As he lowered his gaze, Ian was utterly quiet now. Sophia deliberately taunted him and said, âI do know Lucile herself, but sheâs already married. However, I can introduce you to other unmarried ladies in the Michel Family who are definitely worthy of your status. Just get ready to change the family name on your household registry, ID, and passport. Also, youâre required to change your citizenship too.
Youâll have your wifeâs family name in the future, and youâll have to swear your loyalty to whatever country sheâs a citizen of. From then on, you cannot call yourself a part of the Edwards Family anymore.
Donât you worry, though! Apart from changing your family name to your wifeâs, everything else stays the same! You can bring your wife back to your family home.
With your parentsâ permission, you can still work in the family businessâyou might even be able to nab some manpower and resources from your wifeâs family! Itâs a match made in heaven! How awesome is that? While your kids wonât be carrying your family name, theyâll still be your kids. Here, I have a bunch of the Michel ladiesâ numbers. Do you want them? Think of it as my compensation to you.â
Ianâs gaze was conflicted. On one hand was the Michel Family, and the Edwards were on his other.
As a man, how could he possibly take his wifeâs family name?
He wouldnât have the courage to look his ancestors in the eye when he died!
In the end, Ian flung the coffee cup in his hand away and stood up, extremely furious. âDo I look like the kind of person who would rely on his wifeâs family like that? Donât you look down on me, Sophia! I am not the kind of person who will betray both his nation and family because of money and status! Back in the day when the nation was suffering, us Edwards had always been at the forefront to protect it! We donated and saved as many people as you Mitchells did! If youâre planning to humiliate me like this, I can tell you now that your plan has failed! I will still fight for those management rights, Sophia. Even if you send those nude photos of me out, itâs no use. Youâd better be carefulâdonât get yourself dragged into this too, you scammer!â
After that rousing speech, Ian put away those eye-catching nude photos before he turned around and stormed off. Much to his surprise, he immediately caught sight of Linus standing outside the moment he pushed the door open.
Ianâs gaze turned respectful. âWhy are you here, Mr. Michel?â
Linua smiled politely. âIâm here to fetch Sophia.â He then gestured at Sophia with his gaze and asked, âHow did your talk go?â
Before Ian could reply, Sophia had already come out after putting her belongings away. She grinned as she walked. âOur chat wasnât so badâMr. Edwards promised to back out of the bidding war for the management rights.â
Linus nodded as he relaxed, reaching out affectionately to take Sophiaâs hand. âAlright, letâs go back.
Fass and Carmen are probably home already.â
Cooper is back!
Sophia had been so busy lately that she hadnât even seen actual daylight; she nearly forgot that today was the day of Cooper and Michaelâs glorious return.
âLetâs hurry up. Get the cooks to prepare some delicious food. We must have dadâs favorite eggplant with minced meat and braised eel for Carmenâs dad!â
The slender fingers of Sophiaâs hand were soft and warm in Linusâ palm. It seemed like they were boneless, and her hand felt nice to hold.
Meanwhile, Ianâs gaze kept flitting between Linus and Sophia.
When did they get so buddy-buddy with each other? Theyâre even holding handsâis Sophia a two-
timer?
With Sophiaâs hand in his, Linus turned and spoke to Ian. âMr. Edwards, since the discussion has come to an end, Lucile and I will be leaving. Thank you for your time, and Iâll take you out for a meal some other day.â
Ian was silent.
No wonder Sophia knew that Lucile was a fake! Sheâs the actual Lucile! If Sophia is Lucile, doesnât that make Cooperâ¦
At the thought of the implications behind it, a chill immediately ran up Ianâs spine; goosebumps prickled over his skin.
Fass is actually Cooper! Thatâs terrifying as hell!
He figured that it would be better if he gave up on getting those management rights.
As for Lucy⦠He couldnât be bothered to pursue that thought anymore. He realized that Fassâno, Cooperâput those rights up in order to test his daughter.
It was all an inside job! Even if the rights didnât go to Sophia, they wouldnât go to any outsider! Even if some outsider won those management rights, Sophia might even sabotage them in secret.
Meanwhile, Sophia followed Linus home. The moment she opened the door to the house, her darling Carmen flew over like a butterfly.
âMama!â
Sophia caught Carmen as she pounced on her and spun around happily. She lifted Carmen high in the air.
âOh, Mommyâs sweet little baby!â
They had only been apart for ten days, but Sophia thought that her baby had grown a bit more during that time; the girl was also getting cuter by the day.
The house was bursting with merriment today. Sarah and her husband had brought Hope over; even Justin and Celine were present with Nathan. Of course, Stanley and Sean were sure to be here too.
Michael had been treating Sophiaâs place like his own home recently, completely falling into the role of a house husband. He had brazenly moved his luggage into Sophiaâs bedroom, and he even set up another aquarium next to Cooperâs tortoise tank for his eels. He wasnât acting like a guest at all.
Now that Cooper was back, Michael killed two eels for dinner.
When Cooper saw the plate of eggplant on the table, his face turned green. Sophia enthusiastically got him some food, plopping half the plate of eggplant onto his own plate.
In truth, Cooper really disliked eggplant with minced meat.
Nonetheless, the atmosphere around the table as everyone ate was nice and heartwarming.
While the babysitter helped Carmen with dinner, Sophia sat next to Nathan and began interrogating him.
âHow have your studies been recently? Whatâs your GPA? Are there many ladies sending you confession letters? Have you got a girlfriend yet? When are you bringing her back to see me?â
Nathan kept his head lowered as he focused on his food, a blank expression on his face. He ignored Sophia completely.
Meanwhile at the dinner table, Michael told them all about Carmenâs audition with the production team.
As they expected, Carmen still didnât get the role. Although her acting was good and she was a bubbly girl who could also play the role of a boy, she was on the younger side; she wasnât even four yet. In the end, the production team decided on a 12 year-old child star.
However, they didnât want to waste their time since they were already there. Michael and Cooper contacted several other production teams, so Carmen auditioned for a few major films too. In the end, she managed to snag a few small roles in them.
After they had finished dinner and sent their guests off, it was time for family bonding. Cooper played with Carmen, stacking building blocks with her while Sophia and Michael left hand-in-hand. Anyone could tell what they were going to do just by looking at the anticipation on their faces.
The moment he shot them a glare, Carmen pouted. âFocus, Grandpa.â
No matter how much Cooper hated this, he didnât have any way of stopping them.
He got Nathan to play with Carmen and took the opportunity to slip away. He still had plenty of things to ask Linus.