Chapter 83 I Heard You’re Getting a Divorce
Aria steadied herself with Arthur's help and shook her head. "I'm fine, just a bit of low blood sugar from squatting too long."
Aria explained briefly and tried to pull her hand away from his, but Arthur seemed to have anticipated this. He tightened his grip on her hand and wrapped his other arm around her back. "I'll go in with you."
Aria was startled by Arthur's move and tried to pull away from his embrace, afraid he might touch her belly and discover something was wrong.
Although she wasn't showing much yet, she had been so thin before that if he found out, he wouldn't agree to the divorce. That wasn't the outcome she wanted.
Arthur clearly felt Aria struggling. A flash of displeasure crossed his eyes as he held her tighter and said in a low voice, "What? You won't even let me hold you now?"
Aria hid her thoughts. "I got some dirt on me. You'll get it all over yourself."
A dark gleam flashed in Arthur's eyes. "So what? I'm going to shower anyway."
Afraid that more struggling would make him suspicious, Aria could only carefully avoid her belly and go inside with him.
As soon as they entered the house, Aria used the excuse that people might see them and quickly walked a few steps away from his embrace.
"I'm going to take a shower first."
Arthur's arms suddenly felt empty. He looked at Aria, who was already walking ahead, his eyes deepening.
Feeling that burning gaze from behind, Aria couldn't help but quicken her pace upstairs.
Only after entering her room and closing the door did she breathe a slight sigh of relief. She nervously placed her hand on her lower abdomen, which was already slightly rounded. At this stage, she could still hide it by wearing loose clothes.
If it got any bigger, there would be no way to hide it, so she had to think of something.
Suddenly, Aria seemed to think of something and fell into deep thought.
The way Arthur acted...
He seemed to not know about her pregnancy yet, so that letter telling her to abort the baby might not have come from him...
As soon as this thought occurred to her, her breathing quickened. But she didn't dare take that gamble now. What if Arthur found out about the baby and forced her to abort it? Then it would be too late for regrets.
She absolutely couldn't gamble with her child's life on such a possibility!
This matter still had to be kept secret. She needed to get Arthur to agree to the divorce as soon as possible, before things got complicated.
While Aria was lost in her thoughts, Arthur received a message from his assistant.
Aria had been meeting with the same man these past few days...
"What's this man's background?"
"It's Lance, the heir to Gray Corporation."
The assistant also informed Arthur of Lance's identity. Arthur's eyes darkened when he heard this, and his eyes narrowed dangerously.
The heir to Gray Corporation?
"A client?"
"He's Ms. Hall's client, but it seems they've known each other since childhood and have never gotten along."
Arthur didn't hear the rest of what his assistant said. He only heard the part about them knowing each other since childhood...
How come he never knew Aria had someone she'd known since childhood?
At that moment, the jar of vinegar in Arthur's heart was knocked over uncontrollably.
The assistant carefully spoke up. "Mr. Grant, do you need me to handle this?"
Arthur gave a cold laugh. "No need. I'll meet him myself. Arrange a meeting."
"Yes."
He wanted to see what kind of person this man Aria had known since childhood was.
--
Restaurant.
Arthur arranged to meet Lance under the pretense of business cooperation. Lance readily agreed. When he arrived, Arthur had just arrived too, and the two met in the parking lot before heading up to the private room together.
"When did Mr. Gray return?"
After taking their seats, Arthur got straight to the point.
"A while ago."
After answering Arthur's question, Lance turned and asked, "What project does Mr. Grant want to work with me on?"
"That project in the east side of the city - I heard your family is handling it now?"
Arthur casually mentioned a project. Of course, he wasn't really interested in working with Lance; it was just an excuse to meet him.
"Yeah, I'm not sure about the details. The company people handle it. If Mr. Grant is interested, I can have my assistant connect with you."
Arthur asked back, "Oh? Then what do you handle?"
Lance was quite honest. "I studied art, not finance."
"As the future heir of Gray Corporation, Mr. Gray doesn't study finance but art instead. Isn't that a bit... irresponsible?"
Lance heard the implication in Arthur's words. His brow furrowed slightly, and meeting Arthur's eyes, he smiled lightly. "Not really. It's just a personal interest and doesn't affect me inheriting the family business. But I remember Mrs. Grant also does some landscape art on her own. My field is pretty similar to hers."
Arthur hadn't expected Lance to bring up Aria on his own. His eyes narrowed slightly. This Lance definitely had ulterior motives!
Arthur suppressed his displeasure and looked at Lance with feigned surprise. "Mr. Gray knows my wife?"
Lance was a smart man. He could naturally see the change in Arthur's expression when he mentioned Aria. He sneered inwardly but showed nothing on his face. "Yeah, I've known her for a long time. We happened to have a few projects overlap recently, and I'm using their studio."
Lance paused and looked at Arthur. "Mr. Grant didn't know? Oh right, Mr. Grant probably wouldn't know. After all, Ms. Hall mentioned that Mr. Grant is extremely busy with important matters."
There was a faint mocking tone in Lance's words.
Arthur met Lance's gaze, his eyes darkening as he gave a cold laugh. "Seems like you're pretty close with my wife, if she tells you these things."
Lance didn't deny it. "I guess so. We just hit it off in conversation."
"Is that so? But no matter how well you hit it off, I should remind you that Aria is my wife. You should keep an appropriate distance from her to avoid gossip."
Arthur's tone wasn't friendly at all. His words carried a faint warning.
But Lance acted as if he hadn't heard the warning in Arthur's words. He smiled slightly. "Ms. Hall and I haven't done anything inappropriate. We're completely innocent. If people gossip about that, then those gossipers really should get their eyes checked."
Lance paused and glanced at Arthur, seeming somewhat surprised. "Unless Mr. Grant has heard some gossip?"
Arthur paused at his words. A dark gleam flashed through his eyes, but his tone remained calm. "I haven't heard any gossip. I'm just giving you a reminder."
"Oh... Mr. Grant can rest assured. I'm not interested in married women. But if she gets divorced, I might reconsider. I heard you two are getting divorced?"