Chapter 148: Illegitimate Daughter, What Is It?
Hannah was already losing strength, but she didn't want to be humiliated by Sophia in front of everyone.
She always believed that Sophia was just an orphan whose family went bankrupt over a decade ago—what right did she have to act so superior in front of her?
Sophia wasn't in a hurry to make Hannah give in.
She had all the time in the world today.
She had Monkey watch by the pool, then turned to find the children, only to see Emily being held in William's arms.
Several maids were crying, and one maid who was obviously more polished than the others was looking at William with an aggrieved expression, as if he were a playboy who had abandoned her.
Sophia raised an eyebrow. This man's new target?
William had no idea what Sophia was thinking. If he knew, he'd probably be furious.
In fact, just over ten minutes ago.
While Sophia was dealing with Hannah, William had also learned what happened from the children.
Michael's personality was actually most like Sophia's.
He believed in immediate revenge and absolutely wouldn't let today's matter wait until tomorrow.
As soon as he saw William come over, he immediately repeated everything Juan had done and said, word for word.
He also didn't leave out what Hannah had done to Emily and what she had said.
"Dad, Hannah bullied Emily first, that's why Mom taught her a lesson."
He told William firmly, "Dad, Mom didn't do anything wrong!"
William said, "I know."
Knowing that William trusted Sophia, some of Michael's worry faded.
The crowd had already retreated to the other side, not daring to get close to Sophia.
From William's angle, he could clearly see Hannah gradually losing strength in the water, and her pleading eyes.
Suddenly, his clothes were tugged by Emily in his arms.
William looked down at her.
Emily pointed at Hannah bobbing up and down in the pool, then pointed at herself.
"She said Emily is a bastard child."
After saying this, she asked him curiously, "William, what's a bastard child?"
William's face darkened at her words.
He stroked Emily's messy hair that had been pressed down by James's jacket, and said gently, "Emily, you don't need to know what that word means, because it will never have anything to do with you."
Emily looked at him in confusion: 'Adult words are so hard to understand.'
William crouched down while holding her and patted James and Michael on the shoulders, praising them, "You did great."
James and Michael blushed with embarrassment from his praise.
William noticed Emily's forehead was a bit red and swollen and asked her what happened.
Emily immediately got down from his arms, walked to the sofa, and patted it, saying, "I sit here."
She pointed at Hannah and made a pushing gesture.
Emily gestured animatedly to explain what had happened. Although her vocabulary was limited, through her actions, William understood how Hannah had pushed her.
William immediately had someone fetch a doctor.
A subtle ripple appeared in his eyes as he asked, "Does it hurt a lot?"
Emily nodded pitifully.
William patted her back in silent comfort, while his gaze swept coldly toward the two bodyguards standing behind James and Michael.
"When Emily got hurt, what were you two doing?"
"Protecting James and Michael."
They weren't lying, but they had actually seen Hannah push Emily—they just didn't intervene.
After all, Hannah was Henry's wife. Compared to a girl whose father was unknown, they naturally prioritized protecting James and Michael.
Essentially, they were the children the Smith family cared about most.
William saw through the guilt on the bodyguards' faces and called Martin over, saying, "The Smith family doesn't keep useless people."
The bodyguards were shocked. "Mr. Smith!"
Seeing the bodyguards being ruthlessly fired, the faces of several maids who had been bribed by Hannah instantly turned pale, not daring to look William in the eye.
Just by looking at the maids' expressions, William knew they were involved too.
He said directly, "Fire them all."
The Smith family paid high salaries with good benefits—even the staff quarters were better than ordinary people's homes.
Hearing his words, the maids panicked.
"Mr. Smith... Mr. Smith! We know we were wrong, please don't fire us!"
One maid with noticeably more refined makeup than the others looked up defiantly, "I don't accept this! Why fire us? We didn't do anything wrong!"
"We've been diligently taking care of James and Michael. We only went to help because the party was short-staffed. Mr. Smith, you can't fire us for that!"
She had spent a fortune to get into the Smith Manor just to get noticed by William and seduce him.
If William's residence wasn't hiring new staff, she wouldn't have come to work as a maid at the Smith Manor.
She had done dirty and tiring work for months, and just when she finally got to see William, she was being fired. Would all her suffering have been for nothing?
"I don't accept this! Mr. Smith, you can't bully us working people just because you have power and wealth!"
The maid thought of plots she'd read in novels—don't all-powerful CEOs like resilient female leads?
She felt that with her figure and looks, she could totally win over William. She was very confident about this!
However, William didn't even glance at her and waved his hand at Tony.
The latter immediately had people throw out the maids who had made mistakes.
The pretty maid was stunned. How could this be? That's not how it's written in novels!
She started to struggle.
The other maids also began to struggle.
Compared to the small amount Hannah had given them, the Smith family's annual salary was much higher. They didn't want to throw away their well-paying jobs for a pittance, so they all started pointing fingers.
"Mr. Smith, it's not our fault! Mrs. Smith gave us twenty thousand dollars to leave for twenty minutes. We saw that James and Michael had bodyguards with them, so we weren't too worried."
"Yes, Mr. Smith, we thought Mrs. Smith wanted to take this chance to bond with James and Michael, and besides! We were watching James and Michael the whole time and didn't see them get hurt at all."
They just hadn't expected Hannah to harm Emily, and even less expected William to care so much about Emily, no less than his concern for James and Michael. This made them even more uneasy.
In the end, the bodyguards and maids who lacked good judgment and had made mistakes were all driven out of the Smith Manor.
The guests who had come out earlier for the children, as well as the wealthy heirs who came out from the banquet hall later, all looked at William in surprise, not expecting him to go this far for this little girl.
Today was Holden's birthday—wasn't William's behavior humiliating Holden?
For wealthy families, making a big scene in front of guests was extremely embarrassing.
However, William showed no concern for the Smith family's dignity, directly displaying the handling of this matter in front of everyone.
Hannah, still flailing in the water, saw that William had no intention of saving her and urgently began calling for help.
Melinda, who had come to the Smith Manor with her rich boyfriend Ethan Parker for Holden's birthday party, saw everyone gathered on the lawn outside and thought there was some special arrangement. She walked over shyly, holding her boyfriend's hand.
"Ethan, today is my grandfather's birthday. I'll take you to meet him in a bit."
Melinda had specifically chosen today to bring her boyfriend because she wanted Holden to acknowledge her as his granddaughter in front of everyone.
She would prove to Holden that she was just as capable as William!
At the same time, she wanted to be with Ethan and marry him to become a true wealthy socialite.
But just as she reached the lawn, Melinda heard what sounded like Hannah's cries for help.
"Someone help! Save me!"
"Mom!"
Melinda's eyes trembled. She rushed over to pull Hannah up, but was blocked by the bodyguards.
Melinda pushed against them, angry. "What are you doing! Let me go, that's my mom, I need to save her!"
"As long as your mother apologizes, she can come up." Monkey had a scar on his face and looked very serious and intimidating when he wasn't smiling.
The man who had come with Melinda saw Monkey's face, and his pupils constricted sharply. He stared at him in disbelief and stepped back two paces, his eyes filled with intense fear and unease.
How could this be! How was he still alive!