Chapter 796



After hanging up the phone, Joel sat on the couch and silently gazed into the distance, his heart a little heavy.

Nora often went back to dinner with the Smiths after she started staying with the Hunts, but Ian had never particularly informed him about it. Ian’s solemn demeanor about her coming this time gave Joel the feeling that he might have heard about what had happened.

When Mindy handed him her schedule for today, the quick-witted Joel had figured out the problem.

He had long since declared that he would no longer seek information on that account, but even so, as part of his itinerary for the day, Mindy had arranged for him to meet with a certain person. This showed that Mindy had not yet given up.

Joel knew that those underlings of his had never given up on the account.

After all, such an account would allow them to create their own legendary era of the Smiths!

He could understand the feelings of his nine subordinates.

They had been with him since their college days. Even when they went abroad for further study, it was all to better help him upon their return. They went up and down along with him.

If Joel’s authority among the Smiths fell, their status in the company would also fall along with his. They were loyal and dedicated to him.

This was especially the case with Mindy. Being the only woman among the nine, she was exceptionally capable. Although he had told them not to take any action, it was very likely that she had already done something to Nora.

Joel also knew roughly what she had done.

Mindy wasn’t like Quentin, she wasn’t capable of making big moves like murdering someone. The most she could do was create a little trouble to annoy Nora.

To be honest, Joel knew Mindy had to be taken care of, but he still wanted to protect her.

After all, she had worked for him for many years. Even if she hadn’t contributed anything worthwhile, she had done a great job. Besides, Mindy had never made any mistakes, and even the one time she did it was for his good….

Originally, Joel had wanted to cover up the incident.

But when Ian suddenly asked him to come home for dinner, Joel realized right away that he could no longer cover it up.

Besides, he also owed Nora an explanation.

With that in mind, Joel took a deep breath.

🍙 🍙 🍙 🍙 🍙

At noon, Tanya suddenly arrived.

A slightly surprised Joel looked at Tanya. “Why are you here?”

Tanya held up the lunch box in her hand. “To bring you lunch.”

Tanya was not a housewife, but a woman running her own business. She had opened a dance studio in New York that taught children to dance. By rights, she should be very busy today.

Joel watched her ‘virtuously’ put the food on the table. In doing so, her actions were a bit abrupt and she accidentally spilled some soup. Also, as she was placing the food, the bite-sized fried chicken caught her eye and she glanced at it. As he pretended to be reading a document, out of the corner of his eye he saw her sneak a piece of fried chicken and pop it in her mouth.

Joel: “…”

Although she seemed to have become much more even-tempered, in reality her temper had never changed. She was still as impetuous as in her youth. Joel let out a laugh and stood up.

After moving closer, the two sat across from each other. Tanya served him a bowl of soup. Evidently, she had prepared it for him, but first she treated herself. Then, finding it delicious, she naturally placed the bowl in front of her and began to drink spoonful after spoonful of soup.

Joel, who was waiting for her to hand him the bowl of soup, could only take another bowl with resignation and fill it with soup himself. At the same time, he also handed Tanya a refill.

Then he asked, “Aren’t you busy?”.

“Totally! I’m exhausted.”

Tanya spoke with satisfaction as the delicious soup flooded her mouth. Then, she looked at him and added, “But as busy as I am, I have to visit my husband, right~? Are you feeling a little down today?”

Joel: “…”

He put down the spoon, lowered his eyes and let out a sigh. His smile gradually disappeared and he asked, “How did you know?”

“Tsk,” Tanya continued to sip her soup and then said, “I know you too well. The moment you lift your butt, I already know what kind of gas you’re going to let off…”

The corners of Joel’s lips spasmed. “Can’t you be a little more refined with your argument?”

Tanya pouted. “Isn’t it because Mia isn’t here right now? I’m already about to choke to death from behaving like a prima donna in front of Mia all the time. Now that there’s no one else here, why can’t I be a little more raw.”

Joel held his forehead. “Okay.”

He didn’t realize that, although his smile wasn’t as bright as before, the fake smile on his face was slowly being replaced by a genuine one.

“So, what happened? Tell me.” said Tanya.

As Joel was about to speak, Tanya gestured and said, “If you’re going to tell, then tell me the truth. You have always been sensitive, withdrawn and needy since you were a child. You may look very tall and powerful, but deep down you are terribly fragile. I stopped looking at you through rose-colored glasses a long time ago, so you don’t need to pretend anything. You can tell it like it is.”

Hearing her, Joel lowered his head and thought for a while. Then he said, “Dad has an account, the real Smith estate. He can get a lot of news and useful financial information there.”

With just a couple of simple sentences from him, Tanya understood right away. “Dad gave the account to Nora?”

Joel nodded and then said, “It looks like the information on gold prices came from there, but I just turned down Dad’s offer and told him last night to give the account to Nora. However, Nora already knew this information three days ago.”

Tanya nodded again. “I see, you suspect that Dad already gave the account to Nora some time ago, yet he kept it from you and even probed you about it yesterday?”

Joel nodded again.

He hesitated for a moment before saying, “Dad’s not like that. If he wants to give me something, he’ll give it to me straight. If he doesn’t want to, he’ll tell me straight out he doesn’t want to. He’s never tried to probe me – has Dad noticed my furtive thoughts?”

Tanya rolled her eyes. “Who wouldn’t? You always act so calm and collected as if these things don’t bother you, but in reality what you lack most is a sense of security. That account doesn’t matter to you at all; what matters to you is Dad’s feelings for you.”

That one sentence of his had struck deep inside Joel.

However, Tanya then said, “To be honest, this is very normal. Think about it, kids never want a second child in the family, because once a second child comes along, it will take away some of their parents’ love.”

Joel started to listen. Suddenly, he felt that his furtive thoughts no longer seemed so serious. He asked, “So what then?”

.

.

.