for a moment. Her impression of Julien did indeed match that of a strong woman, a type she admired. There were three kinds of women she admired: powerful women like Julien who seemed capable of ruling the world, beauties like Adeline who could dazzle you with a mere blink of an eye, and women like Julie. Julie didn’t have the aura of a powerful woman, nor the extreme beauty of Adeline, but she had a special charm. She had the ability to make Kieran pamper her unconditionally, which made her seem like she deserved the best of everything in the world.

Compared to them, she was just plain Jane.

She reached over and stroked Ivan’s adorable face, “Julien is the kind of woman who can be a badass even without a scepter. Because if she wanted to, she could create a world of her own. But you may not understand that yet. Just know that Julien is an incredibly attractive and charismatic woman.”

don’t want her to be my godmother,” Ivan suddenly

serious when he spoke. It was like looking at

Julien would be your

how to contact her?” Ivan asked Daphne hopefully.

head, “Not unless you tell me why you don’t want

to be contemplating whether or not to

was clear about Ivan’s reaction. She said firmly, “If you don’t tell me the reason, I definitely won’t tell you Julien’s contact info. I won’t just

really

want to

still reeling from the shock when she heard Kieran’s voice from behind the couch, “If you want to marry Julien, you need to get the green light from your godfather.” Julie had

to Kieran, “Ivan’s godfather

Hayden?” Daphne asked.

“Hayden

a serious pat on the shoulder, “Sorry kiddo, but I

phone, typed in Julien’s number and said, “Here’s Julien’s number. As your godmother, this is

Daphne and Shannon headed to the

off to bed,” Kieran said. He then asked Julie as they

you think?”

bedroom,” he responded.

sleep in the master bedroom.

crafty woman spun on her heel

master bedroom, grabbed his bathrobe, and headed for the bathroom.

minutes later, when there was no sound of Kieran opening the door, that Julie turned to go to the bathroom.

surprised. As she dried her hair, she asked, “What

up for you, and waiting for you to get in,” he replied nonchalantly.

“The room’s warm enough as it is. What if I

feel cold,” he

“You should see a

if I feel

said, sitting on the edge of the

off him. He pressed the button that connected the

was surprised

back and said, “Go to sleep,

figure, baffled. “Kieran, are you