Gavin felt extremely embarrassed to be humiliated in front of so many people, “I… I couldn’t get over it. I made a mistake.”
“If Raelyn still committed these crimes as your actual daughter, would you still treat Valeria this way?” Hayden sneered, “People always say that grandparents are the fondest of their grandchildren. Do you not feel that way? Valeria is so obedient and kind, how can you treat her the way you did?”
“I…” Gavin was at a loss for words due to the embarassment. Hayden sat down and said, “When I think back to the time Valeria came home crying with puffy eyes while she was pregnant, I get so mad. If it weren’t for William stopping me, I would’ve gone over to your house to teach you a lesson! You should act your age. How can you be considered as a grandfather when you think so irrationally? I never had the chance to tell you these things, but I finally can now that you’re here. Valeria is an important person to the Howard family, and we don’t need your company shares nor humiliation! ”
Hayden’s long speech caused Gavin to be thoroughly ashamed. Valeria immediately tried to smooth things over, “Dad! It’s not like Grandpa treated me badly since the beginning. This is all just a misunderstanding, and it’s fine if we just talk it out.”
Hayden only wanted to stand up for Valeria, so he naturally wouldn’t make things difficult for Gavin on purpose, “Alright, for Valeria’s sake, I won’t talk about this again. But you shouldn’t disrespect her again for no reason in the future!”
Mr. Saunders smiled bitterly and said, “I have learned my lesson, and I won’t be so easily deceived anymore!”
Seeing that Gavin was accepting of the criticsm, the anger in Hayden’s heart had completely dissolved. They were friends before this incident, so after they talked it out, he immediately asked, “Why don’t we have a drink tonight?”
Gavin promised, “No problem! Let me treat you!”
“Sure, I’ll treat you next time then.” The two of them came to an agreement.
Abbie interrupted from the side, “Are we also invited to this?”
“Whoever is here is invited!” Gavin replied.
“Alright, I’ll have a feast tonight! I’ll definitely gain the weight I lost in the past few days… All of my previous efforts will be wasted!” Abbie was both happy and vexed.
“You’re already so thin. What are you talking about?” Valeria smiled, “Don’t lose weight anymore! You should eat and drink whatever you want. Don’t live like those celebrities who eat a few leaves as a meal every day. We live to eat! What is there to life if we can’t eat or drink whatever we want?”
“I know what you are saying, but… I’m just trying to make myself prettier so I can be more attractive.” Abbie sighed, “Forget it, let’s not talk about this anymore. Since today’s my cheat day, I might as well eat more.”
“Abbie, are you losing weight because you have someone you’re interested in?” Braelynn didn’t know about the relationship between Michael and Abbie, so she continued to say, “You’re already so pretty, but you’re trying to lose weight to appeal to someone? Then how about me? Anyway, I won’t lose weight. The person I like would definitely still like me even if I become fat, so I would never change myself for others.”
Hearing Braelynn’s words, Abbie sighed and said, “It’s different because you have so many admirers waiting for you. I don’t have any talents, and all I do is eat and play, so I don’t have the confidence.”
“Who said you’re talentless? You opened your own design studio and made it such a success, didn’t you?”
“That’s not my credit. Everyone’s saying that my brother was the one who made it successful. I’m nothing without my brother and my family.”
“They’re saying that because they’re jealous of you. You have to believe in yourself. You’re great! We’re all great!”
“Yes, you’re all amazing! Don’t belittle yourself.” Hayden followed suit. Gavin’s gaze was on Abbie and Braelynn as he compared Braelynn’s smile to Valeria’s. They looked identical.
The first time Gavin met Lamont and Braelynn, he felt that Braelynn was very familiar to him, just like a family member, especially her eyes, which were very similar to that of the Saunders family.
But he didn’t think much about it at that time and just thought that it was mere fate that Lamont picked up Braelynn.
But now, after knowing that his daughter had been replaced, Gavin thought of his actual daughter.
If his daughter was still alive, her child should be about the same age as Braelynn, right?
This idea made him feel hopeful. Was Braelynn related to his daughter? Was she actually his daughter’s child?
In Wolf Group’s International Company, Bobby hurriedly pushed open the door to the president’s office after receiving a phone call, “Mr. Howard, our men found that David is very abnormal.”
“Tell me about it.” William put down the document in his hand and looked at Bobby.
Bobby reported, “In the past few days, David followed your uncle to Misurton for business, and we realized that there were four times that he went to the same coffee shop for the same amount of time, which is around thirty minutes.”
“Hmm… Do you know who he was meeting with?”
“We couldn’t find out anything about that. That’s the weird part! David goes to this specific private room in that coffee shop and stays for half an hour. During this time, other than the waiters, no one else goes in or out.”
“So he really just went to drink tea?” William raised his eyebrows.
“That’s not the case. Our men realized that the waiters send in two sets of cutlery, so David must be meeting with someone. However, that person is nowhere to be seen!”
Bobby touched his head, “Mr. Howard, what do you think is going on? Did that person use some deceptive trick? Or did our men miss something?”
“How high are the chances of our men missing something?” William asked.
Bobby shook his head, “Not high. They are the people I carefully selected from thousands of people, so they wouldn’t go wrong with such a simple task of stalking. I think there must be something else going on.”
“Of course there is! They’re playing tricks!” William sneered, “I don’t believe that there are people in this world who can come and go without a trace. Go and check the identity of the owner and manager of the coffee shop.”
“Are you suspecting that the person David is meeting is related to the coffee shop?”
“What else could it be?” William stretched out his hands, “Other than the owner and manager, who else could enter the room so stealthily to meet people? There should only be one door in the private room, right? By the way, let the stalkers observe whether there’s an office-like building next to the private room. If that’s the case, then my guess is right!”
Bobby was deeply impressed by William’s analysis, “I got it. I’ll arrange it right away. Wait for my good news!”