Our Love Story: Hard to Guard Against the Sudden Love Strike-Chapter 291 - 287: Flames of War

"Ha!" Sylvia Langley sneered, withdrawing her gaze, putting her hands on her hips as she surveyed the entire dressing room, "Getting to know my son has certainly elevated your taste in clothes and accessories, hasn’t it? Look at these rows of clothes, they’re worth hundreds of thousands, aren’t they? And that bag!"

As she spoke, she pointed to a Hermes Birkin 30 in the bag cabinet: "That’s probably about a hundred thousand, isn’t it? How much is your monthly salary? These are all gifts from my son, right?"

Sienna Thornton found it both infuriating and amusing, and reminded her: "Auntie, not to mention the dividends from my law firm, even if I do nothing but sit at home, the Forresters will deposit over a million into my account every month until next October. A bag worth tens of thousands isn’t that hard for me to handle."

This monthly income of over a million was a bonus for Sienna Thornton from handling several foreign trade disputes for the Forresters last year. It was supposed to be paid in a lump sum, but under the advice of Bianca Fordham and Sylvia Langley at that time, it was stretched over 24 months.

Remembering this, Sylvia Langley felt thwarted, her delicate brows giving Sienna Thornton a hard glare before she snorted coldly: "That’s only because you know my son. Without him, how could you have gotten such a great opportunity?"

Sienna Thornton didn’t get angry with her, patiently saying, "How should I put it? It’s mutual achievement, I guess. First, I must admit that without your son, I would indeed not have had the chance to take on such a big case from the Forresters. But on the other hand..."

At this point, she suddenly stopped speaking and took a step forward, leaning against a waist-high display case, folding her hands, looking at Sylvia Langley with a faint, inexplicable smile:

"If it weren’t for me, the amount the Forrester Group spends annually on foreign trade anti-dumping and countervailing duties would be in the billions. This issue has always existed, and no one had dealt with it before. To put it bluntly, the Forresters spent forty million to exchange for billions. Did they lose out?" 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

She stopped there.

According to Simon Forrester’s previous plan, the amount Sienna Thornton saved the Forresters in antidumping duties would be rewarded with a 20% share to her and the legal department.

But how the board decided after discussion, Sienna Thornton wasn’t clear. Ultimately, it turned out she only received the first tax-saving reward.

In the future, any trade disputes she handled for the Forresters would not receive this reward unless someone reported it to the board again, and the board was happy to grant it.

Furthermore, given the board’s stingy nature, even if they reluctantly agreed to the second reward, it might only be a one-time thing. Moving forward, third, fourth, countless times, each time would require petitioning like begging for money.

Simon Forrester was unaware of these intricacies, and Sienna Thornton never complained about it to him. If she did, he would undoubtedly confront the board again for her sake.

Sienna Thornton didn’t want him, already busy enough, to worry about these things.

So later, she stayed silent.

The intricacies involved, which Sylvia Langley, who previously aligned herself with Zane Forrester, must be well-aware of. What should be a win-win situation was instead painted as if Sienna Thornton was taking advantage of the Forresters and Simon Forrester.

Thinking of the Forresters’ stinginess, Sienna Thornton found it quite tedious and didn’t bother to continue the conversation, giving Sylvia Langley a smile before leaving the dressing room.

As she left, Simon Forrester happened to come down from the dining room: "I’m going back to the old house later; do you want to come with me?"

Sienna Thornton waved her hand quickly: "No, I plan to visit my mom today."

She preferred to stay out of the Forrester family’s affairs.

"Alright."

The two stood facing each other in the hallway between the living room and the dining room, with the morning sunlight streaming through the floor-to-ceiling windows, casting a warmth on their faces.

Seeing the gentle and obedient Sienna Thornton like this, Simon Forrester’s troubled heart immediately settled and softened.

He held Sienna Thornton’s hand, his eyes gentle: "I’ll take you to your mom’s first, and then I’ll find you after I’m done with the old house affairs."

"Okay." Sienna Thornton smiled at him.

He led her back into the room: "Let’s change clothes together."

"You go ahead," Sienna said awkwardly, avoiding his hand, "Auntie is still in the dressing room."

Simon Forrester’s face turned irritated again, striding into the bedroom and into the dressing room to find Sylvia Langley still nitpicking. He randomly pulled out a black dress from the wardrobe, shoved it into her arms, and pushed her towards the guest room: "Wear this. Change in the guest room, and stop hogging our dressing room!"

After saying that, he unceremoniously closed the guest room door, then dragged Sienna Thornton quickly back into the master bedroom, locking the door behind them.

Playing hide and seek, Sienna laughed at how childish it was.

For once, Simon Forrester didn’t retort and calmly said, "I have to send her away today. Her staying here disrupts our peace."

Sienna Thornton was more than happy to see this and certainly didn’t stop him.

.

The two changed clothes and said a brief farewell to Sylvia Langley, preparing to leave, but Sylvia insisted on riding with Simon Forrester, so they had to wait for her to do her makeup, fix her hair, and the like.

By the time they could leave, it was already past ten.

Simon Forrester was impatient, his face looking sour as ever. Seeing her son unhappy, Sylvia Langley also wasn’t happy.

Her peculiar trait was that she wouldn’t comfort those around her when they were unhappy, instead becoming more unhappy herself as if no one was allowed to be displeased in front of her.

Seeing mother and son with such sour looks, each in their unique way, Sienna Thornton wisely kept silent to avoid getting caught in the crossfire.

However, as they reached the parking garage, tensions almost flared up.

Sylvia Langley wanted to sit in the front passenger seat, but Simon Forrester refused, directing her to the backseat. Sylvia was displeased, pointing at Simon’s nose and accusing: "You ungrateful boy! Your worthless father bullies me, and now you’re doing the same!"

On a hot day, people tend to be in a bad mood because of the heat. Seeing the two poised to argue on the stifling parking lot floor, Sienna Thornton’s scalp tingled, so she stepped in to mediate. When they wouldn’t listen, she opened the backseat door, got in first, leaving the front seat for Sylvia Langley.

Seeing Sienna get into the car, Simon immediately jumped into the driver’s seat and started the vehicle.

Thanks to Sienna’s yielding, Sylvia Langley got the front seat she wanted, extinguishing the brewing conflict.

The car left the garage, merging into Brimfield’s weekend traffic, heading towards the old district.

Sienna knew Simon would first drop her off at Melinda Linton’s, worried Sylvia might be displeased again. She quickly asked, "Auntie, where are you going? We’ll take you there first?"

Sylvia wasn’t shy: "Nova Place. I want to do some shopping and buy some clothes and necessities."

Hearing this, Sienna sensed something was up and was about to check Simon’s reaction when she heard his displeased question: "Buy necessities? Are you planning to settle in at my place?"