NovelOnlineLeopold swirled the brandy in his glass with a calm demeanor, "Don't worry. What hasn't Mom weathered through? There's nothing she can't handle." Aurelia let out a soft sigh, "Jessica can stay calm because she knows you are safe. If something really happened to you, who knows if she could withstand it." Leopold took a small sip of his drink, "Six years ago, when | was poisoned and lay unconscious, Mom single- handedly steered us through the storm." He lifted his hand and gently patted her head, "I believe you have that same strength." Aurelia shook her head, her movement as exaggerated as a bobblehead, "Don't put me on a pedestal. I'm nowhere near Jessica. She endured humiliation and hardship for over twenty years for your sake. | couldn't do that. If | had to deal with a scumbag like Chad, I'd go straight for the castration, cutting off his penis. Without the chance to sow his wild oats elsewhere, he'd have to treasure my kids like the crown jewels. Even if | got kicked out of the Stirling family or ended up in jail, it would be worth it." Leopold pinched her cheek affectionately, "That's my fierce girl." He loved her tenacity. She appeared delicate, but just like him, she was decisive and unforgiving when it mattered.
Aurelia made a snipping gesture with her fingers, "Aren't you scared?" His lips curved into a sly smile, "What's there to be afraid of? I've been as pure as the driven snow for you. Even the chaste Lucretia would envy my restraint." Aurelia didn't buy it for a second. The words of a tycoon were meant to be taken with a grain of salt.
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"I don't dare to hold you to such high standards. Just don't be a hypocrite, allowing yourself freedoms that you deny to others." He spoke at a leisurely pace, "Rest assured, and | would never ask of you what | couldn't do myself." She blinked slyly, a mischievous glint passing in her eyes, "And what can't you do?" His long fingers trailed through her hair, "For instance, let you go." "Fine, when I'm old, with wrinkles and white hair, you better not complain or rush me out to find some young beauty. | won't be so forgiving then," she threatened with her scissor gesture.
Leopold couldn't help but laugh, "Do you really think I'm that shallow?" "Please," she wrinkled her nose, "Men are visual creatures. All shallow." His brow arched in displeasure, "Do you really lump me in with those ordinary men?" Aurelia took a small sip of her drink, "I only trust the man who sticks by me at my lowest, who never leaves my side." Anger crept into his cheeks, almost as if she had mentioned Arnold's name aloud.
"I will only be better than him, never worse." Aurelia sighed heavily, dragging out the end of her sentence, "Forget it. You're the man who served me divorce papers twice. By that count, we've divorced twice. They say you shouldn't stumble over the same stone twice, yet I've been abandoned by you twice. Is there a woman more pathetic than me in this world?" His words felt like a bitter pill stuck in Leopold's throat, too hard to swallow yet impossible to spit out. He had to stomach all the bitterness, and suffering deeply inside.
With a hand pressed against his forehead, he sighed helplessly, "Whatever | owe you, I'll make amends twice over." Aurelia had little hope for the future, "Who knows what will happen later? Let's talk about it when it comes." Leopold could see that she never placed her hopes on him. Her heart belonged to Arnold, not him.
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The room was filled with a chilling silence.
After a long while, Aurelia's subdued voice finally broke through, "Everyone now thinks Jessica is grooming Fredric to be Kane's right-hand man."
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