third person's POV
Meanwhile, Vanya looked at Cliff, who was already speeding, and said, "Cliff, are you crazy? Why are you driving so fast?"
The car was already going over 120 miles an hour, and she didn't get what Cliff was mad about.
After Vanya said that, Cliff pulled the car over right away. He hit the brakes so hard that Vanya lurched forward and almost hit the windshield.
"Cliff! What are you even mad about?"
Cliff looked grim, his tone cold: "What happened today, you set it up, right?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." Vanya looked away.
"How did Melinda just happen to show up at the restaurant? How did Ginevra know I brought you here to eat?"
Cliff said in a low voice, "I let you do things, but I'm not stupid. What did you really want? Are you trying to push me to them, or..."
"You were overthinking it," Vanya said flatly. "It was just a coincidence, I had no idea. Melinda probably just showed up by chance. As for Guinevere coming, that was because the old lady told her to. It had nothing to do with me."
Seeing Vanya's cold look, Cliff lowered his voice and said, "If you wanted to show off your status in front of everyone and put Melinda down, I'd be happy, because that would mean you still admitted you were Mrs. Todd."
"If you wanted Guinevere and Melinda to fight, I'd be happy too, because it meant you cared about me and didn't want anyone else to take me."
Clifton paused and looked at Vanya again: "But you didn't mind them fighting over me, because you just didn't care about me."
He had wanted to fool himself, to tell himself that Vanya did all this out of jealousy, but there wasn't a hint of care in her eyes when she looked at him.
She did all this just for profit.
"Cliff, you were a businessman, and now I am too. You taught me all this." Vanya looked at him, her eyes only cold, with no trace of affection.
He didn't understand, and still doesn't, how Vanya, who used to care about him so much, suddenly changed like this.
Vanya had no expression—of course she knew the reason.
Because that Vanya, who used to be all about Cliff, didn't end up well.
She swore she would never take the old path again.
In his previous life, Cliff was a businessman. He always put profit first and didn't care at all about their marriage or the baby she was carrying.
In this life, she just used him as a means for herself and gave it back, that's all.
Vanya smiled, but there was no warmth in her eyes: "Cliff, the three months aren't up yet. Just do your best to move me and see if I'll fall in love with you again."
Cliff looked at her cold eyes, and his heart just sank: "Do you really hate me that much, not willing to accept me at all?"
Vanya said calmly, "I'll tell you the answer when the three months are up."
Back at the Todd house, Veronica wasn't asleep and was sitting in the living room waiting for them to come back.
Vanya and Cliff walked in one after the other, and Veronica looked them over.
She frowned and asked, "Where's Ginevra? Didn't I tell her to pick you up?"
Cliff held Vanya's hand: "We came back first."
"That's just too much!"
Veronica was obviously angry, "Guinevere was still a little girl, and you guys actually left her alone so late. Cliff, is this what Grandma usually taught you?"
"Grandma, Miss Watkins was an adult, I didn't have to watch her all the time."
Cliff spoke coldly, "My duty was to protect Vanya."
Vanya felt Cliff's grip on her hand tighten.
She knew Veronica just felt upset because Cliff was being nice to her now.
"Are you trying to make me mad?" Veronica got even angrier. "Go out right now and find Guinevere! If you don't, don't come back!"
Cliff never said no to Veronica's orders before, but this time he took out his phone and called Beta Elliot: "Elliot, go to the Royal Restaurant and bring Miss Watkins back."
"Yes, Alpha Cliff."
After hanging up, Cliff said to Veronica, "If Grandma's still worried, I'll get a few more people to look for her. I promise Miss Watkins will be home safe within an hour."
Veronica was left speechless by that sentence.
Cliff pulled Vanya upstairs.
Back in the room, Vanya said tiredly, "I'm going to take a shower."
"Vanya."
Cliff grabbed her arm, "Grandma didn't do it on purpose. If you're upset, I'll go talk to Grandma and ask her to move out."
"If Veronica accepted you, then she wouldn't be Veronica."
In this situation, the more Cliff stood up for her, the more dissatisfied Veronica got.
At that moment, Cliff's phone rang. Vanya glanced down, and the caller ID showed Beta Elliot.
Beta Elliot's voice sounded urgent: "Alpha Cliff, something's wrong."
"What happened?"
"Miss Watkins... was gone!"
"Did you go to the Watkins' place?"
"Already sent someone, Miss Watkins didn't go home."