Chapter 152: I'm His Real Mother
Ever since moving in with Laura, Nathan had grown increasingly stocky, as solid as a little bull calf.
If he had actually made contact with Isabella at full force, it would have hurt for quite a while.
Isabella quickly sidestepped, and Richard smoothly pulled her aside—together they perfectly avoided Nathan's charging attack.
Nathan slammed headfirst into the restaurant wall with a loud thud, then tumbled backward onto the floor.
He sat there clutching his head with both hands. The impact hadn't registered at first, but now the pain began stabbing through his brain. Nathan's face crumpled as he burst into tears.
Laura was also terrified. She couldn't care less about the expensive Hermès bag in her hand—she threw it on the floor and rushed to check on Nathan.
Nathan was the precious prince of the entire Montague family. If anything happened to him on her watch, forget about marrying William—she'd probably lose everything she already had!
The restaurant staff hurried over, bowing apologetically.
"So sorry, miss! I'll get ice from the kitchen right away for the boy."
Laura pried Nathan's hands away to examine the injury, seeing his forehead had already turned red and swollen.
"Are you idiots? Why is there such a hard wall here?"
She was panicking and could only vent her anxiety on the innocent staff member.
Isabella shook her head slightly at the server.
"It's fine. I saw everything clearly—this boy lost control of his emotions and charged at the wall himself."
The server brought ice while continuing to apologize to Laura.
People in the service industry were used to apologizing—there was no psychological burden. The priority was calming down the customer's emotions.
Otherwise, one complaint could ruin anyone's day.
"You clearly led Nathan into hitting the wall—don't think I didn't see it!" Laura snapped.
Isabella shrugged. "I led him? Who exactly taught him to be so rude and try to hit people?"
She refused to enable Nathan's behavior, or he'd just think everything he did was justified.
"So sorry about this, ma'am," the server apologized weakly.
Who could have predicted someone would deliberately run into a wall? When designing restaurants, you couldn't exactly go without walls, right? They were the most innocent party here!
"Don't worry—no one's going to hold you responsible. I'm this child's real mother," Isabella said calmly from the side.
Since she and William weren't divorced yet, she was still Nathan's legal guardian.
As for Laura, what right did she have to pursue anything?
The wall was hollow drywall—charging into it at full force would hurt at most, which might actually teach Nathan a lesson about trying to hit people.
Isabella felt no guilt whatsoever. If Nathan could reflect on his behavior after today's incident, that would be a wonderful thing.
Laura didn't dare discipline Nathan. While applying ice to his forehead, she accused Isabella: "How could you lay hands on such a small child!"
Isabella crossed her arms, completely calm: "If you have memory problems, I don't mind checking the security footage. Nathan charged at me himself—I was just defending myself."
"Besides, he's only six years old. If you keep enabling him without limits like this, what happens when he does something truly dangerous? Will you take responsibility then?"
Isabella's pointed questions left Laura speechless. Once she'd gotten Nathan to stop crying, Laura quickly scooped up the boy and hurried away.
The server was still shaken. After thanking Isabella and Richard, he immediately called his manager to report the situation.
"Are you okay?" Richard asked Isabella with concern.
Isabella smiled and shook her head. "I'm fine. Nathan needed to be taught a lesson anyway—I don't want him growing up to be an unreasonable person."
As they walked toward their reserved private dining room, Richard offered gentle reassurance: "He hasn't developed mature values yet, so he can't see who truly cares about his well-being. When he's older, he'll understand."
Only then did Isabella realize he was worried she'd be hurt by Nathan's attitude.
Isabella had long ago made peace with her son's rebellion. It wasn't because she hadn't done enough—it was because she'd done too much.
She'd always tried to arrange everything perfectly for both children, giving them the best of everything.
She smiled again: "I already have Olivia, who's such a lovely treasure. I can't be greedy and expect the other one to be obedient and understanding too."
They arrived late, but their business partner didn't mind. The collaboration discussion went very smoothly, with all details quickly settled.
Before leaving, the partner specifically told Richard that he'd chosen Infinity Ventures Corporation precisely because they had reliable researchers like Isabella.
For this reason, Richard allowed Isabella to leave work early as a reward.
Meanwhile, elsewhere.
Laura rushed Nathan to the hospital, her trembling hands grabbing the emergency room doctor.
"Brain CT, MRI, X-rays... run every test you can think of on Nathan. Money's no object—Nathan absolutely cannot have any problems!"
Laura's heart felt suspended over a cliff, about to plummet at any moment.
She was terrified of Nathan getting hurt.
If anything happened to him, she could forget about ever marrying into the Montague family.
The emergency physician first lifted Nathan's eyelids to check his pupils, then felt around the swollen area, making a basic assessment.
"This is just simple bruising. I'll prescribe some medication—just apply cold compresses at home."
But Laura insisted: "Do exactly what I said—run every test this hospital offers. We have plenty of money!"
The emergency doctor found her strange but didn't argue further. He turned to schedule the tests—this was a private hospital, so no waiting in line was necessary.
While Nathan underwent testing, Laura stepped outside and called William.
The moment he picked up, she burst into tears.
"William, we ran into Isabella today with Nathan, and she was so heartless that she actually attacked Nathan and put him in the hospital!"