Renata's face still wore an expression of innocent bewilderment.
Louis was all grateful as he turned to Sophia, "Ms. Yearwood, thank you."
After expressing his thanks, however, he couldn't bear to stay any longer. Calling out to Marian, he hurriedly departed. His expression was rushed, his steps faltered; he was clearly thrown off balance, and even his exit was hasty.
Sophia watched them get on the elevator and turned to Brandon with concern, "Should we have someone accompany them? Grandpa Louis doesn't seem all there."
"He needs some time to digest it all," Brandon said. But even as he said that, he still picked up his phone and made a call to have someone tail their car.
When he hung up, the seriousness hadn't left his handsome face.
Confronting Marian about being a false Yolanda wasn't a spur-of-the-moment thing; it was the result of deep contemplation on his journey.
Louis felt indebted to Yolanda, and as long as Marian bore Yolanda's identity, he would no doubt shield her unconditionally, using both carrot and stick tactics on Sophia to compel her to yield.
The more he shielded Marian, the more Sophia would get hurt.
So untying Marian from Yolanda became imperative-he couldn't wait for Martin.
Martin would never initiate such a reveal.
Thus, he had to act alone.
But what Brandon was dealing with an elderly man. The whole endeavor was a gamble, betting on Louis not being fragile.
Sophia noticed the worry hidden deep in Brandon's eyes and gently reassured him, "It'll be Okay."
Brandon looked at her and nodded slightly, "Yeah."
He reached out to embrace Theresa.
"How come you're back all of a sudden? How's your father?" Sophia asked.
"It was me. I called Daddy to come back," Theresa quickly explained.
Sophia was surprised and looked at Theresa; she had no idea when Theresa had made the call to Brandon.
"You've done a good job, Theresa," Brandon praised, looking down at her.
Theresa blushed with embarrassment, cuddled into Brandon's chest.
Allowing her to snuggle up, Brandon's attention was back on Sophia, "Daniel is fine, he's already awoke."
Sophia nodded, remembering Marian's accusation that Brandon had angered Daniel into the hospital. She wanted to ask if it was true, but the words stopped short, fearing they might hit a nerve. In the end, she held back and simply said softly, "That's good then."
"Are you alright?" Brandon asked her, not forgetting how aggressively Marian had come at her on the monitor.
Sophia shook her head, "I'm fine."
Theresa lifted her head from Brandon's embrace and couldn't help but tattle, "Daddy, that lady earlier was so mean, she kept yelling at Mommy."
Sophia felt a bit awkward and quickly explained, "She just spoke with a bit urgency. I'm OK; don't worry."
Brandon nodded, "If she comes at you again, just come to me directly. Don't bother with her."
Sophia nodded in agreement, "All right."
As soon as Louis got in the car, he called Martin, "Come home now."
His angry tone made Martin frown on the other end of the line, "What happened?"
"Don't ask, just get back here!" Louis snapped and hung up, his emotions still running high, chest heaving intensely.
Marian sat beside him, watching his chest rise and fall rapidly with hesitation. She called out softly, "Grandpa."
But she didn't dare to cuddle his arm and act spoiled like before.
Louis glanced at her but didn't respond.
This made Marian even more anxious and clueless about how to handle the situation. She had no choice but to secretly send Martin a message:
"Brandon has just told Grandpa I'm not Yolanda."
Upon receiving the message, Martin jumped to his feet.
He had only been at the company for a short while, dealing with the mess by Marian's plagiarism of Sophia's design. He had not expected to find another mess at home so soon.
"Brandon wouldn't talk about this for no reason. He would've said it outright at the venue this morning if he meant to, and. he would not wait until now."
He typed out a flurry of messages and sent them, "What did you do to provoke Brandon?"
Marian didn't expect Martin to pinpoint the issue so accurately and was hard to find words to respond. She held her phone, unsure of what to say.
But Martin wasn't one to coddle her.
"Speak up!" he shot back coldly with two words.
Even though it was just text, it carried an oppressive force. Marian hesitated
before replying with a line: "We went to see Sophia."
Martin was shocked.
He almost let loose a curse.
He had just managed to stabilize Brandon, and right after, Marian had stormed in, stirring up a hornet's nest.
"What should we do now?" Marian asked, full of apprehension.
Martin didn't respond and drove straightly back home.
When he arrived, Louis, Marian and Renata had just gotten home.
Martin cast a worried glance at Louis, who, aside from looking a bit grim, seemed
to be in decent spirits, which calmed Martin somewhat.
Louis didn't look at him but asked Rachel Frost to take Renata back to her room and then turned to Martin and Marian with a command, "You two, come with me to the study room," before striding off with a simmering anger.
Gerald Frost, Yolanda's father, was also home and sensed the unusual atmosphere, shooting the pair a worried look, "What's going on?"
Martin and Marian exchanged glances, both unsure of how to respond.
Louis saw them still standing there and looked back coldly, "Aren't you coming?"
Martin and Marian hurriedly followed.
Once Louis shut the study door, he slammed his hand down hard on the desk and then, pointing at Marian, he furiously demanded from Martin:
"Martin, tell me the truth is she or is she not Yoli?"