Lee was giving Tony a warning.
Tony cursed in his heart, but he could not show it on his face.
Instead, he smiled politely and said, âDonât worry, in-law.
Our family will treat Annalise well.
I donât have a daughter, after all.
I will treat Annalise as my daughter.â When Annalise heard Tony utter her name, she suddenly felt nauseous again.
In less than a year, she had witnessed all kinds of disgusting things Tony had done.
Back then, he had humiliated her with a check at Horington.
He had kicked over her barbecue grill and made things difficult for her on grandpaâs birthday.
He had even publicly claimed that her elixir pills were fake⦠Tony was the same as Jared.
They were trash.
Tony treated his legitimate son like a thorn in his flesh yet favored his illegitimate son.
Lee did not call him out.
He said graciously, âThank you.â The meal lasted for more than an hour.
After that, Lee and his family sat in the living room.
They chatted.
Old Mr.
Xander cared for Annalise and asked after her.
In short, the Xander family was here to support Annalise.
In the past, Annalise lived happily at the Parks residence.
Julian doted on her like a treasure.
Grandpa also treated her very well.
However, this was not enough.
Some ignorant people still felt that she was not worthy of Julian.
The Xander family left at around four in the afternoon.
Old Mr.
Parks wanted them to stay for dinner.
He wanted them to stay at the Parks residence for a few days.
Old Mr.
Xander smiled and said that he would not overstay his welcome.
He was old and was used to sleeping in his bed.
In the future, the two families agreed to visit each other more.
When the weather became better, they would go on a hike together.
They would no longer have the chance if they did not do it soon.
Old Mr.
Parks leaned on his crutches and laughed out loud.
He said that his old bones could no longer hike the mountain, even now.
When the weather was better, they could still go out for a walk.
The two grandfathers agreed to go on nature walks someday.
After the Xander family left, Tony also left.
After dinner, Alexander said he had something to do at the company.
He left first.
But Alexander did not go to the office.
Instead, he went straight back to the detached house where they lived.
As soon as he returned, he went upstairs.
He was about to enter his room.
Layla stopped him.
âAlexander.â âMom, Iâm going to take a nap,â Alexander turned around and said as he stood on the stairs.
He did not look too good.
He had been thoroughly humiliated today.
It was not a good feeling.
Layla frowned and waved her hand, looking mysterious.
âCome here.
I have something to tell you.â Alexander had no choice.
He walked to the sofa and sat down.
Layla leaned over and asked in a low voice, âIs Annalise pregnant?â âYes,â Alexander replied.
He realized his foolishness even more now.
Back then, he had wanted to use Abigail to upset Julian.
âAlright.
Go take a nap,â Layla said.
âOkay.â Alexander got up and prepared to take his afternoon nap.
Suddenly, he thought of something.
He turned to look at Layla and said, âDonât think about touching the child.â Layla did not say anything, but her eyes flickered.
Alexander saw the glimmer in Laylaâs eyes.
His expression became even sterner.
He warned, âI said, donât even think about touching that child.
Otherwise, I will give up competing altogether.â Ever since he was young, he had been working hard to compete with Julian.
He wanted to rely on his ability.
It would be even better if he could occasionally rely on his luck.
However, he hated pulling underhanded tricks.
The incident of Abigail drugging grandpa had always been a thorn in his heart.
Whether he had feelings for Abigail or not, Abigail was legally his wife.
He also knew that his mother, Layla, must have some involvement in that matter.
Otherwise, Abigail would not have the guts to do âI know.
Just compete in peace and focus on your performance.
Alexander, there are less than four months left.
Albert has agreed to hand their numbers over to you.
When youâre done resting, take some time to handle this as soon as possible,â Layla said with a smile.
âOkay.
Iâm going to sleep for a while.â Alexander went upstairs.
Layla looked at his sonâs silhouette.
She turned around and sat in front of the sofa.
She picked up the remote control and turned on the television, looking like she did not care if Annalise was pregnant.
However, she had already started planning in her mind.
Annalise was indeed very outstanding, but she was so troublesome.
Annalise had found her father.
Shortly afterward, she found her mother.
She had even found Trevor.
All this meant that in the past six months, Julian had no time or effort to focus on work.
It was only because Julian was the acting president that he had the upper hand when finding the right time, place, and people.
Otherwise, who could tell who would have emerged victorious? Once someone had something they cared about, they would have a weakness.
Now that Annalise was pregnant, he was a happy man.
But what if the baby was gone? How could he still have the mood to work? The heir to the company should have been decided at the end of last year.
However, Julian had been preoccupied with Annalise.
Hence, he agreed to the second branch of the familyâs proposal to extend the competition.
They took this as a sign.
They were given a second chance.
However, how could they make Annalise lose her child? No matter where Annalise went, she would always be by Julianâs side.
It was almost impossible for Layla to make a move.
She had to think carefully.
She had to think of a perfect plan.
Albert was a straightforward person.
He agreed to support Alexander.
He asked Timothy to hand over their customers and orders to Alexander the next day.
Timothy and Alexander worked together for a couple of weeks before they managed to smooth out all their work.
The previous orders could not be faked.
However, the subsequent orders that were not recorded in the accounts should be combined.
After a week of combining the order numbers, they were on par with Julianâs performance.
They even exceeded Julianâs sales revenue by 4 million.
dollars.
Starting last year, Julianâs executive assistant would send Annalise the companyâs performance report every night at nine oâclock sharp.
In the past, Julianâs performance had been much better.
However, unexpectedly, he was overtaken in just a week.
Annalise panicked and immediately looked for Julian.
âJulian, they exceeded our numbers.â She showed it to Julian.
Julian smiled.
âItâs alright.
Itâs still early days.â He did not panic at all.
Annalise was anxious.
âI know youâre the founder of East Arising International Group, but East Arisingâs main business is the cruise industry, electronic components, computer information, photovoltaic cables, and more.
But fashion is East Arisingâs weak link.â Julian looked at Annaliseâs worried expression.
The smile on his lips widened as he reached out, stroking her head dotingly.
âEven if we lose Parks Group, we can still live happily.â Annalise looked at Julian with crystal-clear eyes.
âThis does not concern the company alone.
Some things should belong to you.
It is our right and our duty to defend these things.
Is this what mom and grandpa want to see?â She was talking about Julianâs mother.
Julianâs heart tightened slightly.
He gently hugged Annalise and kissed her forehead.
âDonât worry.
I know what Iâm doing.
East Arising International Group is already expanding its apparel market.
There are many orders, but I havenât recorded them in the accounts.â âOkay,â Annalise replied.
She remembered that Minaâs family made clothes.
Her family also owned a multinational company.
Mina had gone home to spend the holidays with her parents before the new year.
She had long made a fuss about visiting Annalise, but her mother insisted on delaying it.
When Mina returned next week, Annalise would ask her for more details.
âHoney, the wedding dress arrived today.
Letâs go over and take a look.â Julian looked at Annalise gently.
The more he looked at her, the more affectionate he became.