Chapter 192
"How did you find us?" Worried that the child's crying would upset Nora, Michael got out of bed and opened the door.
Milo completely ignored Michael, slipping past him and rushing into the room to throw himself into Nora's arms, "Mom, I checked the hotel system."
Nora was shocked, "The hotel system is something you can just check?"
"I distracted the front desk." Milo said it so casually, clearly experienced at this sort of thing.
"What a little genius." Nora laughed and comforted him, "You ran out here—do your dad and uncles know?"
Milo snorted, "Dad's a bad guy."
Nora looked nervously at Michael. Looks like he ran out on his own again.
Michael was a bit unhappy. Was Milo getting attached to Nora?
"I'll call his dad." Michael picked up his phone to call Daryl.
"Don't call, he's not actually my dad." Milo rushed over and hugged Michael's leg, his eyes teary and pitiful, "Someone left me at his doorstep, so he adopted me, but I know he's not my real dad."
Michael was confused. Looking at Milo hugging his leg, his heart skipped a beat.
That expression, that gesture—it was exactly like Samuel the first time he saw him at the Smith family, hugging his leg and begging him to protect Nora.
"Are you sure you only had one child?" Michael looked at Nora suspiciously.
Nora was stunned by Michael's question.
After finding out she was pregnant, Nora was scared, afraid to go out, and even more afraid to get prenatal checkups.
That year, right after the scandal about the real and fake heiress was exposed, Nora had returned to the Thomas family. It was Jasper and his mother Opal who took care of her.
Nora only remembered being very thin at the time, but her belly was surprisingly large.
And Samuel was only 4.96 pounds at birth.
But Nora didn't believe in such coincidences.
It wasn't possible.
Jasper was at the hospital when she gave birth.
Jasper wouldn't lie to her.
"Only Samuel." Nora answered with certainty.
"Mom, you are my mom." Milo's eyes reddened, hugging Nora and refusing to let go, "I know you're my mom."
"He's developed an attachment to you after you saved him." Michael explained, then said to Milo, "If you run out like this, your family will worry. Even if you don't like your dad, do you want to make your grandma worry?"
Milo thought about it and sniffled, "Okay then, but I want to stay with Mom."
Michael didn't care about any of that—he just wanted to get rid of Milo.
Don't disturb his alone time with Nora.
They finally got to take a vacation.
He sent a message to Daryl, and soon the entire Fields family showed up.
"Milo, why are you bothering Nora again?" Atticus was very embarrassed, "The kid likes you too much."
Nora shook her head.
"Nori, I can see Milo really likes you." Zander saw Milo hiding behind Nora and made a suggestion, "You're both here for the wedding anyway. How about letting Milo stay with you until the wedding is over?"
"I don't agree!" Michael refused directly.
Are you kidding?
He and Nora finally got a vacation.
"Mr. Smith, you should have some compassion." Daryl mocked Michael.
"Compassion? He's not my son. If I'm so compassionate, I might as well become God." Michael sat to the side with a dark expression.
He didn't agree.
If it were Samuel, he'd accept it, but a strange kid? No way.
"Nora, Michael is cold-blooded and has no compassion. I suggest you leave him and choose someone else." Atticus stood in front of Nora, "Like me."
"Mr. Smith isn't like that." Nora was a bit unhappy, not wanting to hear people say bad things about Michael.
Atticus, lacking emotional intelligence, said, "Michael, you've got plenty of women around you. Give Nora to me, name your conditions."
"I heard the Smith Group is a mess internally, and you came out early this time because you were removed from your position? How about you give Nora to me, and the Fields family will help you secure control of the company. How about it?" Zander also started negotiating with Michael.
You have to understand, Michael's current situation was very dangerous.
Nora looked nervously at Michael, afraid he would actually trade her away.
"That arrogant? Is the animal protection society looking after you?" Michael sneered.
Nora paused, then laughed when she got it.
Zander snorted, finding Michael very unpleasant.
Daryl had remained silent the whole time, finally speaking after a long pause, "Everyone out. I want to talk with Milo and Nora."
"Why should we?" Zander and Atticus weren't happy about it.
Michael thought the Fields family people had low emotional intelligence, "Daryl, if your brain's sick, go see a doctor. Take your kid and get out."
Daryl knew Michael was stubborn, so he turned to Nora and whispered in her ear, "You're the executive assistant, you know the Smith Group's situation very well. If the Fields family is willing to help Michael, the support from the desert project will make Michael's position in the Smith Group more secure."
Nora's arms tightened around Milo. Daryl was right.
The desert project was very important to Michael at this stage.
James had hired hackers to infiltrate the project plan—if anything went wrong, it would be a huge loss.
Nora wanted to give Michael strong external support.
"Nora." Michael reminded Nora not to listen to Daryl.
"Mr. Smith." Nora looked nervously at Michael, "This situation with Milo can't go on. Let me go out and discuss the child's situation with Daryl, okay?"
Michael frowned.
But Nora's pleading eyes made him unable to refuse.
"Daryl, I'm warning you—only talk about things related to the child, nothing else." Michael warned Daryl not to say anything inappropriate.
"You're actually afraid of something?" Daryl sneered, "Are you afraid Nora will find out you played with Tessa's feelings, or that you've had countless women before?"
"Daryl!" Michael frowned. Trying to drive a wedge between them—what a cheap trick.
"Mr. Smith." Nora quickly got up and hugged Michael, "I'll come back as soon as I drop off Milo."
Nora picked up Milo and followed Daryl out.
Daryl took Nora to the resort's leisure area, not saying a word the whole way.
Only after Nora sat down with Milo did he speak coldly, "To make both my brothers and Milo like you—you're quite capable."
Nora knew Daryl was mocking her.
She kept her head down and said nothing.
"I'm grateful you went into the water to save Milo, but I don't trust you. After all, you have a record." Daryl was referring to the extortion.
Even though Nora had risked her life to save Milo from the sea, Daryl still thought she had ulterior motives.
"Why don't you just tell me your goal? Making Milo dependent on you, making my two brothers have good feelings toward you—you went to great lengths to latch onto Michael before, and now you want to use Michael as a stepping stone to latch onto the Fields family. Why don't you just say what your real purpose is?"
Nora had saved Milo, and Daryl was grateful for that. If Nora was honest about what she wanted, he would satisfy her request.
Nora took a deep breath. Sure enough, once someone has a stain on their record, no matter what they do, they can't restore their image in others' eyes.
"Mr. Fields, if this is what you want to talk about, there's no point in continuing this conversation." Nora rubbed Milo's head, "What gives you the confidence to think the Fields family is above Michael? He's at the top in my heart. I don't need to use him as a stepping stone to latch onto anyone."