Dear Ex-wife Marry Me novel (Maja) novel Chapter 2246

There was never any real family bond between them, yet when Marlon spoke, his tone carried a strangely intimate, almost teasing warmth.

Athena couldn’t figure him out. Tyler had warned her—Marlon was not someone to be taken lightly. She kept her guard up, never letting herself relax for a second.

After making his offer, Marlon bit into the apple in his hand. “If you change your mind, just give me a call. That’s my number.” He set a simple card down on the side table and added, “That’s my personal line.”

Athena stayed silent, only glancing at the card once he’d left. The card was plain, with no embellishments—clearly something private, not for show.

She slipped it into her purse, frowning slightly, still unable to read Marlon’s intentions. For now, all she could do was wait and see what he really wanted.

As Marlon stepped outside and climbed into his car, his phone rang. Someone on the other end asked what he’d been up to.

He leaned back in his seat, a lazy smirk spreading across his face. “Found something interesting lately. Figured I’d swing by and stir things up for fun.”

The man on the other end was clearly fishing for gossip. “Heard you found your sister. Is that true?”

“Of course it’s true.” Marlon steered with one hand, holding his phone in the other. “It won’t be long before she moves into the Keller estate.”

“Marlon, you’re not acting like yourself. All these years you only bothered looking for your sister because Grandma Edith insisted. Even if you found her, you wouldn’t usually be this enthusiastic. What’s changed?”

“She’s genuinely fascinating,” Marlon replied, laughter in his eyes.

Whatever the other man said next made Marlon scoff, “Yeah, yeah, mind your own business,” before hanging up and focusing on the road.

When he returned to the Keller estate, Grandma Edith was waiting for him.

But making that kind of clean break—only Marlon had the nerve.

She’d backed him because she understood just how capable her grandson was. Still, his methods had been so ruthless that now the Keller estate felt empty, almost desolate.

“Grandma, let’s take a walk outside,” Marlon offered gently.

She glanced at him, her voice soft with regret. “Marlon, do you ever wonder if we made the right choices back then?”

“Right or wrong, there’s no way to judge now,” Marlon replied quietly. “Back then, if I hadn’t acted first, they would have come for me. Grandma, I know someone in the family orchestrated Athena’s disappearance. My mother died because of it—she was collateral damage. If I’d shown them mercy, they wouldn’t have done the same for me.”

In the end, it all came down to who was willing to be more ruthless.