I Faked My Death—Now I Have to Tame the Crazy Men I Left Behind

Chapter 287 - 285: Candidates for the Marriage Alliance

The after-dinner fun had brought Mia Grant and the Sinclair family a little closer.

The downside was that she slept in the next day. By the time she opened her eyes, it was already ten in the morning.

Tossing aside the covers, Mia Grant jumped out of bed. After washing up, she changed into her New Year’s battle armor and rushed out the door.

In the living room, Mia Grant saw Yuri Sinclair. She was just about to greet him when her gaze shifted and suddenly froze.

On the sofa, someone heard her footsteps and looked up. The moment his gaze landed on her, his eyes lit up.

"Happy New Year."

Yates Donovan said with a smile, waving his hand.

Mia Grant froze. "Ha-Happy New Year."

Her eyes questioned why he was here.

"Here to pay a New Year’s call," Yates Donovan replied nonchalantly.

Mia Grant was speechless.

Yuri Sinclair asked if she wanted breakfast, adding that the kitchen had prepared some for her.

Mia Grant nodded distractedly and entered the dining room, glancing back over her shoulder repeatedly.

The first thing she did was text Yates Donovan.

What’s going on?

Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?

Seriously, what are you doing here?

After sending the texts, she felt a pang of guilt. Scrolling up through her unread messages, she saw that Yates Donovan had indeed texted her this morning to say he was coming over.

She had just been asleep at the time.

A moment later, the dining room door was pushed open from the outside, and Yates Donovan slipped in.

Mia Grant’s eyes widened as she stared at him in disbelief. "Who let you come in here? You..."

She quickly glanced toward the door.

Yates Donovan placed his hands on her shoulders and gently pushed her down into her seat. "Your dad went to his room to take a call. He didn’t see me."

"..."

"Where are Carla and Julian?"

"In their room, probably. Your sister was on a work call when I got here."

Mia Grant breathed a sigh of relief.

Seeing her reaction, Yates Donovan leaned against the wall with his arms crossed and asked with a grin, "This scared of them finding out about us, huh?"

"Relax, I’m playing it cool. I just told your dad we’re friends. At most, Carla knows a little something. It won’t ruin your image in their eyes."

Hearing this, Mia Grant shot him a look, then picked up her spoon and started on her soup. "What does that have to do with anything? It’s not like I care about my image. If I had to pretend to be someone I’m not in front of them just so they’d like me, what would be the point of reuniting with them? It’d be too much pressure."

"I just don’t know how to explain things to them right now."

"After all, my fiancé is, technically, Felix Sinclair."

"It just makes things... so weird right now."

Yates Donovan raised an eyebrow. "I don’t care how you explain the others. I just have to be the official one."

"..." Mia Grant shot him a long-suffering look.

Yates Donovan sat down next to her, draping an arm over the back of her chair so it looked like he was holding her.

He leaned in close, smiling down at her. "What’s with that look? C’mon, I’ve been through hell and back for you, I’m super magnanimous, and my customer service is top-notch. Making me the official one isn’t asking too much, is it?"

"At the very least, I was the one you were engaged to first."

"Besides, if I’m not the official one, then what am I? The other guy? Number four? Number five or six?"

Mia Grant took a bite of a spring pancake, chewed thoughtfully, and began to seriously consider his question.

"You can be the other man."

"?"

Yates Donovan asked, "What’s your ranking system? Personal preference?"

Mia Grant said, "By age."

"..."

"You can say that stuff to me, but don’t go spouting that nonsense in front of anyone else, especially not my brother or Kian Keller."

Yates Donovan started to protest, but then she added, "Those two are getting on in years. They’re sensitive souls. They can’t handle the excitement."

"If you make them cry, I’m the one who’ll have to deal with it."

"Pfft." Yates Donovan couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

Mia Grant continued to eat her spring pancake, her expression blank. When his laughter only grew more unrestrained, she turned and stuffed a piece into his mouth.

’Ah, peace and quiet at last.’

Yates Donovan didn’t stay for long. Afterward, Yuri Sinclair didn’t bring up the subject of him and Mia.

In the afternoon, the group went to the Sinclairs’ home, where they would also be staying for dinner.

"You were high school classmates with Felix and Ian?"

Yuri Sinclair asked on the way.

Mia Grant affirmed that she was.

After a pause, Yuri Sinclair continued, "Is there some hidden reason for your engagement to Felix?"

Mia Grant thought for a moment, then nodded.

"If you’re planning to call it off, I’ll find an opportunity to discuss it with them today."

Mia Grant hesitated. "Wouldn’t that be too soon? After all, we only just got engaged."

"That’s true." Yuri Sinclair considered it from her perspective. While it was better to sever ties sooner rather than later, doing it so suddenly would definitely give people something to talk about.

She knew he meant well, and she suspected he already knew the full story, but Mia Grant explained it herself anyway. She finished by adding, "It’s not that I don’t like him, actually."

"I just don’t have any plans to get married for the time being."

"If I change my mind down the line, the engagement can still stand."

As soon as she said this, everyone else in the car looked at her in surprise.

It took Yuri Sinclair a few seconds to process this. "Did you two discuss this?" he asked.

Mia Grant hummed in assent. "He’s very good to me."

After just that one sentence, the other three in the car didn’t say anything more.

They were surprised because they hadn’t expected Mia Grant to have already pledged herself to someone. Even more surprising was that she would fall for someone as seemingly rigid as Felix Sinclair.

Carla Sinclair’s preferred candidate was Silas Grant. When she first got to know Mia, she’d gotten the impression that Mia had feelings for him.

As for Julian Vaughn, he was even more concerned about Mia than her own sister, Carla, was. He treated her like a little sister, and he worried that her youth made her easy to deceive.

Although he hadn’t known Mia for long, he still felt it was unlikely she would fall for someone of Felix Sinclair’s type. In contrast, Yates Donovan, whom they had met that morning, seemed like a much better match for her.

Yates Donovan might have seemed flippant and carefree on the surface, but he knew how to handle serious matters with decorum.

As for Yuri Sinclair, he was more inclined to favor Ian Sinclair.

Compared to Felix, the younger brother, Ian, had a more cheerful and sunny disposition. They were close in age and would have endless topics to talk about.

Furthermore, Ian Sinclair was genuinely fond of Mia.

He wasn’t as calculating. A young man’s affection was simple and pure—given without reservation, without weighing any personal gains.

He dearly hoped Mia could be loved that unreservedly.

Mia Grant had no idea what calculations were running through their heads. She just lowered her gaze and continued to fiddle with her phone.

Hayes Hughes had sent her a message. He said he’d be back in the capital around the third day of the New Year and asked if she had time to get a meal together.

"Sure!" Mia Grant replied, adding a sticker of a cat spinning in a circle. "Is the funeral over?"

"Yeah. Just some miscellaneous things left. I have to go over the will with the lawyer."

After a pause, Hayes Hughes thoughtfully added, "I expect my older brother will also be back in the capital soon."

Mia Grant was speechless.

"Oh."

’It’s not like I asked.’

"One more thing."

After a moment’s pause, another message came through from Hayes Hughes:

"The younger son of the Sinclair family has been in contact with Simon Adler recently."