Our Love Story: Hard to Guard Against the Sudden Love Strike-Chapter 486 - 464: An Imperial Proposal (Part 2)

Seeing Lawyer Caldwell, a senior attorney from Brimfield’s top law firm "Prosper Law Firm," Sienna Thornton was both surprised and delighted.

She quickly handed the fruit platter to Quentin Thorne, who stood beside her, and came out from between the sofa and coffee table to shake hands with Lawyer Caldwell: "Lawyer Caldwell, you and my dad..."

Lawyer Caldwell chuckled, not at all surprised: "I’ve known Thornton for many years! I didn’t expect Lawyer Thornton to be Thornton’s eldest daughter!"

Quentin Thorne promptly corrected: "It’s ’Lawyer Thorne’!"

He also didn’t anticipate that Sienna Thornton knew his former subordinate, so he asked hurriedly: "Caldwell, how do you know our Annie? How come I never heard you mention it?"

Lawyer Caldwell smiled at Sienna Thornton, whose eyes resembled Quentin Thorne’s, and said: "Back in 2016, when I was still with the California branch, the firm was looking to hire a few junior lawyers skilled in international law for training. Through a headhunter, we contacted some law students from top law schools in the United States, and your daughter was one of them. However, she ultimately rejected our offer."

Quentin Thorne laughed heartily, sounding very pleased: "She even turned down the offer to become a judicial clerk at the California Court. Why would she consider the offer for a junior position at the Prosper Law California Branch?"

"If I had known earlier that she was your daughter, Thornton, I would have asked you to persuade her! After all, it would eventually become her business, wouldn’t it?"

While Lawyer Caldwell said this, Sienna Thornton had just finished offering candy around the room, only catching the last part: "After all, it would eventually become her business."

She suddenly became suspicious and gave Quentin Thorne a quizzical look.

Lawyer Caldwell is one of the most renowned patent lawyers specializing in patent and intellectual property cases, so it was not surprising that he and Quentin Thorne were old acquaintances, given Thorne’s connections in the legal circles of Brimfield.

What was strange, however, was that Sienna Thornton recalled not seeing Lawyer Caldwell at Quentin Thorne’s birthday party, indicating that their relationship was just that of old acquaintances, not close friends.

Yet, looking at the other friends Quentin Thorne brought, they were all guests at his birthday party, who spoke up for him when Ian Grant deliberately targeted him.

In such situations, the presence of close friends was normal, but the presence of non-close ones was a bit odd.

Therefore, Sienna Thornton speculated that Lawyer Caldwell wasn’t here just for fun today, and it seemed more like Quentin Thorne needed him to handle something specific, which was why he came.

Thinking of this, Sienna Thornton wanted to privately ask Quentin Thorne, but he was busy hosting guests and supervising relatives arranging the bride’s traditional wedding items, bustling around. She didn’t get a chance to speak to Quentin until the Forrester Family arrived.

The Forrester Family arrived around eight o’clock, just like last time. Not wanting to miss the exact minute, the whole group hesitated outside the door, not daring to enter.

There was no heating in the hallway, and although there were no open windows, it was still cold. Sienna Thornton went over for a look and saw that the hallway was crowded, with Old Master Forrester and Simon Forrester standing at the front.

Simon Forrester wore an extremely formal dark double-breasted suit, holding a bouquet of champagne roses in one hand and blowing into the other for warmth. His handsome face was stiff, perhaps from the cold, the wait to enter, or both.

Looking at her watch, Sienna Thornton waved at him: "You can come in in five minutes!"

Simon Forrester glanced at Old Master Forrester, who was constantly checking his watch: "Looks like you’re determined to freeze me!"

Old Master Forrester turned his head and gave him a white-eyed look, continuing to check the time.

Sienna Thornton smirked, secretly chuckled, and called out, "Come straight in without taking off your shoes," before getting busy with other matters.

She had taken a quick look earlier and estimated that the Forrester Family came with about twenty people today, so she instructed Auntie King to prepare more sweet soup.

.

When Sienna Thornton came out of the kitchen, she saw the more than twenty members of the Forrester Family, who had been squeezed into the hallway, filing into her small apartment. At the front were Old Master Forrester and Simon Forrester, followed by Zane Forrester and his wife, Grandma Forrester, and Bianca Fordham’s family, with the rest unfamiliar to Sienna but bearing some resemblance to Old Master Forrester, possibly Forrester’s cousins.

Among the cousins, several young people carried various wedding gifts wrapped in bright red cloth, bringing them into the apartment, filling the entrance and dining area to the brim.

The living room already had many guests from the bride’s side, and with the groom’s guests now entering, the entire living room and indoor balcony were packed with people. Auntie King even had to invite some female guests to her and Melinda Linton’s room.

With so many people arriving at once, Auntie King was overwhelmed, so Sienna Thornton asked Melinda Linton to entertain the Forrester family patriarchs while she and Simon Forrester helped Auntie King serve sweet soup and candy to the guests.

After greeting the guests, the two finally held hands and returned to the living room to sit down.

Quentin Thorne was already chatting with Old Master Forrester.

When Sienna Thornton and Simon Forrester joined them, the conversation was about how, since the bride’s apartment wasn’t large enough to store a lot of items, they didn’t buy too many wedding candies. Instead, they prepared 88 boxes of candy each for good fortune, and the rest would be given to guests as voucher forms of wedding candies, to be slipped into the invitations for collection of gift boxes or equivalent value products at the service counter of The Imperial Hotel’s second-floor shopping center by the guests themselves.

This approach was quite novel, prompting discussions among the guests, saying they had never seen wedding candies given this way before. Some mentioned that The Imperial was a super five-star hotel, and its second-floor shopping center sold high-end luxury goods, with many luxury brand counters. How much in voucher value would it take to exchange for an item of equivalent value?

Listening to this, Sienna Thornton nudged Simon Forrester’s arm and whispered in his ear, "Is ’The Imperial’ also owned by your family?"

Simon Forrester smiled back, softly replying, "Why else would it be called ’The Imperial’?"

Sienna Thornton teased, "Don’t tell me every hotel and mall in Brimfield with ’Imperial’ in its name are your family’s properties?"

Simon Forrester nonchalantly said, "About 80% of them are."

Sienna Thornton: "..."

On the other side, under Quentin Thorne’s inquiry, Old Master Forrester took a small red suitcase from the hands of a Forrester family junior, and amidst everyone’s curiosity, opened it—

The suitcase was full of golden cards, about the size of a bank card, with a black magnetic stripe on the back and a white signature panel, resembling common VIP membership cards.

Old Master Forrester casually took out one and handed it to Quentin Thorne, laughing generously: "Each card is worth twenty thousand dollars, with a total of 888 cards! Just present this card to shop at The Imperial’s shopping center! No name required! No expiration date! No spending limit! Use as many as you have! Or, you can cash them out!"