After half an hour, Titus reached home. The butler came up to greet him and he handed his coat over, asking, “Are Miss and Mrs. Gray home?”
“They’re in Miss Gray’s room, sir,” the butler answered after draping the coat over his arm.
After a hum of understanding, Titus headed toward the staircase.
Meanwhile in the room upstairs, Julia and Tina were sitting at the foot of the bed flipping through a photo album together. Pointing at a picture of herself, Tina asked, “Do you remember this photo, Mom?”
Fondly stroking her daughter’s long hair, Julia replied, “Of course I do. You were six when we took this picture. You liked playing hide-and-seek that year and no matter how hard I looked, I couldn’t find you. I was so scared that I lost you, but it turned out that you fell asleep hiding in the attic.”
“I remember. When I woke up, I came down from the attic by myself to find you crying. You had even lodged a police report,” Tina recalled.
The smile on Julia’s face faded and there was a touch of hatred in the bottom of her eyes. How could she not cry out of panic and file a police report when she couldn’t find her child? At the time, she even thought Henry had kidnapped Tina. It was a good thing that it turned out to be a false scare in the end.
Presently, Tina flipped a page. All of a sudden, a yellowed photograph fluttered out of the photo album and landed on the floor. She bent down to pick it up. There was an infant of a few months old in the photograph. The baby was smiling widely and looked adorable, and a single glance would endear anyone to it.
However, for some reason, Tina did not like this baby at all. In fact, she disliked and even hated this baby a little. Nevertheless, she didn’t show it and only handed the photograph to her mother, asking with a smile, “Is this Rina?”
Stroking her fingers over the little girl in the photograph, Julia nodded with her eyes wet. “Yes. This is your sister, Rina.”
When Tina saw how much Julia missed the infant in the photograph, she couldn’t help feeling jealous. And so, she put the photograph back and tucked it into the photo album. Following that, she looped her arm around her mother’s and leaned her head against her shoulder, saying fondly, “You know, Mom, you get upset every time we bring her up, so we shouldn’t bring her up anymore. I don’t think she’d want you to be sad, either.”
It was strange how even a dead person dared to vie for her mother’s attention. There was no way she was letting that happen!
“Alright, alright. We won’t bring her up,” Julia answered fondly, unaware of her younger daughter’s motives and wrongly assuming that Tina was concerned about her.
Right then, the room door flew open and Titus walked in with a thunderous expression. Being the first to discover him, Tina let go of her mother to wave. “Hi, Dad.”
However, he only gave her an indifferent glance without responding. Instantly, her expression froze and she chewed on her lip sadly before asking, “Did I do something wrong, Dad?”
“Yes, honey.” Julia gave her husband a dissatisfied glance. “Why are you treating Tina so coldly? She didn’t do anything to you.”
“Who says she didn’t? Ask her what she’s done now!” he accused, pointing a finger at Tina.
Immediately, Julia looked at her. However, Tina was similarly befuddled.
Seeing that she truly didn’t understand, Titus didn’t bother dragging the moment out and only continued coldly, “I know what you did to Sonia at the resort.”
Instantly, her eyes flashed guiltily. “How did you find out about it?”
“How did I find out about it?” He harrumphed. “She rubbed that piece of land in my face on the internet. How could I not find out about it? If you were going to get up to something, could you not have been less careless so she wouldn’t catch you in the act? Now, we’re forced to give up the land. I swear…” He trailed off, too angry to continue.
Knowing she had done wrong, Tina lowered her head.
Heartbroken at the sight, Julia wrapped her arms around her daughter and grumbled at her husband, “That’s enough. It’s just a plot of land. Why do you need to scold her so fiercely?”
Just a plot of land? Titus was so incensed by Julia’s words that he started trembling. “Do you know how important that piece of land is to us? We’ve already invested in it and were only waiting for Toby to hand us the deed to start work. Now, the land is gone and all the projects have to be halted. We cannot afford the losses!”
These few years, Triforce Enterprise was already on a downhill road. That was why he thought of developing a villa district to restore the enterprise to its former glory. But now, it was all for naught.
Not understanding market conditions, Tina didn’t realize how great the issue was and only stood to inform him leisurely, “Toby has promised the Berthull land to you.”
Titus nearly passed out with rage. “And what can the Berthull land be used for? It’s out in the middle of nowhere. Who would buy the villas I built there? If I’m unable to sell the villas, we’ll still have to take the losses!”
It’s that serious? Finally, Tina started to panic. “Dad…”
“Don’t call me ‘Dad’!” Titus snapped hurtfully. “You keep going after her and you keep letting her catch you in the act and get the upper hand. Now, you’ve truly pushed Triforce Enterprise to the brink. I can’t believe you’re so stupid. You’re truly not my real—”
“Honey!” Julia interrupted with a pale face.
Only then did he realize that he nearly misspoke and closed his mouth in time. After a moment, he reopened it. “At any rate, you’d better concentrate on Toby for the time being and leave Sonia to me. You’re not allowed to go after her and let her catch you in the act again. Do you understand me?”
Lowering her eyes, Tina answered, “Yes.”
Without saying anything further, Titus turned and left. After he did, Tina grabbed her mother’s hand. “Mom, what did he mean by what he said? Not his real what?”
Something inside her was telling her that she needed to get things cleared up. Otherwise, there was no way she could bear it.
However, Julia’s eyes flashed and she rearranged her expression and tidied Tina’s hair with a smile. “Nothing,” she murmured. “He didn’t know what he was saying. Don’t mind him. Alright, you’d better get some rest. Don’t you have to go out for dinner with Toby tonight? I’ll go and calm your dad down.” And with that, she left.
With dark and inscrutable eyes, Tina watched the door. If her mother wasn’t willing to tell her, she would investigate on her own. She would definitely find something. As for Sonia, she might be so lucky as to escape death the first time, but she wouldn’t be so lucky the second time!
…
At Paradigm Co., Charles and Sonia had only just finished their meeting and stepped out of the conference room when Daphne stepped in front of them.
After sneaking a glance at Charles and concealing the affection in her eyes, she reported to Sonia seriously, “Triforce Enterprise just called, President Reed. President Gray wants to see you.”
“Titus Gray wants to see me?” Sonia lifted an eyebrow.
“Yes. He’s already on his way here.”
With a sneer, Charles remarked, “He’s not even giving you a chance to refuse to see him, baby. By the way, Daphne, did he mention why he wanted to meet?”
“No,” Daphne answered with a shake of her head. Her voice was slightly gentler than when she spoke to Sonia, but neither of the other two noticed.
Instead, Sonia simply nodded. “If that’s the case, we might as well see him. Go and make some tea, Daphne.”
“Of course.” Daphne nodded.
Following that, Charles and Sonia headed back toward Sonia’s office. On the way, Charles stroked his chin in thought. “You don’t think he could be coming to you over that piece of land, could he?”
“He must be. I can’t think of another reason.” Sonia opened the door to the office.
Stepping inside, he shut the door after them. “I imagine he wants the land back.”
Sonia laughed and right as she was about to reply, Daphne pushed open the door a crack and poked her head in. “President Reed and President Lane—President Gray is here.”
