Chapter 112
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Chapter 112
Chris was momentarily stunned. It was the first time Zina had ever told him to stop a mission.
A chill ran down his spine; Chris almost blurted something out, but in the end, all he managed was quiet
okay.
After the official call ended, Zina lay back on her soft bed, but her heart just couldn’t settle down no matter
what.
‘Was anyone else besides the Carter family caught up in this?‘ she wondered. ‘Why don’t I have any solid info on this yet?‘
Zina knew the people at the Base were all specially trained, and there was even a dedicated recon team.
‘Did the whole recon team really drop the ball?‘ she wondered. ‘If that’s really the case, then this foreign force is definitely no joke!‘
Zina was completely sleepless, sitting there in silence all night until dawn finally broke.
The desk beside her computer was piled high with sheets of paper, crammed with numbers and layers upon layers of handwritten characters. Many of them crossed out, forming a chaotic, inky mess that drew the eye.
In the pale light of early morning, Zina finally stood up. After a long, sleepless night, a glimmer of resolve shone in her bloodshot eyes. Just then, there was a sudden knock at the door.
Zina gave her head a hard shake, trying to shake off the grogginess from staying up all night, and finally walked over to open the door.
She’d thought it would be Yvonne, but when she saw Richard standing there, she froze for a second. Instinctively, she blurted out, “Mr. Lambert, is there something urgent you need at this hour?”
Richard probably hadn’t expected his daughter to speak to him so formally. After a brief moment of surprise, he quickly waved it off.
There wasn’t a hint of sternness on his face. Instead, he wore a faint, almost ingratiating smile. “I just wanted to check if you’d forgotten about the family recognition party we’re throwing for you today.
“I mentioned it before, but since your styling designer and your makeup artist still haven’t shown up, I thought I’d come check in on you.”
Zina racked her brain, trying to remember through the fog of all the recent foreign threat business. After a long moment, she finally frowned.
She really had forgotten all about this. ‘Wait? Is the family recognition party really today?‘ she wondered.
Richard said, “Oh, you didn’t make any arrangements ahead of time? No worries, I can call someone over right now. It’s still early, so there’s no rush.
“And if you don’t like any of those fancy dresses, you can just stick to regular clothes. After all, my daughter is a real beauty, stunning even without makeup, and naturally elegant no matter what she wears.”
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Richard got more and more enthusiastic as he spoke, and by the end, a look of pure satisfaction spread across his face. He was grinning from ear to ear.
Zina felt a sudden urge to laugh, but she forced herself to hold it back, stifling a smile behind her fist where Richard couldn’t see.
When she looked up again, her face was as cool and distant as ever.
She replied obediently, “I’ve already made the arrangements. I just need to tidy up this morning. It won’t delay the family recognition party this afternoon.”
The woman standing before him looked just like Yvonne in her youth, especially when she smiled. It was as if they’d been carved from the same mold.
For a moment, Richard was utterly transfixed, blinking in disbelief as he spoke without thinking, “Today, you’ll be the star of the part, the most beautiful one there.
“You’re my daughter, and everything I have will be yours. I won’t let you suffer anymore. From this day forward, you can finally return to our family.”
As he spoke, Richard’s voice grew thick with emotion, tinged with a choked–up sorrow and an even deeper sense of wistful regret.
Even after he’d said all he needed to and turned to leave Zina’s door, Richard still seemed lost in a daze. His figure, retreating down the hallway, looked more forlorn and lonely than ever.
Zina shook her head, trying to steady her emotions. When she looked up again, her eyes regained their usual icy calm.
Back in her room, Zina checked her phone. It was a message from Chris. [You can come to the Lambert Villa today and wait for me. After the family recognition party, check out what’s really going on.]
After reading the message, Zina placed her phone face down on the desk, took a deep breath, and when she looked up again, there was a deeper look of contemplation in her eyes.
She couldn’t let herself keep moping around like this. The family recognition party was actually way more extravagant than Zina had pictured.
As she was upstairs changing into her gown, Zina could already hear the buzz and excitement drifting up from downstairs.
The gown stylist beside her was instantly wowed. “Miss, with your figure, you could make anything look amazing. Honestly, most people can’t really fit this outfit, so hardly anyone ever picks it.
“I was honestly doubting your taste for a second, but now that I see it on you–wow, it’s absolutely stunning.”
The stylist was a total chatterbox, rambling on and on, completely oblivious to how Zina’s mouth kept twitching.
‘Is she complimenting my taste or roasting it?‘ Zina wondered.
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After a few seconds, Zina let out a small sigh and walked over to get her makeup done. At this moment, a lot of guests had already arrived downstairs.
“The Lambert family really went all out for this family recognition party. Looks like this daughter must be pretty important to them.”
“Yeah, but I never heard anything about Miss Lambert before. They say she was raised out in a poor area or something, but we never really heard the details.”
“I think I heard it’s because there was some mix–up with the babies, and they just found their real daughter. That’s why they’re throwing this big party.”
“Wait, what? Lydia isn’t their real daughter? So this one is?”
All around, people sucked in a sharp breath. The crowd surged closer, everyone eager to dig up more gossip. But just then, the whole living room went dead silent.
By the staircase, Richard kept a composed smile on his face as he walked over to the guests. “Sorry, I didn’t plan this out well enough. I didn’t expect everyone to arrive so early–thanks for waiting.
“The Lambert family invited us, which is a real honor. Of course, we had to get here early.”
“Yeah, we couldn’t just show up late and keep everyone waiting.”
“We’re all looking forward to seeing Miss Lambert make her entrance.”
Everyone started echoing Richard’s words, one after another. Richard just nodded and smiled in response, acknowledging them. “Everyone, just make yourselves at home.”
Richard knew perfectly well that most of these people were just here to sniff out business opportunities. With that, he turned and headed back upstairs.
Now that the pressure from Richard was gone, everyone finally relaxed, and the whole place got noisy again.
People were chatting away, raising their glasses, and deals were being struck all over the place.
Guests kept showing up one after another, making the party even bigger and the crowd even rowdier.
Meanwhile, outside the Lambert Villa, Rosie felt her heart skip a beat. She couldn’t shake the feeling that something big was about to happen today, and she instinctively glanced over at Kevin.
Kevin was still nagging her, “Come on, let’s go in. Didn’t you say you know Miss Lambert? Try to chat her up and see if you can make some connections.
“If we can get in with the Lambert family, the Sinclair family won’t be stuck at the bottom of the food chain anymore.”
Just the thought of it made Kevin grin from ear to ear. He didn’t even notice how conflicted Rosie looked.
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At the moment, the man did not do anything to hurt her, which showed how much he cared about her.
Kaia giggled.
“You’re still laughing!”
“I laugh at you. Are you always this jealous? I just said I stayed in a room with a man, not what you think. Many years ago, I went to a hotel with a friend, and there was a thunderstorm and a typhoon outside. The hotel happened to have only one room left, so my friend and I squeezed in.”
Tobias’s face softened slightly after hearing Kaia’s explanation.
“Did you sleep in the same bed with him?”
“Tobias!” Kaia said angrily, “What do you take me for? Some kind of loose woman?”
“I’m sorry.” Tobias apologized quickly, “I didn’t mean that, and I could never think of you that way.”
“That’s exactly what you meant.”
“I…”
“Don’t talk. If you say another word, I’m afraid I won’t be able to stop myself from hitting you.” Kaia’s face flushed with anger.
Tobias knew he was out of line to ask that. Even if Kaia wasn’t that kind of person, even if she really had a boyfriend before, that was in the past.
What he wanted was Kaia’s present–and her future.
“It’s my fault.” As he spoke, Tobias picked up Kaia’s hand and slapped his face hard with it.
“You-“A look of astonishment appeared on Kaia’s face. Although she couldn’t see it now, she could feel that Tobias had used force just now.
So, she didn’t need to look to know that there must be a handprint left on the man’s face.
“Get up.” The anger that Kaia had just felt disappeared because of Tobias’s actions.
Tobias reluctantly got up from the girl’s soft body.
Kaia also stood up and asked, “Where’s the bathroom?”
“Do you want to take a shower?”
“It’s so hot today. How can I sleep if I don’t take a shower and feel sticky?”
Now Kaia’s body had the smell of smoke and alcohol from the party, as well as the strange smell of sweat soaking her clothes after the fight. She couldn’t stand it any longer.
“Your eyes are not working well now. I’ll accompany you to the bathroom.” As Tobias spoke, he stroked Kaia’s
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After a few seconds, Zina let out a small sigh and walked over to get her makeup done. At this moment, a lot of guests had already arrived downstairs.
“The Lambert family really went all out for this family recognition party. Looks like this daughter must be pretty important to them.”
“Yeah, but I never heard anything about Miss Lambert before. They say she was raised out in a poor area or something, but we never really heard the details.”
“I think I heard it’s because there was some mix–up with the babies, and they just found their real daughter. That’s why they’re throwing this big party.”
“Wait, what? Lydia isn’t their real daughter? So this one is?”
All around, people sucked in a sharp breath. The crowd surged closer, everyone eager to dig up more gossip. But just then, the whole living room went dead silent.
By the staircase, Richard kept a composed smile on his face as he walked over to the guests. “Sorry, I didn’t plan this out well enough. I didn’t expect everyone to arrive so early–thanks for waiting.
“The Lambert family invited us, which is a real honor. Of course, we had to get here early.”
“Yeah, we couldn’t just show up late and keep everyone waiting.”
“We’re all looking forward to seeing Miss Lambert make her entrance.”
Everyone started echoing Richard’s words, one after another. Richard just nodded and smiled in response, acknowledging them. “Everyone, just make yourselves at home.”
Richard knew perfectly well that most of these people were just here to sniff out business opportunities. With that, he turned and headed back upstairs.
Now that the pressure from Richard was gone, everyone finally relaxed, and the whole place got noisy again.
People were chatting away, raising their glasses, and deals were being struck all over the place.
Guests kept showing up one after another, making the party even bigger and the crowd even rowdier.
Meanwhile, outside the Lambert Villa, Rosie felt her heart skip a beat. She couldn’t shake the feeling that something big was about to happen today, and she instinctively glanced over at Kevin.
Kevin was still nagging her, “Come on, let’s go in. Didn’t you say you know Miss Lambert? Try to chat her up and see if you can make some connections.
“If we can get in with the Lambert family, the Sinclair family won’t be stuck at the bottom of the food chain anymore.”
Just the thought of it made Kevin grin from ear to ear. He didn’t even notice how conflicted Rosie looked.
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hand.
:
Kaia didn’t start walking with Tobias, “Are you saying that you want to give me a bath?”
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Tobias couldn’t help but glance over Kaia, “Since it’s what you want, I’m naturally happy to help you take a bath.”
Kaia was speechless.
“Is it what I want, or what you’re thinking?”
“Whatever, let me take you to the bathroom.”
Tobias half–helped and half–pulled Kaia to the bathroom, then reached out to start taking off Kaia’s clothes.
“You’re joking-”
Before Kaia could finish speaking, Tobias immediately stopped.
“Yeah, just kidding. Ahem, I’ll fill the bathtub with water for you.”
After Tobias finished doing all this, he lingered his gaze on Kaia for a few seconds before leaving.
The scene changes.
As soon as Griffin returned, he exaggerated everything that had happened at the restaurant when telling his
parents.
“That’s what happened. It was Kaia who took the initiative to enter our private room, not me seducing her. Many of my friends were there. If I lied, may I be struck by lightning and die a horrible death! May I be childless and never be able to function as a man again.”
Judith naturally deeply believed Griffin’s words, since her own son had made such a vicious oath.
“That wretched woman! Time and again she seduces my son, yet somehow manages to pin the blame on him every single time. She’s a shameless, despicable little tramp! And Tobias, relying on Dad’s favor and his position as head of the Moreno family, doesn’t even regard our family!”
“Honey, are you just going to watch your son being bullied like this? I don’t care. No one can drive my son out of Morganburg. Since Tobias is so heartless, then you go find his father.”
Jameson did not fully believe Griffin’s words, “I think we shouldn’t rush to a conclusion about this matter. Let’s find someone to investigate it thoroughly before making a judgment.”
“What?” Judith could hardly believe her ears.
“Your son has already made such a vicious oath, and you, as his father, don’t believe him? Or are you afraid of Ryan, and you don’t dare to look for him? Jameson, are you still a man? So what if Ryan is your older brother? You are also Dad’s own son. Are you that afraid of him? I don’t care; you go find him first thing tomorrow morning. If you don’t find him, I will look down on you for the rest of my life!”
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Jameson was already used to this unreasonable wife, but being called not a man was something he couldn’t
accept.
“Am I not a man if I don’t go to my brother? You look down on me because I’m afraid of my brother? Then why don’t you go to Tobias’s mother, your sister–in–law? If you’re so capable, go fight her! If you don’t go see her first thing tomorrow, then you’re not a woman, and I’ll look down on you too!”
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Chapter 112
