Embarrassed, Naomi Shaw scrambled off the bed, walked over, and knelt before the two children. She did her best to explain, "Dylan, Daddy has been very tired lately. Mommy was really just giving him a massage. Did you and your sister co up for sothing?"
"Joy was looking for Mommy after playing for a bit. It seems like she’s afraid you’ll leave again."
Dylan glanced at the little girl beside him and told Naomi Shaw, his heart aching for her.
A pang of sadness hit Naomi Shaw. She quickly pulled a teary-eyed Joy into her arms, comforting her. "It’s okay, Joy. Don’t be afraid. Mommy won’t ever leave you two again!"
"Okay!"
Joy gave a small, obedient nod in her mother’s arms before pushing away. She reached out her little hand to take her brother’s. Dylan imdiately understood. He waved to Julian Donovan and Naomi Shaw. "You can keep giving Dad his massage, Mom. Joy and I will go play downstairs."
The truth was, Joy’s insecurity was the only reason she’d been so desperate to find her mother. Now that she saw her mom was safe and with her dad, she settled down.
Once the children left, Naomi Shaw returned to the bedside and gave him a light punch. "See what you did with your fooling around? You almost scared Joy. After everything that’s happened lately, she’s so insecure. She must have been frantic when she couldn’t find !"
"But wasn’t everything fine once she saw you were here?"
The two of them spent the better part of the day in bed. Julian Donovan prepared both lunch and dinner. It wasn’t until evening that Naomi Shaw erged from the bedroom to play with the children. Any movent left her feeling drained and weak, so she ended up half-reclining on the carpet, watching her two little ones play.
Julian Donovan walked over with a large plate of strawberries and sat beside her. He fed one to her, then one to each of the children. "I truly regret missing so much of them growing up," he said suddenly, his voice tinged with pain.
She chewed the strawberry, feeling drained. "It’s not too late to start now..."
He mulled it over for a mont, then leaned in and whispered in her ear, "Otherwise... how about we have another one? Let make up for everything I missed with you, Dylan, and Joy."
"Don’t even think about it. Do you think having a baby is easy?"
She refused without a second thought. "Besides, having a baby is hard enough, but raising one is even harder. Dylan and Joy are considered well-behaved. What if we had one like Cheryl Nash? You’d work yourself to death!"
He scooted even closer, wrapping an arm around her and pleading shalessly. "The birth will be hard on you, I know, but I’ll take care of the baby all by myself after. Plus, my mom can help. What do you say? Just one more?"
"Not happening!"
She still refused. Julian Donovan could only sit back, deflated. ’Forget it,’ he thought. ’Having a son and a daughter is already a blessing. What’s past is past. I’ll just have to do my best to make it up to them from now on.’
「Two days later」
Sean Donovan made his move to escape. Julian Donovan was protecting Naomi Shaw and the two children so well that Sean’s n couldn’t find an opening. Gritting his teeth, he was forced to make the decision to leave. The agony of what he couldn’t have gnawed at him relentlessly, but his own survival had to co first. In the past few days, many suspicious-looking people had appeared outside the Donovan Residence, and they could only be the police.
Aside from a few middle-aged maids, everyone inside the Donovan Residence consisted of his n, about forty or fifty of them. He left the maids behind, as they were unaware of his activities. He simply instructed them that if the police ca knocking and wanted to search the house, they were to let them in.
Sean Donovan believed his secret passage and basent were foolproof. After Charles Donovan’s death, he didn’t think anyone else knew the secret. So, he was feeling relaxed as he led his n out through the passage. The tunnel opened into Wincastle’s busiest port, which handled thousands of tons of cargo daily. The tunnel exit connected to one of the warehouses, where the staff had long been on his payroll.
However, the mont he stepped through the door linking the passage to the warehouse, he sensed sothing was off. There were a few new faces among the workers. This was sothing absolutely forbidden in his operation. Due to the sensitive nature of the "goods" he was moving, he never allowed this warehouse to hire new people without his explicit approval.
The mont his gaze swept over them, he spotted the new faces and was instantly on alert. He slowed his pace and whispered to the two bodyguards beside him, "Watch those strangers."
The bodyguards understood imdiately. Flanking him on either side, they shielded him as they quickened their pace toward the warehouse exit. All they had to do was get outside. A boat he’d purchased was moored just offshore. Once they were on board, they would be safe.
Their exit from the warehouse went surprisingly smoothly. The strangers didn’t seem to notice them, just dutifully hauling cargo without a hint of anything unusual.
The two bodyguards escorted Sean Donovan out of the warehouse and right up to his boat, with his n following close behind. The instant he set foot on the gunwale, a barrage of gunfire erupted behind them. His bodyguards rushed him aboard the boat. He glanced back to see his n at the rear locked in a fierce shootout with the strangers from the warehouse. More unfamiliar faces were pouring out from all directions, joining the attack on his crew. Within monts, his n were suffering heavy losses.
He cursed viciously. ’It’s obvious my escape route has been compromised.’ And judging by the attackers, they didn’t seem to be police. That left only one possibility: Julian Donovan. ’But how could he have found out about my secret tunnel?’
Just as he was mulling this over, he heard footsteps behind him. He spun around to see Julian Donovan erging from the boat’s cockpit, a faint smile playing on his lips. "Sean Donovan, I’ve been waiting for you."
The two bodyguards imdiately moved to shield him, raising their guns and aiming them at the approaching Julian Donovan. On the dock below, Sean Donovan’s remaining n were locked in a chaotic brawl with Julian’s forces. The innocent dockworkers who had been there monts before were now scattering in a panic, desperately trying to flee the crossfire.
Sean Donovan’s composure began to crack as he glared furiously at Julian Donovan. "How did you know about this place?"
Julian Donovan stood his ground, the corner of his mouth twisting into a cold smile. "The only way to keep a secret is to not do it in the first place."
Sean Donovan had been certain his plan was foolproof. Julian Donovan’s sudden appearance pushed him to the brink of a breakdown. His face deathly pale, he clutched his chest, gasping for several long monts before he finally managed to compose himself. He lifted his eyes to Julian. "Jean Coleman! It had to be Jean Coleman who told you, didn’t it? Heh... how could I have forgotten about her?"
Julian Donovan reached into his jacket, pulled out a pistol, and began to toy with it. "My father used this very passage to run away with her. What? Didn’t Charles Donovan tell you?"
At the ntion of Charles Donovan, Julian suddenly sighed and shook his head in mock pity. "Ah, what do you think Charles Donovan would say if he knew he’d been murdered by the very grandson he doted on and raised with his own hands? Sean Donovan, aren’t you afraid of a little karma?"
"Haha..."
Sean Donovan erupted in wild laughter, his face twisting into a hideous sneer. "He more than deserved to die! If he hadn’t been so stubborn, forcing my father to marry my mother, I would never have been born! This whole tragedy would never have happened, and my life wouldn’t have been so miserable from the start! If it weren’t for him, *you* could have had a warm, happy family. Don’t you hate him? Haven’t you ever wanted to kill him?"
"I do hate him. I hate him to my very core. And yes, I’ve wanted to kill him... but it never went beyond a thought."
Julian Donovan replied, his smile gone. To them, Charles Donovan was still an elder. Besides, murder has consequences.
Sean Donovan just kept laughing, his face a mask of pure malice. The gunfire behind them had faded to silence. He didn’t need to look; he knew his n had been wiped out. Julian Donovan had clearly co prepared. On the docks flanking their boat, a convoy of cars had parked. He could see Caleb Rhodes and Felix Draper among them. And looking further out to sea, he could faintly make out the silhouettes of Coast Guard vessels.
He knew there was no escape for him today. He also knew what awaited him for his cris once the police took him. He’d known the consequences from the mont he’d started down this path. Hatred and resentnt gnawed at his sanity.
Suddenly, his phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID, and a strange, unsettling smile touched his lips. He answered, listened for only a few seconds, then hung up. He looked up at Julian Donovan and said, enunciating every word, "Julian Donovan, the show is about to begin!"
Sean’s expression sent a jolt of unease through Julian Donovan. He pulled out his phone to call Naomi Shaw. Before leaving that morning, he had given his n outside the residence specific orders to protect her and the children at all costs. Once he dealt with Sean today, his family could finally live in peace.
The phone rang for what felt like an eternity before soone picked up. When he heard the voice on the other end, his blood ran cold. It was Wendy Lowe, who hadn’t been seen in ages. "Julian Donovan, long ti no see. How have you been?"
The hand holding the phone began to tremble uncontrollably. His voice cracked with tension as he spoke. "What did you do to them?"
"Oh, nothing much. Just bringing them to see you in a little while!"
Wendy Lowe let out a sinister laugh. From the other end of the line, where she was being held captive in the back of a car, Naomi Shaw suddenly shouted, "They only got ! The children should be safe with the police!"
A fierce battle had just broken out outside Julian Donovan’s villa. Wendy Lowe had arrived with a group, intent on abducting Naomi and the children. Julian’s n had put up a fierce resistance, but they hadn’t expected Wendy Lowe’s people to be fighting with suicidal determination. They were prepared to die, as long as they could take her with them.
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