Later that day, I sent the children to Zachary and Cameron’s so that they could look after the children for me. It was already six in the evening when I left the Moore Residence.
Setting off for The Jade, I took out my phone and texted Millie: Millie, are you there?
She replied almost instantaneously: I only work for you. Ms. Stanhope, you can give the orders directly.
Seeing that, I continued typing on the phone and went straight to the point: Can you contact the mercenaries hired by John?
Millie: I’ve lost contact with several of them. The remaining mercenaries can reach your location in twenty minutes.
Startled, I wrote: My location? But I’m still on the move.
Millie: Our people are scattered all over the city to ensure that they can reach the target location within half an hour.
After reading her message, I replied: Okay then. I didn’t know that John was such a thorough person. Please deploy all the people you can contact to the vicinity of The Jade. It’s always better to be prepared.
Millie: Noted.
Staring at the phone, I mused to myself. As expected of Millie… What a concise reply. She’s always calm and proactive, giving me a sense of security.
At that thought, I sent her another text: Since you’re working for me, I hope you’ll remember this. In the crisis of life and death, please save my family first. Thank you.
The car stopped in front of The Jade after I sent the text. Putting the phone into my bag, I alighted from the car and walked inside.
Thanks to Emery, a waiter was already waiting at the entrance. Once he saw me, he greeted me warmly and showed me in.
Emery had arrived and was explaining something to the manager in the lobby. When she saw me, she hurriedly ended the conversation and approached me. “How is it? Are you satisfied with the special treatment?”
She was being so considerate. How could I have any complaints? Hence, I hurriedly responded with a smile, “Thank you.”
“Stop it.” Emery could not stand such a cringeworthy situation. She quickly dismissed the waiter and brought me inside. “Follow me. This way.”
Since it was peak hours, many customers were going up and down. Consequently, we spent a lot of time in the elevator. Just as we got off the elevator, we ran into Nathaniel and Nora, who came out of the next elevator.
As expected, he would not miss out on any opportunity to be entertained by Anthony’s drama.
In fact, other than Rylee, Nathaniel could also be considered as one of Anthony’s obsessive stalkers.
“You’re here as well.” Nora held Nathaniel’s arm, looking noble and elegant. Obviously, my appearance was out of her expectation.
On the contrary, Nathaniel kept an indifferent expression. He was probably immune to my sudden appearance.
He probably did not want to see me. I bet he was afraid to witness my scorching love for Anthony, which would hurt his self-esteem and remind him that despite sharing the same gene, Anthony was cherished by others while he was alone in this world. Even if he died, no one would shed a single tear for him.
“I’m here to look for my husband. What are you doing here?” I feigned ignorance and sounded impatient. On the surface, I was set up by Nathaniel and had no choice but to take his side, but it was him who had ruined my perfect husband after all, so of course, I would resent him.
I was not a kind woman. Nathaniel would soon discover that I could compromise, but I would always look down on him for what he had done.
“Who gave you the courage to be so impudent? There’s not even one person backing you up now,” Nora sneered.
“I’m a lot better than someone who can’t even draw lines between the good and bad.”
Although the Oberick family had not been doing well over the years, they still had a good reputation. Every heir of the Oberick family was upright and dignified. It was most likely that Nora had forgotten how admirable she used to be.
Rylee grew up without a family, so it was understandable if she could not distinguish right from wrong. On the contrary, Nora was born into a wealthy family and had a fine education. But because of Armond, a man who had done all kinds of evil deeds, she stooped to join forces with Nathaniel.
She had the chance to live a meaningful life, but she had chosen the opposite. Such people were not worthy of sympathy.
“Who has the right to determine who’s right or wrong? I’m bad, but I was willing to take risks with my children for you and your husband’s sake. On the contrary, you pretended to be righteous but separated me from my children. Is this the so-called justice?” uttered Nora emotionally. Moments later, she gradually calmed down and lowered her head. “I truly despise people like you. Now that you’ve met your karma, it’s sufficient to prove that I’m right.”
“Not necessarily so.” Unwilling to admit defeat, I held my chin up.
Just then, the elevator door opened. Anthony, John, and Emma were inside.
Emery winked at me. Everyone had arrived.
Anthony was impassive as usual. His gaze landed upon me for just a second before he turned his head away. Upon coming out of the elevator and seeing Nathaniel and Nora, he stopped dead in his tracks. He looked around and asked in a muffled voice, “Why is everyone standing here?”
“We just happened to run into each other,” answered Emery.
“Since everyone is here, we should just have dinner together,” said Nathaniel decisively. No one at the scene dared to refute him.
Lowering his head, Anthony pondered for a short while and agreed, “Whatever.”
With that said, he walked past Emery and me and headed toward the private room. Nathaniel and Nora followed behind him.
When John moved ahead of me while holding Emma’s hand, he tapped on the back of my hand while no one was watching as if he was filming a spy movie, and that minor action was the secret code between us.
However, Emery was observant and noticed it right away. Folding her arms across her chest, she shook her head and quipped, “Jeez, it’s almost time to go on stage, but both of you are still acting like a child.”
“This is John’s ability. By butting in on the matter, he’s helped to create an opportunity for us.”
In actuality, I hoped that Anthony could be less serious sometimes, but he was not the languid and carefree type. Moreover, he received far more attention than John. If he had really done something, Nathaniel would have wiped the floor with us.
“That’s true,” agreed Emery. “Maybe we can take advantage of the messy situation.”
I kept quiet, reached out, and patted her arm lightly. “Let’s go. Or else we might miss the good show.”
When we entered the private room, everyone was already seated. John and Emma were sitting by the door, and Anthony was sitting opposite them. Nathaniel and Nora were sitting on Anthony’s left, and the seat on the right was empty, so I took that seat naturally.
Until the food was served, the atmosphere in the private room was heavy, and no one broke the silence.
Emery kept making tiny moves under the table, expressing that the atmosphere was too depressing. Meanwhile, I thought that it was quite normal, as there was always the calm before the storm.
Finally, the table was full of exquisite dishes, and the waiters exited the room.
Although the food on the table looked delicious, no one paid any attention to it. On such occasions, the food was not the main point.
Casting a brief look at Nathaniel, I tried to figure out his intentions. Nevertheless, he was eating gracefully and only showed a hint of impatience when Nora placed some food on his plate.
It seemed that Nathaniel was also a germaphobe, just like Anthony.
Even though Nora had a strong sense of pride, she chose to suppress her irritation. Instead of eating the food that Nathaniel had rejected, she threw it on another plate.
In my eyes, the relationship between them was pretty weird. Despite being together all the time, Nathaniel was not even willing to eat the food placed on his plate by Nora.
“Since you’re here, name your price.” Anthony cut straight to the point and broke the awkward silence.
On the surface, we were supposed to decide the ownership of the shares that originally belonged to me through the meeting. Besides, there was already a conflict between John and Anthony when the former rejected the latter’s decision in the company, so there was indeed no need for customary pleasantries.
Both of them were raring to fight as if they had really turned against each other.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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