Nora didn’t hang up but asked, “Who is she?” Ian kept quiet for a while. “I can’t say it over the phone.”
This was because he feared that someone could be monitoring their cell phones. Even if Nora was Q, the top hacker in the world, there was no guarantee that no one would be monitoring them. Moreover, even if Nora could guarantee that her cell phone wouldn’t be hacked, could they guarantee the same for Ian?
Not only was she in another country, but the phone call was also an international long-distance one. Could she guarantee that the international communications signal would not be hacked?
Nora could only nod and say, “Alright, I’ll pick you up in eight hours.”
“Okay.”
After hanging up the phone, Nora sank into contemplation for a long while.
At this point, Queenie came down the stairs drunkenly and asked, “How are things with Barbarian?”
Brenda had wholly taken over the task of arresting Barbarian. The Queen was still unable to accept the fact that he was a murderer, so she had chosen to remain silent on the matter.
Nora sighed. “Barbarian indeed lives up to his name of being the embodiment of the human limits. Despite the intensive attempts to catch him, he still managed to escape… He’s nowhere to be found now.”
Queenie nodded. Suddenly, she asked, “Was that Ian Smith calling just now?”
Nora nodded, surprised by her perceptivity. In order to avoid people eavesdropping on her phone calls, her cell phone’s volume was set very low. Even so, she’d still heard them?
Seemingly noticing her puzzled look, Queenie smiled and said, “You called him ‘Dad’.”
“… Really?”
Nora became doubtful instead.
As it easily exposed the other party’s identity, she rarely greeted someone by name immediately after answering the phone, unless she was in a very safe place and the other party’s identity was not a sensitive one.
Queenie didn’t plan on speaking any further, though. Instead, she swirled the wine in her glass. Her delicate face was ruddy, and her cheeks were already red.
She said, “In that case, I’ll go upstairs to rest for now…”
She had only taken a couple of steps when Cherry grabbed her. She said, “Grandaunt Queenie, are you going to drink again? Don’t drink anymore. Come and play with Cherry instead! It’s been really long since we last played together.” Queenie raised her eyebrows. “Do you actually remember your grandaunt’s existence when your father, whom you’ve been thinking of this whole time, is already here?” Cherry grinned and pushed Justin toward Nora. “But I can’t hog Daddy. He ought to spend more time with Mommy too. Besides, they may have a lot to talk about!” After all, Pete had said that they should let their parents bond with each other so that they wouldn’t separate in the future. This way, the triplets would be together forever!
Therefore, even though she really loved her father, she’d better still leave him to her mother instead!
Displeasure filled Queenie’s expression. “Are you only looking for me because your dad is not around? I’m not going to be your backup
plan…”
Though she said that, she followed Cherry to the side.
Justin walked over to Nora and the two sat on the sofa.
Justin looked at Queenie, who was holding Cherry’s hand. One was elegant and noble while the other was charming and adorable. The two looked extremely harmonious together.
Justin remarked, “Aunt Queenie seems to really like Cherry, huh?”
“… ‘Aunt Queenie’?”
A puzzled Nora asked when she heard the guy suddenly addressing her aunt in a different manner.
Justin smiled and replied, “Since she’s your aunt, then that makes her my aunt too, right?”
The guy sure was flirting with her every moment of the day.
Nora raised her eyebrows and said, “Yeah, Aunt Queenie treats Cherry very well.”
“Tell me more?”
Justin prompted.
Because if he didn’t, Nora would never say any more than that.
Nora smiled. “Sure.”
Back then, when she lost a lot of blood during childbirth and her life was on the line, her aunt had saved her and then taken her abroad. Later, she also outright declared Nora the heir to NTT.
During the announcement, her demeanor had been icy-cold, and she also treated her and Cherry coldly. But if the servants in the family ever slighted them even a little, Queenie would immediately and resolutely mete out punishment to them.
She remembered that when Cherry was three or four months old, because of her frail constitution, the baby caught a roseola infection and had a high fever, which needed to be cooled physically. At that time, when she called the doctor over in the middle of the night because of the fever, he’d said that it would be best to avoid taking medicine and cool the baby’s temperature physically instead.
Her aunt had immediately complained, “Children are so troublesome.”
At that time, Nora didn’t know her very well.
So, Nora told her to go back and rest while she took turns taking care of Cherry with the nanny.
Though Cherry was already more than three months old, Nora was still weak due to blood loss during childbirth. Unable to stay awake, she fell asleep in the middle of the night.
But when she was half-asleep, she saw Queenie changing the cold towel on Cherry’s forehead…
She had always been someone with a cold exterior but a warm heart. Moreover, Queenie was a resolute person with a can-do attitude. She was elegant and attractive, and many men courted her, but she rejected them all.
She said that she didn’t like men and had never thought of getting married.
Thus, everything in NTT was hers and Cherry’s.
