Chapter 2716

Nicole opened her eyes and slowly sat up. Out of nowhere, Jared grabbed her and kissed right at the temple.

Blushing, Nicole playfully frowned at Jared. “Get up already, would you?”

With a gentle gaze, Jared planted a kiss on Nicole’s forehead before releasing her for her morning shower.

Nicole hurried off to the bathroom after she had gotten off the bed.

She then calmed herself with a splash of cold water on the face. ‘Will that jerk just chill in the morning?

His appetite is almost too much for me to handle.’ After washing up and preparing to make her way downstairs for breakfast, Nolan and Lana approached Nicole just as she was leaving her room.

“Mommy,” the kids called out.

With each of them clinging to Nicole’s arms, the kids’ faces lit up with delight as they headed to the first floor with their mother.

“Oh, you’re all awake. Let’s have breakfast then,” Gloria greeted once she had seen them.

As they were sitting at the dining table, Nicole noticed Stanley’s pale complexion and asked, “Did you sleep well last night? You don’t look so good.” ”Oh really?” Stanley touched his face. “Well, I had an alright sleep.”

Nicole raised her eyebrows, knowing that something on his mind had kept him awake during the night prior. However, Stanley seemed determined to not dwell on it, so Nicole decided not to press him for more answers.

After breakfast, Tia came over to send the children to school.

Upon getting into the house, Tia greeted everyone, including Stanley. She then snuck a brief glance at Stanley before averting her gaze and taking the kids away with her.

Stanley watched as Tia departed. He could not help but feel that there was something alienating about the way she was behaving right in front of her.

“Mom, Dad, I’ll get going,” Nicole informed.

She could sense some kind of change in Stanley, but as she did not wish to say anything about it, she packed her stuff and left the house with Jared.

Stanley quickly withdrew his gaze. Even though he found the breakfast in front of him unappealing, he quickly cleaned his plate and left for work as well.

“Why are these few acting so weirdly today?” Daniel wondered out loud.

Gloria agreed, “I had the same feeling. What’s going on?”

Barring Chloe’s stunt, nothing significant had happened last night, so they did not understand why the kids looked as if they had a cloud of gloom hovering over them.

Meanwhile, Nicole and Jared had both strolled off to the courtyard where their car was parked.

“Patricia has arranged for someone to keep an eye on Damien. She’ll inform me if there’s any news,”

Nicole said, believing that Damien would no doubt make a move.

At this rate, it was just a matter of time.

“You can always ask Charlie if you need him,” Jared suggested.

“Sure thing,” Nicole agreed.

She would ask Charlie to assist Patricia if additional backup was needed.

After a while, their car stopped at the entrance of Riddle Corporation. Nicole got out of the car and watched as it drove off before she entered the company building.

“Your gown for Ellison’s Group’s annual celebration has arrived,” her secretary informed her.

Frowning, Nicole waved her hands and said, “There’s no need for a gown.”

After all, Nicole was just showing up as the partner for the joint venture. She figured that it would be more suitable for her to wear a formal dress.

“I won’t change my attire then,” Lulu said while approaching Nicole.

Lulu overheard Nicole’s comment as she was walking up to her, and she felt it was more appropriate for her to dress up formally as well.

Nicole smirked at the sight of Lulu coming up to her. “So, I see you are ready to join us today.”

“Yep. What you said made sense, so I’ve been making preparations for the past two days,” Lulu said.

Then, she clenched her hand as a gesture of diligence and said, “Just you wait for the fruits of my effort, Nicole.”