Chapter 207: Wanting a Younger Sister

Sylvia crouched down and hugged Garth tightly, then looked up at Cecilia standing beside them.

There wasn't much expression on Cecilia's face, but in those eyes that looked so much like Henry's, there was a hint of sadness that was hard to detect.

Henry came out of the study and, seeing this scene, walked over and ruffled Garth's hair, using a coaxing tone: "If you don't want Cecilia to leave, how about you go to the island with her?"

"No way!" Garth refused without a second thought. He looked up with tears welling in his eyes, but his logic was clear: "The island isn't fun, and there's training—it'll be really, really tiring! I don't want Cecilia to go!"

"Henry," Sylvia looked up and shot him a warning glare, "don't trick Garth."

Henry touched his nose, knowing he was in the wrong, and said nothing more.

Cecilia walked up to Garth, reached out her small hand, and carefully wiped away the tears on his face, speaking in a tone of maturity beyond her years: "Garth, don't cry. I'll come back to see you soon."

After saying this, Cecilia turned to Sylvia, opened her arms, and gave her a tight hug.

"Mom, I'm leaving now." Cecilia's voice was soft but firm.

Sylvia's heart felt like something had grabbed it—it hurt terribly.

She hugged Cecilia's small, somewhat thin body back, with a thousand words stuck in her throat that finally turned into just one sentence: "Take good care of yourself."

Sylvia watched as Henry personally put Cecilia into the car heading to the private airport. Only when the car disappeared from view did she look away.

"Henry," Sylvia leaned against him, her voice a bit muffled, "be better to Cecilia from now on. Even better."

"I know." Henry held her tighter and lowered his head to kiss the top of her hair.

Seeing the heartache and reluctance in Sylvia's eyes, something stirred in his heart. He suddenly leaned close to her ear and said in an ambiguous, tempting voice: "Since you miss Cecilia so much, how about... we have another child?"

Before Sylvia could react, Garth, who had been hugging her leg the whole time, suddenly looked up with bright eyes, as if he'd found the perfect solution.

"Yes! Have another little sister!" He looked at Henry and Sylvia seriously and urged them in a sweet childlike voice with an unquestionable tone: "Mom, hurry up and have one!"

Garth's innocent words instantly made the atmosphere awkward.

Hearing this, Henry wasn't embarrassed at all. Instead, he chuckled, a pleased light dancing in his deep eyes. He leaned close to Sylvia's ear, lowered his voice, and said in an ambiguous, tempting tone: "Did you hear that, darling? Garth has spoken—we need to work hard."

Sylvia's cheeks instantly turned bright red with embarrassment and annoyance.

She pushed Henry away with one hand and mercilessly pinched his firm waist with the other, warning him in a suppressed voice: "Henry, if you keep talking nonsense, you're sleeping in the study tonight!"

Garth, not understanding the playfulness between adults, looked up at one, then the other, and added seriously: "Mom, I want a well-behaved little sister, not a brother."

This time, even Henry couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Sylvia was completely speechless. She picked up Garth, turned around, and walked back, not wanting to deal with the improper Henry anymore.

The dock where they'd said goodbye to Cecilia returned to quiet, with only the sound of wind brushing across the water.

The sadness of parting still lingered in her heart. Sylvia held Garth, her gaze unconsciously sweeping over the distant ferry crossing.

Just then, a figure entered her line of sight.

It was a woman wearing a black outfit suitable for movement, tall and lean, with short, neat hair, leaning against a pillar smoking.

Her posture seemed casual, but her straight back and sharp eyes scanning the surroundings revealed a professional alertness.

What made Sylvia's heart skip a beat was when the woman raised her hand to flick ash, her wrist revealed a flash of crimson red, like a blood-colored tattoo.

Crimson!

Sylvia's pupils suddenly contracted, all her muscles instantly tensed, and she instinctively pulled Garth closer into her arms.

"What's wrong?" Henry immediately noticed something was off and followed her gaze, his expression darkening.

Without a word, he gave a cold order into his earpiece to the bodyguards: "Check that woman in black at the ferry crossing right now."

The order was given, and in less than two minutes, the bodyguard's response came back: "Boss, we've checked. She's a villager from a nearby fishing village. She just came back from sea. The thing on her wrist is a wound from a rope a few days ago when she was out at sea—she wrapped it with a red cloth strip."

A false alarm.

Sylvia's tense nerves gradually relaxed, but she also realized that she had become like a frightened bird.

That feeling of being secretly watched and potentially losing her life at any moment was absolutely terrible.

Henry pulled her and the child into his arms, silently comforting them.

It wasn't until they got in the car to go back that Sylvia finally let go of the huge weight on her heart.

She looked at Henry's sharp profile beside her, was silent for a moment, and finally spoke up.

"Last night's sniper was coming for you."

Henry's hand on the steering wheel suddenly tightened, and the car body shook almost imperceptibly.

He turned his head, a storm gathering in his eyes: "How do you know?"

"I went to see Frank today." Sylvia didn't hide anything and told him everything about the conversation at the café. "He took a job to assassinate you. The payment is nine figures. Also, someone put out a seven-figure bounty on my life."

The temperature in the car suddenly dropped to freezing.

Henry's face became so dark it could drip water, and the murderous aura emanating from him almost tore apart the entire space.

Thinking about how if that bullet last night had been off by just an inch, the consequences would have been unthinkable, he wanted nothing more than to tear the person behind this to pieces.

"Coffin Organization." He squeezed out the words through gritted teeth, his eyes filled with undisguised killing intent.

"Do you know about this organization?" Sylvia pressed.

"Not much," Henry shook his head, his tone icy. "I only know it's a hitman organization based overseas. They operate secretively, and very few people can access the core. All I found out is that the person in charge of Coffin Organization has the surname Reed."

This surname immediately made Sylvia think of that woman lying in the hospital bed, frail and pale-faced—Skylar.

"You suspect Skylar?" Henry caught the change in Sylvia's expression.

Sylvia didn't answer directly but asked instead: "Have you sent people to investigate her? Any leads?"

"Not yet." Henry's brow furrowed even tighter. "The traces from the years she was missing have been wiped very clean. The people behind her are hiding very deep, but we can confirm that she has connections with Willow."

Hearing this answer, Sylvia felt a bit more at ease.