Chapter 415: Chapter 418

“Honey, actually I didn’t want to go through all that matchmaking either…”

Michael cut Sophia off before she could finish, his voice hushed. “I know.”

He already knew all about Old Master Fletcher’s meddling; every detail of it.

Old Master Fletcher should have gone doing some other geriatric activity since he was now old, so why did he still insist on pulling something like this?

The air this night was somewhat muggy. The Imperial’s management were a little too efficient in ensuring that the place had sufficient greenery to liven things up, for hordes of mosquitoes circled the streetlights.

Sophia had only been walking for a few minutes, but her face was already covered with a thin sheen of sweat. Several red bumps riddled her face, thanks to the mosquitoes.

The two of them continued onward, silent.

Michael didn’t blame Sophia for deliberately posting weird photos to her Instagram stories, and neither did Sophia remain angry about those scandalous rumors of Michael. The pair simply continued to walk quietly.

Sophia reached out to wrap an arm around Michael’s torso, but then she unwittingly felt a hard item in his trouser’s pocket. “What is this?”

Michael did not miss a beat as he answered, “The MP3 player I normally use for my nightly jogs.”

What era are we in? Who would still carry such a huge music player around? That’s very obviously a gun! Sophia mentally grumbled about that, but she didn’t expose his lies. Michael gripped her hand tightly, and the pair walked back together hand in hand, sweat dripping from their bodies.

Gary was busy tossing bags of various sizes into the trunk of the car by the garage when they reached the gate of No. 8. When he saw them approach the house, he called out to them. “Boss, Madam, Young Master Nate said that he wants to stay with Old Master Fletcher until the semester starts. He won’t be coming back until then.”

Nathan should really leave. If he stayed behind, he would most likely end up on the receiving end of a beating. What he did couldn’t be described as taunting a tiger anymore; he had practically poked the tiger in the eye!

Michael strode forward with large steps and swung open the car door to see Nathan sitting inside, a blank look on his face. Chrysanthemum the cat was in his arms, and in his hand was a tiny book with the title ‘How to Protect Yourself as a Minor’.

Sophia was unamused.

Seeing Nathan wielding the law to protect himself, Michael let out a laugh and reached a hand out.

Nathan brandished the book while backing away, his expression nonchalant as he calmly and forcefully stated, “It’s illegal to smack a child!”

Michael still reached over mercilessly to haul the ginger cat away. Then, he shut the door and said to Gary, “Go. Call me once you arrive at your destination.”

With that, Michael carried the ginger cat into the house without looking back at the car once.

Nathan immediately hid himself away when he reached the Fletcher Residence. Actually, he didn’t exactly like being at the Fletcher Residence. He typically would just stay a day or two whenever he had to stay over. Even his longest stay was only a few days long, and that was during the new year holidays.

Usually, there wouldn’t be any morning drills during the new year celebrations, but Old Master Fletcher would drag the boy out to run through some drills with the rest of the troops in the morning. So, Nathan wasn’t much better off hiding away at the Fletcher Residence.

Nathan Fletcher had really hurt Michael this time, considering how much Michael loved him. Even though Nathan was Michael’s adoptive son, Michael had thought of the boy as his own flesh and blood all these years, so the latter had truly never anticipated that.

The next day since Nathan left, Hale suddenly returned with a box of items in tow.

Seeing how busy Michael was in the living room since the morning started, Sophia looked for some wrapping paper to do the wrapping herself.

Then, she carefully wrapped up the box that Hale had brought back, adding a large pink bow as a finishing touch. She did this all by herself without allowing anyone to help her before sending Hale off with the newly-wrapped box.

She didn’t hear him utter a word throughout the entire process. Even though Sophia didn’t know what the box contained, Michael’s gaze was a little scary from the coldness that was radiating from it, his expression as sharp as a knife. It was only after Hale left with the box that she finally asked, “What was inside that box?”

Michael’s expression remained frosty as he answered, “The deep love I feel for my son.”

Soon, Nathan received the large box that Hale had sent over to the Fletcher Residence, where he was hiding. Nathan opened it to find that it was filled with workbooks that spanned a variety of subjects, including foreign language, advanced mathematics, calculus and the like, along with several years’ worth of mock test questions. It totaled up to a hundred books.

That was the ‘deep fatherly love’ that Michael spoke of earlier.

“Young Master, the boss said that you’re not allowed to come home until you finish everything,” Hale said to him.

Nathan remained silent.

“I’ve already called up the school. You won’t need to go to school when the semester starts. From now on, you’ll be running drills with the rest of the troops! Once you’re done, it should be time for Bayside University’s military training to start again. You’ll officially start your military training this year. If you don’t score at least 60% in your training, you’ll have to go through it again.”

Nathan continued to stay silent.

“Don’t think about gaming either. All of your game accounts have been permanently banned.”

Nathan’s silence dragged on.

“All of your Bitcoins have been transferred, while your computer and phone have been confiscated. Be punctual for your drills. You’re not allowed to be late. Joel will be monitoring you. In short, if you don’t finish those workbooks—all one hundred of them—then Michael won’t acknowledge you as his son.”

On Sophia’s end, now that her life had returned to a time of peace, she began to study hard on her own so that she could sit for the entrance tests as soon as possible.

Just like that, that heart-stopping moment from that night went by. Phantom Wolf’s leader had been crippled. Later, Abel had found out that he had run to a different country, just not his precise location, and Kayla Harper was dead. Even if Sophia hadn’t killed her, Kayla would have become a complete vegetable due to her muscles failing, paralyzing her when the effects of the drug wore off.

Natasha Mitchell had also gotten hurt that day and was sent back to the Mitchell residence to recuperate.

However, Sophia’s heart would race each time she thought of that earth-shattering explosion. During those ten or so minutes that day, she really thought that he had died.

Over ten minutes had passed between the explosion and when she was carried down to Michael. During those ten minutes or so, she experienced the most painful feeling of despair. It was as though her soul had died, but her body was still alive. That still-beating heart of hers had spread her pain throughout her entire body.

That feeling had made her wish to be dead instead.

Michael stayed home for a few days after his return from Africa before hopping on another plane to film elsewhere.

His destination this time was a little on the far side. It was a studio to the south, so he took his private jet to the filming site. Typically, he would need to finish shooting all his parts before he would be allowed to go home when he was on the clock.

Before he left, Michael expressly instructed Sophia, “Do not allow that little traitorous rascal Nate to so much as step into The Imperial.”

Sophia nodded. “Yep, yep. Got it.”

However, Sophia immediately rang up Gary the moment Michael left and asked him to bring Nathan back. Gary was still hesitant when she brought up her request. “Madam, this… isn’t exactly a good idea.

What if the boss finds out…”

Sophia giggled. “He won’t know if you don’t bring that up. He’s out on a movie shoot, so he won’t know about it.”

In the end, Gary still brought Nathan back home to play for a while. It really was just a while; two hours at most.

Gary drove over to Old Master Fletcher’s place and fetched Nathan back. The moment he got out of the car, Nathan whirled over to the living room like a hurricane, grabbing Sophia’s leg and bursting into tears.

Sophia hastily wiped the tears on Nathan’s face when she saw how awful he looked from all his crying.

Nathan had been pale and somewhat chubby prior to his stay at Old Master Fletcher’s, but now, his skin was tanned from all the drills he did out in the sun. He was significantly darker than before.

“Okay, okay, good boy. Please don’t cry. Come on now—”

Nathan cried even harder when he heard Sophia consoling him gently. “Mommy!”

A child without a mother was often considered nothing. At the military compound, he had been trampled like he was just a simple blade of grass.