Chapter 183 A Gift Full of Intentions
Amelia arrived home.
Lucas happened to be helping Liam with his physical therapy.
Although Amelia's Shadow Realm Needling was impressive, it wasn't powerful enough to get Liam running right away.
He still walked with great difficulty.
He would stumble from time to time, so someone still needed to watch over him.
Amelia greeted them both, then asked Lucas, "How come you're home today? No work?"
Lately, Lucas's schedule had been packed.
His movie hadn't started filming yet, so he'd been doing variety shows in the meantime.
The studio's plan was to maintain buzz before the movie's release, so Lucas was swamped every day.
Lucas said, "The company told me to balance work and rest, so they gave me today off."
Amelia nodded.
"Oh, right." Lucas slapped his forehead, had Liam sit down first, then hurried upstairs.
Amelia looked puzzled.
"Lucas, where are you going?"
Liam was equally confused.
"I don't know."
Soon, the mystery was solved.
Lucas came down with a paper bag and eagerly handed it to Amelia.
"Amelia, look, this is for you."
Amelia took it, opened it for a look, and her eyes showed clear surprise. Then her nose tingled, and her eyes reddened a bit.
Inside was a thick stack of autographed photos.
From all kinds of celebrities.
And they were all personalized.
At the top, it said: [To Lucas's beloved sister, Amelia.]
"Lucas..." Amelia opened her mouth but didn't know what to say.
Lucas grinned and said, "Do you like it?"
Amelia nodded. "I love it."
Lucas looked very pleased.
"I'm glad you like it. I wasn't famous before and didn't know many celebrities, so I could only get you a few autographed photos. Now that I'm a bit well-known and working with more stars, I asked them all to sign for you. Just wait—I promise I'll collect autographs from every celebrity in the entertainment industry for you."
Amelia nodded.
She wasn't a fan of celebrities.
The reason she'd said she was into celebrity culture before was just an excuse.
Lucas took it to heart and always remembered her fangirling.
These things might seem trivial.
But Lucas was on the rise right now, and getting personalized autographs from everyone he met could actually hurt his image.
Others would look down on him a bit for it.
Even now, he still didn't know that he got into Aurevia Studio and made all this progress because Amelia had been pulling strings behind the scenes.
But he was still willing to do these things for her on his own.
So when she received such a heartfelt gift, Amelia's heart softened completely.
Her devotion to her family had never been one-sided.
They were also using whatever power they had to give back to her as much as possible.
The word "family" became crystal clear and real in this moment.
"Thank you, Lucas," Amelia said.
"What's there to thank me for? Come on, let's help Liam with his therapy together. You don't know—before you got back, he was already able to walk from the living room all the way to the front door."
That was huge progress.
Amelia nodded hard. "Okay!"
The next day.
Amelia had Uma go with her to the supermarket near their home.
Unlike last time, when she brought Uma but only bought a bottle of water, this time Amelia bought two large bags of ingredients.
Part of it was making lunch for her family, and the other part was cooking for Samuel.
After getting home, it was only a little past nine in the morning.
Amelia first sent Samuel a message asking about his lunch plans.
Samuel replied almost instantly.
[No plans. Do I have the honor of treating Ms. Richardson to lunch?]
Amelia quickly replied: [If you don't have plans, how about I cook and bring it to you?]
Samuel took several seconds before replying with just one word: [Great.]
He wasn't deliberately slow to respond—he was just so surprised that he didn't know what to say.
Amelia sent another message: [I need you to come down and meet me yourself. It'd be best if you wait for me outside.]
Samuel's joy faded a little.
His rational mind kicked back in, and he called Amelia directly.
"Are you going after someone from the Reynolds family?"
"Yes."
"So does this count as you using me?"
"If you think it's too much trouble, then forget it."
"Not trouble at all. In fact, I love being used. I'd be happy if you used me every day and I got to wait at the door to greet you every day."
"I'll be there at eleven-thirty."
"Okay."
After getting his confirmation, Amelia hung up.
Just then, Uma came over from the kitchen.
"Ms. Richardson, all the ingredients are washed and ready."
As soon as she finished speaking, she paused and asked in surprise, "Ms. Richardson, do you have a fever? Why is your face so red?"
She started to go get a thermometer.
Amelia felt a bit embarrassed.
She quickly stopped Uma and said, "It's just hot today. I'll go change clothes, and I'll be fine."
Uma said, "Don't—the temperature might be high during the day, but it drops fast at night. Fall weather can be tricky. You'd better not change."
Amelia nodded.
"If the ingredients are ready, let's get started."
Although it was still early, the dishes she was making were complicated and would take a lot of time.
The first dish she decided to make was a bright, tangy summer salad with crisp cucumber and a hint of chili.
Last time she went to All Seasons Table, she thought this dish was perfect for a hot day, so today she wanted to try making it herself.
After about an hour, she went outside and called Maeve.
After finishing the call, she went back to the kitchen to keep working.
By eleven o'clock, the dishes were almost done.
Amelia packed a small portion in thermal containers she'd bought at the supermarket, and put the rest of the food on the table.
She only ate a few bites before heading out with the thermal containers.
Natalie knew many of the things she did were important, so she didn't insist she stay and eat more.
At eleven twenty-five, Amelia drove the most expensive car the family owned to the entrance of the Crawford Group.
Today, she wasn't dressed low-key like usual—she wore designer brands from head to toe, with expensive sunglasses, looking every bit the daughter of a wealthy family.
As soon as she opened the car door and got out, she attracted the attention of many passersby.
Behind her sunglasses, Amelia's eyes quickly scanned the surroundings and soon spotted a woman in gray clothes standing in an inconspicuous corner.
The woman was also drawn to her and looked over curiously.
Amelia looked away at that moment and took off her sunglasses.
Though she was no longer looking that way, from the corner of her eye, she clearly saw the woman's face show a surprised expression.
Amelia flashed a smile.
She took out her phone and was about to call Samuel when she saw Samuel walking out with a group of bodyguards.
As soon as she approached, the bodyguards all greeted her in unison: "Hello, Ms. Richardson!"
The scene was quite grand.
Amelia glanced at Samuel and said quietly, "Isn't this a bit much?"
"If it's not big enough, how can it match your arrangement?" Samuel said matter-of-factly.
"You guessed what I was planning?"
"Pretty much."
As they talked, both wore smiles.
To others, they looked very close.
The woman in the corner stared at them intently.
Just then, two people who had bought coffee and were heading into the office building passed by the woman.
They were also looking at Amelia while chatting.
"Isn't that the Richardson family's daughter? She's really beautiful."
"The Richardson family's daughter? Which Richardson family?"
The woman immediately listened carefully.
"What other Richardson family is there in Goldenvale? The family of the former richest man, Quinton's family. She's the biological daughter the Richardson family just found recently after she'd been lost all those years."
"That's such a shame—the Richardson family has already gone bankrupt. I heard recently that they can only afford to live in a dump now."
"Where did you hear that rumor? Look at what she's wearing—it's worth at least a house."
"Didn't the Richardson family go bankrupt? How do they still have so much money?"
"Your information is really out of date. Although the Richardson family went bankrupt, they had an engagement with the Crawford family, and Mr. Crawford seems quite taken with her. Didn't you see that as soon as she arrived, Mr. Crawford brought people down to greet her personally? Mr. Crawford is the type who would never come down to meet her if he didn't have feelings for this Ms. Richardson."
"True, she's pretty lucky then. Even though the Richardson family went bankrupt right after they found her, she got such a rich and powerful fiancé, so she'll still be wealthy in the future."
The two walked away as they talked.
This woman was Piper.
Her expression kept changing, her cloudy eyes filled with resentment and regret.
Amelia...
She was actually the daughter of Goldenvale's richest family!
If she'd known, she shouldn't have raised her back then—she should have just said she found someone and sent her back to the Richardson family.
The Richardson family hadn't gone bankrupt yet, so they would have rewarded her generously.
Or she could have raised Amelia well, had her marry Isaac, then gotten a sum of money from the Richardson family before they went bankrupt, then had Isaac divorce Amelia and marry Maeve instead.
But now, she'd gotten nothing!
Piper looked again at Amelia and Samuel standing together like a perfect couple, and found it particularly grating.
Like knives stabbing into her eyes.
Piper couldn't watch anymore. She turned and hailed a taxi, hurrying back home.
She had to tell Isaac this news!
On Amelia's side.
From the corner of her eye, she saw Piper leave in a car, and the bright smile she'd deliberately put on relaxed.
The two people who had been "chatting" in front of Piper also came over.
One was Faith, and the other was Byron.
Both were dressed as office workers, and Amelia didn't recognize them at first glance.
"You two..."
"Do I look good?" Faith spun around and said, "This is my first time wearing business attire."
Amelia nodded. "You look great."
Byron also imitated Faith and spun around, asking Amelia, "Do I look handsome?"
Amelia shook her head. "Not really."
Curly hair with a business suit did look a bit odd.
Byron looked hurt.
"Ms. Richardson, you're playing favorites!"
Amelia smiled helplessly and introduced them to Samuel: "These are two of my people. Faith and Byron."
Samuel's gaze fell on their faces. Just as he was about to nod in greeting, his eyes suddenly froze when they landed on Byron's face.