Ditched the Cheater, Pregnant by Mr. Righ novel Chapter 6

6 He Throws Parties?

It took Quinn two days to make the comforters for Rosalie.
In this day and age, you could buy any kind of bedding imaginable. But Rosalie always insisted that the ones Quinn made were different, warmer, lighter, and infused with the “scent of home.” Elaine, of course, had eaten it up, immediately decreeing that Quinn would make new ones for Rosalie every year from now on.
Quinn looked at the finished comforters, and a sad smile touched her lips. If only Rosalie had truly been my sister. If only she didn‘t hate me.
From the moment Rosalie had returned, everything had changed. Her parents were different. Her friends had vanished. To the outside world, Quinn had gained a sister who adored her, and her adoptive parents’ love remained unchanged. She was the luckiest girl in the world.
But she finally understood the truth. From the day Rosalie came back, Quinn hadn’t had a home at all.
These two comforters would be the last she ever made.
After dropping them off, Quinn was driving home when a call came in from Chase.
“Saturday afternoon, you’re coming with me to a party on a yacht,” he said, his tone clipped. “Make sure you look stunning, understand?”
“I’m not going.”
“Quinn, what the hell has gotten into you lately? If this is your little game to get my attention, then fine, congratulations, it worked. Happy now?”
When you cared about someone, their every word was a weapon.
But when you stopped caring, it was all just noise, like a dog barking at nothing.
For the first time, Quinn realized how liberating it was to finally let go of this dead-end love.
“Think whatever you want,” she said. “Chase, I wasn’t joking about the divorce.”
She hung up before he could reply.
She must make her intentions crystal clear to Chase. Next, she would have to convince Elaine and her husband. But before that, she needed to focus on the design competition she had entered. Once that was over, she would sit down with her parents and have the talk. They were obsessed with appearances, but if she was resolute, surely they would respect her decision.
As she got out of her car, a new message popped up on her phone. It was from Chase.
“Saturday’s party is important. As long as you are Mrs. Sterling, you will fulfill your duties as my wife.”
Quinn didn’t reply. She went to her room to work on her competition entry.
She sat for a long time, her mind a blank. Frustrated, she opened her phone, scrolling through old videos for inspiration. A clip of a singer appeared on the screen, something Lucy had sent her. He was one of those pretty-boy teen idols Lucy was obsessed with, constantly raving about his “divine looks.”
It was an exaggeration. If a man like that truly existed, he would look more like the man she had seen at the tailor shop.
His tall frame and deep-set, handsome features flashed in her mind. She jolted back to reality, shocked that she had been daydreaming about a stranger’s face. She patted her cheeks, took a deep breath, and looked back at her sketchpad. Suddenly, a novel idea sparked in her mind.
Inspiration flooded her, and her pencil flew across the paper.
Her phone was on silent. It lit up several times with an incoming call, but she was too absorbed to notice.
Unable to reach Quinn, Rosalie was so furious she almost threw her phone against the wall. Then Chase called again, whining that Quinn was serious about the divorce and asking what he should do.
Rosalie fumed. What should he do? How should I know? The man was completely useless. He couldn‘t even handle one little Quinn!
She was suddenly incredibly grateful she had pushed him to marry Quinn all those years ago. Otherwise, he would still be clinging to her. She would never stoop to being with a man like that.
The man she wanted was someone better.
Just then, her phone pinged. She snatched it up.
At the very top of her chat list, a pinned conversation with the single-letter nickname “J” had a new message.
It was from him.
Rosalie sat up straighter, her heart pounding sweetly as she clutched the phone. It had taken her almost three years to get him to add her as a contact. She had spent two and a half of those years slowly breaking down his defenses. It was only in the last six months that they had started chatting intermittently.
But in the last month, he had become noticeably warmer.
Her hard work was paying off. All the effort she had poured into crafting the perfect persona, the ambitious, innocent, beautiful girl, through her texts, her photos, and their conversations was about to bear fruit.
The head of the Sterling family, Julian, would be wrapped around her little finger soon.
The boys who used to follow Quinn around, as successful as they were, were nothing compared to Julian. Once Rosalie was his girlfriend, it would be the perfect time to make her triumphant return to the country.
But the moment wasn’t quite right. She could sense he was starting to fall for her, but she needed a catalyst, something to push him over the edge and make him confess. She would have to think of something.
Back in Lakeshore City, in the Apex Tower, Julian put down his phone, took off his glasses, and pinched the bridge of his nose.
He pressed the intercom button.
“Have a gift prepared for…”
He paused, frowning, and changed his mind.
“Never mind.”
It wasn’t the right time to send a gift. And when he did, he should choose it himself.
The yacht party was tomorrow. Julian had left the planning to Zeke, who excelled at this sort of thing, like parties, galas, and art shows. He had a passion for all of it. A trip out to sea was a minor affair for Zeke.
Many of the invited guests were surprised. It wasn’t that they had never been on a yacht, but they were shocked that Julian was the owner. Though he was the head of the powerful Sterling family, managing generations of accumulated wealth, he was famously private and reserved. He had given interviews to financial magazines, but only as text; he never allowed his photo to be taken. A global survey of the ten most mysterious billionaire families had ranked the Sterling family near the top.
And he was throwing a party on a yacht? What a surprise!
The combination of sun, sand, yachts, and heirs conjured images of powerful men surrounded by a sea of bikini-clad women. But picturing Julian’s face in that scene sent a shiver down many a spine. They looked down at the thick, formal invitation in their hands.
Was this really a party or a G7 summit?
Charles personally called Quinn to ask about her attendance. She couldn’t refuse an elder. Though she and Chase didn’t live with his parents, Charles had always been kind to her. Now that he was asking directly, she couldn’t bring herself to be rude.
After hanging up, Quinn tried to console herself. It was just a party. She would make an appearance and leave.
She had no idea that Chase had hired a professional styling team, who spent two hours on her hair and makeup before dressing her in an elegant evening gown.
Chase was very pleased with the result.
“You are my wife,” he said, looking her up and down. “When you’re out, you represent my family’s image. Don’t you dare embarrass me on that yacht. If you were half as sensible as Rosalie, I wouldn’t have to worry so much.”
Quinn ignored him and silently got into the car.
When they arrived at the marina, the sight of the colossal white vessel took her breath away.
She couldn’t have known that on this yacht, an event was about to unfold that would change her life forever.