Chapter 287
Mason followed her gaze and saw Sydney chatting with someone.
A breeze blew over the deck every now and then, making it a bit chilly, but Sydney’s dress was quite thin.
A light gray, sleeveless long gown, made of sheer fabric. The deck lights, bright as daylight, shone on her dress, creating a soft glow that made her look absolutely stunning.
Her makeup was also exquisite, with her long hair loosely braided behind her head and her bangs casually falling on her forehead, giving her an elegant look. Add to that her professional smile as an actress, and even Celeste, who really disliked her, had to admit Sydney looked absolutely beautiful tonight.
Mason guessed, “Maybe she was invited by the organizers to perform in a play.”
The cruise ship had a large theater with three performances a day, and Sydney might have been one of the performers.
*Can the organizers afford her?‘ Celeste asked.
Usually, cruise ship theaters invite professional theater or music groups to perform. Having someone like Sydney performing in a play would decrease the theater’s profits.
As they were chatting, they heard Nicolas teasing them from behind. “I told you she was on the deck! There’s only so much space on the ship; it’s not like she could have swum home!”
Celeste turned around to see Liam approaching her with a serious expression on his face.
He walked up to her, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her to him. “What are you doing running around like this? Aren’t you afraid you’ll fall overboard?” This man never has anything nice to say!
She glared at him after pulling her hand back. “Even if I did fall, I wouldn’t need you to save me!”
Liam glanced at her and said casually, “Regardless of who saves you, I’d still have to pay the rescue fees since I spent so much money marrying
you.”
Celeste was stumped. That sentence sounded strange. It wasn’t a taunt, but rather showed a hint of helplessness.
“Mason, where did you go just now?” Nicolas suddenly asked.
Celeste thought Mason would be honest, but he said, “I went back to the room for a bit, and I ran into Celeste on my way out.”
Celeste looked at Mason, puzzled.
Why didn’t he tell the truth? Was he afraid that Liam might misunderstand?
Liam’s gaze shifted between the two of them before he grabbed Celeste’s hand again. “Come on.“Mir
“Where are you taking me?”
Instead of answering, he walked her directly back to their room.
Owen had just finished setting out the food when they returned. He smiled gently and said, “Ma’am, you’ve been asleep all day and didn’t have lunch. Mr. Reed was worried you’d be hungry, so he saved some food for you. I had it warmed up just now, so see if it suits your taste.”
Liam glanced at Owen. “You’re explaining too much.”
Owen chuckled. “In that case, I won’t be disturbing you two during your meal.”
He tactfully exited the room after speaking.
There were more than a dozen dishes. Celeste drooled at the sight, but she had already eaten too much, so she could only watch longingly.
“What are you waiting for?”
Liam handed her a fork. “You’re hungry, right?”
Celeste didn’t know what to say.
How was she supposed to tell Liam that she had already eaten?
Why did Mr. Fletcher lie? They hadn’t done anything wrong, and his words made it difficult for her to explain to Liam now.
Chapter 287
Chapter 287
Seeing she wasn’t eating Liam frowned. “Do you want me to feed you?”
Celeste quickly picked up the fork. “No, thank you”
Liam looked at her but didn’t say anything else.
Celeste held the fork but barely ate anything.
Liam noticed this and asked, “Doesn’t it taste good?”
“No, it’s delicious,” Celeste replied, not wanting to be rude since Liam was showing rare concern for her. But she honestly wasn’t hungry, so she whispered, “I’m just not very hungry
Liam clearly didn’t believe her. “Are you too hungry that you’re afraid of looking unattractive while eating in front of me?”
Celeste felt frustrated.
She didn’t respond, so Liam continued, “I’ve seen you drunk and insisting I help you take off your pants in the bathroom. Do you really think I care about your table manners?”
“Can you not mention something so disgusting while I’m eating?”
Liam paused. “Is this topic really that disgusting?”
Celeste: …
She couldn’t eat, and now that Liam had mentioned this, she had even less of an appetite.
She forced herself to eat half a bowl of soup before asking, “Where’s Grandpa?”
“He went gambling.”
“What?” Celeste almost jumped up. “Why didn’t you stop him?”
Liam said calmly, “He seemed to be having fun.”
“But you can’t just let him do whatever he wants! What if he loses?”
The people on this ship were all rich and famous. Although the casino was just for entertainment, and the stakes might not be too high for these people, for ordinary folks, they were already quite hefty.
Grandpa had lived his whole life in the countryside, and the biggest gambling he’d ever done was probably playing cards with the village elders – at the cost of a few bucks at most.
He’d never been to a big casino like this, and if he lost, he’d be very upset.
Liam didn’t seem worried at all. “He seems to be on a winning streak, but if he loses…” he paused and looked at Celeste, ‘we can deduct it from your ten billion.”
Celeste: …
Losing money wasn’t the main issue. She was more worried about Grandpa being upset about losing money, which could stress him out even
more.
With that thought, she told Liam that she was full and wanted to see her grandpa. Liam glanced at the remaining food and said, “I’ll take you
there.”
The fifth floor of the cruise ship was a recreational area with a chess room and various board games.
When Liam and Celeste found Grandpa, he was enthusiastically gambling with a group of people.
They were rolling dice, betting on numbers, and placing chips.
There were chips piled up in front of everyone but Grandpa.
When everyone started betting, Celeste hurried over. “Grandpa!”
The old man smiled when he saw his great–granddaughter. “Letti, you’re awake!”
Celeste pulled him toward the exit. “Let’s go up to the deck, okay?”
“Just one more game.”
He must have lost money and wanted to win it back.
Worried he’d gamble even more, Celeste said, “Didn’t you want to go swimming? There’s a pool on the deck, and Owen has prepared swim trunks for you.”
As soon as he heard swimming, the old man got excited: “Sounds good! Let’s go.”
But he suddenly stopped and said: “I gotta cash out these things first.”
“What?”
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Chapter 287
The old man pulled out a whole bunch of chips from his pocket and put them on the table.
Celeste: ?
Chapter 288
Chapter 288
After that, she saw him take out another stack of chips from another pocket, and even more from his pants pocket, even from beneath his shirt.
Celeste watched the old man keep pulling out chips from his pockets until they piled up into a small mountain.
Celeste: ???
She stared at Liam in disbelief, while the latter seemed very calm, “I told you, he’s got good luck.”
This was more than just good luck; her grandpa must have won every single game in the entire afternoon!
With so many chips, after paying his table fees and tips, he ended up winning over a million dollars.
Celeste lamented that this was way more than what she made from acting, and wondered how great it would’ve been if she knew she could’ve simply gambled with the old man!
Celeste was very interested in the old man’s gambling skills and kept asking him why he could guess right every time.
The old man said leisurely, “Don’t think about making money from these side hustles.”
“Why do you still gamble then?”
The old man said seriously, “I’m just an old man. Losing is not a big deal for me. But for you guys, if you get addicted to gambling, you’ll be ruined. You lose more than you win, and the casino isn’t gonna let you walk away with their money just like that.”
Although he made a lot of sense, Celeste couldn’t help but feel like the old man was lying to her.
She secretly whispered to Liam, “Do you think the old man could be cheating?”
Liam nodded, “It’s possible.”
“What should we do?”
Liam glanced at her, “You could let the casino manager know and have them check the surveillance. If he’s really cheating, you could turn him in. He’s old, they probably won’t keep him for long.”
Celeste immediately replied, “I would never do that.”
The gambling on the ship wasn’t exactly legal anyway, and even if he was cheating, it would be settled privately. Turning him in would only get everyone else in trouble too.
When they came out, most of the people had gathered on the deck, and it was already fairly packed.
Owen took the old man to the pool area. Liam went to chat with some acquaintances in the business circle, and Celeste was surrounded by the
wives.
Last time at the jewelry exhibition, Sienna’s attention for Celeste had already spread among the wives, so today, when Celeste appeared, they were all much warmer to her, regardless of their real feelings.
This kind of enthusiasm was completely different compared to how they treated Sydney earlier.
The former was to please and be cautious, while the latter was more like curiosity, as if observing a monkey that had wandered into the crowd.
Sydney had a glass of wine in her hand, looking displeased.
Someone asked, “Ms. Campbell, your acting in that show you did recently was amazing! How did you come up with the idea to take on that role?” “It was that “Mastermind of Law,” right? My kids sit down in front of the TV every day after school to watch it, and I’ve watched a few episodes too. I didn’t recognize it was Celeste until you mentioned it.”
