Meanwhile, in the Howard family’s mansion, William and Valeria were playing with their children in their room after dinner.
Cade and Santhos knew how to walk by now, so they were leaning against the wall as they stumbled along. Cade then called Valeria repeatedly as he walked, “Mama! Mama!”
Valeria was ecstatic when she realized that her son knew how to call her, so she happily kissed his face. “You’re so smart! I’ll reward you with a kiss since you can walk and talk so well.”
Santhos couldn’t speak yet, so he waved his hands around frantically. He held up his toy car and mumbled incoherently, but no one could figure out what he was saying.
William was laughing from ear to ear, which made Santhos annoyed. Although he was still very young, he was bright enough to know that his father was laughing at him. He puffed up his cheeks and looked like he was about to lose his temper.
William quickly reached out and hugged Santhos. “You’re such a good boy and you’re as clever as your brother. Repeat after me and say ‘Mama’!”
Santhos face was so red because he couldn’t say anything while Cade shouted loudly, “Mama!”
When Valeria kissed Cade again, Santhos was flushed with anger as he started to blabber incoherently.
William picked Santhos up and handed him to Valeria. “All right, don’t be mean to him. Look at how anxious he is.”
Valeria hugged Santhos and kissed him. “It doesn’t matter if you don’t know how to call me yet. I know that you love me a lot, and I love you just as much!”
Four of them were laughing and joking in the children’s room when Bobby pushed the door open and came in. “Sir!”
When William saw Bobby’s grim expression, he stood up and asked, “What happened?”
“I just received a call. Our men lost sight of them!” Bobby said with a look of self-blame on his face.
William didn’t say anything and he quickly went to the study with Bobby. Then, he asked after he closed the door, “How did they lose them?”
“They followed Miss Clark and Leonard back to his villa at noon. They left together after that, and the men we hired didn’t think much before driving after them. Leonard’s car then drove around outside for several hours before returning to the city. When they went for dinner, they found that the person in Leonard’s car was not Miss Clark at all, but someone who had the same physique like her.”
Bobby rubbed his head after that. “It’s my fault. I didn’t expect Leonard to be so cunning!”
William waved his hand and said, “You don’t have to apologize now. Let’s analyze why Leonard is doing this first. I’m sure he’s worried that he’ll be followed by Richard or me, so what does he want to hide?”
Bobby touched his head and looked confused. “I can’t figure it out. Sir, do you have any ideas?”
“I can’t think of a reason either!” William smiled. “We can only wait and see what Abbie will do now.”
“Miss Clark has lost her memory and she’s devoted to Leonard. She won’t tell us the truth, will she?”
“It’s okay. We’ll know once we try.”
It was already 11 o’clock when Abbie returned to B City. Helen had called her several times to ask about her whereabouts, so she told Helen that she would be home late because she was drinking.
Abbie did not return to the Clark family immediately after arriving in B City. Instead, she went to look for Leonard.
Leonard apologized when he saw Abbie. “Abbie, it’s not like what you think. The nanny didn’t abuse Emma and I have a surveillance video here. Emma has been very good all along, and I’m sorry that she suddenly behaved like this when you went there.”
Abbie didn’t want to talk to Leonard anymore. “Alright, I know that the nanny didn’t abuse Emma. I know that you hired someone competent to take care of her, but I just can’t stand being separated from my child who is only two months old.”
“Abbie, you have to endure it because you want to take revenge, don’t you? Have you forgotten that you haven’t carried out your revenge yet?”
“No! I can take revenge and take care of my child at the same time. I don’t want to leave her alone at such a young age.”
“This… is a little difficult!” Leonard put on a troubled expression.
“I know you can do it. Leonard, you can tell me if you have any requests. I’ll agree to it as long as I can do it.”
Leonard stopped pretending when she said this. “Abbie, I have a very good idea to help you get revenge and give your child her rightful status in eyes of the public.”
“What is it?”
“I want to marry you.”
“What?!” Abbie looked at Leonard. “The time I spent with you isn’t enough for me to get pregnant with your child. How do you explain the birth of my child?”
“You can explain to the public that Emma is the child I had with my ex-girlfriend, and you can say that she passed away after that. I believe everyone can accept this.”
Leonard definitely didn’t think of this spontaneously. He probably came up with this when he convinced Abbie to leave her child before returning to the country.
Leonard just wanted her to marry him in the end. Abbie knew how shameless Leonard was and she hated the idea of marrying him, but she had to endure it for Emma’s sake.
Abbie suppressed the disgust in her heart. “I never thought about getting married at all! What I want to do most now is to kill Michael and Azalea! Even if I want to get married, you’ll have to wait until I get my revenge.”
“I know it’s a little sudden to ask you to marry me, but I like you a lot. I’ll be truthful and tell you that I’ve been with other women before you, but I didn’t want to marry any of them. The only person I love is you, Abbie. I’m being serious!”
Leonard continued, “As long as you marry me, I will give you everything I have. I promise that your wedding will be even grander than Valeria and William’s. I promise that I will treat you the same way William treats Valeria.”
Abbie didn’t believe in Leonard’s promise. Not only that, but Leonard didn’t even have the capabilities to compete with William’s love for Valeria.
“I can marry you, but we can’t be hasty. After all, I have to convince my parents and my brother.”
The smile on Leonard’s face was extremely gentle. “Since that’s the case, let’s go and tell your parents and your brother about our decision. You can be with Emma after they agree.”
Was he threatening her to convince her parents and Richard? Leonard was such a b*stard!
Abbie wanted nothing more than to strangle him, but she suppressed the hatred in her heart and said, “I see. I’ll go back and discuss this with my parents and brother.”
“You don’t have to bring it up. Abbie, it’s better for a man to discuss this matter. I’ll visit your parents tomorrow and tell them my thoughts. You just have to agree and cooperate with me.”
D*mn it! He had already planned all of this a long time ago. Abbie even started to doubt that he had planned to make Emma cry today when she visited her. This must be part of his plan to force her into submission.
This b*stard was too despicable!