Chapter 636

"You little rascal! The moment I'm out of sight, you stop taking care of yourself. Raymond's your father-if he can't protect you, that's his failure, and now you're the one taking bullets for him? What kind of father is that? If you ask me, you should just come live with me. Sure, I'm getting on in years, but I could keep you plenty safe."

Citrine knew her grandfather worried about her, so she didn't take offense.

She smiled and said, "Grandpa, Raymond isn't useless. He's my dad. I'm happy I can protect him."

And she meant every word of it.

"Dad?" For a moment, Ogden's face was unreadable, but at that single word, a flicker of surprise crossed his eyes.

He stared at her. "You little rascal, have you really accepted Raymond?"

Citrine's smile softened. "They've been really good to me. With them, I finally feel the love I always wanted."

Ogden nodded slowly.

He'd rescued this girl when she was fourteen, all alone in another country. From that day, he'd raised her himself. In those years, the bond between grandfather and granddaughter had been unbreakable; they understood each other better than anyone else in the world.

Ogden knew better than anyone how hard it was to get through to her. When he first met her, she'd been like a wild cub-skittish, impossible to read, putting up walls with everyone, even him. It had taken more than a year of patience and persistence before she finally let him in.

Now, seeing her accept the Carmichaels into her heart, Ogden couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy. Soon, she'd have more family, even another grandpa.

But more than anything, he was happy for her. His darling girl deserved all the love she could get.

The old resentment Ogden felt toward the Carmichaels faded a little. If Citrine was willing to open up to them, then they must have treated her well.

He looked at Citrine, emotions swirling inside him. After a moment, he cleared his throat and said, "Well, Citrine, looks like you've got yourself a real grandpa now."

He didn't bother to hide the hint of envy in his voice.

Citrine burst out laughing. "You old man, you'll always be my grandpa. Don't get jealous, okay?"

"You always know how to get your way with words," Ogden huffed, though a smile tugged at his lips.

"I mean it," Citrine replied, grinning sincerely.

Ogden shot her a glare, but suddenly got mischievous. "Alright then, let me ask you this: if both Weston and I fell into a river at the same time, who would you save?"

Citrine almost groaned at the ridiculousness of it, but kept her

patience. "That scenario does

any sense. There's no way

both fall in at the same time."

"I said, what if?" Ogden insisted, stubborn as ever.

"There is no 'what if," Citrine replied, unruffled.

"I don't care, you have to pick one!" Ogden was relentless.

"I'm not choosing," Citrine shook her head, refusing to play along.

Ogden, still nursing that old

insecurity about not being her "real" grandfather, got huffy when she didn't give him the answer he wanted. "Ah, I see how it is!

vel

Heartless little rascal. You're just going to leave me to drown, aren't you?"

Citrine protested, "I am not! That's not fair!"

Ogden clutched his chest in mock agony, dramatically moaning, "This pain-oh, it's too much. You'd better prepare for my funeral, young lady. If my heart shatters, you'll regret it, but it'll be too late-no one cares about love that comes after the fact."

Citrine could only stare at him, speechless.

After a moment, she said, dead serious, "Grandpa, I think the first thing you need

to do is delete those trashy romance novels from your phone."