Deceiving Her Ears: Ignoring Your Call-Chapter 9: Not the First Meeting

Natalie in a qipao was nothing like her usual cold self; every move she made was seductive and charming.

"Dressed like this, trying to seduce who? My uncle?" Isaac Vaughn’s voice was low, cold, and tinged with anger.

Natalie’s eyes reddened a little at the corners, she gritted her teeth and spat, "Isaac, you son of a—"

The end of her words faded away.

He grabbed her chin and tilted her head into a perfect angle for a kiss.

Then he flipped her whole body over.

Just as he lowered his head—

"Smack!"

Natalie slapped him hard across the face.

Isaac’s face snapped to the side, his tongue against the inside of his cheek.

His gaze swept over Natalie’s half-raised, still-trembling hand. He grinned wickedly, "Pretty strong."

As soon as he finished, he kissed her even harder.

Natalie frantically punched him with her fists.

They struggled and pushed at each other.

"Smack!"

Another slap.

Harder than the first.

Isaac turned his head, laughing. When he looked back at her, his obsidian eyes flashed coldly.

"I still want to kiss you."

He twisted her wrist up high and asked her, "So, do you want to hit me first, or let me kiss you first?"

Natalie stared at him in disbelief, her eyes glistening with tears.

How could he be so shameless?

"If you won’t answer, I’ll just kiss you first."

Natalie turned her head to the side with all her might.

His lips brushed over her soft, burning cheek, tasting a hint of salt.

When he realized what it was, Isaac’s expression shifted slightly.

*

"Click."

A jet-blue flame lit up half the man’s face, the other half lost in shadowy gloom.

Isaac blew out a smoke ring, listening to the rustling sounds at his side.

Natalie quickly straightened her clothes, picked up a hairpin from the floor, twisted her hair up into a bun, and went to open the door.

Suddenly, a hand reached out and pressed against the door.

Natalie gripped the doorknob desperately, her whole body tense and resistant: "Get out of my way!"

Isaac sighed lightly, just about to say something when his phone rang in his pocket.

"Hello, baby, where are you?"

Isaac glanced down at the person half-pinned in front of his chest, and answered his mom, "Second floor, last guest room."

——

Vanessa Grant heard faint rustling outside the door and pushed it open suspiciously.

The whole room was dark.

"Baby?"

"...Yeah."

Vanessa fumbled for the light and flipped it on, spotting her son sitting on the sofa, the nearby curtains drawn tightly shut.

"Why are the curtains closed in broad daylight?" She walked in. "Baby, what are you doing here?"

As soon as she finished, Vanessa noticed the red handprint on Isaac’s face and exclaimed, "Baby, what happened to your face?"

Isaac pulled his mom’s hand away as she reached to touch his face, "Had a headache and tried to find a room to rest, but then ran into a—"

The word "little deaf girl" circled in his throat.

"A maid. She mistook me for some creep and..."

"Mistook you for a creep? And even hit you!" Vanessa looked at her son with aching sympathy. "Tell Mommy which maid it was! She must be new! I’ll tell your grandpa to fire her!"

"Forget it. If my dad found out, he’d just call me a troublemaker again."

As Isaac spoke, Vanessa understood, too.

If this blew up, Ansel Vaughn might just get so angry he’d forbid his son from returning to Janton altogether.

"Baby, just listen to Mommy, go apologize to your dad, and give in a little. It’s not shameful for a son to be afraid of his father. You’re so far away in Seaharbor, Mommy misses you and can’t even see you right away."

Vanessa’s eyes turned red as she spoke.

Isaac surrendered helplessly, putting his arm around her shoulder. "Alright, Ms. Grant, I’ll do as you say, okay? Just don’t cry. If your husband finds out I made you cry, he’ll skin me alive."

As they walked out, Isaac asked casually, "So what’s going on with my uncle and Natalie... that Miss Kendall? My uncle’s way older than her."

"Only eight years older. When that little girl reaches legal marrying age, she’ll marry your uncle."

Isaac’s gaze darkened, though his voice stayed nonchalant. "So soon? My uncle would really agree to that?"

"Hmph, like he has a choice, unless he’s sick of living the good life and wants to suffer instead."

Jason is Old Mr. Grant’s son from his old age. It’s a pity he didn’t inherit any of the old man’s ruthless decisiveness—just a lazy playboy, really.

The Grant family’s company got trashed by him, nearly went bankrupt.

Even with Old Mr. Grant stepping in, he couldn’t save it in time.

That’s when all they could do was seek out a marriage alliance.

"Don’t underestimate that girl. She holds ten percent of Beckett Group shares in her hands."

"So the Beckett family values her a lot?"

Isaac found it odd.

If they really valued her, why would they let her marry a useless bum like his uncle?

Plus, when that pregnant woman made a scene just now, Julian Beckett’s first reaction wasn’t even to defend his sister.

"She got those shares from Old Mr. Beckett. When she was eight, she saved his life. He had a heart attack, but everyone in the Beckett family was busy celebrating Julian’s birthday—nobody noticed. She was the one who gave Old Mr. Beckett his medicine."

"Afterwards, Old Mr. Beckett gave her ten percent of his shares. But with one condition: she has to get married for it to take effect."

So that was what his grandpa had in mind.

Isaac’s expression revealed nothing.

——

As soon as Natalie stepped into the banquet hall, a hand suddenly grabbed her arm from behind.

After what happened upstairs, she was on edge.

She instinctively flung his hand off and looked back.

Jason saw her face and froze.

Maybe he was imagining it, but after just a little time apart, there was some new, indescribable allure in Natalie’s eyes.

Especially those dewy, clear eyes paired with those soft, kissable lips—like feathers brushing across his heart, it tickled him.

Jason’s gaze landed on her lips, noticing they looked a little swollen, with her lipstick smudged at one side.

"Right here..."

He reached out to touch her almost unconsciously.

But before his hand could reach her, she dodged away.

From Isaac’s perspective not far off, it was plain flirting.

He sneered and turned to leave.

Natalie asked Jason flatly, "What do you want?"

Jason snapped out of it, coughed awkwardly, and wrung his fingers.

He’d almost touched her just now.

"Uh, the ceremony’s about to start. We should go..."

"Got it." Natalie stepped forward without pausing.

In front of all their gathered friends and relatives, Jason and Natalie exchanged engagement rings.

Then Jason wrapped an arm around Natalie from behind to cut the cake together.

"Isaac, where’d you run off to just now?" Old Mr. Grant finally caught sight of him.

It sounded like a rebuke, but there was no blame in his tone at all.

"I showed up right as Grandpa was getting mad, so I didn’t dare come over."

Knowing his grandson meant the woman causing a scene, Old Mr. Grant’s face stiffened for a second, then he quickly changed the subject: "Isaac, come here, let Grandpa talk to you."

Old Mr. Grant grabbed Isaac with one hand, and with the other pulled Natalie over to stand by his side.

"This is little Kendall, your uncle’s fiancée."

Isaac gave a sly, crooked smile, locking his eyes on Natalie’s cold face.

"Is this your first time meeting..."

"Not the first time."

Isaac suddenly cut off his grandpa.

Natalie looked over at him.

In her eyes there was coldness, faint annoyance, mockery, and a trace of fear she tried to hide but couldn’t quite conceal.

She must be afraid he’d expose their relationship here in public, right?

Interesting.

Isaac curled his lips upward.

"Oh? So you two have met before?" Old Mr. Grant sounded surprised by his grandson’s words.

Isaac’s smile deepened.

Not only met, but they’ve slept together too.