Chapter 229

Chapter 229

She took a moment to compose herself before asking, "What's he doing in Harmony City?"

Robert picked up his teacup and took a sip,

"I haven’t found out yet. The first thing he did upon arriving in Harmony City was buy a house. He showed his own ID, so he likely intends to live there himself."

A cold sweat broke across Ava's back.

"He's planning to stay in Harmony City long-term?"

This was serious trouble—like a ticking bomb that could go off at any moment.

Ava felt uneasy, even wondering whether he had learned something and come to take the kids.

"Robert, does he know something?"

Robert paused briefly.

"Probably not. Given his personality, if he knew anything, he wouldn't be able to wait and would have already shown up at your door. We haven't seen any other moves from him yet, so I'm guessing he doesn't know."

Robert looked at Ava's worried face and attempted to reassure her.

"Don't worry, I won't let him buy a house in Harmony City."

Harmony City was the Davis family's territory. If Robert wanted to cause trouble, it wouldn't be easy for him to settle here.

Robert and Ava were talking, assuming the two kids couldn't understand.

Samuel was holding a toy, but his ears were perked up listening to Robert and Ava's conversation. From their conversation, he realized they must be talking about must be his absentee dad.

So William had come to Harmony City? A perfect chance to play a little trick on him, right?

Samuel's eyes darted around as another mischievous idea took shape in his mind.

Meanwhile, William was going around to different real estate agencies but couldn't buy the house he wanted.

Every house he liked came with the news that it was already sold. It was the first time he had felt frustrated by having money he couldn’t spend.

That evening, James came back after a busy day to report.

"Mr. Morgan, I got the list of everyone buried in all the cemeteries in Harmony City. I looked through it briefly but didn't find Mrs. Morgan's name. I'm not sure if I just didn't look carefully enough."

William took the list and checked it himself. He went through all those names three times but couldn't find Ava's name.

James's phone rang. He stepped aside to take the call, then came back to report.

"Mr. Morgan, our person in the prison reported that Nola couldn't take it anymore and died. She suffered inhuman torture before her death, and even her body was abused—her heart was cut out alive and fed to dogs."

William looked up, shocked by such brutal methods, and asked James, "Who did it?"

Anyone who could think of such methods must be really ruthless.

"Our people are investigating, should find out soon. But we haven't heard of Nola having any other serious enemies," James replied.

William narrowed his eyes.

"Tell me as soon as you find out."

After James left, William stared blankly at those few pages. He'd come determined to find where Ava was buried, but still had no leads.

All the cemetery lists in Harmony City were here, but he still didn't see her name. Could she be in another city, or had her name been changed?

After thinking it over, he figured the name might have been changed.

With this in mind, he circled all the names with the surname Davis on the list and sent them to James, asking him to check those people's family backgrounds.

While he was busy, his phone rang.

He glanced and saw it was Terry calling. He answered and got straight to the point.

"Terry, did you find something?"

"William, F's trail has appeared again, in Harmony City."

William's eyes flashed with a cold light.

"Where exactly?"

He'd come to find Ava's grave, but didn't expect that F to also be in Harmony City. He wasn't sure if this F was some enemy he'd offended before, following him here for revenge.

If so, he'd need to hire some bodyguards.

He could hear Terry typing on his keyboard through the phone. William knew Terry was working on it and waited patiently for his answer.

After a moment, Terry finally responded, "F has improved his security code and strengthened his protection. I can only confirm the area he's in, can't pinpoint the exact location."

"Which area is he in?"

"Eastbank District."

William remained silent.

Might as well have said nothing. Eastbank District was huge—where was he supposed to find someone whose name he didn't know, whose gender he didn't even know, hiding behind a computer?

This was harder than finding a needle in a haystack.

After hanging up, William tossed his phone on the bed. A grimacing Peppa Pig popped up on his phone screen.

William's blood pressure shot up. He was almost angry at himself for not choosing computer science in school. Now he was being bullied by this F and had no way to fight back.

They'd even hacked into his phone!

What kind of arrogant person would dare to provoke him like this again and again?

Although it hadn't caused him any financial loss, it was really insulting to his intelligence, like his dignity was being trampled on the floor. And he could only take it, completely helpless.

At that moment, Samuel had locked himself in his room, secretly looking through William's phone photo album.

He'd broken into his dad William's phone and was flipping through the photos stored there.

Most were jewelry—some from the Morgan Group, and some popular items on the market.

Among those photos, Samuel saw quite a few pieces of jewelry that were the same as those in his mom's safe. He also saw several design sketches from his mom's hand. Going further back to four years ago, they were all photos of his mom.

Some showed her in formal dress all dressed up, some in an apron doing housework, and some in casual clothes taken in the bedroom.

Seeing this, he was even more certain that this person was his father.

Mom wouldn't just live with anyone casually.

A knock came at the door. Samuel quickly closed his laptop and went to open it.

"Mommy, why aren't you resting yet?"

Ava had developed insomnia issues these past few years. If she went to bed late, she couldn't sleep. Usually she'd be in bed before ten trying to fall asleep.

Ava brought in a glass of milk.

"Samuel, Sophia's already asleep. I saw your light was still on, so I came to check."

She put the milk on the table and pulled Samuel into her arms, her fingers gently touching his eyes and brows - they looked exactly like William's.

"Mommy, why aren't you happy?"

Samuel could tell Ava had something on her mind today, no matter how well she tried to hide it.

Ava shook her head.

"Mommy's not unhappy. Mommy just hasn't seen you guys for several days and missed you too much."

Samuel burrowed into Ava's arms, rubbing his little head against her.

"Mommy, are you missing daddy? Don't be scared, Samuel will definitely find a good daddy for himself. He'll be tall and handsome, and will only love mommy."

Ava was startled by the little guy's words. She rarely talked to him about his father, only making up stories to brush him off when he asked.

She felt bad too, knowing what it felt like not to have a father - feeling inferior everywhere, having no one to rely on. Tears welled up in Ava's eyes.

The two kids were growing up and had reached the age where they envied others having fathers.

"Samuel, do you want a daddy?"

Samuel thought for a moment.

"Yes, but he has to get my approval before he can be my daddy."

He thought to himself that someone as dumb and awful as that person definitely wouldn't work—he wouldn't pass his test, wouldn't deserve mommy's love.