Chapter 28 Playing His Real Father
Evelyn said, "Among the elite circles of Silverlight City, there are only a handful of people worth mentioning, and even fewer who could casually drop $20 million in cash. Mia, are you sure she wasn't just bluffing? Given her status and position, how could any wealthy aristocratic family have anything to do with her? No one would even want her as a mistress."
Grace had married Alexander to carry on his family line. Though she was his wife in name only, Alexander had divorced her after he recovered from his coma.
She was a discarded wife. In such a small elite circle, who didn't know about her reputation as an abandoned woman?
Mia said, "Then... what about that house? A total price of $20 million, paid in full, registered under her name! With that property, she'll never have to worry about money for the rest of her life!"
Evelyn replied, "Mia, how can she compare to you? You married the heir to the Brown family! What do you have to envy her for? You're the legitimate Mrs. Brown, while she's just a discarded wife cast out by the Hayes family. When you marry into the Brown family, your worth will be far more than $20 million."
"Then why won't Jayden buy me a 4,000-square-foot mansion?" Mia felt outdone and somewhat resentful. "Mom, what if she really has latched onto some wealthy family? Tell me, who do you think Max's father is? Could it be some mysterious big shot? The man who appeared with her at the real estate office today was not only handsome and distinguished, but obviously loaded!"
Evelyn said, "From what you're telling me, I want to meet her myself. Isn't your father's birthday coming up soon? Let's invite her over. I want to see what she's really accomplished!"
Mia asked, "You want me to invite her personally?"
Evelyn replied, "I'll invite her."
Mia said, "She won't come. She's completely cut ties with the Foster family!"
Evelyn said, "She'll come whether she wants to or not! She still visits her mother's grave every year. If she doesn't come, I'll have her mother's grave moved to some remote wasteland!"
...
The next day.
Grace received a phone call from Evelyn, inviting her to attend David's fiftieth birthday party.
She found it rather strange.
She had long since severed all ties with the Foster family. Evelyn's sudden invitation to her father's milestone birthday celebration definitely had ulterior motives.
Grace naturally didn't want to go.
But Evelyn said, "Grace, I know you resent me and David, but he's already fifty years old. He personally invited you to celebrate his birthday—surely you wouldn't want to embarrass him?"
Grace replied, "He stopped acknowledging me as his daughter long ago. Why should I humiliate myself?"
Evelyn said, "If he didn't acknowledge you as his daughter, would he invite you to his birthday?"
Grace fell silent.
Evelyn continued, "Oh, and bring Max along, and Max's father too! Max has grown so big, and we've never met his father!"
Grace immediately understood—their real purpose was to meet Max's father.
That day at the real estate office, when Alexander bought her such an expensive house, it must have caught the Foster family's attention. They were definitely suspicious about Max's parentage and had many speculations about Alexander's identity.
Though the elite circle wasn't large, Alexander had always been mysterious and low-key in his dealings, and few people had ever seen his true appearance.
It made sense that Mia hadn't recognized Alexander.
The Foster family must have misunderstood, thinking Max was Alexander's son, assuming she had latched onto some powerful connection.
Grace said, "I'll go if I have time."
After hanging up, Grace saw Max standing in the doorway at some point, holding his custom-fitted Windsor Academy uniform.
"Max?" Grace was somewhat surprised. "The uniform is ready?"
Max walked in carrying the uniform. "Yes, I report to school next Monday." He asked suspiciously, "I just heard you on the phone with that woman. What did she want?"
"That woman" was how Grace and Max referred to Evelyn.
"That man" referred to David.
Since Grace didn't acknowledge this father, Max naturally didn't acknowledge these step-grandparents either, so they used "that man" and "that woman" instead.
Grace said, "She called to ask me to bring you and your father to that man's birthday party."
Max suddenly said, "Let's go!"
Grace exclaimed, "Why would we go?"
Max said, "They've always looked down on me as an illegitimate child since I was little. Now I have a father, and I want him to come with us so no one will dare call me illegitimate anymore!"
Grace asked, "You want your father to go with you?"
Max nodded. "Yes!"
Grace said, "How would he ever agree to that?"
He didn't even know Max's true identity. The only reason he treated Max the same as Liam was because of the condition she'd made when agreeing to care for Liam—he was simply keeping his word.
Since Max was unwilling to acknowledge Alexander, there was no way Alexander would agree.
Max said, "I'll ask him to play my father. He'll agree."
Grace was both amused and exasperated. Alexander was clearly Max's biological father, yet he'd have to play the role of his biological father—how absurd was that?
Max said, "I'm going to find him right now!"
He turned and ran to the study. He'd heard from the staff earlier that Alexander had returned home and gone into the study with Liam.
At the study door.
Max knocked gently.
Alexander's voice came from inside, "Who is it?"
Max said, "It's me."
"Come in."
Max pushed open the door and entered to see Liam lying miserably across the main desk, looking distressed over a pile of homework.
Alexander was supervising his homework. Who among the staff at Crest Corporation could imagine that their billionaire boss, usually so imposing and aloof, was privately just another father struggling with his son's homework?
Alexander asked, "What's one-fifth of 12?"
Liam dumped all the pencils from his pencil case onto the desk—only nine in total. He then opened the drawer and added several of Alexander's expensive fountain pens to make twelve, then began seriously trying to divide them into five equal parts.
Alexander's lips pressed into a thin line, clearly showing signs of mounting frustration.
He looked toward Max. "What do you need?"
Max glanced at Liam, who was still puzzling over the twelve pens, and said, "I can help Liam with his homework."
Alexander was startled.
He suddenly remembered Jeremy mentioning that on the Windsor Academy scholarship exam, due to the difficult questions that even included middle school-level problems, most candidates had failed completely, but Max had submitted a perfect paper.
If he said he wanted to help Liam with homework, he certainly had the ability.
However...
Alexander raised an eyebrow. "What's the condition?"
He knew Max wouldn't offer to help Liam with homework for nothing—there had to be some kind of exchange.
Max said, "That man invited my mom to his birthday party. Can you come with us? I want you to play my father."