At eight in the morning, William opened his eyes to see Valeria fast asleep like a baby in his arms. He smiled gently at the sight of her, who looked adorable in her sleep.
Although he was very much tempted to give her nose a light pinch, he was also afraid of waking her. So, in the end, he had managed to resist the urge.
Then, he picked up his phone in soft motions and unlocked it. After being put on silent mode for quite some time, there were several unread messages.
One of them was from Andrew, which said, “Uncle William, the Saunders family has made their move just as you expected. It seems as though Gavin is still very much attached to his daughter and granddaughter.”
Gavin’s reluctance was true to William’s expectations. So, he didn’t reply to Andrew’s message and moved on to the next one from Richard, which read, “Raelyn came here last night. She brought Talitha with her to Gavin’s place, but they returned to their hotel in less than an hour.”
Needless to say, Raelyn had gone to beg Gavin for help. William narrowed his eyes as he read this. If he and Richard hadn’t decided to go easy on them, Gavin wouldn’t even have been of any help to her.
William typed and replied with few sentences, “I’m afraid you’ll have to be the scapegoat for Andrew this time. The Anthony and Anderson family would hate you after this.”
“I don’t mind. I would’ve stepped in even if Andrew hadn’t. Anyone who dares mess with Abbie might as well come to seek trouble from me. I must let them know my younger sister isn’t someone to be trifled with.”
William shook his head at this and replied, “Hardy has a heart of stone, and so does Devon. Just be careful, and remember that false friends are worse than bitter enemies.”
“I’m not that worried. You’ve got my back, haven’t you? You won’t just stand there and watch me die, right? We’re friends for many years, after all.”
William certainly wouldn’t. However, he didn’t reply to Richard’s message and went on to read the message from Marcus that said, “Raelyn’s warehouses in Ruthorham have been destroyed. She’s running low on money now.”
As he read this, William’s eyes narrowed as he smiled coldly. Raelyn and Devon must have been devastated when they learned that their warehouses have been destroyed. If she had come begging Gavin for help even in such a desperate time, it was clear that she had no cards left to play.
Now, it all went down to how determined the Saunders family was in defending Raelyn. William had already made things clear to Archer, and he believed that Archer was wise enough to understand that if Archer wished to protect Raelyn and Devon, he would be losing Valeria and William. It was a tough choice since there was no middle ground, but it had to be done.
Then, William replied to Marcus, “Any news from my dad?”
“No. Mr. Howard has been very quiet, and even Charles and Savannah were silent too. The men we deployed had been on standby at the hospital and had waited all night for them to make a move, but nothing happened all night.”
“What about Elizabeth? How is she?”
“Still unconscious. I’m getting someone to check up on her. But, Sir, do you believe that Elizabeth really has evidence that holds Savannah responsible for your mother’s death?”
“No! I think Elizabeth is one of the accomplices in the murder of my late sister-in-law, so it is probably for her to have hard evidence that Charles had killed her. As for my mom’s death, Elizabeth may have her speculations, but she couldn’t possibly have any real evidence for it.”
After replying to Marcus’s message, William realized that Valeria had woken up and she was staring at him with glazed eyes.
He reached out and pinched her on the cheek. “Good morning, lazy bum, you’re finally awake!”
“You’re the lazy one!” Valeria stuck her tongue out at him and paused when she remembered something suddenly, “Oh, right! I was going to punish you last night after we came home! I totally forgot about it.”
“Well, you can punish me right now,” William smirked and reached out to peel her pajamas off her.
Valeria swatted his hand away, “You offended me yesterday, and I’m pissed right now. So, I’ve decided to punish you. You’re not getting your hands on me for a whole week!”
“That bad, huh?” William sulked. “My dear wife, I’ve learned from my mistakes. Will you please forgive me?”
Valeria burst into laughter, “You fool, Aunt Flo has just visited. Might as well treat it as your punishment.”
William frowned, “Are you really on your period?”
“Yup. Yesterday was the first day.”
“Darn it, I’ve failed at making you pregnant again! Nope, it seems like I didn’t work hard enough. I have to make it up to you after that!”
“And how do you plan to do that?”
“We’ll do it more often. We used to do it once, so now we’ll do it twice. And if twice isn’t enough, we’ll do it thrice.”
“No way! Don’t even think about it!” Valeria flicked William’s forehead playfully. She was about to say something, but when she suddenly felt a surge from within her, her face changed and she immediately ran into the bathroom.
William looked at her with confusion and it wasn’t until he saw the scarlet seeping out from Valeria’s pants that he came to his senses. Flustered, he then looked down and noticed a red stain on the sheets as well.
As Valeria cleaned her soiled pants and bedsheets haphazardly, William was worried that she would get period cramps. So, he prepared a heating pad for her and asked her to rest at home instead of going to work.
However, Valeria didn’t like the idea, and she insisted on going to the company. Seeing that it was useless trying to persuade her, William let her be.
On the way to the company, Braelynn called, “Miss Brown, will you be coming in today? My mom is waiting for you in the office.”
“Alright, I’m on my way.”
Valeria didn’t expect Lucian to come looking for her so soon after being dismissed by her the other day. She wondered what other bad ideas Lucian had to offer.
Not long after, Valeria arrived at the company. In her office, Lucian was sitting next to Braelynn on the couch when she entered.
Upon seeing her, Lucian stood up at once and greeted Valeria with a smile, “Miss Brown!”
“Have a seat,” Valeria gestured for Lucian to sit down. “You’ve come here for a reason, haven’t you?”
“Yes. Miss Brown, did you have anything to do with what happened to Miss Anderson?”
“What makes you think so?” Valeria asked.
“Well, I heard that this issue stemmed from the fact that she had provoked Miss Clark. And since Miss Clark is your best friend, I don’t think you would have sat by and done nothing about it, am I right?”
“Well then, I’m afraid that you’re overthinking. It has nothing to do with me,” Valeria answered flatly.
“I’m glad to hear that, then! Raelyn isn’t good news, I’m telling you. She’s as vicious and blood-thirsty as Savannah. I’m just afraid that she’d blame you for what’s happening with Miss Anderson.”
“Talitha herself had been the one who had cozied up to the man in the nightclub. What does that have to do with me? Even if Raelyn was being unreasonable, she couldn’t possibly blame me out of the blue, could she?” Valeria rebutted.
Seeing how Valeria remained as stubborn as a bull, Lucian smiled through gritted teeth, “That’s easy for you to say. But Raelyn is always up to no good, so there’s a high possibility that she’ll make you suffer just because you’re Miss Clark’s best friend.”
“That’s her problem, then. I can’t do anything about it if she chooses to do that, can I?”
“I’m just worried about you. You’re naive and inexperienced in dealing with things like this. If only William could be a little more reliable, then I wouldn’t be so worried,” Lucian replied. At the mention of William’s name, Valeria became alert all of a sudden. Was Lucian here because of William?