Chapter 23 Olivia Gets Taken Again
When William received Nathan's message and rushed back from the office, Isabella had already left with Olivia.
The atmosphere in the hospital room felt strange. Laura's big eyes were red and puffy, clearly showing she'd just been crying.
The moment she saw William enter, she immediately stood up.
She was still carrying the new designer bag William had just bought her, biting her lip with the look of someone who'd mustered all her courage to make a difficult decision.
"I already spoke with the nurses. Nathan's condition isn't too serious; with a bit more observation, he should be discharged soon."
"William, I'm so grateful for all your care these past few weeks. Without you, I honestly don't know how I would have managed to settle into work." Laura's gaze flickered away, avoiding William's concerned eyes, before her voice became choked with emotion as she turned to Nathan.
"Nathan, when I'm gone, you must take care of yourself. Remember your allergies to seafood and dairy products, and never let your appetite get the better of you again."
This clearly sounded like a goodbye. William frowned slightly. After getting no sleep the previous night, his mental state was already poor today.
"Laura, what exactly happened here earlier?" He struggled to maintain his patience.
The moment Laura mentioned what had happened, her eyes filled with tears. Large teardrops swirled in her eyes, looking ready to fall at any second.
"Please don't blame anyone. This is all my fault. I interfered in your marriage with Isabella and destroyed your family. It's only right that I should leave and let you all be together."
By the end of her words, those tears that had been threatening to fall finally did, streaming down Laura's face in a way that naturally evoked sympathy from anyone watching.
William's expression grew unhappy. "Did Isabella pressure you again?"
Laura looked even more wronged, but still tried to appear strong. "I told you, don't blame anyone."
She lowered her head slightly, maintaining just the right angle for William to see her tears clearly.
A breeze from outside moved Laura's hair, making her look as beautiful as the female lead in a coming-of-age drama.
Two more tears hung unshed—anyone would feel sorry for her in this state.
"Maybe only if I completely disappear from your world will your lives get better. Isabella can definitely do better than I. She'll take good care of you both."
Before William could respond, Nathan sat up directly in his hospital bed. Still wearing his slippers, he ran to Laura's side and grabbed her arm forcefully.
"I won't let you leave!"
Nathan's tears quickly began falling too as he clung to Laura's arm, crying hysterically.
"You're the mother I've always wanted! I won't let you leave! We agreed you'd stay with Daddy and me forever and never leave. You can't break your promise!"
"I don't want my real mom to come back! She just controls everything I do—only you really care about me!"
At that moment, Isabella sneezed while sitting in her Uber.
Olivia immediately responded, speaking sweetly to the driver, "Excuse me, could you please turn off the air conditioning? My mommy isn't feeling well."
The well-behaved, thoughtful Olivia charmed the driver, who chuckled and looked at the mother-daughter pair through his rearview mirror.
"My daughter's about the same age." His gaze toward Olivia was filled with affection, as if seeing his own child.
Isabella smiled too. "Your daughter must be very sweet as well?"
His car was decorated with a family photo of all three of them smiling warmly together.
"She's a little terror! My wife always says she doesn't act like a girl at all. The moment she opens her eyes, she's outside climbing trees and getting into everything. We go through I don't know how many pairs of pants each summer!"
Though he said this, the happiness radiating from his face was unmistakable.
After chatting a bit more, Olivia leaned against Isabella, her face full of worry.
"Mommy, what Nathan said earlier was really mean. Why didn't you let me argue with him? I just wanted to make Mommy happy. Did I do something wrong?"
Isabella really wanted to know what went on in Olivia's little head.
"First of all, I'm not unhappy," Isabella gently touched Olivia's small face. "And even if I were unhappy, it would be because of Nathan's rude behavior, not because Olivia wanted to defend me."
Indiscriminately blaming Olivia for not understanding wasn't Isabella's style.
"From the moment he chose to be with Daddy and that woman, I knew that no amount of effort from me could compare to a single word from Laura."
Wrapping one arm around Olivia's shoulders, Isabella hugged her tightly.
She felt that fate hadn't been completely cruel to her after all.
At least she still had such a lovely treasure like Olivia by her side.
No matter what happened, just thinking about having Olivia made Isabella feel filled with strength.
The next day, after dropping Olivia off at preschool, Isabella hurriedly took the subway to work.
Today was the day she'd arranged with Richard to report to Infinity Ventures Corporation.
Since it was her first day, Isabella didn't want to give her future colleagues the impression that she wasn't punctual.
HR had arranged for someone to wait for Isabella downstairs early. After she went up, she first got her employee ID, then was taken to HR's interview room.
"Ms. Capulet, Mr. Spencer specifically instructed that you personally select all personnel for the renewable energy lab. Once you've made your choices, just submit them to the executive office for final approval."
Large corporations always had particularly rigorous workflows, and Isabella strictly followed Infinity Ventures Corporation's requirements.
Isabella spent the entire day conducting interviews.
The candidates' resumes were increasingly impressive—many had overseas experience.
Some had worked in laboratories abroad, while others had only participated in related experiments during their student years.
In the end, Isabella selected only three viable candidates from fifty resumes.
It wasn't that her standards were too high. During the initial setup phase of a new laboratory, choosing the founding members determined how far and how high the lab could go in the future.
Isabella wanted to establish a solid foundation, so she could only choose the best of the best.
After working all day, Isabella arrived at the preschool twenty minutes after the official pickup time.
Most of the children had already been collected.
As she went upstairs, Isabella had already planned how to apologize to Olivia.
However, when she reached Olivia's classroom, it was empty.
"Ms. Capulet, why are you here now? Did Olivia forget something at school?" The teacher was organizing the children's toys and seemed pleasantly surprised to see Isabella.
Isabella frowned. "I'm here to pick up Olivia."
"Olivia was already picked up by her father. Didn't he discuss it with you?"