Chapter 113 Encountering Danger!
William's voice was low, his gaze focused.
Now it was Sophia's turn to lean back.
As she was debating whether to slap him or not, she heard three consecutive cries.
She and William turned their heads at the same time, only to see Emily, James, and Michael lying on the floor by the door, looking guilty and not daring to look at them.
James said, "I, I didn't see anything."
Michael said, "I didn't see anything either!"
He and James grabbed Emily—one holding her upper body, the other her legs—and carried her back to the playhouse.
Emily felt like she was on a swing. Seeing Sophia and William watching them, she immediately covered her eyes with her hands, "Didn't see, didn't see."
Sophia was speechless.
William, standing in front of her, gave a small smile and looked back at her as she was in his arms.
William said, "The three kids get along so well. Sophia, can't we be like the kids, too?"
She smiled at him, the smile not reaching her eyes, and directly lifted her knee to kick him.
Sophia said, "Impossible!"
Though William had anticipated it and quickly grabbed her knee with his other hand, he was still a step too slow.
With a deliberately suppressed groan, his expression changed.
His deep eyes stared at her for a long moment. "You really... don't hold back your anger."
"Obviously. Swallowing your anger won't make things better; it'll only make you sick!"
In the moment Sophia lifted her leg, her hands also pushed against his shoulders, successfully getting out of his embrace.
She warned him, "Take advantage of me again and I'll hit you."
Watching her hurried figure going upstairs, he sighed inwardly, then turned his gaze toward the children peeking out from the playhouse door again.
William said, "Come here..."
The little episode in the living room didn't cause much emotional disturbance for Sophia.
Since the livestream incident, more and more people came to ZN Lab seeking treatment. Even though the conditions for accepting patients were very strict, people still came in droves seeking consultation.
Even those people she had met with Lyra at Koi Paradise Resort were indirectly asking Lyra for her contact information.
She wasn't surprised to receive Vincent's birthday party invitation.
Back then, he had approached someone at ZN Lab, willing to pay ten times the market price for them to treat Raymond.
And she, having learned from Lyra that Raymond had an accident, had visited him at the hospital twice, one of which she ran into Vincent.
At that time, she introduced herself as Raymond's classmate, and he didn't ask too many questions.
But this time, he directly called her number to invite the person in charge of ZN Lab. Vincent must have found out something.
The birthday party was in two weeks.
Before that, Sophia received a call from Holden, asking her to bring the three children back to the Smith Manor for a casual meal.
When it rains, it pours.
After careful consideration, to be safe, she decided not to bring Emily to the Smith Manor.
James and Michael couldn't hide their happiness when they learned Sophia was going back to the Smith Manor with them for dinner.
Sophia had expected Emily to cry and was prepared to comfort her, but Emily nodded very cooperatively, kissed her cheek, and went to play with the nanny.
Emily was so thoughtful!
James and Michael were a bit sad when they learned Emily wasn't going.
Before leaving, they gave Emily all their new toys and promised to bring her the strawberry pudding made by the Smith Manor's chef.
"Mommy, let me carry your bag."
Michael, having spent this time with Sophia, became increasingly dependent on her. After seeing Emily be affectionate with her, he occasionally tried to be adorable too.
She touched his face. "Thank you, Michael."
On the other side, James held his and Michael's recent calligraphy practice work, wanting to bring it back to show Holden.
The car had bodyguards in front and behind.
The Smith Manor was very large, located among the most famous mountains in Empire City's downtown area. It required a long stretch of mountain road to reach the Smith Manor.
William called to ask when the car was about to head into the mountains.
It was estimated to be about half an hour's drive.
However, just as Sophia was about to hang up, something unexpected happened!
Under the night sky, several cars rushed out from the roadside, directly surrounding them, as if they had known they would pass by at this time and had been lying in wait.
William heard the children's exclamations on the other end, his heart tightening. "What happened?"
Sophia said, "There are more than a dozen cars ambushing us on Greenfield Avenue."
William became very nervous. "I'm on my way. I've already contacted people from the Smith Manor to come help you. You and the kids stay safe..."
Before he finished speaking, he heard the sound of the phone hitting the ground.
Sophia didn't have time to pick up the phone. While comforting James and Michael, she told the driver to back up.
William's expression darkened as he contacted the Smith Manor's butler.
Tony urged the driver to go faster while asking about the bodyguards arranged for Sophia.
Learning that over a hundred people had been arranged to ambush them, he trembled suddenly.
It was very dark. Sophia saw Lily sitting in the driver's seat of a black car directly facing their car, smiling eerily.
"Sophia, I'm taking your and the kids' lives!"
Lily hadn't been having a good time these past few days. Her father was hospitalized, the Baker Group's stock fell, various projects under their name had problems, and the board proposed removing Royce from his chairman position.
The successive blows made her already unstable emotions even more volatile.
Learning from Alice that Sophia would go to the Smith Manor tonight, and knowing William had arranged many bodyguards for Sophia and the kids, she gritted her teeth and used all her savings to hire killers.
"You only have about twenty people, how can you fight my hundred!"
She floored the gas pedal, charging directly at the car Sophia was in.
James and Michael also saw her crazy move and exclaimed, "Mommy! That car!"
Sophia covered James and Michael's eyes. "Don't be afraid, I'm here."
Their car was protected in the middle by the bodyguards.
With over twenty bodyguards in front and behind, she thought this should be pretty safe in a downtown area like Empire City, but she didn't know Lily would go all in like this.
Sophia's expression grew tense.
No matter how skilled the Smith family and Johnson family bodyguards were, they couldn't stop those people with guns.
The silenced guns made no sound at all, but as bodyguards fell one by one, her heart grew increasingly tense. Though James and Michael, in her arms, were scared, they stubbornly didn't cry.
Compared to James and Michael, what Lily wanted more was her life.
Time passed second by second.
The confrontation between both sides reached a fever pitch.
To be fair, the Smith family bodyguards were really skilled, especially after seizing the guns from the men in black...
The phone had fallen under the front seat. Sophia didn't have time and couldn't pick it up.
In this life-or-death moment, she kissed James and Michael's faces.
Sophia said, "James, Michael, listen to mommy. In a moment, mommy will move you to another car. Your daddy will be here very soon..."