?Chapter 935:


    Forest’s smile stiffened at the question, and his eyes darted over to his daughter.


    Hailey immediately caught on.


    She picked up the coffee pot and walked over to Noah, pouring him coffee as she spoke in a soft, pandering voice. “You don’t have to be so formal with my father.”


    “We’re family, after all.”


    Hailey ced the coffee cup beside Noah, her fingers lingering near his arm with a tentative touch.


    Noah edged away subtly, his face an imprable mask of indifference.


    He lifted the coffee cup, rotating it methodically in his palm without bringing it to his lips.


    “I recall, before my return from abroad, the people entrusted were more than capable of maintaining the branchpany’s stability.” Though barely above a whisper, his voice carried unmistakable gravity. The usation beneath his words was perfectly clear.


    Had Forest not schemed in the shadows, the Burgess Group would have remained unshaken.


    Forest’s smile flickered weakly, then vanishedpletely from his face.


    He cleared his throat twice, desperately changing the subject. “Oh, Noah, be reasonable. I only intervened because I cared deeply, nothing more.”


    He raised his utensils, gesturing toward the spread. “Come now, let’s not waste this meal with idle talk—sample these dishes. They’re absolutely exquisite.”


    He hesitated, feigning sudden remembrance.


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    “By the way, Noah, I heard you and Hailey were considering holding your wedding ceremony here. I thought—perhaps the eighth of next month would serve as an ideal date. What’s your opinion?”


    Noah’s fingers constricted almost invisibly around the porcin cup, his knuckles whitening slightly.


    So there it was. All this careful maneuvering—this represented their actual agenda. The business discussion had merely served as camouge. Their genuine objective was to force him into marriage.


    Noah ced the coffee cup down with a deliberate clink against the mahogany. When he raised his gaze, his eyes had transformed into arctic ciers.


    “Ms. Burgess is pregnant. She shouldn’t subject herself to unnecessary stress. Regarding the wedding—I believe we should abandon the idea entirely.”


    The instant those words escaped his lips, Hailey’s smile evaporated like morning dew under harsh sunlight.


    “Ms. Burgess?” Why this sudden formality? Never before had he referred to her with such cold detachment.


    A tsunami of dread crashed over her, stealing her breath away. Forest’s expression clouded ominously, a premonition of disaster swelling within his chest.


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