Under the heiress facade

Nicholas toppled forward and hit his head on the door. He let out a grunt of pain before clapping a hand to his throbbing forehead, cursing, "What the hell?"

"Sorry, Mr. Sanderson! I didn't get a proper look at you. I thought you were a burglar!" Wayne confessed apologetically, rubbing the back of his neck as he flashed Nicholas a sheepish grin.

"Burglar? Have you ever seen a burglar as handsome as me, you nitwit?" Nicholas snapped. He was about to raise his leg to return Wayne's kick when Wayne dodged.

Upon seeing the red bump on Nicholas' forehead, Catherine quickly opened shop and brought him an ice pack to bring down the swelling.

After that, Everly applied a soothing ointment on the bump. The swelling went down within moments, leaving only a faint, greenish bruise to heal on its own.

The entire ordeal lasted for about an hour before Hera finally deigned to emerge from the western wing, yawning. She cut a withering look at Nicholas and drawled, "Isn't our flight at noon? What are you doing here so early? Do you crave a beating that badly?"

"All you do is sleep! Are you in hibernation or something? Don't you know how much time one wastes on sleeping? You can sleep all you want after you're dead!" Nicholas barked.

He rubbed his throbbing forehead begrudgingly. The curls he had spent a better part of the morning blow-drying and setting were ruined after the ice pack. He wouldn't be in such a pathetic state had a certain young lady bothered to wake up sooner.

"I suggest you keep your mouth shut, Mr. Sanderson. Hera usually works late into the night and wakes up later in the morning. Also, she's not a morning person, and she hates getting woken up," Everly pointed out.

Go wash up and have your breakfast,

you to drive. How about I come with you? I can drive," Wayne offered. Nicholas cast Wayne a sidelong glance. He was starting to think Wayne had kicked him on purpose. He ground out, "No need! I'm perfectly

drive you guys. Herie doesn't have

from driving the entire week. If Wayne goes with you, you could tap out any time

to get on her good side. As such, he had no choice but to agree to her

that the

to the airport, where Samantha was waiting for them. They

while Samantha had two large suitcases in

during the flight. He began to see the bright

time with Hera.

and Samantha might have gotten spooked while

just convince him

mentally approved the plan. The romance aspect of the trip was back on track. As

them disembarked the plane at three in the afternoon and gathered by

be heading toward our