He opened his mouth to take it, but it caused Leila to gasp. “Don’t do that!”
Her little head buried deep into his chest, he said softly in a doting tone, “Baby, in this life I will not let you be aggrieved and hurt again. I love you … love you …”
Accompanied by whispers, his kisses fell on her forehead, between her eyebrows. He kissed her eyes, which were permeated with tears …
Leila wrapped her arms around him and buried her little face in his bosom. She pressed against his chest as if this was the only way she could find peace.
The sky began to turn blue.
Vincent picked her up and walked toward the lounge inside the president’s room.
“Vincent!” Leila exclaimed in a low voice.
“Silly girl, I’m just carrying you to rest. You sleep a little longer!” He said gently, then put her on the bed and kissed her on the forehead again, “Be good and stay with me at work. Something is wrong with the company. Only if you are here with me, I can have peace of mind!”
What else could she say?
Leila nodded and grabbed his big hand with her small one. She said hurriedly, “Vincent, is it tricky?”
“I’ll take care of it! Trust me!” Vincent said again in a deep voice.
“Okay!”
Vincent stood by the bed and looked down at her. His eyes were like glazing, which reflected the light of love so brightly.
In the White Group’s president’s office.
Vincent was on the phone, “Charles, it’s me!”
“Vincent, why are you looking for me?” Charles was a little surprised. “You want to fight, huh?”
“You clean up the videos my mom has about me and Leila immediately!” Ignoring his flirtation, Vincent said in a deep voice, “This is also a chance that I give you to make up for your mistakes!”
“Why should I help you? I don’t want to make up for my mistakes!” Charles grunted. “It’s none of my business!”
“I know she’s crazy, but are you crazy too?” Vincent frowned. “How many more people do you want to pay for this?”
Charles was silent for a moment and said, “To tell you the truth, I decided to help you because of Leila. Otherwise, I’d be fucking crazy to help you! It was Leila, that stubborn girl who made me believe that there are still good girls in this world!”
“You’re not allowed to watch that video!”
“If I don’t watch it, how will I know if it’s you and Leila!”
“You’ll find a way!” Vincent was absolutely not allowed to let any man see Leila. Absolutely not.
“Okay! I won’t look. I’m so afraid I can’t get it out of my eyes. I’m afraid of getting blind!” Charles hung up the phone.
Vincent frowned and contemplated for a moment. He looked towards the door of the lounge with soft eyes. There lay the woman he loved most. For her sake, he had to pull himself together and get rid of all the crises.
He picked up the phone again and dialed another number. “Look into Macey’s whereabouts. Notify me immediately when you find her!”
No matter what, Macey was in this situation because of him. It was true that she brought trouble to herself, but more so because of the feud between the White family and the Hunter family.
Vincent knew that Leila was worried about Macey, so he also wanted to share her burden. He’d better find Macey first, and then they could discuss it later.
Arthur took Macey to the beach house. After taking a shower, Macey changed her clothes. Arthur prepared a T-shirt and denim. This time, Macey was not fussy but wore it obediently.
Looking at Macey, who was refreshing, Arthur nodded and felt satisfied. “You look good, very innocent!”
“Humph!” Macey laughed at herself. “You just don’t need to be sarcastic. Innocence is not a word that suits me anymore. It won’t suit me anymore in this life.”
“You sound like you’ve been disillusioned with the mortal world?” Arthur raised his eyebrows.
“The mortal world? The mortal world!” Macey smiled gently and looked very forlorn. A touch of sadness crossed her eyes. “I’m looking for Vincent!”
“It’s got nothing to do with him!” Arthur said. “It was his mother who did it. I advise you to just let it go. How about I send you out of the country?”
“No!” Macey shook her head. “I can’t just leave like this!”
“What do you want?”
“They owe me justice!” Macey spoke in a low voice. She looked at Arthur and said with sincerity, “Arthur, thank you. Lend me some money and I’ll pay you back later!”
“Money is not a problem, but I can’t let you out. Macey, why can’t you understand? The evils we bring on ourselves are the hardest to bear. It is their business what they have done. What you need to do now is to leave F City immediately and start a new life!”
“Arthur, do I have a new life?” Macey asked.
“You are responsible for coming to this point!” Arthur sighed.
If it was in the past, Macey would have immediately retorted him harshly. But this time, Macey nodded and admitted, “Yes! I am responsible. If I hadn’t been tricked by Charles, I wouldn’t have become what I am today! I was the one who kept gambling. I did it even though I knew it was wrong. I bring the evils on myself!”
“I asked Leila to come over. She’s worried about you!”
“No!” Macey shook her head. “I won’t see her. Arthur, I won’t see her!”
“Why?”
“You don’t understand. You’ll never understand!” Macey shook her head in pain. She went to the floor-to-ceiling window and looked out at the sea. “I don’t want to see anyone in my family. I can’t help but be hysterical when I see them, and I’ll think of my mother’s sorrow and her aggravation.”
“But they all care about you!”
“Arthur, you should know that Leila is my half-sister. Her mother is my aunt. When I was a child, I admired my father very much and thought he was a great man, who was ambitious and motivated. No man in the world could compare to my dad! He was a god in my heart. But when one day I heard my dad and mom arguing, my dream was shattered!”
That day, she was going to buy her dad his favorite small steamed buns. So she purposely got up very early, opened the door of her room, and tiptoed out.
It was too early. She was worried about waking up her mom and dad, so she was almost on tiptoe when she passed the door of her parent’s room.
However, she had only just reached the door when her mother’s cry of sorrow came from inside the door. Her voice was so strange, so full of pain and struggle, that she immediately stood still.
“Why?” Her mother seemed to cry out, “I have endured, and I have not said anything! Do you think I don’t know? For twenty years, what do you take me for? Do you think I don’t know whose daughter Leila is? She is your illegitimate daughter, the child you and my sister had behind my back! Look! I knew it all, but I didn’t ask you. I’ve put up with everything. Why do you still want a divorce?”
Macey’s head exploded. She was completely stunned. Dad and Mom were getting a divorce? Was that possible? She stood frozen in the doorway of the room and did not move.
Leila was the illegitimate daughter of her dad and her aunt!
“I’m sorry, April!” Brian’s voice was full of pain, and he seemed so struggling and mournful. “You also know that there are too many problems between you and me!”
“What are you trying to say?” April raised her voice.
“April, I admit, you are very beautiful and noble. You are like a goddess, a noble and cold goddess. You are independent and intellectual, but you can only be a noblewoman of the upper class. I can never be close to you! I look at you every day and I feel like I’m seeing a goddess. Even having sex with you, I feel guilty. Sometimes I even wonder if I’m living with a human being or with a god!”
“But Mabel is different. She is kind, gentle, and lovable. She is a living, breathing person who makes me feel alive. She would rather condemn herself to be a mistress forever than hurt you. April, I can’t afford to aggravate her anymore. She loves me with her life! I tell you frankly, I love her, a lot! I love her enough to stop being the mayor of F City. I just want to be with her!”
“You’re in love with Mabel ! Oh … for her, you would rather divorce me. We’ve been married for over twenty years and now you want to file for divorce? You don’t even consider Macey?”
Divorce? Her aunt was his father’s mistress? Leila was her real sister?
Macey thought vaguely. She instantly felt like there were countless bombs going off, which shattered her world and her happiness!
Her father was in love with another woman!
She adored her father, who was the perfect man in her heart!
But he was having an affair! And he had an affair so many years ago. Her heart was in turmoil. She felt shocked and pain. Some kind of grief and anger enveloped her completely. She could not bear such a blow.
“Macey’s grown up. She should accept this!” Her dad’s voice was as cold as it could be.
“Accept? Brian!” April yelled in grief and anger, “How can Macey accept the fact that you had an affair twenty years ago? The kindest and gentle aunt in her heart is her father’s mistress who destroyed her parents’ marriage? You don’t want to aggravate Mabel anymore, so you divorce me? You say I am noble, yet she is kind, gentle, and lovable. I’m just a piece of wood, aren’t I? I’m not as slutty as she is, am I?”
“April, where’re your manners?” Brian shouted too. “How can you say something like that?”
“Brian, you think I’m the one who wants to be a god, don’t you? You’re the one who told me you love me being noble. You loved the noble me! I didn’t expect that I had worked so hard with all my heart and soul to do what you wanted, but in the end, I still ended up being abandoned. Brian, I’m really wrong. I’ve been a failure in my life. You have made me taste failure, pain, sorrow, and despair!”
“April-”
“You shut up!” April roared. “Isn’t Mabel slutty? Can she seduce you if she’s not slutty? Would she not know that you are her brother-in-law? You’ve been having an affair for so many years and going on dates in R City every week, you think I don’t know about it? You’re done being slutty and then you tell me that you’re going to divorce me? What makes me supposed to accept that?”
“April!” Brian was also angry. “I forbid you to use such words about Mabel. She’s your sister, and you should know very well that she doesn’t want to hurt you. We just can’t help it!”
“How dare you!” April laughed coldly. “Does a married man have the right to be in love with another woman? Do you have the right to leave ethics behind to have an affair? Brian, is this the right thing for you to do as the mayor of F City? Is this what a married man is supposed to do?”
“April, I know I owe you, but there is no right or wrong in love. I don’t want to shirk my responsibility. Yes, I feel guilty about you. I feel like I can’t hold my head up in front of you. For a long time, I felt it was pressure. I don’t want to go back to our house, and I feel tired! Very tired! Yes, Mabel is not as beautiful as you, not as talented as you, and not as noble as you! However, she is tender … Do you know that men need tender women? Not only do I need, but every man also needs! In many cases, men are like capricious children who need to be tolerated, admired, and relied upon … I am in no way blaming you, and I am not shirking my responsibilities. I’m just telling you the truth. The reason why Mabel was able to make me defy the odds was that she is stoic. She is very tender. You, on the other hand, have none of that!”