Chapter 271
Lucy didn’t go to the office that afternoon. She stayed home to play with Seven. She had received the news earlier when Susan paid off her fine.
Her phone buzzed with a new message: [Susan has been deported back to her home country.]
Seeing the message, Lucy breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Given Susan’s current erratic behavior, if she knew about Seven, she would definitely use the boy as leverage to extort Kingsley. She typed a quick reply: [If she can come back once, she can do it again. We need to find a way to restrict her international travel.]
The response came immediately: [Kingsley has already arranged it.]
Lucy set her phone aside and turned to Seven, who was intently building with blocks. “Mommy, I want lots of green blocks,” the little guy said, tilting his face up at her.
She leaned over, gathered the scattered green blocks, and placed them gently in his palm. She didn’t dare help him build—the last time she had accidentally knocked over his “masterpiece,” he demanded she restore it exactly as it was, which had been a total nightmare.
Right now, Seven was admiring his towering block structure with immense satisfaction. “Mommy, look!” he cheered. “Isn’t it so tall?”
Lucy followed his pointing finger and offered exaggerated praise. “Wow, Seven is so smart! That’s incredibly tall!”
The little boy nodded proudly and couldn’t resist reaching up to add just one more block.
With a clatter, the tower collapsed. A fleeting look of disappointment crossed Seven’s face, but he quickly looked back up, his eyes shining with determination. “Mommy, I’m going to build it even higher!”
Lucy ruffled his hair and offered a soft word of encouragement. “I know you can, sweetie.”
Her phone vibrated again. Glancing at the caller ID, Lucy answered the call.
The casino manager’s voice came through the receiver. “Boss, Kingsley’s people just wired over another sum of money.”
Lucy replied casually, “Accept it. Just consider it the boarding fee for hosting his mother.”
“You got it!” the manager agreed briskly.
The moment she hung up, a tiny figure practically tackled her. Seven wrapped his arms around her neck, his voice sweet and sleepy. “Mommy, I want milk.”
Looking down, Lucy saw his heavy eyelids blinking against the fatigue. “Okay,” she coaxed gently. “After you finish your milk, we’ll take a nap. When you wake up, I’ll take you swimming.”
The little guy nodded emphatically, instinctively nuzzling his head deeper into her embrace.
Lucy scooped him up and went to prepare a bottle. Watching him sit on the sofa, fighting to keep his eyes open white stubbornly sipping his milk, S couldn’t help but pull out
her phone to record a short video. She casually posted it to her social media feed.
The elder Mrs. Sherwood had added Lucy’s contact information earlier. When the video popped up on her feed, she immediately asked Wilma to save it and forward it to Kingsley, along with a voice note: “Any progress lately?”
At that exact moment, Kingsley Sherwood was sitting in his office with his eyes half- closed. Ever since Susan Talmadge had been dragged out of the room, he hadn’t moved a muscle, holding the exact same posture.
It wasn’t until his phone buzzed, shattering the silence, that he slowly pulled himself back to reality.
Seeing the video from his grandmother, he tapped the screen to play it. After watching it in silence, he closed the app and sent back a single line: [You’re better off counting on Bacchus.]
Message sent, he grabbed his phone and headed for the door. This time, he didn’t bring Xavier along, opting only for his driver, Phil.
The car headed straight for the
upscale shopping center. Kingsley walked directly to a luxury jewelry counter and selected a necklace
Enet
with an elegant, minimalist design.
Afterward he headed up
to the
children’s floor, carefully picking out a few age-appropriate toys for
Seven.
Purchases in hand, Kingsley instructed Phil to drive straight to the Guerne district. By the time they arrived, Seven had been asleep for nearly an hour. Having just woken up the little boy was groggy nestled sleepily against Lucy’s chest.