Always Been Yours (Tessa and Nicholas) novel Chapter 408

Chapter 408 Nothing Good Will Come Out of a Forced Marriage
Ah, forget it. Nothing good will come out of a forced marriage, anyway, thought Stefania. She said apologetically, “Hayley, what happened this time was Nicholas’ fault. If you need any help in the future, feel free to ask us.”
Hayley pursed her lips and nodded, but her eyes flickered for an instant. In reality, her actual purpose for coming here wasn’t to call off her engagement to Nicholas, but to pretend to compromise herself in order for the Sawyer Family’s elders to see how mature and sensible she was.
Kieran left the hospital afterward. As soon as he got into his car, he immediately gave Nicholas a video call. “Nicholas, let me tell you this. The engagement has been called off, so you can come back now.”
“The engagement has been called off?” Nicholas’ surprised voice sounded through the phone. “What happened? You’ve got to explain it in detail.”
“What else could’ve happened? Hayley can’t afford to lose face after you kicked up such a huge fuss by leaving. And besides, Grandpa was hospitalized again today, so she came to have the engagement called off.” Kieran told Nicholas what had happened just now. Then, he questioned, “Nicholas, when are you gonna come back? You’d better come back quickly, or I’m gonna die young. You’ve got no idea how unbearable my life has been these days. Not only do I have to deal with the company’s affairs, but I’m threatened by Mom and Dad every single day.”
Nicholas was unmoved by Kieran’s complaints, though. He replied in an impassive voice, “I have no plans to come back anytime soon.”
Kieran whined in the video, “Why? Hasn’t the engagement been called off? Why wouldn’t you come back? Do you really want to see me die young?”
Nicholas’ eyes darkened. Inwardly, he knew very well that the annulment of his engagement to Hayley was just a stall. After all, he knew Remus well enough. If Remus could really change his mind so readily, he wouldn’t have had to rebel to such an extent. And besides, Hayley was a scheming woman who could come up with all kinds of tricks, so it was hard to say that she didn’t have another plan in mind.
Seeing how Nicholas remained silent in the video, Kieran could actually guess what he was thinking. He couldn’t help but mutter, “No matter whether the annulment of your engagement to Hayley is real or not, the engagement is at least called off for now. If you still don’t come back, Grandpa, Dad, and Mom are certainly not gonna let you abandon the company like this.”
Nicholas thought up an idea. “What about this? Tell Grandpa that I can run the company remotely, but I’m not going back anytime soon.”
His words filled Kieran with deep resentment. “All you know is let me do such thankless jobs.”
“That’s because you’re the right person for the job.” Nicholas glanced at him with a barely noticeable flicker of amusement in his eyes. “If there’s nothing else, I gotta go.”
“Hold on a minute! Who said there’s nothing else?” Kieran hurriedly stopped Nicholas from hanging up. He asked, “You haven’t told me why you’re not coming back!”
Nicholas didn’t hide his plans. “I’m gonna take advantage of these days to take Greg to different places to foster our bond with each other. Ever since he was born, I had either been carrying out missions for the army or busying myself with the company’s affairs. I want to make it up to him for that.”
Kieran didn’t believe every single word Nicholas had said, though. He curled his lips before saying sourly, “You wanna make it up to Greg? The way I see it, that’s not the only reason. My future sister-in-law is gonna travel with you two, right?”
Remus stayed in the hospital for two days. After his health improved, he went back to the Sawyer Residence. On the day of his discharge from the hospital, he learned from Tobias about the annulment of Nicholas’ engagement to Hayley. Tobias, Stefania, and Kieran hadn’t told him about the annulment of their engagement earlier out of concern for Remus’ health.
On their way home, Kieran took the opportunity to tell Remus that Nicholas wouldn’t come back anytime soon. “Nicholas said he’s planning to take Greg to different places to foster their bond.”
Remus’ expressionless face betrayed no sign of emotions when he heard Kieran’s words.
Seeing Remus’ expressionless face, Stefania shot Kieran a glare and started to persuade the old man, saying, “Dad, it’s true that Nicholas hadn’t spent much time with Greg all these years; he was either busy with the army’s missions or running the company. He said that he’d be running the company remotely, anyway, so why don’t we just let him be?”