Chapter 23

Simon nodded knowingly, it seemed he already knew and was just confirming with me.

The three of us returned to our seats, and Brandon looked at his sister Renee without a hint of surprise in his eyes, making it clear that they had already planned this.

The two exchanged a subtle glance and then took their seats.

Brandon suddenly looked at Simon: "I feel like I've seen you before, have we met somewhere?"

His words made both Kathy and me nervous. Of course, Brandon had seen Simon before, and Simon had even been here more than once.

Unexpectedly, Renee joined in the fun, squinting her eyes as she scrutinized Simon: "Now that you mention it, he does look familiar, like my future husband."

Renee's words left us all stunned, and Simon choked on his drink.

He waved his hand: "Ms. Jordan, you're joking."

Renee's interruption made Brandon give up staring at Simon, and we all relaxed.

After finishing our coffee, I remembered that Simon and I had something to discuss, and coincidentally, Brandon and Renee had both left for the restroom. I looked at Simon.

He looked at me seriously and said, "Your family used to have an old house in the Sky Dome Mountain area, right?"

I nodded, surprised that he had found out about this, as I hadn't been back there in almost ten years.

Simon nodded and continued, "As far as I know, that area is about to undergo urban renewal, and your family's house is worth at least fifty million dollars. Brandon's recent visit there was probably because of this."

I was stunned, feeling a buzzing in my ears.

So, Brandon had this in mind. No wonder he went to Kelly's place for no reason.

But I didn't dare call Kelly now. If she knew about my situation, she would definitely come over, which would not only alert Brandon but also lead to unpredictable consequences from him.

But I was genuinely worried about Kelly, afraid that she might be deceived by Brandon.

Seeing my panic, Kathy stepped forward and held my hand: "Caroline, don't worry. I'll go to Kelly's place tomorrow and find out what's going on. Don't worry, I won't expose anything."

Hearing this, I was moved to tears.

I never expected to have such a good friend like Kathy in my life.

"Thank you, Kathy, and thank you, Simon. What would I do without you? Maybe by now I would have already..."

I didn't finish my sentence, but everyone knew what I meant.

Kathy frowned: "I don't like hearing you say that. If I were in your situation, wouldn't you help me?"

I nodded vigorously, the answer was definitely yes.

Kathy and I had been friends for over a decade, and she was like family to me.

Just then, Brandon and Renee returned. They seemed to have conspired about something. Seeing Kathy and me holding hands and my tearful appearance, Brandon frowned.

"Caroline, what's wrong?"

I didn't speak, but Kathy did: "Nothing, Caroline was just saying how good you are to her, and she got emotional. I was comforting her."

Brandon immediately understood and put his arm around my shoulder: "Caroline, why are you so emotional? Aren't we husband and wife? This is what I should do."

The three of us exchanged glances, it seemed Brandon didn't catch Kathy's sarcasm at all.

After finishing our coffee, the three of us prepared to leave. Renee suddenly called out to Simon: "Wait, let's add each other on WhatsApp?"

Simon showed a flash of disgust in his eyes but nodded: "Sure."

The five of us went our separate ways, and Brandon and I got into the driver's car to go home.

On the way back, I teased Brandon about Renee's behavior: "Do you think Renee has a crush on Kathy's cousin Simon?"

Brandon frowned instinctively at the mention: "She's always like that, inappropriate. I'll apologize to Kathy later."

I nodded and then asked, "Did you invite Renee? Otherwise, how did we just happen to meet her here? I haven't seen her in a long time."

His eyes flickered evasively, and he nodded randomly: "Coincidence, I haven't contacted her in a while either."

I keenly sensed that Brandon was lying. When I checked his phone, I saw his chat with Renee. Although there were no messages, the chat box was still there, indicating they had contacted each other recently.

I was sure they were up to something behind my back, and I needed to investigate further.

When we got home, Shirley was downstairs holding the kids. Seeing us return together, she looked displeased.

"Mrs. Jordan, you asked me to take care of the boy-girl twins, but you were gone for so long, and the kids were crying."

I smiled: "Thank you, please give me the kids, I'll take them to my room."

I reached out to take the kids, but Shirley hesitated.

"Give them to me, I need to go to my room, I'm tired."

Reluctantly, Shirley handed the kids to me, muttering: "Mrs. Jordan, if you're tired, just call me, don't push yourself."

Call you? So you can continue to scare my kids? Ridiculous!

I went back to my room, put the kids to sleep, and started thinking about Brandon's recent actions.

He took out a large insurance policy on me, was interested in my family's old house, all signs pointed to him needing money. But the company was still profitable, so why did he need so much money?

And Renee, her appearance today was definitely not a coincidence. Brandon always disliked Renee. Since we got married, Renee had caused trouble several times, always asking for money, even bothering my parents.

Even my parents knew Brandon had a sister who always asked for money, Renee.

This damaged Brandon's image with my parents, making him dislike Renee even more.

But now he actively contacted Renee, he must have a use for her.

I couldn't figure it out, and it kept me up until late at night.

The next morning, I got up to feed the kids and saw Brandon with a suitcase, ready to leave.

I chased after him and asked: "Brandon, are you going on a business trip?"

Brandon nodded: "Yes, I have some business to attend to. Take good care of the kids at home, and let Shirley handle anything you need."

I nodded, watching him leave.

The urgency in his eyes was real, clearly, something urgent had come up. But what could be so urgent?

I went back to my room and called Simon.