“Mommy, I made the pasta specially to ask for your forgiveness,” said Harold sadly. “Last night, I—”“Harold, go out for a minute,” Duke interrupted him. “I have something to talk to your Mommy about. In private.”Harold looked up at his father, annoyed. “Daddy, I haven’t finished my sentence. Could you please let me finish my words? Then you can talk to Mommy all you want.”“It cannot wait. Go. Now.”Duke took the plate of pasta from his hands and placed it on the bedside table. He then lifted Harold up and carried him out of the bedroom.“Daddy, you’ve gone too far!”Harold shouted fiercely. Duke glared at him before he closed the door and locked it. He turned to Adina. “I’m certain that Harold’s pasta is not as tasty as mine. Are you sure you want to eat it?”Adina looked at him. “Why did you drive Hal out? What exactly do you want to tell me about?”“Ahem, nothing.” Duke rested his gaze on her collar. “It’s not good if our children see that.”Adina looked down. The neckl
“Mommy, I forgot what I wanted to say to you.”Harold scratched the back of his head, pretending to remember what he had wanted to tell her.Adina laughed. “Let me know if you remember it, okay?”Harold nodded. He sighed in relief.Mr. Brown called them downstairs. “AI, Georgie, Hal, Mel, get ready for preschool!”George obediently took his siblings downstairs. When the children left the mansion, it was very quiet.Adina was instructed to rest at home for at least three days. She was worried about her own health, so she heeded the instruction and stayed in the study room, reading books.Duke did not leave for his office either. He worked inside the study room and stayed at Adina’s side. The sound of his fingers tapping on the keyboards calmed Adina.She found an interesting novel and shared it with Duke.The sunlight was warm, and the snow had melted. It was a very quiet and peaceful morning.Buzz! The call disturbed their serene moment. Duke glanced at his phone. “I ha
Duke laughed. “Go to bed. Take a nap. I’ll put you to bed.”“I’m not Melody. Why do I even need you to put me to bed?” Adina snorted. But he looked at her so tenderly that she could not resist.She leaned against his chest., “Do continue your work. I’ll read some books, instead. Reading does make me sleepy.”Duke nodded. He wrapped his arm around her waist and tapped the keyboard with the other.Adina could not stand reading any more of the books. She took out her phone and browsed through the news. She saw something that shocked her. She wondered how she had made the headlines yet again.“The Sea City’s former most beautiful woman personally went to the site. She fainted because of tremendous working stress. It was teary to behold.”The corners of Adina’s lips twitched. ‘Why did the news make it sound as if she was very weak and pitiful?’She clicked on the comment session and scrolled down. She was caught by surprise. Whenever she was mentioned in the news in the past, the net
Zhenny and Jasmine left the study room. The mother and daughter looked furious.“Mother, Grandpa is biased!” Jasmine clenched her teeth. “Adina is his illegitimate granddaughter! Does he have to back her up to this extent?!”“Jas, that’s why you have to work harder.” Zhenny suppressed her anger and said calmly, “Your surname is Yackley, so it’s only normal for Grandpa to not side with you. You have to be hundred times more capable than Daniel or Adina in order to inherit Jones Corporation.”Jasmine raised her chin smugly. “We are definitely winning this contest with the petrochemical project. I’ll trample Adina under my feet!”Zhenny shook her head. “Adina re-planned the resort project. If her proposal is implemented, the resort project’s profitability and influence will be comparable to that of our petrochemical project, so we don’t know if we can win the contest yet.”“They have to invest capital first for the tourism project. They must continue to invest in capital before they
Jones Corporation headquarters was a skyscraper. It was a landmark within the commercial arena. After several decades of steady development, the foundation of Jones Corporation now was deeply rooted in the Sea City. The succession contest kicked off. The internal management got even busier. Daniel went to the finance department with the documents.“Young Master Jones, what brings you here?” The Chief Financial Officer grinned and flipped through the documents Daniel had passed to him. “So, it’s about the investment funds for the resort. Mdm. Zhenny mentioned it to me this morning. I’ll stamp the document and release the funds now. Young Master Jones, please wait for a while.”Daniel waited patiently. The moment he received the funds, he frowned. “The preliminary investment funds required for the project is at least $1,500,000,000.”The Chief Financial Officer smiled. “The initial proposal stated the project required $1,000,000,000. I am doing my work according to the company’s p
Daniel was afraid that Adina would discover the truth, so he tried to hang up. Adina stopped him.“Daniel, did the finance department reject your fund request?” Adina asked. Daniel kept quiet. He did not want to upset her with the Jones family’s dirty tricks.“If Jones Corporation can only release $ 1,000,000,000, it will be their loss.” Adina smiled. “Pass my message to Graham, will you? He doesn’t have to waste time finding investors anymore. Someone is willing to make up for the shortage in the investment funds.”Daniel was stunned. “We lack more than $1,000,000,000 for the investment funds.” Finding investment funds was always the hardest job. Adina chuckled. “Just do it. Don’t worry so much about the investment funds. I’ll go to the site and see the progress after a couple of days.” She hung up.Daniel had not recovered from the news. It took him some time to remember to call Graham.Adina casually placed her phone on the table. She then wrapped her arms around Duke’s nec
He had seen Dillon many times before, but Duke had never met him as his son-in-law.“Mr. Winters, nice to meet you.” Duke got up calmly and shook hands with Duke.Duke politely said, “Father, you can call me by my name.”Dillon had been very nervous meeting him. But when Duke called him ‘father’, a smile appeared on his lips.Since Duke addressed him as his father, just like Adina, he was sure that both of them were very close. “Father, why are you here?” Adina served Dillon a cup of coffee. “Daniel said you fainted. I wanted to visit you in the hospital, but I couldn’t find time to do so.” Dillon stared at her with worry. “You’ve only rested for a night. Are you feeling better?”“I feel much better now. It’s not a big issue,” Adina said. “I planned to go to the site and take a look at the progress of the project, but Duke insisted on having me rest at home. I feel bored at home.”Dillon said solemnly, “You have to listen to Duke. Rest at home. You have Dan to take care of t
“Duke, can you tell me exactly what all this is about?” Flint asked. “Why does Addy suddenly want to find out about bio-intelligent chips? Bio-intelligent chips are common among the Rebellious Party in the Hestia Border. Why does she want to investigate it?”Duke said in a dull tone, “After I find out everything clearly, I will be sure to tell you. Right now, I will tell Blake to find you.”Duke hung up and sent a message to Blake.Just then, a courier arrived at the entrance of his mansion. Mr. Brown carried the box upstairs. Duke cut it open. It was the fingerprint membrane he asked someone to prepare for him this morning.He put on the fingerprint membrane on his index finger. He took out a small communicator and pressed his index finger on it.Tik! The line was connected.After three seconds, a man’s voice came from the communicator. He spoke in fluent English.“Boss, you finally contacted me!”Duke said in a cold voice, “Professor Elvis, how’s the latest progress of the re