Carlos responded with silence.
An awkward silence fell between them as Valerie fixed her gaze on him, waiting for a response. When she realized he wasn't going to answer, she sighed helplessly and continued on her way upstairs. "How did things get so bad? What a misfortune to befall the Huo family!" she grumbled on her way up.
After the old lady left, Hayden and Portia also left the manor. Lewis gripped Wade's clothes and kept eagerly asking, "Dad, is it true that I'm not your son? How come? Then who am I? Where am I from?"
In silence, Wade lowered his head. Getting no response from his father, Lewis turned to Miranda with the same questions. "This is not the right time for what you're asking. That can come later. But for now, you should first take responsibility for what you've done," a nonchalant Miranda replied.
Lewis finally stopped asking. This secret alone was a big blow, far more devastating than facing the wrath of Carlos.
When the living room returned to normalcy again, Carlos looked at James and said coldly, "I don't think we need to talk anymore. You know your punishment. The police are here. Just go with them."
One of the policemen put down his cup of tea, stood up and came up to James, ready to handcuff him. The latter covered his chest to steady his breathing. He was breathing fire as he stared at his son in disbelief. Trying to mediate, but very much aware it wouldn't be easy, Wade stood up and advised Carlos, "Give it some thought. If people get wind of it that you sent your father to jail, I don't think you'd like the ramifications, both on you and on your company. You should bear the bigger picture in mind."
Carlos sneered, "All of you ask me to think about this, think about that. Has any one of you think about Debbie? Did he think about her feelings when he slapped her severally? Did he even think about the Huo family's interests? And as an elder, he hit his daughter-in-law for no reasons. What would the public think if they knew about this? Wouldn't it do harm to the company too?"
Wade was lost for words. Still, no one was able to change Carlos' mind.
Crying, Tabitha ran up to him and fell to her knees. "Carlos, I beg you. Please don't do that. I'll apologize to Debbie on your dad's behalf. Okay? Whatever it takes to make peace, I'm willing to do it with a sincere heart."
But her attitude and way of defending James only added fuel to the fire. In a huff, Carlos shot to his feet and moved to her side. "Mom, what do you mean by doing this?" he asked coldly.
"Carlos, listen to me. Don't put your dad in jail for a woman's sake. If your dad is locked up behind bars, how will I live on? Please consider me, I plead."
Carlos signaled to two bodyguards with his eyes. Ready to please their boss, the bodyguards swung into action. At once, they came and lifted her up from the floor, almost forcibly.
Eyes fixed on Tabitha, Carlos declared, "I can make concessions on one condition. Dad has to stop meddling in my business. Especially, let him never, ever stick his nose into my marriage. If he can't promise that, then I'm more than ready to send him to jail!" He stressed every syllable of the last sentence.
Tabitha's tears turned into a smile of relief. Although she was still surprised at the turn of events, she held Carlos by the right hand and assured, "Okay. Leave it to me to follow through with your terms of the truce. Rest assured that your dad will never, ever meddle in your business again! I know, you have always been a good son.
However, much to her shock, James suddenly strode over, grabbed hold of her wrist and pulled her away from Carlos. "Why did you bow down to this ungrateful asshole? I am his father, and I'm not going to let him dictate to me what's to be done and what's not to be done. In this house, I set the rules. And I have every right to meddle in whatever he thinks is his business! If he really doesn't want me to concern myself with anything, then let him divorce Debbie Nian. Let him do it right now!" he roared. "Otherwise, I won't just sit back and watch!" he added.
The old man's rant echoed through the whole living room. Everyone else remained dead silent, worried by his obstinacy.
Wade took a glance at Carlos, whose anger threatened to erupt like a powerful volcano. Aware of the growing tension between the father and son, he came and stood close to James, ready to mediate. "Come on, James, no matter how deeply you feel about this whole disagreement, you have to calm down. The children are already grown-ups now. We have to be careful, not bulldoze them around anymore. What's more, Carlos has been married for three years now. What's the need of snooping into a son's marriage that's doing just fine?"
James smirked. He pulled out his phone and swung it in front of Carlos. Speaking to Wade, he threatened, "If this little brat dares to have me handcuffed today, I'll make sure I go down with him as well. I'll invite all the major media houses against him and put the story out there for the whole world to see. If he wants to see what impact it will have on the ZL Group, let him dare!"
Wearing an unflappable face, Carlos held back his anger. With his eyes on James, he instructed Emmett, "Give him the phone numbers of the most popular reporters in the city." After a short pause, he asked James aggressively, "Do you want to make the phone call first before going with the police? You can as well refuse to follow them, but then, my team of lawyers will be ready to file charges against you. The ball is in your court."
James was dumbstruck.
Meanwhile, Emmett had found one of the numbers and asked cautiously, "Mr. James Huo, this is the phone number..."
"Get lost!" James roared, his face contorting in anger. He thundered so loud that the whole manor reverberated with his threat.
Instinctively, Emmett put away his phone. But Carlos, remaining unflappable, shifted his gaze to the policemen and said, "Seems like my dad prefers to wait for the lawsuit at home. Please go back first."
"Okay, Mr. Huo. Goodbye!"
As the policemen left, Carlos went upstairs, ignoring anyone.
In Valerie's bedroom, when she heard no more noises coming from downstairs, she let out a deep sigh. With Megan's help, she dialed a number.
In England
Debbie stood in front of her apartment door as she signed for a parcel. The young deliveryman handed her a bunch of Louis XIV roses, beautifully packed in a quality gift box.
As she opened the door to her apartment, she took out the card from the flowers. There was a line of English words on it. With the help of a translation app, she got to know the message. "My dear, I have someone send this bouquet of roses to you by air from France. I think you would love them. They have a meaning—you are my only love," read the card. She looked at the bottom to check who the sender was, but there was no name. It simply ended, "So, honey, I love you."
'Louis XIV roses? You are my only love?' The meaning of the flowers clicked in her mind. 'Mr. Huo, you are a busy CEO. How on earth do you still get time to learn about flowers?' Debbie thought, unconvinced.
At first, she had thought that the flowers were from someone else since the whole message was in English. If she knew they were from Carlos, she would have refused to sign for it.
Then she turned around and left her apartment. In a car nearby, she found a bodyguard who had been secretly protecting her all the time. When the bodyguard wearing sunglasses and a pair of bluetooth headsets saw Debbie waving at him, he quickly ran up to her and asked with respect, "Mrs. Huo, may I help you?"
Without a second thought, Debbie stuffed the box of roses into the bodyguard's arms. "This is the present from Mr. Huo. He wanted to thank you for your hard work," she said.
In a daze, the bodyguard looked at the roses. 'What? Isn't this the parcel for Mrs. Huo?' he wondered. As part of his work, he had checked the deliveryman's identity before he could approach Debbie, so he knew that it was for Debbie. But why did she say it was a present for him now?
Regardless of his confusion, she continued with a smile, "These roses are really expensive. I've been told they were sent by air from France. You can give the bouquet to your wife." With that, she turned around and went back to her house straight away.
A lot of question marks seemed to have popped up on the bodyguard's face.
Not wasting her time, Debbie went to her study and got ready to do her homework. Right then, her phone rang. On assumption that it was Carlos calling again, she didn't intend to answer.
But after a quick glance at the phone screen, she noticed an unknown number. She grabbed the phone from the desk.
After a moment's hesitation, she decided to answer it. "Hello."
But there was no response from the other end. Confused, she took another look at the screen again. "Hello? Who is it?" she asked.
"Debbie?" an old woman's voice came.
It sounded like a familiar voice, but Debbie couldn't put a name to it. "Yes, I am. I'm sorry. Who am I talking to?" she asked again.
Hearing the young girl's courteous voice, Valerie hesitated to speak. All of a sudden, she began to feel lost, uncertain whether she had really misunderstood Debbie. She sounded such a nice girl. After collecting herself, Valerie finally broke the silence. "It's me. Carlos' grandma."
Debbie instantly got tense up. 'Carlos' grandma? What...what does she want?'
Now on the alert, Debbie straightened up and said politely, "Hello, Grandma!"
After a short moment of silence, the old lady asked, "Are you having a class now?"
Although Debbie was wary of the old lady's every question, she still chose to answer honestly, "No, I finished my class today. I have just arrived at home."