Chapter 168

Chapter 168

The next morning, before Wendy even woke up, things were already getting lively outside.

William showed up at the door with a bunch of stuff.

"Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Green. I'm here today to ask for your permission." William's manner was humble and respectful.

Hannah and Edward had no idea what was going on.

All the drivers and housekeepers in the villa came out to watch. Luxury cars kept pulling up one after another until they filled the entire area around the house.

"What's going on?" Hannah asked, confused.

"Is Wendy up yet?" William asked.

"Probably not. I'll go wake her," Marlowe said.

William quickly stopped him. "Let's wait until she wakes up on her own. No need to disturb her sleep."

Everyone headed into the living room. Edward and William chatted about business for a while before Wendy finally stirred awake.

She came downstairs and saw William sitting on the sofa. She thought she was seeing things, rubbed her eyes, and then realized everyone was staring at her.

"What's going on?" Wendy asked, still half asleep, before suddenly realizing she hadn't washed her face or brushed her teeth.

She let out a little shriek. "Give me a minute!"

Then she turned and ran back upstairs.

About ten minutes later, Wendy came back down, all freshened up.

Hannah pulled Wendy down onto the couch beside her and whispered, "William says he has something to tell you, and he has a request for us too. Can you guess what it is?"

"What?" Wendy didn't even know what to make of it.

What on earth did William want, this early in the morning?

Wendy looked over at William, and William looked back at her. Their eyes met, his full of warmth and tenderness, hers full of confusion.

"Mr. and Mrs. Green, I'm here today to ask for your blessing to pursue Wendy." William said sincerely.

Hannah and Edward exchanged a glance.

They both wore thoughtful expressions. Truth be told, they'd seen this coming for a long time.

Wendy's face flushed red the moment she heard it. "What are you talking about?"

He was pursuing her — why was he saying this in front of her parents?

William looked completely serious. "I wasn't clear about my own feelings before, which is why I kept missing my chance. But now I understand, so I'm making it official. I want to pursue you, and I will treat you well. Whether you say yes or not, I want you to see how serious I am."

William pulled out a stack of documents and handed them to Wendy.

They were all property agreements. "These have all been transferred into your name," he said. "If you ever decide I'm not good enough and don't want to be with me, they're still yours to keep."

Wendy was stunned. She'd noticed her name had been added to a lot of assets over the past few days.

It had all happened so fast that she still wasn't used to being this wealthy.

"What are you doing? I don't want these." Wendy stepped back.

Hannah chimed in as well. "That's right, we can't accept these. I'm happy for you to pursue Alice, of course, but we can't say yes on her behalf. What matters most is whether she agrees to be with you. That's up to you to figure out."

William smiled. "I'm doing this of my own free will."

Wendy gritted her teeth in frustration. She couldn't believe he was saying all this out in the open like this.

He was telling her parents, right to their faces, that he wanted to be with her.

William seemed to read her thoughts and quickly explained, "Everything in the news about me and Evelyn wasn't true. I was worried you might overthink things, so I wanted to make my feelings clear in front of your parents — so you know I'm being genuine."

He knew Wendy had feelings for him, but she just needed a little push. So William figured the best move was to be upfront about where he stood, to avoid any misunderstandings down the road.

Hannah nodded. "Fair enough. I did see those reports about you and Evelyn almost getting engaged. But since you're this serious about it, I won't stand in the way. That said, I'll be straight with you — if you ever treat Alice badly, the Green family won't let it go."

Edward nodded along, looking completely in agreement.

Wendy's face turned red all the way to her ears.

She and William were actually... happening.

She had worried before that William was too charming, always surrounded by women. But now, saying all this in front of Hannah and Edward — he was making her a promise right in front of her parents.

"I need to get to work. I'm done talking. Marlowe, I'm hungry — can I get some breakfast?" Wendy stood up, flustered, and made a quick escape.

William watched her go, a fond smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

Something this big was bound to get people talking. By the time the news reached Evelyn, it had already taken on a life of its own.

"I heard Mr. Ford went to the Green family to propose. He met her parents this morning and gave her a ton of property."

"Seriously! I also heard he gave Wendy half the Ford family's assets. She's so lucky — first she gets rich parents, and now a rich husband. That's the ultimate power couple right there."

"Keep it down, Evelyn's right over there. Word is Mr. Ford dumped her. I mean, the Landon family can't exactly compare to the Greens — one of Bay City's top families. They're not even in the same league."

The gossip spread fast.

Evelyn heard every word. William was actually going to marry Wendy.

She had pushed him toward marriage so many times and never gotten anywhere.

The moment Wendy was welcomed back into the Green family, they wasted no time using their daughter to lock William down. Quite the move.

Wendy really knew how to play the game.

Having a powerful family behind you really did make all the difference.

But Evelyn wasn't ready to give up. It wasn't over yet. She refused to walk away.

If only Wendy were out of the picture — then William would have no choice but to be hers.

A cold, hard look flashed through Evelyn's eyes.

Ever since William officially started pursuing Wendy, she received something from him every single day — sometimes flowers, sometimes jewelry, always something different. And along with every gift came a handwritten letter from William himself.

The team at Atlantic Chemicals couldn't help but tease her with big grins on their faces. "Wendy, you must be something else. The way Mr. Ford is going after you — he's really got it bad."

"Right? Wendy must've put some kind of spell on Mr. Ford. Mind giving me the recipe? I'd love to try it on my boyfriend."

"Oh please, you can't even compare to Wendy."

Wendy rolled her eyes at all of them. "Afternoon tea is on me today. Now go get back to work and stop laughing at me."

Everyone cheered and scattered.

Wendy pressed a hand to her forehead. Her office was completely buried in flowers.

If she didn't do something soon, it was going to turn into a flower shop.

She asked Emily to distribute the flowers to the other offices, then sent William a message telling him to stop sending them.

She'd barely hit send when Shirley called.

Wendy picked up.

"Wendy, are you free right now? I'm at the coffee shop downstairs from your office. There's something I want to talk to you about. Could you come down for a bit?"

Shirley's voice was flat, giving nothing away.