Chapter 24 Are You Not Afraid Julia Will Be in Tears Every Day?
“Aly, what’s wrong?” Hannah noticed the change in Alison’s facial expression.
“It’s nothing. You should rest more. I need to make a call.” Alison’s eyes darkened slightly, and she stood up, shaking her phone.
“Oh, okay,” Hannah replied.
With that, Alison went outside to the hallway and called Carl.
Carl picked it up in a jiffy and addressed her as usual, “Aria.”
“When did he invite you?” Alison jumped right into the topic without beating around the bush.
“Just now.” Carl rarely hid the truth from her. “The chief officer of Cornell Corporation’s Imperia branch called my secretary and said that Brayden is highly interested in Lambert International’s new project and wishes to meet me for a discussion.”
Alison fell into deep thoughts upon hearing his words. Her intuition told her that things weren’t as simple as they appeared to be.
“Can you reject the invitation?”
“I don’t think so because Brayden may suspect something if I decline.” Carl analyzed the reason with Alison from a business perspective.
“When will you guys meet?”
“According to Mr. Larson, he intends to have a get-together tomorrow. But I have the right to switch things up at my convenience.”
“If it’s just about business, then there’s no harm in meeting him.” Alison soon had an idea. “If he asks you if you know Alison or if you have any daughters other than Anna, just say you don’t know Alison, and you only have one daughter, which is Anna.”
Carl didn’t agree immediately. Instead, he simply held his phone, feeling somewhat hesitant. Aria can’t be taking this chance to cut off our father-daughter ties, can she?
“Don’t you think it’s inappropriate to lie to him?” Carl hesitated before he voiced his thoughts.
“There’s nothing inappropriate about it,” Alison immediately dismissed him. Then, she continued in a somewhat distant tone, “I don’t want him to know my real identity before our divorce is finalized. I want our divorce process to go smoothly.”
Carl was having mixed feelings when he heard Alison mention the word divorce. Nevertheless, he agreed to follow Alison’s instructions after giving them some consideration.
Then, the two talked about some more details. When they reached the end of their discussion,
Carl eventually still chose to ask what was on his mind, “Care to tell me about what happened between you and him?”
“I’ll tell you about it later.” Then, she used this sentence as a conclusion to their conversation as she swiftly hung up the phone and returned to the ward.
Hannah guessed it all at once after she saw Alison’s facial expression. Therefore, her sly eyes gleamed with mischief as she asked tentatively, “Were you on the phone with Dad?”
“Yeah,” Alison admitted plainly.
“Actually, he has missed you terribly for the past two years.” Hannah grasped this opportunity to smooth things over between the two. “He is constantly worried that you will not live well outside.”
Alison didn’t answer. When she saw that Carl sent her another message, she merely typed out the reply and hit the send button.
“Aly,” Hannah called out with slightly mixed feelings. “Can you tell me what happened between you and Dad?” It’s not that I haven’t asked Dad about this in the past two years or so, but Dad always kept silent whenever I asked him about it. He either changed the subject and asked me about my studies, or he asked me about my graduation plans. He would consistently dodge all my questions. Therefore, I am dying to know what happened between Aly and Dad.
“It’s nothing.” Alison didn’t want Hannah to know about such complicated matters. “I’ll prepare some food for you. Once you feel better, remember to inform your boyfriend that you are fine.”
Hannah’s thoughts immediately wandered elsewhere when she heard Alison mention the word boyfriend, and she nodded with a slight crimson hue on her cheeks.
Alison left the hospital and asked James to look after Hannah. She wandered on the street outside the hospital as the words Hannah said in the ward earlier fully occupied her mind. I can’t let Anna know the things B*stard Dad had done. Once she finds out, B*stard Dad’s image in her heart and her trust for him will collapse. After all, Anna has always deemed B*stard Dad as a superhero since she was a child. He would always figure out a way to obtain the things Anna wanted. I want Anna to lead a happy life. Hence, it’s fine as long as B*stard Dad and I know what happened.
When she arrived on that train of thought, she gently breathed out a sigh. Then, just as she was about to buy some of Hannah’s favorite food, the phone in her hand abruptly vibrated. She checked her phone and saw b*stard on the screen. So, she swiped the answer button and said, “Hello.”
“How’s your family?”
“Nothing serious.”
“Accompany me to dinner tomorrow night,” Brayden stated his purpose of calling with a deep and calm voice. “Send me your address, and I will ask Conner to pick you up.”
Alison was puzzled. So, she furrowed her brows and questioned, “Dinner?”
“Yeah, with the director of Lambert International.” Brayden’s voice sounded on the phone.
Alison kept silent. Deep down, she cursed Brayden to hell and back, D*mn it! This guy truly is a sc*mbag! I am more than willing to wash my hands off of him to whoever that wishes to be with him.
Meanwhile, Brayden was sitting on the chair in the hotel room. On the computer screen in front. of him was the email that Alison had replied to before. His gaze gradually deepened as he read the contents of the email. “Didn’t you say that you are the heir of Lambert International? Your presence can facilitate our discussion.”
“I won’t be attending.” Alison rejected him without a single shred of hesitation.
“If you don’t go, then your face will be on the missing person notice, which I will display on the advertising screens outside the major shopping malls in Imperia the day after tomorrow. Whoever finds you shall receive 150 thousand worth of reward,” threatened Brayden. He was determined to learn her true identity.
Alison was speechless while Brayden went on to say, “I believe that someone would love to earn some extra cash.”
“Do I need to remind you that we are finalizing our divorce?” At this juncture, Alison felt the need to remind him. “I’m not interested in getting in touch with your social circle. What I told you in the past, those were merely just jokes.”
“We shall find out if those were merely jokes after verifying them tomorrow.” Brayden couldn’t care to conceal his purpose at this rate.
Alison immediately decided to strike at his weak spot. Thus, she replied, “Are you not afraid that Julia, who’s currently in the hospital in Riverton, will be in tears every day when she sees the picture of you and me having a grand time together in Imperia?”
“She won’t,” Brayden said confidently.
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Then, you truly don’t understand women. You didn’t contact her for a month. Furthermore, she will definitely wonder if you have fallen out of love with her or if you have fallen in love with me within our two years of marriage if she sees how you’d agreed to divorce me yet attend dinner
with me,”
“She’s different from you. I have asked Conner to tell her the agreement I made with you. She has agreed to it.”
Alison merely hummed in agreement. The sentiment in her tone was indecipherable. Julia may be able to keep calm and sit still if it’s something else. But judging from my contact with her in the hospital, Julia values the position of Brayden’s wife highly. Oftentimes, the more one values something, the more one would be afraid to lose that thing. Julia might have been trying her best to find out if Brayden and I have divorced, the current situation, and whether Brayden missed her in the past few days. Perhaps she will even get angry
when she learns of the division of property between Brayden and me.
“Conner will contact you after he arrives in Imperia. So, you should consider the matter of your attendance carefully, Brayden hung up the phone as soon as he said that.
Brayden was well aware that Alison would surely agree with him. After all, Alison would never want pictures and information of herself to be broadcasted everywhere.
On the contrary, Alison did intend to attend the dinner with him. Nonetheless, it had nothing to do with his threat. Considering how good she was at concealing information and hacking, she could easily prevent her pictures and information from appearing on the advertising screen if she wanted to. Instead, the reason she agreed to attend the dinner with Brayden was merely for the sake of dispelling his suspicion. She didn’t want Brayden to think that she approached him with some other hidden agenda. After all, from the moment she planned to marry him, she had decided she wanted to live as Alison Lambert and not as the heiress of Lambert International
