Chapter 796 Joel’s Redemption
After hanging up the phone, Joel sat on the sofa and looked quietly into the distance, his heart a little heavy.
Nora often came back to have dinner with the Smiths after she started staying with the Hunts but Ian had never specially informed him about it before. Ian’s solemn behavior regarding her coming over this time gave Joel the feeling that he might have found out about what had happened.
When Mindy handed him his schedule for today, the sharp Joel had discovered the problem.
He’d already stated long ago that he would not be seeking information from that account anymore, yet as part of his itinerary that day, Mindy had still arranged for him a meeting with a certain person. This showed that Mindy hadn’t given up yet.
Joel knew that those few subordinates of his had never actually given up on the account.
After all, an account like that would allow them to create their own legendary era of the Smiths!
He could understand his nine subordinates’ feelings.
They had been with him since their college days. Even when they went abroad for further studies, it was all for the sake of better assisting him upon their return. They rose and fell together with him.
If Joel’s authority among the Smiths fell, their status in the company would also fall along with his. They were loyal and dedicated to him.
This was especially the case for Mindy. Being the lone woman among the nine, she was exceptionally capable. Although he had told them not to take any action, it was highly likely that she had already done something to Nora.
Joel also roughly knew what she had done.
Mindy was not like Quentin, she wasn’t capable of big moves like assassinating someone. The most she could do was just create a bit of trouble to annoy Nora.
To be honest, Joel knew that Mindy should be dealt with, but he still wanted to protect her.
After all, she’d been working for him for so many years. Even if she hadn’t contributed anything meritorious, she had nevertheless done a lot of hard work. Besides, Mindy had never made any mistakes, and even the one time she did was for his sake…
Originally, Joel wanted to cover up the incident.
But when Ian suddenly asked him to come home for dinner, Joel understood at once that he wouldn’t be able to cover it up anymore.
Besides, he also owed Nora an explanation.
With that in mind, Joel took a deep breath.
At noon, Tanya suddenly came.
A mildly surprised Joel looked at Tanya. “Why are you here?”
Tanya raised the lunch box in her hand. “To bring you lunch.”
Tanya was not a housewife but a woman who ran her own business. She had opened a dance studio in New York that taught dancing to children. By right, she should have been very busy today.
Joel watched her “virtuously” lay out the food on the table. While doing so, her actions were a little too rough and she accidentally spilled a bit of the soup. In addition, when she was laying out the food, the bite-sized fried chicken caught her eye and she peeked at him. When he pretended to be reading a document, out of the corner of his eye, he saw her secretly take a piece of fried chicken and stuff it into her mouth.
Joel: “…”
Although it seemed like she had become much more even-tempered, her temperament had never actually changed. She was still as rash as she had been in her youth. Joel let out a low laugh and stood up.
After walking over, the two sat facing each other. Tanya poured him a bowl of soup. She had obviously prepared it for him, yet she gave herself a taste of it first. Then, because she found it delicious, she naturally placed the bowl in front of herself and started to drink spoonful after spoonful of soup.
Joel, who was waiting for her to hand him the bowl of soup, could only pick up another bowl in resignation and fill it with soup himself. At the same time, he also gave Tanya a refill.
Then he asked, “Aren’t you busy?”
“Totally! I’m swamped!”
Tanya spoke with contentment as the delicious soup flooded her mouth. Then, she looked at him and added, “But no matter how busy I am, I should still visit my husband, right~? Are you feeling kinda down today?”
Joel: “…”
He put down the spoon, cast his eyes down, and heaved a sigh. His smile disappeared little by little and he asked, “How did you know?”
“Tsk,” Tanya continued to drink her soup and then said, “I know you too well. The moment you lift your butt, I already know what kind of gas you’re gonna fart…”
The corners of Joel’s lips spasmed. “Can’t you be a little more refined in your speech?”
Tanya pouted. “Isn’t it because Mia isn’t here right now? I’m already close to suffocating to death from acting like a prim and proper lady in front of Mia all the time. Now that there is no one else here, why can’t I be a little cruder?”
Joel held his forehead. “Alright.”
He didn’t realize that even though his smile was not as bright as the one before, the fake smile on his face was gradually being replaced by a genuine one.
“So, what happened? Tell me about it!” Tanya said.
When Joel was about to speak, Tanya waved and said, “If you’re gonna say it, then tell me the truth. You have always been sensitive, withdrawn, and needy since you were a child. You may look high up in the air, but deep down, you are terribly fragile. I stopped looking at you through rose-tinted glasses a long time ago, so there is no need for you to put up any pretenses. You can just say it as it
is.”
When Joel heard her, he lowered his head and thought for a while. Then, he said, “Dad has an account, the Smiths’ true inheritance. You can get a lot of useful financial news and information there.”
With just a couple of simple sentences from him, Tanya got it right away. “Dad gave the account to Nora?”
Joel nodded and then said, “It seems that the info about the gold prices came from there, but I’ve only just rejected Dad’s offer and told him to give Nora the account last night. However, Nora was already aware of this information three days ago.”
Tanya nodded again. “I see, you suspect that Dad already gave Nora the account long ago yet he kept it from you and even probed you about it yesterday?”
Joel nodded again.
He hesitated for a moment before he said, “Dad is not someone like that. If he wants to give me something, he will do so straightforwardly. If he doesn’t want to, then he will tell me clearly that he doesn’t want to. He has never tried to sound me out. Has Dad noticed my sneaky little thoughts?”
Tanya rolled her eyes. “Who wouldn’t? You always act so calm and collected as though such things don’t bother you, but in fact, what you lack the most is a sense of security. You don’t care about that account at all; what you care about is Dad’s feelings towards you.”
That one sentence of hers had hit Joel’s deepest self.
However, Tanya then said, “To be honest, this is very normal. Think about it, children never want a second child in the family, because once a second child appears, they will take away part of their parents’ love.”
Joel shifted into listening mode. Suddenly, he felt like his sneaky little thoughts didn’t seem that serious anymore. He asked, “And then?”