Dear Ex-wife Marry Me novel (Maja) novel Chapter 1485

Breathing deeply to calm her nerves, she noticed Patric stroll in from outside.

She quickly shut her eyes, avoiding any chance of their gazes colliding.

Patric was aware she wasn't asleep; he’d just popped into the bathroom to wash the blood from the back of his hand.

Maja had been feigning sleep, but the weariness was real, and soon enough, she drifted off into a genuine slumber.

Meanwhile, Ian stood in his dark robe, looming over the cage which held Oliver captive.

At the forefront of the cage sat an old man, the venerable patriarch of the Porter family, who was dressed in stark black casuals and whose gaze was filled with authority as he stared down at Oliver.

Oliver knelt in the cage, silent as the grave.

The man who had previously suffered Oliver's sharp tongue now basked in smugness, stirring the pot in front of the elder.

"Grandpa, if we don't get the family seal back soon, I'm afraid Oliver will just hand it over to someone else."

At the sound of these words, the old man's piercing gaze turned to Oliver.

"Where is the family seal?"

Oliver looked up, his face bearing a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"Grandpa, until I officially step down from this position, I'm not obliged to tell anyone where the family seal is."

Unless he made a grave mistake.

But what had he done wrong? He had simply fled the Porter household with the family seal, without harming anyone else in the family – that couldn't be considered a grave mistake.

The patriarch's expression darkened as he turned to Ian.

Ian had been masquerading as an enigmatic character, who spoke little and thus didn’t need to say much now.

Ian hadn’t gone to find Maja because he had to deliver a shipment of goods to the Porter family within two days, and the deadline was today.

Without extracting the location of the goods from his impersonated identity, Ian knew the patriarch would demand answers.

"Sir, what about the drugs this time?"

The old man indeed inquired. He was clearly more concerned about the shipment than Oliver.

Ian nodded slightly, and with an icy tone he said,

"You don't have the right to refuse. Hand over the family seal, or it's time for the Porter family to find a new head."

Oliver had always known he'd be cast aside, but witnessing the stark and ruthless rejection still felt like a knife to the heart.

He had poured his soul into bettering the Porter family's fortune, only to find his efforts taken for granted by the patriarch.

Now, simply because his orientation differed from the norm, he was treated as if he had committed an unfathomable sin.

Why?

His orientation harmed no one, so why couldn't society tolerate it?

When Ian spoke of the vast world outside, where many nations supported marriage between people like him, Oliver felt a brand new world was opened in his mind.

Raised on Forbidden Island, he knew nothing of the world that was millions of times larger, but the seed of curiosity had been planted.

He had always been a betting man.

"Grandpa, give me a few hours to think it over," he requested.

Ralap scoffed and left without another word.