Chapter 145: Daughter Injured, Son in Tears
Emily was so sensitive.
She looked at Michael, who remained silent. Her little hand grabbed his and held it tightly. Finally, when Michael's gaze turned to her, her bright smile was like a beam of sunshine that lit up everyone's hearts.
Emily said, "Michael, good."
Michael's heart stirred. He felt ashamed of his earlier thoughts. He gripped Emily's hand back, his eyes growing more determined.
Dad said that if you know you're wrong and fix it, you're still a good kid.
He had already disappointed Mom once - there absolutely couldn't be a second time!
Michael handed Emily over to James to look after, then charged at Juan himself, shouting loudly, "Juan, give me back my ball!"
Juan refused, and the two of them started fighting.
Although Juan was bigger than Michael, he had always been chubby and weak. He really couldn't get the upper hand against Michael, who was fighting fiercely.
James put both hands under Emily's armpits, lifted her up, and carried her to a safe area, afraid she might get hurt.
Emily was worried Michael would get hurt. She tugged at James's hand, her eyes anxiously fixed on Michael fighting in the distance.
"James..."
James said, "Don't be scared, Emily. Michael is really good at this."
He and Michael had received elite education since childhood, which, of course, included combat skills.
In contrast, Juan only knew how to use brute force. Michael was clearly superior.
Sure enough, the next second.
Juan was kicked by Michael into the pool outside, looking totally embarrassed.
The boys watching from the side were all stunned.
They knew Michael was good, but they didn't expect him to be this good - even Juan had become his defeated opponent.
"Your mouths are so dirty, go wash them out!"
Michael kicked all these people into the pool. The sounds of splashing came one after another.
The growing commotion outside attracted the parents from the banquet hall. Hannah, who had been watching this area, smiled with satisfaction.
"Who pushed my son into the pool? I'll skin you alive!"
"Quick, save him! What are you security guards standing around for? If anything happens to my son, I'll sue you!"
Soon, the security guards rescued the children from the pool.
Juan's face was pale. He glared hatefully at Michael by the poolside and cried to his mother, "Mom, it was Michael who pushed me!"
James put Emily in a safe spot and immediately went to help Michael, afraid he would get hurt.
Emily sat obediently on the sofa, not wanting to cause trouble for James and Michael.
Seeing that the other boys all had parents protecting them, she immediately thought of Sophia and William.
Just as she was about to get down from the sofa to find them, Hannah took advantage of everyone's attention being on the poolside and pushed Emily hard off the sofa.
Emily's forehead hit the grass, and her face was scratched by the grass too.
She pushed herself up from the ground with her little hands and sat on the lawn, rubbing the painful spots on her face.
Seeing those adults still surrounding James and Michael with accusations, Emily's eyes darted around. Her mouth turned down, and she began to cry loudly.
Her voice was especially loud even though tears hadn't fallen yet, drawing everyone's attention to her.
Seeing it was Sophia's illegitimate daughter, everyone didn't want to bother with her.
James and Michael were people the Smith family cared about deeply - they could tolerate that. But what was this little girl?
However, James and Michael panicked when they heard Emily crying.
They rushed over, "Emily, Emily."
Emily's delicate forehead was red and swollen. Tears pooled in her eyes without falling, making her look even more pitiful.
Hannah saw the necklace Emily was wearing up close, and anger at Holden's unfairness flowed through her eyes.
Hannah thought to herself that when this little girl arrived, she definitely wasn't wearing this necklace. The child came out of the upstairs lounge wearing it - clearly Holden had given it to her.
When she gave birth to Melinda, Holden didn't give her anything. Thinking of this, the darkness in Hannah's eyes grew deeper.
A child born to Sophia deserved to wear a necklace?
"Emily, what happened to you? Come, let me hold you." Hannah pretended to care, and in a position where others couldn't see, she pulled hard on the string around Emily's neck.
Emily pushed her away forcefully, "You're bad, go away!"
She remembered - it was this woman in red who had just pushed her.
Hannah's face immediately turned cold. "What's wrong with you, child? I'm kindly helping you up, and you push me? So rude."
Seeing Emily purse her lips in grievance, James quickly said, "Hannah, you can't talk about Emily like that. Emily is very polite."
Hearing how James addressed Hannah, people's expressions varied.
Hannah's face darkened.
Because William didn't acknowledge her as his stepmother, he also wouldn't let James and Michael call her grandma.
"James, you can't spoil Emily like this. She's crying and making a scene here, disrupting everyone - that's wrong."
"Look at everyone else - who cries like her? Juan fell in the water and didn't make a fuss."
With these words, she both belittled Emily and praised Juan.
James frowned, feeling something was wrong with what she said, but gentle as he was, he really didn't know how to explain.
Instead, Michael rushed forward and pushed Hannah away, saying angrily, "Don't bully Emily!"
Hannah put on a stern face and scolded, "Michael, ever since you and James started playing with this illegitimate daughter, you've become more and more rude!"
Others looked at Hannah in surprise. Her scolding of the two children seemed very much like a grandmother's manner.
"Is this how the teachers the Smith family arranged for you taught you? I'll have to have a good talk with your grandfather about this later. This is really too disgraceful to the Smith family's dignity."
Hannah enjoyed the surprise in everyone's eyes and their thoughtful concerns. This was exactly what she wanted - for everyone to change their impression of her.
She wasn't the mistress who wasn't acknowledged by Holden!
Thinking this, she scolded James and Michael with a cold face, "Now, you two go back to your rooms and reflect!"
James and Michael had never been wrongly accused like this before. They wanted to argue back but were held back by their upbringing and manners.
Seeing James and Michael silent, Emily suddenly stood up and spread her little arms to protect them.
"Don't talk about them!"
Sophia didn't see the children in the toy room upstairs and hurried downstairs to find them.
Seeing so many people gathered on the lawn, worried it had to do with the children, she quickly walked outside.
Just as she reached the door from the banquet hall to the lawn, she heard Hannah deliberately raising her voice in anger, not only slandering her and Emily but also cursing James and Michael. Her face immediately darkened.
"Hannah, what are you yelling about?"
Hearing Sophia's voice, everyone turned to look at the beauty walking from the lights, shocked by her commanding presence.
Sophia came over and picked up Emily, who was crying with a red face. She touched James and Michael's heads, comforting them first.
"Don't be afraid, Mommy's here."
"Today, Mommy will teach you what attitude to use with bad people."
Then she turned to Hannah and kicked her knee hard. Hannah immediately fell to her knees in an embarrassing position.
"What did you just call Emily?"
"You!"
Hannah tried to get up by pushing against the ground, but Sophia stepped hard on her palm. This scene overlapped with what happened at the Johnson Villa entrance before.
"Hannah, have you forgotten how you wet yourself at my door? Or do you... need me to help you remember?"
Back in his room, William had wanted to drown his sorrows in alcohol, but reason told him it was useless.
So he began to review everything that had happened between him and Sophia.
First meeting, marriage, having children, divorce... Just as he was re-examining their relationship, Tony rushed over and knocked on the door, saying, "Mr. Smith, Mrs. Smith, and the children are in trouble!"