Rejected Heiress, Reigning Queen novel Chapter 200

Even after they stepped out of the stairwell, Emma Lockwood kept her arms wrapped tightly around Carter Harrington's waist, her head bowed in deep thought.

Carter's eyes were dark with restraint. After a long moment, he murmured, "Are we going out yet?"

Emma snapped back to reality, instantly retracting her hands. She turned her head in acute embarrassment. "Yeah. Let's go."

"Why didn't you want to step out just now?"

Carter was genuinely confused. If they had walked out right then, they could have caught the mole red-handed without even needing hard evidence.

Emma shook her head, choosing not to elaborate.

The person talking had been VP Levi's assistant. Even if they had cornered her, she might never have confessed who was actually pulling her strings.

It was better to keep her in play and see how deep the rot went.

She had a gut feeling this was far too complex. Even in cutthroat corporate warfare, orchestrating a violent mugging without even knowing what Levi was carrying was incredibly reckless.

"Let's go see Grandfather first."

Emma glanced behind her. Taking the elevator now felt too risky, so they opted to take the stairs down.

Carter's chest tightened with a bitter ache. Emma was keeping everything from him now.

Was she building walls against him again?

He followed her in heavy silence, his eyes clouded with self-blame.

He really was a failure of a husband.

Emma checked Douglas Harrington's pulse, thoroughly reviewed his detailed medical reports, and finally wrote out a specialized herbal prescription.

"Emma, my dear, even though you and Carter don't want a grand wedding, the Harrington family can't just pretend nothing happened. When it's convenient for you, why don't we host a proper banquet for the two families?"

While Emma was still hesitating, Douglas pressed on, "It's the perfect opportunity for me to officially hand full control of the Harringtons over to Carter."

"Whatever you think is best, Grandfather. I have no objections."

Carter hadn't expected Emma to agree. His mind raced, wondering if she was compromising just for his sake.

She probably was.

Even if she wasn't, he was going to believe she was.

Carter instantly managed to convince himself into a better mood.

Getting her approval made Douglas laugh warmly. He immediately waved Carter over. "Tell the butler to start drafting the guest list. We'll host it at Cloudwater Island."

What Emma completely failed to notice was the radiant, victorious grin that bloomed across Travis's face as she dragged him away. The taunting smirk had transferred perfectly from him to Carter.

Now it was Carter's turn to stand there, his gaze dark and murderous, radiating pure irritation.

Julian took in the intense undercurrents of jealousy and shook his head helplessly.

"Before she officially became our junior, Travis used to bully her relentlessly. So, his protectiveness over her is mixed with a lot of overcompensation and guilt. He's used to micro-managing her life, which makes him ridiculously territorial. Try not to take it personally."

Julian offered the explanation, desperate to ensure Travis didn't accidentally ruin his junior's marriage.

"He's just having a hard time accepting that she got married out of the blue. You have a sister too, so you should understand how he feels."

Carter nodded politely on the surface, but internally, he scoffed coldly.

Travis's possessiveness went way beyond standard brotherly protection.

If Carter wanted to secure his place by Emma's side, he was going to have to fight tooth and nail for it.

Meanwhile, inside the hospital room, Emma was left utterly paralyzed by a single sentence from Levi.

"Are you saying the sample we were supposed to test today was going to be submitted for the government grant project?"

Levi nodded grimly. "And our biggest competitor is the Lockwood family."