Chapter 4
The cruise ship had 15 floors. It was equipped with various entertainment facilities to accommodate the hundreds of guests the Sandberg and Porter families had invited for the weddings. There were over a thousand people on the ship, including the staff.
That meant over a thousand people had witnessed the groom mix-up debacle. With how advanced the Internet was now, it went without saying that everyone in Jorstone City’s upper crust knew about this. The Sandberg and Porter families were now laughingstocks.
That was why none of the parents looked happy as they waited in the living room on the tenth floor.
When Eleanor and Sebastian arrived, they saw Brenda weeping in the arms of her mother, Sheila Bronson. She played the victim to perfection while Maurice knelt before the parents.
His mother, Linda Greene, was the first to speak up. “Someone teach him a lesson! Show him the consequences of getting so drunk that he lost his senses!”
Two attendants stepped forward, each holding a thin cane. They looked perfect for hitting someone with.
“Hit him!” Linda commanded.
The attendants stood on either side of Maurice and started hitting his back. The canes wouldn’t cause any fatal injuries but were enough to make one hurt. He balled his palms into fists tightly and clenched his jaw as he endured the pain.
After a while, Brenda threw herself at him and shielded him. One of the attendants couldn’t stop in time and hit her, making her cry out in pain.
Maurice immediately held her. “Bren!”
She wept daintily. “I’m at fault, too. I didn’t realize what was happening before it was too late. Still, things have already ended up like this. Mo is my husband now; it’s only right for a couple to stand by each other no matter what happens. Punish me, too!”
Maurice held her, looking moved. Meanwhile, Eleanor almost burst into laughter. Brenda’s acting skills were horrible, but the act she’d put on was still entertaining.
Linda had only been putting on a show by punishing Maurice—she couldn’t actually bear to hurt him. Although Brenda’s defense of him wouldn’t make Linda instantly adore her, it was still a move that would leave a good impression. More importantly, Maurice gobbled it right up.
That was why he and Brenda already had pet names for each other.
Linda’s tone immediately softened when she saw Eleanor. “You’re here, Elle.”
But the next second, she became angry at the sight of Sebastian standing beside Eleanor. “Get on your knees! Mo is tonight’s groom, and the guests plied him with drinks. It’s understandable that he got drunk, but the same can’t be said for you. Who knows whether you did this on purpose?”
She was insinuating that Sebastian was just an illegitimate son who wanted to ride on the Porter family’s coattails.
Sebastian exuded an air of cold detachment. His lashes cast shadows underneath his eyes, and he looked like he couldn’t care less about Linda. Or rather, he looked like he couldn’t care less about what was happening. He seemed to just be there to enjoy the show.
Eleanor couldn’t help glancing at him. Could he really stand there and act like none of this fazed him? She would’ve expected him to tremble with fear and lower his head as he apologized meekly… Was he a sad sprout or not?
Linda already despised him because he was an illegitimate son. She was about to lash out at him over his attitude when she saw Eleanor move to stand before him.
Eleanor was a head shorter than Sebastian. He stiffened at her actions and looked down at her as she said, “Let’s focus on resolving the problem, Linda.”
Brenda’s father, Philip Sandberg, stood up. “Elle is right. Let’s deal with the problem at hand. It looks like we can only go along with what’s happened.”
He and Sheila had never approved of Brenda marrying Sebastian. They’d only begrudgingly given in because she’d thrown a major fuss over it.
They were secretly delighted that she’d somehow ended up with Maurice. They had to ensure things stayed like this!
Philip said, “I already have an idea. We can tell outsiders this is how things were always meant to be. Brenda was supposed to marry Maurice, and Eleanor was supposed to marry Sebastian. We made no mistakes—everyone else was just confused.
“You may have to suffer a slight grievance, Elle, but you and Sebastian look good together. I’ll give you a house as compensation—it can be your marital home. What do you think?”
Eleanor gave him a mocking look.
He was her uncle by blood. Her parents, Francis Sandberg and Melanie Eastwood, had passed away in an accident when she’d been much younger.
She’d been a minor at the time, so Philip had used his status as her legal guardian to take over everything her parents had left for her. He’d claimed he was only temporarily managing them for her.
That had slowly turned into him treating the things as his own. Even after Eleanor had come of age, he’d used various excuses to explain his refusal to return the things to her.
One moment, he would say she was too young to make others have faith in her. The next moment, he would say she was too inexperienced to shoulder the responsibilities required of her.
After managing Sandberg Group for so many years, Philip had long since switched out the staff for people loyal to him. Eleanor couldn’t forcibly take the company from him—she had to do this the long way.
Fortunately, she’d inherited the best of her parents’ genes. It had only been two short years since she’d started working at Sandberg Group, but she already had some achievements under her belt and the support of some older employees.
Ultimately, Philip had been forced to use his trump card. He’d claimed that Francis himself had stated that his successor needed to meet two criteria—the first was to maintain an upstanding image. After all, the successor would represent the company. Any flaws would affect the company’s stock price.
The second criterion was to be capable. Whether or not one was capable was subjective, but the most straightforward way to prove that was by making the company’s stock price shoot up.
Nothing could help her meet both criteria faster than securing the perfect political marriage. Coincidentally, Maurice’s grandmother, Henrietta White, had stepped forward to matchmake him and Eleanor.
Henrietta had always adored Eleanor and wanted the latter to be her granddaughter-in-law. Besides, Eleanor and Maurice were considered childhood friends. Neither of them particularly liked the other, though.
Maurice didn’t like that Eleanor was strong-willed, proud, and unwilling to rely on him. Meanwhile, she didn’t like that he was a seasoned player who couldn’t keep it in his pants.
Still, the Porter family was the most prestigious in Jorstone City, and Henrietta controlled its finances. Maurice would only gain real power after he was married.
So, he and Eleanor had struck a deal—they would have a contractual marriage. She wouldn’t meddle in his personal life after their marriage, and he would play his role as her loving husband.
He’d originally done a good job, which had benefited them both. However, he’d made a fatal mistake in getting involved with Brenda and secretly helping her family to backstab Eleanor. He’d failed in his basic duty as her political husband.
That was why Eleanor had exposed his cheating ways and announced that Brenda was a homewrecker after she’d gained control of the Sandberg family and Sandberg Group. She’d made them pay.
In this life, Brenda had swapped their husbands. Eleanor guessed it was partly because she wanted to be Maurice’s proper wife and partly because she wanted to replicate Eleanor’s success and become Sandberg Group’s leader.
Eleanor knew Brenda too well. They’d both been reborn, which meant they both had advantages. Eleanor’s edge was that she was sure Brenda had also been reborn, while the latter wasn’t yet sure of her situation. As long as Eleanor played her cards right, she’d be able to lurk in the shadows and bide her time.
How should she act to make Brenda think she hadn’t been reborn?
Eleanor chuckled. “You guys are blatantly stealing a marriage that’s supposed to be mine, Uncle Philip. Do you think a house is enough to brush me off and make me swallow this without complaint? Do you think I lack a house?”
