CEO Proposed to His Ex-wife 99 Times novel Chapter 304

Katherine decidedly looked at anyone but Marshall, pretending not to hear him. There was probably medication for Marshall’s symptoms which he failed to take. It was kinda scary, the way he was behaving – not only did he not care to use appropriate language, but there was also something wrong with the way he was staring at her. His gaze was too soft and tender! Marshall knew full well that Katherine could be easily swayed by small gestures, so there was no way, Katherine reasoned, that he wasn’t doing all this on purpose. Marshall was up to no good.

The conversation continued briefly before it ended. They couldn’t possibly wait for the results of Peter’s investigation right there at Katherine’s place, since that would have to take a while.

Hector asked Kyle if he could stay with him for the night, as Hector dreaded the prospect of going back to the Bennett residence. Kyle, on the other hand, was moody and in need of company who would listen to his complaints, so he gladly accepted Hector’s request and went out of the door with him.

Marshall, trailing behind, turned around to look at Katherine. “Make sure you lock the door.”

Katherine stared back at him with a guarded expression. “Yeah, yeah, I know.”

Marshall turned back and was about to leave when Katherine said “Hey, Marshall? There’s something I have to ask you about.”

With Kyle and Hector already in the yard, she could ask the questions without them hearing her.

Marshall stopped in his tracks. “Sure. Go ahead.”

Katherine asked tentatively, “Are you ill?”

Marshall paused briefly, not knowing what she was talking about.

Frowning, Katherine smacked her lips and explained, “There is something seriously wrong with you lately. Can you, um, go back to the way you used to talk to me? You’ve been very weird, you know?”

As she spoke, Katherine realized that even she herself wasn’t completely sure what she was trying to say.

Marshall, however, was beginning to understand – at least a little bit. Still, he kept his eyebrows in a frown. “What? What’s that supposed to mean?”

Katherine finally waved a hand after thinking about it. “Never mind. Forget that I said anything. You should leave now,” she replied, since she realized how difficult it would be to explain herself well.

Marshall nodded in agreement and left.

Peter was already in the car when Marshall got in. After a while, Marshall suddenly laughed out loud. He honestly had no idea what the matter was with him; he simply wanted to tease Katherine every time he saw her because it would make him feel better. As if somehow, that was the release valve for all the pressure and distress he had been subjected to for the past few days.

Peter pulled away from the curb while Marshall gazed outside the window. He was reminded of what Mr. Grant once said about some couples developing deeper affections after getting married, whereas Mr. and Mrs. Grant needed much longer before they started liking each other. However, some other couples, according to Mr. Grant, would never work and ended up splitting up.

Marshall had thought that he and Katherine belonged to the third category.

Marshall exhaled deeply after a while. He should stop thinking about it now. There was no use contemplating such things, since no amount of wishful thinking could stop him from feeling sad or displeased.

It was almost dusk, so Peter drove Marshall to the Grants’ family residence before he left for the day.

Marshall made his way towards the main part of the house. From a distance, he saw Grandma Grant sitting on the sofa listening intently to some opera. That made him stop walking.

When Mrs. Grant was living here, she’d always generate all kinds of noises, which would force her mother-in-law, finding it too rowdy for her taste, to stay upstairs or remain seated in the yard. With Mrs. Grant living elsewhere, the older lady now looked much more relaxed and at ease. In fact, even Mr. Grant himself was looking more pleased and laid-back than before. Mr. Grant would normally head straight upstairs into his bedroom or office right after dinner, but now, he could be found sitting with Grandma Grant, watching TV or chatting pleasantly with her.

It wasn’t the best thought coming from a son with filial duties, but Marshall found it hard to disprove the fact that Mrs. Grant’s absence was making his family life much more harmonious.

Grandma Grant noticed him as Marshall slowly walked into the living room. “You’re home early today,” she remarked smilingly, as Mr. Grant was not yet back from work.

“Yes,” answered Marshall, “I had something to take care of out of the office, so I decided to come back home after getting it done.”

Grandma Grant nodded lightly. “Why don’t you sit down and chat with me for a while?”

As soon as Marshall got seated, Grandma Grant said, “I’ve been thinking about inviting Kathy over. I always feel regretful about the way we treated her in the past. Now that your mother isn’t here, we can invite her for dinner. Does that sound good?”

Marshall smiled as he looked at the old lady. “Katherine wouldn’t want to do that, granny.”

The timing wasn’t perfect for such a get-together. Grandma Grant was beginning to like Katherine, that much Marshall could tell, and her offer to invite Katherine over was simply a way in which she could connect with the latter woman more. However, it was too tumultuous a time to set up this reunion.

Grandma Grant sighed. “Fine, then. It was your mother’s fault. Without her, you two wouldn’t have gotten divorced.”

Pursing his lips, Marshall replied, “But Mother wasn’t to blame, granny. It was my fault and my fault alone.”

Because the truth of the matter was, he was the one who had thought of divorcing Katherine. Mrs. Grant hadn’t thought about it yet; it was only after Marshall had mentioned it to her that Mrs. Grant started obsessively planning to finalize the divorce so that Clara could replace Katherine as the young Mrs. Grant.

Grandma Grant looked at Marshall with a sigh. “Oh dearie. You might have to suffer, my boy.”

Chuckling, Marshall said, “Nobody can make me suffer, granny dear. Don’t worry.”

But in reality, he had no idea what his grandmother was talking about.

The old lady didn’t bother to explain. Instead, she started questioning him with things that happened in the office. But naturally, nothing could go seriously wrong with so many members of the Grant family there righting the ship.

After some more chatting, the old lady waved a hand to dismiss him. “You should get some rest now. I’ll summon you when it’s dinner time.”

Marshall hummed in agreement before going upstairs.

As he was climbing the stairs, he received a call from Peter, who told him that the Bennett duo were very easy to investigate into, since they had no idea how to properly cover their tracks when they were meeting or making deals with somebody else supposedly clandestinely. As such, the guy Peter had sent to investigate Patrick and Alexis Bennett had reported back that they didn’t have any contact with the Russell family. So what happened at Kyle’s club couldn’t have been the Bennett children’s doing.

Marshall frowned. “Are you sure?”

“Absolutely,” replied Peter. “I had them check and recheck the results, for fear that the info I’d got from the first round of investigation wasn’t accurate. So, apparently [Marcus] didn’t go out all that much recently. The only time he went outside was yesterday in the AM, when the Bennetts were in their offices. So there was no way they could have met.” And the possibility of sending a middleman to deliver their messages was slim to none, since the Bennett duo, incapable as they were, deeming others even more incapable, trusted no one else. Consequently, they typically did everything by themselves. So, if they had planned to frame Kyle, they would have met [Marcus] in person.

Marshall said “Got it” before he hung up the phone.

Entering his own room, he recalled what Kyle had said about Kyle clashing with the Hendersons in addition to the Bennetts. Marshall didn’t believe that it was Clara who did the plotting and scheming. Not that he had total confidence in Clara’s character, no; he simply knew that Clara was clever enough to avoid arousing any kind of suspicion at this critical point. She wouldn’t put herself out there by doing anything to Kyle now.

Marshall tossed his phone into bed and headed into the bathroom. When he got out, he saw notification signals for a new message. Picking up the phone, he found a text from Clara asking if he would attend the birthday celebration of old Mrs. Walters.

Marshall considered for quite a bit before replying, “yes.”

Clara called him immediately after that. After Marshall picked up, Clara told him that she, too, was invited, and asked him when he was planning to arrive and if they could maybe go to the party together.

Marshall furrowed his brows into a frown. He was not supposed to show up at any event in Clara’s company. What Mr. Grant had said the last time was still ringing in his ears.

Clara understood the message in his pause well enough. Laughing at nobody in particular, she said, “It’s okay if you can’t go with me. I’ll go with Dad instead, then. I just wanted the company of one of my peers, since the conversation tends to flow more easily with you than with an older person.”

Marshall was still silent. Hence, Clara added, “We’ll arrive separately then. If there’s anything for us to talk about, we can talk about it at the party.”