Fritzi shook her head, “What I meant to say is that you’re tough facing those rumors. I admire you for that.”
Cristelle sighed, “As you said. Those were just rumors. I would be a fool if I wasted my time being mad about them. There’s only one truth, and I know I’ve never done anything wrong. So, I won’t be affected.”
Fritzi put a hand on her shoulder, “That’s my girl. Let’s go grab something for lunch. They said our company hired a new chief. He cooked the best Lemon Chicken.”
Cristelle felt grateful. Fritzi seldom ate in the company cafeteria. She intended to invite her to have lunch to show other colleagues that they were close to each other, and at the same time, they would know that Fritzi was on her side. No one would dare to bully Cristelle inside the company anymore.
“It’s okay, Fritzi. We can just get takeouts,” Cristelle smiled. She didn’t want to get Fritzi into this mess.
Fritzi insisted, “Come on, it doesn’t matter. I just want them to shut up. They will stop making trouble when they see that we are friends.”
****
Meanwhile, in Bradley’s mansion.
“Linford said he knew what he was doing. He said he would bring back the babies when he saw it suitable.” Clara said with a small voice, looking nervous.
Tanya frowned, “When is that exactly? He can’t just drag the whole thing around. Some of my friends asked about this a couple of days ago, and I needed to find excuses. People even started to gossip that those babies were the result of Linford’s scandalous lifestyle.”
A cup was thrown to the ground, making a crashing sound.
“Is he still treating me as his father at all?” Darwin bellowed, chest heaving from anger, “Jack, I need you to take a couple of bodyguards and get the babies back. NOW!”
Clara pretended to be worried, “Father, please don’t do that. Linford will be so mad if he knows you forcefully dragged the children.”
“Will he get mad at me?” Darwin slammed the desk, “Do I look like I care if he’s gonna be mad? Jack, go get the babies right now!”
Jack could only follow what his master ordered him to do.
Clara thought for a while, “Wait, father, if you really need to do that, you should send the kids directly to Grandpa. He will be thrilled to see them.”
“That actually makes sense. We need to let Grandpa see the babies first out of respect,” Tanya pondered, assisting Clara with her plan.
Darwin paused for a while, “Okay then. Jack, bring the babies to the old man first. You must get this done as soon as possible.”
Jack said yes and left the room.
“I think we should go to Father first. The babies will be there anyway. So we can take a look at them,” Tanya suggested.
Darwin nodded, “Of course, let’s go.”
Cody and Candace were taking a nap in the kindergarten. Suddenly, the sound of footfalls made Cody open his eyes. He saw a group of black-suited men in their bedroom.
What was happening?
Before Cody could realize anything, he saw an old man, who was clearly the head of the group, carrying Candace in his arms.
“What are you doing? Let her go!” Cody climbed off the bed, waving his little fist at Jack.
“You’re quite brave, boy,” Jack laughed, “Get him as well.”
A strong man lowered his body and scooped Cody up off his feet.
Cody screamed as he lashed out at the man, “What are you doing?! Help! Somebody help!”
All the babies on the whole floor were waking up. Some of them were so scared that they all started to cry.
Candace only noticed what was happening now. She saw her brother was also taken, tears welling up in her eyes instantly.
Cody shouted at his little sister, “Candace, don’t cry! I’ll protect you!”
Candace held back her tears, nodding.
Mrs. Weston came to the floor instantly. She looked so pissed off as she pointed at Jack’s nose, “Jack? What the heck is this? Are you trying to tear down my school? How could you just break in with so many men without asking my permission? The kids are scared!”
Jack bowed his head, “Mrs. Weston, please don’t be mad. I’m just following Mr. Bradley’s orders. He eagerly wants to see his grandchildren. He really has no choice but to take them by force.”
Mrs. Weston knew he used the name “Bradley” to make her cringe. She huffed, “I don’t care about that. This is my school, and I made the rules. I know Bradley is a powerful family, but I won’t let you do what you want in my place.”
Jack sighed, “But I really need to take the babies away today. I’ll come to apologize another day, Ma’am.”
With that, he nodded at his men. Those strong bodyguards thus broke out of the kindergarten, taking the babies with them.
Mrs. Weston didn’t want them to take the babies away, but those were all the most professional bodyguards hired by the Bradley house. She failed to stop them. Besides, all the babies on the whole floor were scared. She still needed to comfort them so they would stop crying.
Mrs. Weston thus called Linford directly. “I’m sorry, Linford. But Jack just showed up and took your babies away.”
Linford hastily stood up from his chair, “How long has he left?”
“A couple of minutes ago. You can still catch up with him if you leave your company right now.”
Linford hung up the phone and dashed toward the underground garage.
Cody and Candace were brought to a splendid house a couple of minutes later. Two uniformed soldiers were standing outside of the gate, looking intimidating.
Candace was shaking in Jack’s arms. She would have cried a long time ago if Cody wasn’t cheering her up all the time. The old man said that their great-grandpa wanted to see them. That was why he brought them here. But Candace was still scared.
Cody became quiet as he saw the old man sitting on the couch. Another younger-looking old man was standing beside him, accompanied by an old woman and a pretty young lady.