Sham Marriage Quit Real Heiress Strikes Back novel Chapter 301

May 22 M

Sham Mariage Quit, Real Heiress Strikes Back

Chapter 301 The Lakeside Gazebo

The wrought-iron gate swung open slowly, and a shaft of light cut through the dim, moonlit estate, falling directly in front of Elena.

It came from inside the villa.

She glanced toward it, squinting a little against the brightness.

For a moment, everything seemed unclear-but the light appeared almost inviting, bouncing gently ahead as if leading her somewhere.

Elena followed it past rose bushes and over the footbridge that crossed the man-made lake, until the beam settled on the center of the water.

That was when she noticed a new gazebo standing in the middle of the lake, which wasn’t all that large to begin with.

And there, under its arched roof, stood the man who was supposed to be overseas for meetings-dressed in a suit, a soft smile in his eyes.

Elena’s heart gave a little skip.

She slowed her steps, half-convinced she was seeing things.

Then Alexander walked toward her.

He took her hand-hers was cool-so he shrugged off his suit jacket and draped it over her shoulders. “Aren’t you going to take a closer look?”

“How did you…” Elena finally found her voice, still not quite believing what she was seeing.

“Come on,” he said gently, avoiding the question. His large hand enveloped hers as he led her toward the

closer they got, the warmer Elena’s eyes grew. gazebo in the middle of the lake. The

Once they stepped inside, she saw what was there and couldn’t hold back the tears.

“How did you find all these things…”

In the center of the gazebo hung a wooden swing. Carved into its seat were the words. Reserved for Little Princess Ellie.”

Beside it sat a small rocking horse, along with several other handmade toys make for her when she was little.

the kind Malcolm used to

Back when she left the countryside, she hadn’t been able to take any of those with her. Richard and Catherine wouldn’t allow “those rustic things” in the Hart household-they found them embarrassing

Malcolm hadn’t wanted to cause trouble for her either, so he told her not to bother.

Years later, after her adoptive parents passed away, she’d returned to her old hometown hoping to find those childhood treasures, but they were long gone.

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Chapter 301 The Lakeside Gazebo

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Now, she crouched down and brushed her fingertips over the carved letters on the swing seat. In her mind. she could see Malcolm carefully etching each stroke.

“Daddy, none of the other kids want to play with me. They say the spots on my face are ugly”

She’d had chickenpox when she was five.

The other children kept their distance, and she missed running around outside. She’d run to Malcolm and Vivian in tears.

Her father couldn’t stand to see her sad.

He was good with his hands-stayed up all night once making her that swing and the little rocking horse.

But as her fingers traced the wood, she noticed something off.

“This isn’t the one Dad made back then, is it?” She turned to Alexander.

He paused, then chuckled. “Could you tell? I copied your father’s carving stroke by stroke.”

He’d even deliberately weathered the wood to make it look older.

“Well, I thought about carving a little smiley face next to your dad’s words, but I ended up cutting my finger with the knife.”

And sure enough, there was no smiley face on the swing seat.

“I see.” Alexander said softly.

He sat down on the swing and sighed. “Even the best-laid plans have flaws. No matter how accurate the details Julian dug up were, some things just couldn’t be perfectly recreated.”

Elena settled beside him, leaning her cheek against his shoulder.

hold

She understood why he’d done all this-so she’d have something onto when she missed her father.

The original swing and rocking horse were gone for good.

But now she had new ones, made with the same love.

Her father would have been happy.

As the New Year approached, Elena and Alexander made plans to buy gifts for Walter and the rest of the family.

It was Elena’s first year as part of the Kingsley family, and she wanted to

Alexander cleared his

to

Besides calligraphy art and shopping with her at the mall

asked.

pick something meaningful

is there anything else your grandfather and mom really like? Elena

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Chapter 301 The Lakeside Gazebo

She’d been looking around for a while but still hadn’t found the perfect gift.

“They’ll love anything you choose,” Alexander replied casually. In his eyes, the best gift Elena could give the family was simply taking good care of herself.

“I should’ve known better than to ask you,” she said, shaking her head with a smile.

They happened to be passing a jewelry store just then.

Elena tugged him inside and browsed carefully until she spotted a beautiful pair of emerald drop earrings.

“What do you think of these?”

“They’re fine.”

“Can you give me a real opinion?” Elena pretended to be annoyed.

Alexander smiled. “Didn’t I just say it? Anything from you is fine. You’re putting so much thought into their gifts-have you thought about your husband’s feelings? Do I get a present too?”

A sales associate nearby overheard and laughed softly.

Elena gave him a light pinch. “Never mind. I’ll decide on my own.

Asking him really was pointless.

After looking around a bit more, Elena bought the earrings, then picked out a diamond tennis bracelet for Sophia and a sleek watch for Adrian.

As for Walter’s gift, she figured she’d keep an eye out for a piece of calligraphy art he might like another time.

Feeling pleased with her choices, she was ready to head out.

Just then, three people walked through the entrance.

Sometimes the world felt uncomfortably small-when luck wasn’t on your side, you could run into someone no matter how far apart you were.

The jewelry store entrance wasn’t very wide, and half of it was now blocked.

There was no avoiding it: Elena came face-to-face with Camille, Nathan, and Catherine.

。

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Sham Marriage Quit, Real Heiress Strikes Back