The Cherished Wife by Chweety

Charles fell silent, mulling it over, before finally nodding. "And your folks? What do they think?"

"Don't sweat it, they'll be over the moon to help out. Even if they say no, I've still got my aunt in my corner." Sean chuckled. "And let's not forget, my brother owes you big time. It might even be cooler if my aunt made Noelle her goddaughter, with my brother being part of the mighty Jones family and all." Charles looked down, lost in thought for a moment, before saying, "Okay, you can handle it."

"You got it! I'm on it. Pretty awesome, huh?" Sean said with a grin.

However, Charles just gave him an icy smile that sent shivers down Sean's spine. "So, Noelle is younger than me, huh? Once she's my mom's goddaughter, that makes her my sister. You'll have to call me 'brother-in-law'? I'm sure you'll love that!" Charles let out another frosty laugh. "I doubt you can handle it!"

Sean pulled a face. "Don't try to scare me. I'm not one to back down from a threat!"

"Guys, come on!" Noelle cut in, looking a bit exasperated as the two started to squabble. "You're both just trying to help me out. Mr. Smith, thank you!"

even if she knew it was not all for her sake. Still, she

Smith right away?" Noelle clearly remembered those words. "Plus, when I left, I asked Mr. Parker to look for

had a gut feeling when he left the house on

out of character for Sir Hoffman, unless he was biding his time for something. Just as Charles suspected, he got a call from customs first thing in the morning about a shipment being held

the middle of negotiations, so he

was Ronald who got the news from Andrew while he was outside. The guy who was supposed to be keeping Noelle safe in the shadows had been snatched by Sir Hoffman's goons, and Ronald

were smart to call

call, he tracked down Noelle's phone, which, lucky for him, was still in her purse

did not expect was to run into the Hoffman family's grumpy old patriarch. "Your grandpa is a piece of work. When I got there, he was in the middle of a chat with Noelle, babbling about everything but the kitchen