Falling For My Accidental CEO Husband
Chapter 175: Caught

Chapter 175: Caught

Of all the people Aiden could have guessed might catch him doing the ’walk of shame’ this morning, his grandmother had not even made the list. So, naturally, when he returned from his clandestine rendezvous with Serena, finding Mabel Hawk perched like a royal hawk at the entrance of the house was the last thing he expected.

What truly left him floundering, however, was her scrutinizing gaze that swept over him, taking in every wrinkle of his crumpled suit and the distinct ruffle of his unkempt hair. Then, without so much as a preamble, she barked out an order to her maid, "Get the washboard! It seems my grandson’s returned home smelling like bad decisions."

Aiden felt the heat rush to his face, mingling with the surprise that rendered him momentarily speechless. He stood there, half-struck by the absurdity of the situation and half by sheer mortification. After all, it wasn’t like he’d ever been caught in this position before. His college escapades had all been safely tucked away out of sight, far from his grandmother’s disapproving eyes. His mouth opened and the first flimsy lie that came to mind stumbled out. "Grandma! I just went for a walk!"

Mabel’s brow arched in a way that said she had singlehandedly invented the concept of sarcasm. "A walk? Is that the new dress code for morning strolls?" She tilted her head, her sharp eyes landing on the skewed tie that looked like it had wrestled with a lawnmower and lost. It had LOST... just not to the lawn mower...but rather a certain someone’s fingers.

Aiden glanced down at himself, grimaced at the sight of his disheveled appearance, and tried to plaster on an innocent smile. "Just trust me on this, okay? It was a brisk, intense walk. Long, with lots of cardio and HIIT involved—" He made a vague sweeping gesture, as if to conjure an image of morning exercise. "Anyway, welcome back, Grandmother!" He stepped forward, arms spread wide as if to dissolve any lingering tension with a hug.

But Mabel Hawk’s raised walking stick put an immediate stop to that. She jabbed it in his direction, eyes narrowed like a general inspecting her unruly troops. "Stay right there, young man! I won’t have you transferring whatever nonsense you’ve been up to all over me!"

Aiden winced, chuckling nervously as he retreated a step. He had survived countless sparring matches, boardroom negotiations, and even finally seduced his wife, but nothing—absolutely nothing—compared to facing his grandmother’s judgment. It was what had pushed him into marrying Serena in the first place, hadn’t it?

"Okay, okay! What are you doing here?" Aiden’s voice climbed an octave as he gestured wildly, trying to steer the conversation away from his disheveled state. "What happened to spending time with your sick friend?"

Mabel Hawk pursed her lips, a look of mock concern crossing her face. "I realized my grandson is sicker than my friend."

"But I am perfectly okay." Aiden spread his arms wide, giving a nonchalant shrug as if to invite her to inspect him like a prize horse. He even threw in a lopsided grin for good measure.

Mabel’s eyes flicked over him with a withering look. "Physically, yes, you appear fit. But mentally, well, that’s a different story. You need a shrink, Aiden. Clearly, your brain has shrunk and slid south to a part of your body where it’s definitely not needed."

Aiden winced, running a hand through his hair in an attempt to tame it. He let out a nervous chuckle before resorting to the most tired, feeble line in the history of explanations. "I can explain."

Her eyebrow arched so high, it nearly joined her hairline. "I doubt it."

"No, really, Grandma, I can explain. Just give me a moment—"

"Fine," she interrupted, eyes narrowing like she was preparing to hear the most outrageous tale of his life. "Then please, enlighten me: where is my granddaughter-in-law? Why hasn’t she been back home since before I left? And why are there divorce papers with both of your signatures sitting at the civil affairs department?" Each question came like a precise jab, and Aiden could practically feel the bruises forming on his conscience.

He swallowed hard, the smile faltering. "Yes. If you could just give me a few minutes to freshen up, I’ll go change and return with a perfectly reasonable explanation. I promise." His voice cracked slightly on the word promise, but he pushed through, flashing an unconvincing thumbs-up.

Mabel leaned forward, planting the end of her walking stick firmly on the ground as she loomed closer. "Aiden Hawk," she said with a tone that could silence an army, "if your explanation doesn’t satisfy me, you’d better be prepared to lose the family jewels."

Aiden groaned, the realization of just how much Serena’s influence had seeped into his grandmother’s making him rub his temple. "Grandma! Serena has definitely rubbed off on you. That’s not exactly the kind of threat I need to hear from my own grandmother..."

She smirked, an unsettling twinkle in her eye. "Well, then, I suggest you start crafting that perfectly reasonable explanation."

He sighed, already dreading the storm ahead. If the morning started with a ’walk of shame,’ it was shaping up to end with a full-on sprint for his life. He should not have been greedy and tried for another round with Serena. Then he could have snuck inside...He sighed. Since when did he sneak in? He’d never done it even when he’d been a teenager...

After a quick shower to rub off the last vestiges of the previous night, Aiden quickly freshened up and headed straight for the main room, where his grandmother was still sitting in the same position as he’d left her... with the addition of a washboard on her side.

Who even dealt with this kind of ’washboard’ in this day and age? Aiden found himself thinking, but he pushed the incredulity aside and focused on the task at hand. He took a deep breath, steeled himself, and launched into his explanation with a leading statement. "Grandma, it’s all an act."

The ensuing explanation was a whirlwind of words, as Aiden laid out everything—every calculated detail, every strategic move, and every pretense they had been forced to adopt just to uncover the suspects. Mabel listened intently, her sharp eyes darting over him as if she were weighing each sentence on an invisible scale. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Aiden saw her posture soften, the tension melting ever so slightly from her shoulders. He let out a long, shaky breath of relief, convinced that the worst was over.

But his relief was short-lived. Mabel, tilted her chin up and said with a stern note, "I will be confirming all of this with Serena."

Aiden shrugged, raising his hands in a ’be my guest’ gesture. "Of course, but you’ll have to go in there as her enemy, or at the very least as my angry grandmother who wants a piece of her hide for pulling one over her grandson. You can take that washboard as well..."

Mabel’s lips quirked into the ghost of a smile, a rare flicker of approval passing over her features. "I got that covered. Now, are you certain Sidney is involved in all this?"

Aiden hesitated for a heartbeat before nodding. "In the grand scheme of things, no. But when it comes to trying to break us up? Yes, definitely."

Mabel sighed, a sound that carried disappointment and resignation, as if this revelation punctured a cherished illusion. "I’d expected better from him," she murmured, eyes hardening with a mixture of anger and pity. "To go after a woman who belongs to his own brother..."

Aiden winced, feeling a familiar pang of guilt tighten his chest. He managed to keep his expression neutral, though, fighting the instinct to reveal what he’d been hiding. Because if they were being honest, he had been the one to cross that line first. The difference, however, was stark: Sidney might love her in his own twisted way, but Aiden? He cherished her, flaws and all, in ways Sidney never could.

As silence fell between them, Mabel’s gaze softened just a touch, shifting from disappointment to something more complex. "Aiden," she said, lowering her voice as if considering whether to say more, "if you think you’ve won the war, you’re mistaken. This is only the beginning."

He nodded, a shadow of a smile playing at his lips. "I know, Grandma. But Serena and I? We’re ready for it."

Mabel’s eyes sparked with an unreadable emotion. "You’d better be. Because if this goes south, things could go really bad..."

"I know, grandma. Trust me, I know."

"So, you only have two suspects as of now? Corrick and Price Senior."

"Hmm."

Mabel was quite for a moment as she closed her eyes, trying to think back to all the gossip that she’d heard during those times Though she’d never mingled much, she’d kept a finger on the gossip.

"What about Nvidia herself? You don’t think it could be her?"