Vernon sighed, "I suppose you're right. I should be happy that Chelsea made that kind of claim in public, now everyone's attention will be on them, and my Big brother will be even busier as he has to handle the Gray foundation scholarship problem, and also this one."
"Yes, Sir. You get so much space to do your thing now, and I believe everything will be on our side before Vincent even realizes it!" Diamond was fired up. Though she didn't have any connection with Vincent Gray, she still had animosity against that bastard who dared to hurt her best friend, and also for daring to ask Diamond about her price, as if she was a prostitute.
Vernon knew that he should be happy about this, but he couldn't help to get distracted by his ever-growing worry about his beloved.
Now that her face was on the internet, it wouldn't take long until someone noticed the beautiful woman as Chloe Gray, Vincent Gray's wife.
'And that means I have to accelerate things or else people will always think of her as Vincent's wife, and I don't want that,' Vernon thought.
"Diamond, we should call it a day for today," Vernon said abruptly.
"Eh? But you said you want to finish the preparation for Vincent Gray's cosmetic advertisement project, Sir," Diamond said. "This will be the best time, right? With Chelsea's Joker-like face, everyone will start mocking Vincent's cosmetic products to be put on that woman's face, so she actually looked like the Joker with make-up!"
Diamond was right.
This was the right time to launch Vincent's cosmetic product advertisement because people would be laughing and mocking the product. The people would do smear campaigns against the brand even without Vernon trying to manipulate anything in the ad. That would save him from Vincent or Maria's suspicion.
"We can do it tomorrow. But I have to go home today, I want to check on Chloe and ask her about this whole thing," Vernon said. "I bet she still doesn't know that she went viral. She doesn't use social media."
"Ah—okay then. I will do overtime to finish the advertisement's paperwork," Diamond volunteered with a devilish grin pasted permanently on her face. "I can't wait to see that bastard getting stressed out over people's mockery."
"Thanks, Diamond. I'll make sure to give you a bonus for your pay," Vernon said. He grabbed his briefcase inside his office and left as soon as possible.
**
"So, do you have a plan to marry my second son?" Dorothea asked as she helped Chloe to cook in the kitchen.
Chloe allowed Dorothea to enter the penthouse kitchen to help her with lunch and dinner because Chloe planned to cook a lot for Vernon and Mackie.
Meanwhile, Mackie was dancing around while watching some kind of dance tutorial on Youtube. It was enough to distract her so she wouldn't stay in the kitchen, insisting on helping even though she wasn't even tall enough to put her hands on the kitchen countertop.
Chloe sighed. She knew that Dorothea would eventually ask that question, "I'm not sure," she replied while cutting rows of carrots skillfully. "I haven't even been divorced with Vincent yet, and it'd be difficult to force Vincent to sign that paper. So, marrying Vernon is still a far off dream for now."
"But you do want to marry him, right?" Dorothea asked.
Chloe paused momentarily and nodded lightly, "I'd love to. He has grown to be a good and responsible man. He is good with Mackie, so he is probably good with our next children if we decide to have more later."
"However, I don't want him to solely focus on me," Chloe said. "He is still young, and we don't know when I will get divorced with Vincent. I don't want him to wait for too long until I'm too old. If he has another woman that he likes, then I will let him go."
Dorothea smiled. Chloe hadn't changed since the first time they met. She still prioritized everyone around her except herself.
Depending on the situation, it could be a good or bad trait, but it was endearing for Dorothea.
"Well, I'm just making sure that you won't reject him once he proposes," Dorothea said. "And trust me, Chloe. Vernon will find a way to make it happen. I don't think he will marry anyone except you, that's why he's trying his hardest right now to topple Vincent, right? He did it all for you."
"…"
Chloe said nothing, but her cheeks visibly reddened. She would be an idiot if she didn't see all of his efforts to separate Vincent and her. He also did so much to topple the Gray century-old businesses, so Vincent had no room to retaliate.
He would never do such dangerous stuff behind his big brother's back if he didn't love her.
Chloe knew he loved her. She just didn't want to be his only target in case he failed to topple Vincent down.
'Maybe I'm just too pessimistic,' Chloe thought. 'I just can't imagine him ruining Vincent. That monster is far too powerful, and I don't want Vernon to get hurt because he tries to protect me.'
They finished making a late lunch for all of them before continuing to make dinner. Around five, all the food was served on the dinner table.
"Wow, we cooked so much," Chloe said as she wiped the sweat dripping from her forehead.
Dorothea smiled, "This is Thanksgiving worthy of food."
"Hahaha, yeah, I was so happy to be able to use both of my hands. It's liberating," Chloe said. She turned around to grab a lunch box full of food and handed it to Dorothea. "I'm sorry, Dorothea, but… you know…"
Dorothea smiled and accepted the food they had cooked just now, "It's fine, I understand."
Dorothea got up slowly from the chair and walked towards the penthouse door.
"Granny!" Mackie rushed towards her Grandma and hugged her waist. "Granny, where are you going? Why don't you eat with us? Uncle will be home soon!"