Chapter 157
After William left, the hospital room turned into a family meeting again.
Sarah looked at Steven pacing back and forth and felt her head hurt.
"Dad, come up with something. Stop walking around, you're making me dizzy."
Steven kept pacing, his mind racing. Once William got serious about something, it became tricky. Who could pull off a scheme right under that devil's nose?
Nola tried to comfort her from the side.
"Sarah, don't worry. Right now, our main goal is to get the marriage certificate first and secure this guarantee. Even if William finds out something later, for his son's sake, he won't go too far. Once the baby is born safely, you two will be connected for life."
Nola's words suddenly enlightened Steven. He clapped his hands together.
"Right! We need to find a way to make him get the certificate in the next few days, then we're set!"
Sarah whined.
"Mom, Dad, what are you thinking? He's not even divorced yet. How can I marry him within a week? Even if he's willing to divorce, there's still a one-month cooling-off period. There's no time."
Steven put his hands behind his back and stopped pacing.
"We'll find a way to get him to agree to register the marriage with you. As for the divorce cooling-off period, that's nonsense. Who is William? If he wants something done, City Hall will do it for him overnight."
Sarah felt more at ease. She thought to herself, why didn't she think of this? Rules are made for ordinary people. A big shot like William can do whatever he wants.
"Dad, but Ava is still his legal wife!"
"Don't worry about it. I'll figure it out."
While they were talking, someone knocked on the door. William had sent Lily from his house with a caregiver.
Steven opened the door and saw the two people, immediately understanding that William had sent them.
Lily was carrying a thermal container with lunch inside.
"Miss Brown, hello. I'm Lily from the Morgan family. I'll be responsible for your three meals a day from now on. For your health, you shouldn't eat outside food anymore. Just tell me what you want to eat."
After speaking, Lily glanced at the two extra people in the room and added,
"Mr. Morgan instructed that there shouldn't be too many people in this room. If you two have nothing else to do, please go home. I'll take good care of Miss Brown."
Steven straightened his neck. Just a servant, yet she dared to kick people out. He snorted.
"Take good care of my daughter. She's carrying the future heir of the Morgan Group in her belly. If anything happens to her, you couldn't pay for it even with your life."
Lily suddenly froze. William only told her to come to the hospital to take care of someone for the next few days, but didn't mention anything about pregnancy.
This was truly shocking news.
No wonder Ava left with her suitcase—it was because of this.
William actually had a child with another woman outside. What a sin!
Howard had asked her to keep a close eye on the couple and report everything, but Howard was still hospitalized. How could she dare tell him this? It would surely upset him terribly.
After Steven showed off his authority, he left the hospital room with Nola.
In another hospital room, Ava came out to buy some daily necessities while Grandpa was sleeping. She had just come out of the convenience store at the entrance and was about to enter the inpatient building when she ran into Steven and Nola, who were cursing and complaining.
All three were stunned.
Ava quickly acted as if she didn't recognize them and went in from the side. Nola blocked her way from behind, glaring at her fiercely and demanding,
"What are you doing at the hospital? Sarah doesn't want to see you!"
She thought Ava had come to the hospital to cause trouble for Sarah. Otherwise, why would Ava be in the inpatient building? She must have found out and come to bully her daughter while the couple wasn't there.
She wouldn't allow it!
Then she warned, "If you dare come again, I'll tell William you're trying to harm his son."
Seeing her nervous reaction, Ava realized that Sarah must be sick again and was staying at this hospital. She laughed and asked,
"Nola, you're already a homewrecker. What are you afraid of?"
Nola was instantly enraged by the word "homewrecker."
"You little bitch, who are you calling a homewrecker?"
Ava took a step back, keeping a safe distance between them.
"You and Sarah are both homewreckers. Don't you know that yourselves? Do you need others to tell you?"
Nola was so angry that she was jumping.
"Let me tell you, your dad and I got together through free love. He lied to me that he was single. I only found out about you and your mom after I got pregnant with Sarah. I'm not a homewrecker! If you want to blame someone, blame your useless mother for not being able to keep her man."
Ava thought back to when Jack was investigating her mother's car accident; he had accidentally discovered some large transactions in Steven's private account. He looked into it and learned Steven had bought gifts for an intern at the company. Nola probably didn't know about this yet.
"Steven bought three luxury bags and a diamond necklace last month. He gave them all to you, right? You're really capable—at your age, you can still make a man devoted to you."
Nola turned to stare at Steven, her eyes full of anger.
Last month was their wedding anniversary. All she received was a casually wrapped bouquet from a flower shop, not even a card, delivered by courier. And that day, Steven said he had business at the company and didn't come home all night. There were no luxury bags or diamond necklaces—she didn't even get a plastic bag.
Steven felt embarrassed and immediately got angry, questioning Ava.
"Are you following me?"
He grabbed the fuming Nola and pushed her toward the door. He wasn't sure what other dirt this damn girl had on him. If they kept talking, there would be more trouble.
"That's enough. Go home first. I'll chat with this girl for a bit."
Nola was in the heat of anger, pulling at Steven's clothes and shouting loudly,
"Don't change the subject. You need to explain this to me, or I'm not done with you."
The entrance to the inpatient building was only so big, and the two of them pulling at each other took up half the space. Others had to squeeze through from the side to get in and out.
"Stop arguing!"
Steven's voice was almost deafening. Nola was momentarily shocked into silence, looking at him with red eyes.
Steven said,
"Wasn't the company facing a crisis last month and almost went bankrupt? If I don't give some gifts to butter up clients, how can it work? Do you know how hard it is for me to run a company? Every day I'm out there begging this person and that person. To get some investment, I don't even care about my dignity anymore. When I come home, I still have to face you, an unreasonable, crazy woman. If you don't want to stay together, then let's just end it!"
Nola was intimidated. Middle-aged with nothing to show for herself, latching onto Steven, this small-time boss, was the most successful thing in her career. Now the old fool was saying such things—he probably really didn't want her anymore.
She was scared into silence. Fight as she might, she still had this much sense.
She wiped away her tears, her attitude softening.
"I'll go home first. Come back early for dinner, too. Don't stay out too long."