Debbie wanted to say something to Carlos to stop the man from addressing her as "honey." But Davis wouldn't shut up. He was so excited and animated. He cut in, "You're welcome. Your daughter is amazing. I really should get a wife and have a son right now. That way, when he grows up, I can have him court your daughter."
As he finished speaking, he clearly saw Carlos' emotionless face gradually fall.
Awkward silence engulfed them. In the end, the stone-faced man told the foreigner icily, "First, you need to get on the Forbes Billionaires list; second, marry the most beautiful woman in the world—she should have good genes; third, give birth to a son that is older than my daughter, and make sure he knows how to handle your money, not to mention make more. So, if you do all that, your son can date my kid."
Debbie's jaw dropped as she listened to Carlos' standards on their future son-in-law.
She couldn't believe her ears.
'Forbes Billionaires list? Some billionaires don't make that list. It starts at 40 billion dollars! Does he think anyone can do that?
And marry the most beautiful woman? For good genes? So he means Davis' kid needs to be rich, powerful and handsome enough to be worthy of Evelyn.'
But what drove Debbie nuts was his third requirement. A son older than Evelyn? That was impossible. Carlos had to be joking. The cap to a list of impossible demands, so the guy would give up on the idea of his son marrying Evelyn. Of course he'd want a mature, stable man as a son-in-law, but this was over the top.
Carlos had clearly given him a picture of his ideal son-in-law: powerful, rich, handsome, considerate and caring.
Carlos took Piggy from Debbie's arms. Holding his daughter with one arm, he wrapped his other arm around Debbie's waist and led her away.
The foreigner was still in a daze after hearing what the CEO said. He stared blankly at the mother and daughter who were waving goodbye to him. The mother smiled apologetically while the daughter wore a sweet smile.
After pondering over Carlos' list for a while, Davis somehow figured out what exactly was on the CEO's mind.
It sounded reasonable. If he had such a wonderful daughter, he'd strive to give her the best things in life.
So how could he do this? How could he have a son who measured up? 'Forbes Billionaires list? The most beautiful woman in the world? A son older than Evelyn?' Davis recalled Carlos' words once again in his mind, but he stopped there. There was no way he could make it. Staring at the receding figures of the three, Davis suddenly realized something. Carlos was making a joke.
'Hey, wait. Was he talking about himself? He's one of the richest men in the world. He's powerful. His wife is the loveliest singer. Of course he'd want someone just like him to vie for his daughter's hand…'
Even after they were too far away to see Davis, Carlos still wore a dark expression, emanating coldness. He wasn't happy with the idea that someone would marry his lovely daughter one day and take her away from him. Debbie sighed helplessly. "When did you get here? Why didn't you tell me you and Piggy were coming?" she asked.
Carlos' face softened a little, but his voice still sounded stern when he spoke. "So if I told you I was coming, would I see you eating with another guy?"
Debbie snapped nonchalantly, "What? You have a problem with me having dinner with my colleagues?"
Carlos didn't say anything else. He didn't dare. He didn't want to piss her off. At this point, his anger had completely vanished, and he apologized tenderly, "No. My bad. Sorry." He pulled her closer to him.
Debbie sneered, "Mr. Huo, no need to apologize. Give me my daughter and you can leave now." With that, she reached out her arms to Piggy.
Carlos held their daughter tightly and pulled away from Debbie while patiently coaxing, "I didn't fly all the way out here to give you our daughter. We'll wait till you're done with work and go home together."
He winked at his daughter. Evelyn got the hint and echoed, "Mommy, Daddy and I missed you. Don't make us go."
'Make them go?'
Debbie took a deep breath and forced out a smile before explaining, "Mommy won't make you go. You'll stay with me. But Daddy's a busy CEO, so we shouldn't keep him from his work…"
"Honey, that doesn't matter. Mom can run the company for me," Carlos quickly chipped in, a cunning smile on his face.
Debbie's lips twitched. Miranda and Carlos were ganging up on her. She smirked, "Quit calling me 'honey.' By the way, are you going to deal with James or not?"
With this name brought up, the playful smile on his face faded away. "Of course," he said, a cold glint in his eyes. He had just seen James two days before. The sly old fox should have figured out Carlos was back to normal. But they didn't talk about that. They just made small talk.
"He's transferring his property. Some of the staff, cooperative projects and company assets are involved in his case, including the branch company in New York. So I have to handle it carefully and quietly," Carlos explained. He knew Debbie wanted to see James live out his remaining days in jail.
So he was collecting evidence of James' crimes, leaving no stone unturned. He had even employed a third-party finance company to audit ZL Group's accounts, just in case.
As far as he knew, corruption and bribery had become commonplace in ZL Group when James took over as CEO. And it didn't stop with James—many employees were involved on some level. But most of them had cleaned up their acts after Carlos resumed his rightful place as head of the company.
"I see. So what about Stephanie? She up to anything?" Debbie asked as she stole a glance at the man. She was glad to see that his face didn't twitch. No cocked eyebrow, no set grimace. Nothing.
Carlos drew closer to her and whispered in her ear, "I think she has something to do with Megan's death."
Debbie froze and widened her mouth in shock. As his words sank in her heart, she got goose bumps all over.
Carlos wouldn't just come up with that out of the blue. He must have found some clues that led to Stephanie's involvement.
Although Debbie hadn't been around her that much, she hadn't pegged her as a murderer. Arrogant, definitely. But a murderer?
As they talked, Evelyn gradually fell asleep, her head resting on Carlos' shoulder. After shifting his daughter to his other arm, Carlos held his wife's hand and continued walking. "I read Megan's diary and found that they really weren't friends at all. They pretended, to keep up appearances. Stephanie hired someone to **** Megan, but Megan didn't have solid proof, so she didn't tell us. But she was planning her revenge." But unfortunately for her, she was brutally cut down before her plans could come to fruition.
"Her diary? What else was in there?" Debbie asked, genuinely curious. She wanted to know what the drama queen thought of her three years ago.
Carlos gave her a long glance and squeezed her hand before apologizing, "I'm sorry. I've been a bad guy. I want to make it up to you."
"Why?" she asked, confused.
"Megan said in her diary that she hated Wesley and me a lot, because her parents died for us. After her parents died, she wasn't happy, so she aimed to make us suffer as well. She drove a wedge between you and me. She stirred up trouble between Wesley and Blair, even Curtis and Colleen."
'What a nutjob!' Debbie thought, shaking her head. "But Uncle Curtis didn't have anything to do with her parents' death. Why bother them?"
"Curtis is a good friend. She figured if she made his life hell, then Wesley and I wouldn't be happy either. Anyway, she'd try anything to make us sad."
Debbie felt a chill run down her spine as she heard Carlos talk about Megan's diary. She never knew Megan was like that.
"If you're interested, you can read her diary after going back home. It's pretty heavy stuff, and she wrote a lot. But enough about them. It's been too long," Carlos said unhappily. He had brought their daughter here to reunite with his wife. Life was too short to dwell on criminals who would do them harm.
