The Second Life of a Discarded Heiress

Chapter 45

Citrine could feel the air around Raymond growing colder, bit by bit.

In this moment, it was as if they'd been transported back to their very first encounter-strangers to the core, each harboring nothing but suspicion and the worst intentions toward the other.

That felt right, somehow.

A faint, sardonic smile tugged at Citrine's lips.

Warm, sentimental family moments were never her forte; scenes like this were better left to seasoned performers like Jeanette.

Raymond, for his part, felt a knot tightening in his chest-he was completely at a loss for the first time. He couldn't begin to guess what was running through the girl's mind, but he knew one thing: this little troublemaker in front of him was just a prickly hedgehog desperate for affection.

He scoffed, shifting uncomfortably. "Kid, don't forget-you're officially part of the Carmichael family now. I'm your father."

"What could I possibly want from you?" he went on, voice gruff but not unkind. "I have everything I could ever need. I'm certainly not scheming against a scrappy kid like you."

Even if he was out of his depth, Raymond had no intention of stripping away her defenses by force. Someday, he believed, she'd let her guard down on her own.

Raymond in quiet

to be cold and dismissive? Wasn't that how he

wide and round, her whole body frozen like a startled penguin- adorable, though she'd

hair a firm ruffle, chuckling. "Kids are supposed to act like kids. Don't overthink things. The more you worry,

kid," Citrine grumbled, turning away with a pout. She

of herself, Raymond's words swept away the gloom that had been hanging

way, were you the one who got

hadn't done it,

nodded. "Yeah, that was

"Could you let it stay up

made things easier for whoever was pulling

meaning with a single glance. Without

several times, but he declined every call without a second thought. The caller was persistent, though, dialing again and again without giving

voice cut through the silence. "Aren't you going to

at his

his gaze hardening as he glanced at the familiar number flashing on