Chapter 57 057

Chapter 57 057
Leo raised an eyebrow. "Special?"

Rue seemed to want to say more but suddenly recalled something her brother had mentioned. She took a few steps. back. 

"I won't talk to you. You're a bad person," Rue turned her head away from him.

Leo’s expression darkened instantly. "Your mother is portraying me this way to you?"

"You're not allowed to say bad things about my mommy!" Rue was instantly infuriated when she heard him criticizing Mona. Like a little firecracker, she charged toward him, her

small fist pounding on his leg.

"What my brother said is right. You're a bad person! I never want to talk to you again!"

The commotion drew Mona’s attention. She rushed over to hug Rue tightly and glared at Leo. "What did you do to her?"

Leo couldn't help but laugh in exasperation.

The child called him a bad person, and her mother looked at him defensively. What on earth had he done to deserve this level of condemnation?

Just as he was about to speak, a call from Sydney came in. His expression darkened, and he saw both Mona and Rue turn their heads away simultaneously, refusing to look

at him.

Leo suppressed his smile, grabbed his phone, and moved to the side.

"Leo..." Sydney’s voice carried a tone of extreme grievance, "Today is the day of our engagement banquet! How much longer do you want to leave me alone here?"

Leo looked back at Mona and Rue, his voice slightly subdued. "I'll come back as soon as the results are out."

With a touch of probing, Sydney asked, “Couldn't Mona stay there alone? Why did it have to be you accompany her? If I had known it would come to this, I would have rather never saved you back then," Sydney cried out.

After a moment of silence, Leo replied calmly, "| understand. I'll be back soon."

This was the first time he felt annoyance when

Sydney brought up their past. He walked up to Rue and looked down at her from a higher position. "What your brother said is all false.

I'm not a bad person."

After saying this, he glanced deeply at Mona before turning to leave. As he reached the elevator lobby, he ran into the head nurse

rushing over with a thermos box in hand. She was speaking to someone next to her as she hurriedly walked by, "This child has Rh-negative blood type. Be extremely cautious during the blood transfusion. If anything goes wrong, the doctor won't spare you."

Leo’s steps faltered slightly, but he didn't dwell on it and drove back to the banquet hall. 

•••••

Initially, the absence of Grandpa from the engagement banquet had already sparked quite a few speculations. Now, with Leo leaving without a word, Sydney faced explicit taunts, especially from those who had always disapproved of her actions.

She was almost driven to madness by their sarcastic remarks and was about to confront them when Leo returned.

She hurried over to his side, her voice laced with grievances, "Leo, just because you left with them, I..."

Leo cast a faint glance at those people. Instantly, they walked away with awkward expressions, leaving only her, who remained displeased.

"Is that all you're going to do? Let them go like that?" Sydney looked incredulously at Leo. "I am now Mrs. Cox. Their covert insubordination is a direct affront to the Cox Group..."

"They wouldn't dare." Leo looked calmly at her. "I remember you used to advise me not to care about those people."

Previously, owing to the Mona incident, there were individuals who gossiped about them. Sydney consistently persuaded Leo to remain composed, saying that those people were merely driven by momentary curiosity. Now, with the situation altered, her attitude had taken a stark turn.

She was momentarily at a loss for words and quickly tried to recover, saying, "I just feel like those people are showing a lack of respect for our engagement banquet..."

Leo didn't comment, and soon, someone came up to engage in conversation, cutting their discussion short.

Sydney’s expression grew more somber. As she lifted her eyes, she noticed someone not far away discreetly greeting her. It was her mother, Rachel Harlow.

Sydney was taken aback, hastily surveying the surroundings. She quickly pulled Rachel into a storeroom and whispered, "Why are you here?"

On her records, both her parents had been shown as working abroad, unable to return. She certainly couldn't let Leo or Mona see her mother's presence.

Observing her elegantly dressed in luxury attire, Rachel curled her lip and remarked, "Today is the day of my daughter's engagement. Can't I come and see what's going on?"

Hearing her words, Sydney sneered. "Are you sure you're here now to talk about family bonds?"

Caught red-handed, Rachel grinned wryly, mimicking the action of counting money, "Well, I thought since you're getting engaged, there should be a dowry, right? As your mom, shouldn't I get a little share?"

Seeing the expression on her mother's face, Sydney couldn't help but wish she could slap her. She had gone to great lengths to secure her place in the Cox family, and just as she was getting her footing, her mother had to stir up trouble.

As she was about to refuse, a sudden memory of her mother's words from that day surfaced. She said, "I can give you some money, but didn't you mention earlier that you had a way to deal with Mona?"

Rachel immediately caught on, letting out a sly chuckle, "I know, I still remember and will do it soon.” With that, she once again mimicked the money-counting gesture.

Suppressing her internal repulsion, Sydney handed over a bank card, "Don't proactively come looking for me. If you need something, just call me." 

Taking the bank card, Rachel left with a cheerful smile. Before leaving, she said to Sydney, "I'll take care of this thing. Don't worry. Get ready to hear some good news.""

Watching her mother's departure, Sydney frowned. She couldn't be blamed. She would have never reached this point if Leo hadn't started showing more concern for Mona.

Blame could only fall on Mona herself.

As Leo passed a certain corner inside the banquet hall, he suddenly caught snippets of a conversation from within.

"Who would've thought, Mona ... Leo Cox’s ex wife has two children of this age? Didn't she divorce Mr. Cox years ago? Where did the kids come from?"

"You know what? They were having a wild time, especially considering they couldn't even get an abortion... We don't even know if those two kids have the same father."

"True. But I have to say, those kids do bear a resemblance to Mr. Cox.. What if they are his kids? Sydney will get infuriated."

The conversation quickly transitioned to various criticisms of Sydney. Suddenly, Leo approached them.

The two were terrified, their faces turning pale as they hurriedly apologized, "Mr. Cox! We were just talking nonsense for a moment, really sorry! We're leaving now!"

Before they could escape, Leo stopped them, saying, "Hold on."

The two froze in their tracks, trembling in fear.

As they feared their families would be on the brink of financial ruin, Leo furrowed his brow and asked, "Did you just say those two kids look like me?"

Many details that had accumulated over time connected in Leo’s mind, gradually forming an unbelievable conjecture.