CHAPTER 451 I’M NOT TAKING THIS
Madeline shook her head, and seeing that there was nothing else to do there, she proposed leaving.
Noah took advantage of the opportunity to grab her hand, unwilling to let her go. He whispered into her ear, "Please wait for a while. Something interesting is about to happen."
As Madeline was about to decline, she caught sight of a familiar figure darting through the crowd, and she instinctively had the urge to pursue.
"Don't go chasing. He'll come out on his own," said Noah affectionately as he wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his chin atop her head.
"How could you treat me like this, Noah? You promised to marry me!" Annalise couldn't take it any longer and yelled angrily at Noah.
She received only a cursory glance from Noah, who quickly returned his attention to Madeline after less than two seconds. "It is the heir of Quinton Corporation who wants to marry you," he said.
"Are you not the heir to the Quinton Corporation? Noah, is this woman threatening you with your children? I can't believe that you would lie to me!" Annalise sobbed bitterly, hiding her face behind her hands.
Rowan, who was standing next to her, couldn't bear to see her in such a state, so he lightly patted her back to comfort her. Annalise threw herself into his arms and wept uncontrollably in his embrace. In between sobs, she said, "Ro, I want to marry Noah. I want to marry him no matter what. He can't treat me like this. How could he stir my feelings and then dump me at the drop of a hat?"
"Go back first. I'll make sure he gives you an explanation," Rowan said, giving a wink to Oscar, who was standing nearby. Oscar reluctantly took Annalise from him.
However, Annalise was unwilling to leave. She pushed Oscar away and glared fiercely at Madeline. "No, I can't leave! This is my engagement party. The one who should leave is not me! It's her!" she exclaimed.
After saying that, she rushed toward Madeline and grabbed her face, convinced Noah got bewitched by her looks, causing him to suddenly change his mind.
The unexpected turn of events caught Rowan off guard. He immediately grabbed Annalise and snapped, "What do you think you're doing?"
"I want to scratch her face. She's the one who made me into a laughingstock! She stole my Noah!" Annalise charged forward again, heedless of Rowan's attempt to restrain her.
Oscar firmly placed his hand on her shoulder, restraining her from moving toward Madeline, and guided her away from the situation.
Frustrated, Madeline pinched Noah's waist and said, "It's entirely your fault. You made me the target of unwarranted insults and even made people hate me for no reason at all."
"It is my fault. I should have come out to meet you when you showed up, but something came up at the last minute, and I got delayed. Mrs. Quincy, please forgive me, okay?" To tempt her into accepting his apology, Noah turned his head to look at her and gave her puppy dog eyes.
"Using your good looks to scheme, how shameless," Madeline said as she turned her face away and refused to look at him again.
"No matter, as long as it works on you." Noah noticed Madeline's attempts to control her emotions. He was confident that his flirtations would work on her. He enjoyed teasing her and watching her blush and shyly avoid his gaze.
"Ahem. Noah, we need an explanation from you," Rowan cut in as he noticed the couple lost in their flirtatious bubble. He frowned, breaking through the pink aura between them that seemed impenetrable to others.
Noah lifted his head and cast an annoyed glance at him before speaking nonchalantly, "Why the rush? Let's eat first. My wife is hungry."
Madeline wanted to refute that she wasn't hungry, but before she could say anything, her stomach had betrayed her with a loud grumble.
Noah bantered with the others as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred, and they all followed suit by carrying on with their eating, drinking, and socializing as they normally would.
They came today not to attend the engagement party but to curry favor with Noah and expand their social networks while the opportunity arose.
When Annalise witnessed it, she wanted to make a scene, but with the three Solace brothers holding her back, she decided against it.
"Clearly, Noah has no intention of getting engaged to you. If you make a scene now, he could have someone kick you out immediately, and then you will be the one embarrassed," Oscar chided her sternly, his expression icy.
Annalise was filled with a strong sense of injustice. She couldn't understand Noah's sudden change of heart or why her beloved brothers had not only failed to support her in standing up for herself but had even gone so far as to teach her a lesson instead.
"I'll take you home first," Alexander said, putting on his sunglasses and resigning himself to being her chauffeur. It would be a shame, he thought, to have to miss the remainder of the show.
"I refuse to go home! I won't let that wretched Madeline win!" Annalise exclaimed, her eyes burning with intense loathing as she watched Noah's arm draped around Madeline's waist, conversing with the elites.
"Annalise, could you please act more reasonably? Our family intends to expand business in the country. If we irk Noah to the point of no return, we'll end up forfeiting the entire domestic market," Rowan said, feeling uneasy upon hearing Annalise's criticism of Madeline.
Annalise shot back with a sneer, "So that's why all of you just stood by and watched me get bullied and then try to gain favor with Noah like a bunch of lap dogs?"
"I already told you. I'll make sure Noah explains what happened today and publicly apologizes to you, but only if you agree not to create a scene right now."
"Why should I suffer in silence? I am the esteemed Miss Annalise Solace of the Solace family. Why should I put up with such humiliation?" Annalise was discontented and resolved to seek her grandfather's support.
Her grandfather was the only person in the world who truly cared about her.
Rowan grabbed her arm and stopped her in her tracks, saying, "You only have yourself to blame! When Noah abruptly announced your engagement online, I warned you that he didn't truly intend to marry you, but you still accepted his proposal!"
Rowan received a glare from Annalise, who believed she had done nothing wrong. The ones who were in the wrong were obviously Noah and Madeline. They played her and deliberately made her look bad in front of everyone!
"Did you forget what Noah said? He came to the Solace residence to say he would throw a lavish engagement party today. His only request was that you not ruin the event, no matter what happened, even if he called off the engagement. Everything was written in black and white, and you signed it. Have you forgotten about it all?"
Rowan looked at her with utter disappointment. When Noah asked her to sign that agreement, Rowan found that his behavior was too deceitful and had the urge to punch him on the spot. However, Annalise defended Noah and falsely accused Rowan of deliberately obstructing their engagement out of fear that her marriage to Noah would lead to the Solace family's wealth split.
Whatever unsavory words she could think of, she just spat them out.
Rowan realized for the first time that her seemingly well-behaved exterior belied a suspicious heart. She feared her three brothers would drive her out of the family and seize her rightful share of the family fortune. That was why she purposefully fawned over their grandfather.
He finally realized why their grandfather had previously treated him and his two brothers with such contempt.
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