“What… whatꟷ?” Ewan could not complete the question.

“What am I doing here? Well, my beloved grandson, I am here verifying your commitment to our deal. To be completely honest with you, as required when there is mutual respect between the two parties, I have been watching you both from hidden cameras I had my people installed. I hope you two excuse my mildly inappropriate but necessary intrusion.”

“Mꟷmildly? Are you serious? You dirty old bag!” Ewan was more furious than ever, but Millie, rather than angry, was incredibly embarrassed.

“My lady,” ignoring Ewan’s rant, Anthony decided to address Millie, “I’m so sorry it came up to this. I had to be sure Ewan would not sabotage this meeting of yours.” He paused for a moment without taking his eyes off her. “Although, yours is a word employed loosely here, considering you’re not supposed to be part of such yours, am I correct?”

This is the reason Millie did not feel as furious as Ewan for being secretly observed. She felt busted, as if caught doing a criminal act, and the more she thought about it, the more she was convinced she might be indeed breaking the law.

“Sꟷsir… I…Iꟷ” she could not even see anyone in the eye, her teeth and hands clenched.

“Leave her out of this!” Ewan stood up.

“That I won’t do, my boy.” Anthony’s cold eyes moved to Ewan.

“She has nothing to do with you and me.”

“I could care less, Ewan.”

For a moment, Ewan forgot about the deal with his grandfather. All he could think of at the moment was the risk Millie was at. Seeing her that nervous, trembling, her eyes avoiding theirs, all that made Ewan’s legs weaken a little, but not too much as to prevent him from defending her from any harm his unpredictable grandfather could cause her.

“Look, this is a problem between you and me, okay? And the thing is you wanted me to marry Emma Da Costa, right? Look at her response. She doesn’t even want a date with me. So, there you go. I didn’t blow it. It was blown from the very start, so leave Millie alone.”

Listening to her name broke the curse that had her on the edge of a breakdown. She lifted her head and saw Ewan, sweating all over his face, standing between her and his grandfather. She did not notice, but if you saw closer, you would have seen a barely noticeable smile on her lips.

A moment of silence preceded the biggest laughter of that evening. Not even the funniest moment between them both made Ewan and Millie laugh as much as Anthony was laughing then. They did not know what to do or what to say.

“Oh, my boy, my boy!” he could not stop chuckling, “So heroic! So passionate! You look like a knight in shining armor! I had never seen you like this before either. This is much better than I anticipated.”

Both Millie and Ewan relaxed a little, but the latter was rightly suspicious of his scheming relative.

“Can you explain yourself, grandfather?”

“Oh, well, oh, well. Of course I realize Emma, as good a prospect as she seemed to be, resorted to tricks and charades to avoid this date. Why she decided such a convoluted and ridiculous plan is beyond me, but something is very clear to me: I cannot force you to marry Emma nor do I want you to marry her now.”

Ewan could not believe his ears. He won. He had finally won, and all thanks to Emma and her tricks. Smiling, his shoulders relaxed, he felt as if a brand-new day was at his reach.

“Thanks, grandfather. I’m glad you’re being reasonable and understand I don’t have to get married.”

Anthony tilted his head a little.

“Oh, my dear grandson, let me make this clear for you. Marry this sweet, young lady you get along with so well and defend like a knight in shining armor, or you’ll never step one foot on my company ever again.”