After letting Valeria take Oreo and Mocha with her, Gavin returned to his newly bought home, humming in happiness.
The bungalow had been scrubbed clean before he moved in. And upon careful inspection, Gavin felt that although it wasn’t as luxurious as the Saunders manor, it was still passable.
He then walked to the room specially prepared for Valeria. Its decorations were mainly in pink color, with several dolls and teddy bears arranged atop the bed. Valeria would definitely like it very much, Gavin thought to himself.
Still humming, Gavin returned to the first floor only to be startled by the sight of Archer standing in the middle of the living room. He stopped short, “What are you doing here?”
“How could I have not come after you kicked up such a big racket?” Archer sat down on the couch.
Archer’s appearance here at the bungalow alone made Gavin convinced that Archer had already found out about the news too. He shrugged, “I can’t help myself. You’ve seen for yourself how lovely, kind, and beautiful Valeria is. I just couldn’t wait to bring her home immediately.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me?” Archer glared at Gavin. “Why did you keep Valeria’s true identity from me after you found out?”
“I wanted to let you know,” Gavin laughed wryly. “But didn’t you manage to know just fine on your own?”
“Anyway, how did you know?” Archer felt incredulous. Gavin was the last person he expected to take notice of Valeria.
After all, Gavin had no reason to interest himself regarding Valeria’s identity since she was only the daughter of Ronald and Natalie. This made no sense to Archer whatsoever.
“It was just a pure coincidence. I just found it odd that a person as proud and full of himself as Lamont would’ve gone through so much trouble to protect Valeria when he’s loyal to you and you only. That’s why I supposed that there must’ve been another reason behind it. Who knew I hit the jackpot on my first guess.”
Archer didn’t know how he should react to that. “How is that even possible? Why hadn’t I anticipated this earlier?” he thought to himself.
All this while, Archer had always assumed that Lamont had looked over Valeria because of Natalie. Little did he know that it was because Valeria was actually his daughter.
Indeed, bystanders tended to see the situation more clearly than those who were concerned.
Archer looked Gavin in the eyes, “Anyway, Dad, you shouldn’t see Valeria anymore. And this is a warning. Please, stay away from her!”
“On what basis?” Gavin retorted.
“Haven’t you considered the consequences of blatantly approaching Valeria like that? What if that witch discovers Valeria’s identity? Do you think she would let her off so easily?”
“She wouldn’t have the chance,” Gavin said icily. He had kept one eye closed toward Savannah only because she hadn’t done anything to wrong him, and also out of consideration for Hayden’s reputation.
Valeria was his granddaughter and the only female descendant of the Saunders family. If Savannah so dared touch even a single strand on Valeria’s head, he would guarantee the end of her.
And Gavin had no intention of hiding his plan from Archer, “I was planning to acquaint myself with Valeria before telling you about it. But now that you’ve come to see me… I think you have the right to know. I want to take Valeria back into our family. There’s no reason for a daughter of the Saunders family to be left outside.”
“And you think she’s going to accept that as you wished?”
“That’s why I’m taking this one step at a time. After I form a bond with Valeria, I’ll humble myself before her and coax her into forgiving me. After all, she is one kind-hearted soul.”
“Dad, I’m afraid that you’re being too naive!” Archer sighed. After discovering Valeria’s true identity, he was barely able to contain himself. He wanted more than anything to bring Valeria into the family and to cherish her with all his heart too. But he only feared that she wouldn’t see him the same way.
“Dad, you tried so hard to put an end to my relationship with Natalie. What makes you think that Valeria will forgive you when she finds out?” Archer pointed out the flaw in Gavin’s logic.
“I don’t give a damn if she won’t forgive me! Even if I had to get on my knees and beg her to come back, I would do it!” Gavin was sounding more and more unreasonable.
“Archer, I’m fully aware now that what I did back then was wrong. If I’d known that it would turn out this way, I wouldn’t have gone against you and Natalie. But everything that happened in the past can no longer be reversed, and what I want to do now is to take in Valeria and make up to her, and for my own selfish reasons.”
Gavin took a deep breath and continued, “Valeria and William are still together. But I won’t allow Valeria to be married to such an ignorant and good-for-nothing playboy. Valeria is one of the Saunders family, and she deserves someone better than William. Besides, he’s related to Savannah. If we take Valeria back, it will cut off any possibility of William and Valeria being together.”
Archer scowled at Gavin, “Didn’t you tell me the same thing twenty-something years ago?” Then, he recited Gavin’s words in a mocking tone, “How could one of the Saunders family marry a woman with no status? The only candidate suited to be your wife is Savannah Howard.”
Gavin flustered, “Even if I overlooked how useless William is, he still is Savannah’s younger brother, and it makes him Raymond’s uncle. If he were to be with Valeria, what would that imply?”
At the mention of William and Valeria’s identities, Archer’s sarcasm dissipated.
“This is indeed a problem. But I’m just afraid that Valeria won’t listen to us. She hadn’t even taken Lamont seriously when I asked him to talk her out of it. How do you think you’re going to convince her? At the very least, Lamont had helped her out in the past. But both of us? We neither raised her nor made friends with her. We are nothing to her.”
“That’s why I’m now bonding with her! She’ll learn to love me. Trust me, I know what I’m doing, so don’t worry about it. As for Savannah, If she stays put, then I’ll let her be. But if she dares lay a finger on Valeria, I’ll let her know where my power lies!”
Meanwhile, in the Howard manor, Hayden paced slowly around the garden with his hands clasped behind his back, sighing to himself every once in a while. “William hasn’t been picking up any of my calls, nor has he gone to the office. What is he up to?” Hayden asked himself.
The more he mulled over it, the more worried he became. He stopped pacing and realized that William’s abnormality might be related to his breakup with Valeria.
“Just what’s so great about Valeria?” Hayden mumbled.
He was still troubled when Lucas walked over and informed her, “Sir, Ms. Anthony is here.”
Upon hearing that Paisley was here, Hayden turned around and walked back toward the house. “Do you know what she’s here for?” he asked.
Lucas dutifully replied, “She only handed me some fruits but didn’t say anything. Maybe she’s here for something important.”
But Hayden somewhat knew. Paisley must have come to see him regarding William’s absence, yet what help he could be to her if he himself hadn’t even seen William at all.
Irritated, Hayden asked Lucas, “Any news regarding Gavin?”
“Sir Gavin is… strange. He has been trying to get close to Miss Valeria for the past few days. I don’t know what he’s up to.”
“Why would he want to meet Valeria?” Hayden stopped in his tracks. “There’s no reason for this, is there?”
“Yeah, I find it unusual as well. He even bought a bungalow and moved out of the Wolf Group Hotel. There’s no explanation for his actions!”
“What the hell is he doing?” Hayden’s heart sank. Gavin wasn’t someone to do things for no reason. Hence, he must have a hidden agenda for him to meet Valeria. Hayden began to worry if there was something wrong with Valeria.
Hayden held back his thoughts as he walked into the living room, where Paisley was seated atop the couch sipping tea. Upon seeing Hayden enter, she politely stood up and greeted him.
Hayden chuckled heartily, “Paisley! What brings you here? What can I help you with?”
“Yes,” Paisley nodded. “Sir, did Valeria and William really split up?”