Chapter 48 When Did Mr. Smith Have a Daughter
Outside the door stood Tony's female assistant.
She looked at William in shock, and at Emily in his arms.
"Mr. Smith."
Emily wasn't shy at all. She smiled and waved at the assistant, her adorable sweetness instantly melting the woman's heart.
Less than an hour later.
All the gossip groups at Peace Group knew that William had brought a little girl, just over a year old, to the office.
[Has anyone seen the little girl? Does she look like Mr. Smith?]
[I saw her. She's definitely the most delicate and adorable child I've ever seen! Such tender skin, and she speaks so gently. Most importantly, she called me Miss!]
[I saw her too. Her eyes and nose, I feel like they really resemble Mr. Smith's. Both super good-looking.]
[Could she be Mr. Smith's daughter?]
Tony had just come out of William's office. Seeing the constant stream of messages in the company gossip group, he sighed inwardly.
If only Emily really were William's daughter.
It was the first time he'd seen such gentle eyes from William. He even agreed when Emily wanted to sit in his lap while he worked.
The children's play area, temporarily set up in the office, was fully stocked with girls' toys that William had sent his secretary to buy.
Emily was very well-behaved, playing alone with a dress-up doll game, occasionally looking up at William working.
The latter kept Emily in his peripheral vision the whole time.
After a while.
William's clean and tidy desk was covered with Emily's handmade creations. Even his shirt now had a pink princess hair clip attached to it. William indulged her behavior.
When she got tired of playing, Emily walked over to William's side, reached out her hands to him, and said softly, "Sleepy."
He lifted Emily onto his lap. She immediately found a comfortable position, resting her head in the crook of his arm, one hand clutching his shirt.
She pointed to the little pigtails and hair clips on her head.
Emily: "Take out."
The ice in William's eyes melted. Taking out Emily's pigtails for the first time, he seemed a bit lost, his movements as gentle as if handling something fragile.
By the time he finished undoing Emily's hair.
She had already fallen asleep in his arms.
William could see her adorable face just by looking down, catching sight of her small hand gripping his shirt. The corners of his lips curved upward.
"Blood ties are amazing. The way you sleep really looks like your mom."
Through the left side of the desk was William's restroom.
He carefully placed Emily from his arms onto the bed. The moment her head touched the pillow, Emily gripped his shirt tightly, looking a bit unsettled.
William lay down with her.
His palm skillfully patted her back. Only when Emily was sound asleep did he slowly loosen her grip on his shirt.
Emily mumbled "mommy" a couple of times.
Gradually falling into deep sleep.
After tucking Emily in, William returned to his desk.
Although keeping the door open would let him notice any movement from the child right away, he still wasn't at ease. He directly pulled up the restroom's surveillance feed.
He placed his laptop to the side.
He could directly see Emily's movements on the bed.
William still had a meeting in the morning.
He took his laptop to the conference room, cutting what was originally a two-hour meeting down to one hour, worried Emily might wake up early.
While listening to his subordinates' reports, his eyes stayed on the surveillance footage on his computer.
Until...
One of the managers reported that a project's profit was twenty million dollars less than the original plan. William's expression instantly darkened.
"Quentin, I've always trusted your business capabilities. Give me an explanation for this."
"Mr. Smith, I..."
Quentin, who had been called out, was shaking in his boots. He stammered for a long time without coming up with any real answer.
His mood growing increasingly irritated, William's gaze became colder.
His eyes briefly left the surveillance video, his scrutinizing gaze sweeping over everyone present. Not one dared to meet his eyes.
"Quentin, your projects keep having problems one after another. Is your mind not on your work, or are you just incompetent?"
Quentin's face turned deathly pale.
William's handsome profile turned toward the window, his well-defined fingers tapping twice on the table.
"I'm giving you three days. If you can't solve the problem, solve yourself."
A tense atmosphere filled the conference room.
No one below dared to breathe loudly.
Just then.
The female assistant knocked on the door, holding Emily, who wasn't wearing shoes and whose eyes were red and puffy. The assistant's face showed unease and anxiety, her voice trembling.
"Mr. Smith, Ms. Smith woke up and ran out of the restroom by herself, crying and looking for you..."
The female assistant directly assumed Emily was William's daughter, using the title Ms. Smith. William didn't correct her.
The tense atmosphere in the conference room was broken.
Emily's big watery eyes still had tears hanging at the corners.
Seeing William, she immediately pouted.
Emily reached out her hands to him, her voice aggrieved: "Hold me."
Everyone's eyes widened at Emily's actions, gasping. Even James and Michael would be met with William's cold face if they barged in during his meetings.
Everyone waited for Emily to be rejected.
But the next second... William seemed to switch personalities. The coldness in his eyes completely faded. He immediately reached out to take Emily and placed her on his lap.
Emily also immediately hugged his neck and snuggled close. The scene was so warm.
Children who had just woken up always liked to be close to familiar people.
After all, here, William was the person most familiar to her.
She nestled in his arms, her small face pressed against his shirt, finding a comfortable position on his lap, her eyes stealing glances at the others.
Having just woken up, her hair was fluffy and messy, not yet in pigtails. She looked very cute, making people want to hold her.
Emily looked curiously at the people around the conference table. They all seemed very unhappy.
Were they working?
Could work really make people this unhappy?
Seeing everyone looking at her, Emily immediately offered a bright, sweet smile.
Adorable Emily melted the hearts of all the staff members.
Behind her, William's gaze swept over everyone, sneaking glances at Emily, his voice becoming indifferent: "Continue."
There were still two project proposals to review today.
William held Emily with one hand while marking an X on a proposal with the other.
In today's meeting, he hadn't seen a single satisfactory proposal.
His gaze at everyone grew colder.
"Redo everything. Submit tonight."
"If this is your true level of capability, you might as well give up your positions to people who are actually competent."
Each sentence carried bone-chilling coldness, making his subordinates tremble with fear, not daring to make a sound.
Suddenly, a small hand stuffed a candy into William's mouth. The sweet taste lingered in his mouth for a long time.
He looked down, meeting Emily's eyes that shone bright as pearls.
She gave him a sweet smile, her eyes curving into crescents.
"Don't be angry, don't be angry."
As she spoke, she patted his chest soothingly.
The knot of frustration in William's chest really did disappear thanks to Emily. His voice regained some warmth.
He looked at the trembling crowd and added another sentence: "Submit the day after tomorrow."
William left the conference room holding Emily. The people inside let out a collective sigh of relief.
The atmosphere just now had been too torturous!
They almost thought they'd be laid off today!
Everyone began packing up their computers and notebooks.
"That really scared me to death just now!"
"Thank goodness for that adorable child. If it weren't for her, Mr. Smith's critique would definitely have been ten thousand times worse."
Someone started, and the rest followed with their own comments.
"Do you know what melting ice looks like? That's exactly what Mr. Smith looked like when he held the child. It's the first time I've seen it."
"Could this child really be Mr. Smith's daughter?"
"If she's not Mr. Smith's child, why would he personally bring her to the office? I bet she's definitely Mr. Smith's daughter!"
Suddenly!
A gossip news item popped up on the display screen that hadn't been turned off yet.
The headline even directly included William's name.
After seeing it, everyone froze in place...