?Chapter 153:


    “If Cedric refuses, we’ll find someone else willing to marry into our family. That way, your father and I can ensure you’re taken care of.” Joyce rested her chin in her hand, pondering it.


    “Then I’ll go with Cedric. Life’s too long to waste on someone I can’t even tolerate.” Joyce knew that anyone desperate enough to marry into their family probably wouldn’t be much of a prize.


    Joyce had always been pampered, putting her ownfort above everything else.


    Katrina stared at her daughter in silence for a moment,pletely at a loss for words.


    After a long pause, she sighed again, her voice soft.


    “Let me handle it.”


    As they drove home, Richard nced over at Alexander and asked,


    “Joyce is pregnant, it seems. What’s your take on that?”


    He couldn’t stomach the idea of losing the Harper family’s fortune.


    Joyce, with her impulsive, naive nature, was easy to manipte.


    As Katrina had warned, trying to control Dani the way they controlled Joyce was futile. Dani was not someone they could bend to their will—not now, not ever.


    Alexander stayed silent, his eyes glued to his phone.


    Richard leaned back in the back seat, his voice calm and detached.


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    “Honestly, whether there’s a child or not, it doesn’t really matter to me.


    You don’t love her, after all. Just treat it like taking in a stray animal—don’t let itplicate things. As for who you choose to be with outside of this marriage, that’s entirely up to you. I won’t get in your way.”


    He nced at Alexander.


    “So? What do you say?”


    Alexander, clearly uninterested, didn’t look up from his phone as he answered, “Whatever you say.”


    He had long given up any hopes or expectations for marriage. Whether it was Dani or Joyce—it was just exchanging one face for another.


    To him, there was no real difference.


    That was how he had always seen it.


    Now, as he sat there, loosening his tie, he convinced himself that nothing had changed.


    If Alexander outright rejected it, Richard would push even harder. But when Alexander agreed without hesitation, Richard hesitated.


    “Give it two weeks,” Richard said after a beat.


    “If nothinges of you and Dani by then, you can marry Joyce.” The pregnancy didn’t matter. Joyce’s family would make up for it.


    In Richard’s view, it was hardly a bad deal.


    What happened between Alexander and Joyce after the marriage? That wasn’t his concern.


    With that thought, Richard looked out the window, his mind wandering in its own direction.


    Once he had sent Lillian to gauge Dani’s feelings, Cedric didn’t look away from his phone, his focus locked on the screen. For the first time ever, a hint of fear flickered within him.


    He paced restlessly across the familiar construction site, where he was known to everyone.


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