True Fated Marriage (Grace and Heinz)
Chapter 708

It was 9.30 a.m.

Grace was using the private meeting room in the hotel to interview the famous painter, Carlos Drake.

Well, this wasn't his real name, but his pseudonym.

Even someone like Grace recognised this famous painter.

When they met, Grace greeted him politely. "Hello, Mr. Drake. It's my pleasure to be able to interview you, my name's Grace Smith."

"Grace Smith?" Carlos raised his eyebrows and asked. "Grace Smith from Northern City?"

"Yes." Her heart skipped a beat as she heard the tone in Carlos' voice.

Now that he had this piece of information, Carlos studied Grace carefully. There was a hint of interest evident in his face.

All she could do was smile courteously as they looked at each other.

After a few seconds, Carlos said, "Grace, before starting your interview, I would like to ask you a few questions."

"Okay, go ahead." Grace nodded.

"What's your relationship with Heinz Jones?" Carlos asked in a deep voice.

Grace was stunned. She pursed her lips and replied, "He's the father of my sons."

Hearing this, Carlos was equally shocked. "Is it true that he was married to Jodie Lawson?"

After hearing his questions, Grace realized this painter knew quite a bit about her.

"Do you know Jodie?" Grace answered his question with another question.

Listening to this, Carlos' face fell. He looked at her coldly and noted, "Grace Smith, don't change the topic."

"Fair enough." Grace nodded again. "Jodie and Heinz are no longer married."

"If that's so, then why did the news outlets say that?" Carlos asked.

Grace didn't know how to answer his questions, neither did she want to. However, if she didn't, she'd definitely come across as rude. "Mr. Drake, I'm truly impressed at how you pay attention to the current affairs outside of Julesburg."

"Jodie and Heinz are no longer married, and I've seen the divorce papers myself. As for why the newspaper reported it like that, I don't have the slightest clue," Grace added.

"Maybe you can ask them about that. Usually, news outlets like to exaggerate things. This is the strategy they used to pull in their readers. This is also the reason Editor Lowe plans to change our reporting style now that she's taken over the company," she added.

"Hence, you will be relieved to know that I'll bear my responsibility to be a good reporter. I'll only write about the truth and I definitely won't spread lies."

After Grace was done speaking, Carlos was quiet. He was shocked by her words as he didn't see it coming.

At this moment, the gloomy expression he had on his face since the beginning seemed to ease a little.

In fact, he even smiled and exclaimed, "Miss Smith, you have a very sharp tongue."

After thinking for a while, she smiled. "I apologize if I've scared you."

"You didn't." Carlos shook his head. "I'm not scared, but I just like to do things by the book. Even worse, I strongly dislike people who interfere with someone's marriage. In fact, I replace it hard to be interviewed by someone like that."

At first, Grace was startled to hear this, but then a smile broke out across her face.

She knew that if she insisted that she hadn't interfered with their marriage, Carlos would've interrogated her even further.

In order to dispel the old painter's relentless persecution and continue her interview with him, she had to plan her strategy carefully.

She didn't want to tarnish the company's reputation, plus she needed to complete the assignment. Grace knew that she couldn't just go about it carelessly.

After a slight pause, Grace replied with a smile, "Mr. Drake, earlier you asked me all these questions. I'm sure you already knew about Jodie's existence. Well, she went on a support mission to Alsburg six years ago. Soon after she left, she was abducted and killed."

Carlos was stunned, and surprise was clearly written across his face. Then, he suddenly burst into laughter.

"Okay, I understand now."

Grace truly hoped that he did.

"If that's the case, may I continue the interview with you?"

"Of course you can," he smiled and said. "Now that I know that you didn't mean to do this, I'm sure you must've met Heinz after Jodie passed away. In this case, I wouldn't say you intervened in their marriage, so I don't mind being interviewed by you."

"Thank you for your understanding," Grace smiled. "And more so, thank you for letting me proceed with the interview."

"I can tell that you're an honest girl with just one look," Carlos commented. "That's good. Now, let's start the interview." "Yes, sir."

An hour later...

After seeing Carlos off, Grace heaved a sigh of relief.

Very soon, Hermione was right behind her. "Grace, how did it go?"

"Not bad." Grace turned towards her. "Editor Lowe, Carlos questioned me regarding my personal life just now. I almost thought the interview wouldn't proceed, but in the end, after listening to my explanation, he still agreed to let me interview him."

"Did you manage to ask all the questions you were supposed to?" Hermione asked, slightly concerned.

Grace nodded. "Yes, I've asked all of them. He was very cooperative after that."

"Did he ask about the rumors?"

"Yes." Grace nodded. "But I'm not sure if he's related to Jodie, or if he is just someone invested in the news." "You should ask him about it," Hermione affirmed. "He's probably still outside packing up to go outside for a sketch."

"I'll go now."

After gathering her stuff quickly, she ran out of the meeting room. When she rushed outside, she happened to see Carlos carrying the easel on his back, with an art box in hand and preparing to leave. "Miss Smith, we meet again?" Carlos greeted her.

"Hold on, Mr. Drake." After weighing the possible outcomes in her head, she summoned the courage to speak. "I'm sorry for delaying you for a few more minutes."

"Is there anything else you need?" Carlos asked curiously.

"Yes," Grace said. "It's just a personal matter, and it has nothing to do with work."

"Go ahead," Carlos gave his consent. "Since I asked you about your private life earlier, it's only fair for you to do the same."

"I just wanted to know if you were related to Jodie Lawson?"

"I'm not." Carlos shook his head as he denied this. "We're not acquainted. I just wanted to know if you were someone who would mess around with someone else's marriage. Since you aren't, I am relieved." Even after getting the answer, Grace still felt as if something wasn't right. She felt like Carlos was hiding something from her.

"Were you really just asking for nothing?" Grace examined Carlos' expression as if she was trying to see if there were any hints behind it. Carlos naturally understood Grace's concerns.

He informed bluntly, "Miss Smith, I just happened to see the articles about you. I asked those questions due to my own personal beliefs."

"Oh, I see." Grace sighed, "It seems that I might've been overthinking."

"Goodbye then, Miss Smith." Carlos nodded slightly and left quickly.

Just as Grace turned around to leave for her room, she suddenly heard a loud voice calling her name, "Grace!"

When she looked up in surprise, she saw Tyler walking towards her from a short distance away.

"Tyler?" Grace was also surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"My mom's here so I arrived this morning," Tyler said. "She went to do some sketching and I haven't even had the chance to see her yet."

"Professor Brooks is here as well?" Astonished, the two of them stood face to face. "When did she arrive here?"

"It seems that you haven't had the chance to see her as well. You didn't even know that she was here." Tyler smiled. "Why did I have to go and reveal that?"

After piecing together everything she knew, Grace suddenly realized, "Tyler, was Professor Brooks the one who helped us to secure the interview?"

Tyler nodded and agreed, "I think she mentioned that she would help last time, but she felt that you would've been too shy to receive her help directly. Hence, she contacted the newspaper office. Don't worry. We're not just helping you but also helping Entertainment Daily too. Plus, we're helping to spread the name of us painters. It's essentially killing many birds with one stone."

"Thank you." Grace was still touched by how enthusiastic Tyler was to help her.

"There's no need to be so polite with me," He smiled and said. "We're tight anyways.' "Tyler, then what are you doing here?"

Tyler's gaze fell onto Grace's face, and he said with much concern, "I came here for you."