A Warm Marriage After Rebirth

Chapter 197: Chapter 197: True Heart, False Intentions (6)

”Fine. Since you don’t appreciate this little heart, I’ll just take it back. We can just say I owe you a New Year’s gift! Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to get you something else!” As she spoke, Seraphina Sterling moved to take back the heart-shaped figure from his palm.

But in a flash, Terrence Grant snatched it back. Seraphina Sterling’s lips parted slightly. ’He’s so fast! And besides, didn’t he look down on the heart I folded? Why would he snatch it away?’

”Seraphina gave me your whole heart, how could I possibly dislike it? I was just overwhelmed with joy! It seems you’ve finally acknowledged my existence and the relationship between us. That makes me very happy! I accept this true heart of yours!”

As he spoke, Terrence Grant broke into a dazzling smile. It wasn’t his usual arrogant and domineering smirk, but a truly genuine grin that came from the bottom of his heart. It was so radiant that it even left Seraphina Sterling a little stunned.

”This is the first I’m hearing that an origami heart represents a ’true heart’. This is clearly a fake heart—a paper heart!” Seraphina Sterling suddenly regretted folding it just to get by. ’Looks like the symbolism behind this is a little troublesome, and a bit too complicated!’ Matters of the heart were the one thing she had always wanted to avoid, at least until she had achieved her goals.

”Whether it’s a true heart or a fake one, it’s in my hands now. What it becomes in the future will be for me to decide! Seraphina Sterling, you’ve made me very happy today!”

With that, Terrence Grant carefully tucked away the little heart she had folded in under five minutes. ’This is the first gift Seraphina Sterling has ever given me, and she made it with her own hands. Plus, it’s a heart, which is so symbolic. This is incredibly meaningful!’

Seraphina Sterling was left speechless. She could only watch his ecstatic expression with a complicated look on her face. For a moment, she felt a tightness in her chest, mixed with a hint of irritation.

Even after she returned to the Jennings family’s home, Seraphina Sterling’s spirits remained low. To her, the New Year was no different from any other day of the year. She was no longer a child, long past the age of looking forward to new clothes, lucky money, firecrackers, and a New Year’s Eve feast.

To her, the New Year merely represented the start of another year, a sign that time was constantly moving forward, and a reminder that her own time was growing shorter. It meant she had to work even harder, building her own power until she could contend with the Hale Family. Until she could send Justin Hale to hell!

But just because Seraphina Sterling didn’t care didn’t mean Kimberly Jennings felt the same. Eighteen was the age of adulthood. The age when one had to take responsibility for one’s actions. To Kimberly Jennings, after this New Year, Seraphina would be eighteen. It was supposed to be the best time of her life! She hoped her daughter could live a carefree, peaceful, and quiet life.

She hoped Seraphina would go to college, find a good job, meet a man who loved her, build a happy family with him, and one day have a healthy baby of her own—to live a smooth and happy life.

But Seraphina Sterling was destined to disappoint those hopes. Starting on the first day of the New Year, she holed herself up in her room, using the excuse that she needed to study for her final year of high school. The Jennings family knew Seraphina had skipped grades and would soon be facing the college entrance exams, so they didn’t force her to join them for New Year’s visits or to help entertain guests.

But reviewing her schoolwork was impossible for Seraphina Sterling. She had locked herself in her room to prepare for the first Apex Auction of the new year.

Apex Auction House had only just been established at the end of last year, after which it had swallowed the Galloway Family’s auction company. Seraphina believed that within a month, Mina Adler would be able to completely merge the two disparate companies, laying a solid foundation for her future plans.

Successfully acquiring the Galloway Family’s auction company had already allowed Apex Auction House to make a splash in the industry. At the very least, many people were now aware of its name. The general consensus was that Apex Auction House was a powerful force, but acquiring another company was one thing—hosting an actual auction was the ultimate test of an auction house’s true capabilities.