Tommy finally stopped crying as he finally had his preferred brand of formula milk. However, his eyes and cheeks had turned red and puffy from all the crying, and he was still sobbing a little.
Having been starved for too long, he wolfed the milk he had desperately craved for and ended up drinking too much. Abigail had to give him gentle back rubs as he started spitting milk.
“What’s wrong? Why is he vomiting?” Diarmuid asked nervously.
“It’s nothing,” Abigail replied. It was normal for babies to do that.
Eventually, Tommy appeared comfortable, if not a little drowsy. Abigail took him to the bathroom. “He needs a bath.”
“I’ll help,” Diarmuid said without hesitation.
Abigail stared at Diarmuid–he had always appeared so lofty, as if he was above everything. Yet at this very moment, he looked just like an ordinary father from an ordinary family.
She smiled. “Okay. You can help me prepare a bath…”
However, Diarmuid barely stepped inside when his cell phone started ringing again.
Abigail frowned immediately. “You should go. I can handle this.”
Diarmuid wrinkled his brow, unhappy that he was called repeatedly he had just met his child, and he didn’t want to part so quickly.
He wanted to look at Tommy more!
“I’ll be right back.”
Abigail smiled. “Okay.”
Once Diarmuid left the Bernstein Mansion, the gentle look on his face was quickly replaced by an expression of ice.
Getting into his car, he told Jimmy to drive him to Althoff Manor.
Moneypenny was already waiting outside the front door for him. Once he saw Diarmuid alighting from his car, he walked up and greeted him. “Master Diarmuid…”
Diarmuid remained impassive. As he walked, he asked, “Why did he call me here so eagerly?‘
“I’m not sure, sir.” Moneypenny smiled, but he wouldn’t have told Diarmuid even if he knew.
As Diarmuid strode into Henry’s study, he found the old man sitting in front of the chessboard. When Henry saw Diarmuid, he put down the chess piece he was holding.
“I heard the cops were involved with Ian?” he asked, but his tone was damning.
Diarmuid stood, tall and towering.
“Yes,” he replied, having no intention of apologizing.
Henry scowled -being advanced in age, he cared much about kinship.
However, he cared about the family’s reputation more.
He had given all of the family’s estate to Diarmuid to appease the latter, but in actual truth, his chief interest was maintaining their reputation.
What happens in the family should stay in the family–he had been constantly worried that Diarmuid would expose the family’s dirty deeds to the public’s attention.
He rarely tried to throw the weight of his seniority onto Diarmuid, but now, he asked, “Do you understand what you’ve done?”
It was a rare instance, but Diarmuid pursed his lips coldly and growled in dissatisfaction; it came from the bottom of his heart. “Grandfather, you knew Ian took my child and my woman, but you didn’t tell me. I was going to ask you why. Do you agree with his actions, or were you a part of it?”
Henry was stunned. “H–How did you know?!”
Henry thought that he had kept things discreet–only Moneypenny knew.
As he turned to throw a sharp look at his butler, Moneypenny quickly defended himself, sputtering, “No, sir! I hadn’t breathed a word…”
“How did you think I found the ship, grandfather?” Diarmuid asked, his gaze turning icy. “I saw you returning to Southport with my own eyes, and I simply retraced your footsteps.”
Diarmuid took a seat on the chair, leaning back as he folded his legs nonchalantly, “So, Grandfather. Tell me, what were you thinking?”
“I was going to tell you, but you found them-”
“Really? Can’t even give me a phone call?”
Clearly, Diarmuid doubted Henry’s words. If he had any intention to help Abigail and Tommy, he would have demanded that Ian release them.
Moreover, Henry could have called Diarmuid about Ian.
holding his family hostage. Yet, Henry decided it was more important to rebuke him instead.
Naturally, all this wouldn’t make sense unless Henry tolerated the actions of Greg’s family. Now that Diarmuid’s child and beloved woman were involved, Diarmuid knew he wouldn’t be a man if he did nothing about it.
“Ian should take responsibility for his own actions,” Diarmuid declared resolutely, rising to his feet.
“Are you ruining the family’s reputation over a child and a woman?” Henry could not accept that attitude. Diarmuid was allowed to care about his family, but he should not tarnish the Althoff family’s reputation!
Were they going to lose all semblance of dignity now that Henry had grown so old?
“Reputation? All of that was gone when my parents were killed,” Diarmuid said, finding it ironic even as he turned to leave.
For a long time, he had been repressing his hatred towards Greg’s family and respected Henry as an elder.
Henry’s behavior today, however, left him disenchanted.
“Are you turning against me?” Henry asked in shock.
“I’m not, but you’re clearly siding with your son,” Diarmuid replied icily, just like how he found this so–called family now.
As Henry was left stunned, Diarmuid strode out of Althoff Manor. He paused for seconds at the doorway before continuing to his car without looking back.
His only attachment to that family was Henry, now, and it had vaporized completely.
“Where to, sir?” Jimmy the chauffeur asked softly.
Diarmuid stared outside the window, his cold expression holding no emotion for a while. Finally, his emotions. resurfaced when he remembered someone else.
“The Bernstein Mansion.”
“Yes, sir.”
After they arrived, Diarmuid alighted from the car and said, ” You can go. Just leave the keys here.”
“Of course, sir.” The chauffeur did as he was told, and Diarmuid headed inside after getting the keys.
The living room was quiet, and no one was in sight.
Seeing that Abigail was not around, Diarmuid frowned. Did they leave?
Still, he thought it unlikely since Abigail had just recovered her child. Thus, he looked through every room.
Eventually arriving upstairs, he opened a door and found Abigail, laying beside Tommy and gently patting his belly to coax him to sleep.
Diarmuid entered quietly, but Abigail turned and saw him anyway. Pulling a small blanket over Tommy, she sat on the edge of the bed and asked, “Why did Henry call you home?”
“Nothing much,” Diarmuid replied.
Abigail raised a brow, clearly doubting Diarmuid’s words.
Henry wouldn’t call him twice if it was ‘nothing‘.
Still, she knew shouldn’t ask if he did not want to tell.
“Don’t you have work?”
“No.”
He walked up to her and wrapped his arms around her, and tightened his embrace when she tried to struggle.
“Don’t. Let me hold you for a moment–that’s all I ask.”
Abigail stopped struggling, her heart skipping a beat.
She was still sitting on the bed even as he held her, and her face was against his waist.
She could sense that he was dispirited for some reason, and couldn’t help wrapping her arms around his waist. Concerned, she asked, “What’s wrong?”
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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