Chapter 1065


    Sophia looked at Michael in confusion and blinked. Her face was tear-stained, and she couldn’t help


    choking on her tears. “Weren’t you fighting with my father just now—”


    “It was faked. Your father and I were only acting,” Michael quickly replied. He was afraid that if he


    confessed anyter, she would overthink it.


    “Acting…” It felt like her brain wasn’t working. All the brawling, quarreling, and opening old wounds… All


    of that was just an act? Before she could work through her confusion, his hot lips pressed against hers


    and forced all her doubts away. The two of them kissed quietly in that secluded corner of the garage.


    Tenderly kissing her on the lips, he used his actions to express his love for her.


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    After the kiss, she panted; she was slightly out of breath. Her small mouth opened and closed, breathing


    in the ambiguous air between them. A light sheen of sweat formed on her skin, and her eyes seemed to


    be shrouded in mist. Half-closing her eyes, her eyshes trembled slightly as if tears still clung to them.


    It had scared her very badly when the two men started fighting each other out of nowhere. Stuck


    between the two of them, she watched as the two most important men in her life tried to rip each other


    apart. It left her at a loss of what to do. Even now, her heart was still pounding fiercely in her chest; she


    was unable to calm down. However, she finally felt somewhat less worried after Michael’s gentle


    kisses.


    He pressed his forehead against hers and closed his eyes as if he was reminiscing the feeling of the


    kisses they shared mere moments ago. Their lips were only several centimeters apart, and they could


    feel the heat of each other’s ragged breathing. There seemed to be an invisible and alluring sense in the


    air, attracting them to each other. The kiss mark he ced on her neck glimmered with a familiar sense


    of seduction. However, he knew that now was not the time for this.


    She grabbed his shoulder and questioned him again in an uncertain tone. “It really was just an act, right?


    You’re not fighting with my father or my brother, right?”


    Although she knew that Michael wasn’t an impulsive man, the words they exchanged just now were too


    harsh. Did he really need to say such hurtful words for the sake of an act?


    He breathed out a sigh through his nose. “Yeah. Your father knew I was acting too. But, his acting skills


    are far too clumsy. It’s difficult to fool anybody with that level of acting, so I said some hurtful stuff to


    agitate him and cause an outburst of emotions in him… I didn’t mean to hurt him, and I will apologize for


    itter.”


    Upon hearing those words, she couldn’t helpughing a little. I knew it; Michael is a coward. How could


    he possibly pick a fight with Cooper? No, he’s not a coward. It’s only because Cooper is my father that


    he has to back down. Still… was he really not taking the opportunity to pick a fight with Cooper to vent


    his hatred?


    Afterward, the family of three returned to Vi No.8, The Imperial. As soon as Carmen arrived home, she


    took out her customized ounting book and started bncing her ounts. She carried the book


    around with her wherever she went. Any time she made some money, she would carefully record it into


    the book. From the money she received from letting her friends at the kindergarten y with Judge to the


    sry she received from filming; she recorded everything down clearly without missing a single decimal


    point.


    One had to admit that children with strong genes always got the longer stick in life. Although Carmen


    was just about to turn four, she could already doplicated multiplications and divisions. Recently, she


    even started learning how to do multivariate quadratic equations. Although she couldn’tpare to her


    uncle who was defying logic at the age of four, she was very advancedpared to her peers.


    I’m going to bnce my ounts today. I need to check if I’ve been losing money! Thus, she earnestly


    counted with her fingers, borrowing the help of a calctor once in a while. Among all the various skills


    she had, she was the best at math.


    Michael and Sophia helped her bnce her ounts too.


    “On X day X year, Carmen endorsed a children’s watch. The endorsement fee was 1 million. Daddy


    saved it for me! On X day X year, Carmen yed a bit-part for a show and earned 200 a day. On X day X


    year, the global box office sales of the movie Carmen acted in exceeded 500 million Amons, and she


    received a sry of 500,000 Amons for her role in the movie. On X day X year, Mommy used Carmen’s


    social media ount to ept an advertisement contract. The advertising fee was 100,000.”


    …


    Carmen pouted, feeling unconvinced. After repeatedly calcting her ie over the years, she finally


    obtained a total amount. Then, she sprung up excitedly and proudly announced, “Haha! I didn’t make


    Daddy lose any money!”


    Michael hugged his daughter, who became cheerful all of a sudden. “Look; didn’t I tell you that you’re


    good at making money? How could you be losing money?”


    Once she confirmed that she was not a ‘waste of money’, she happily took her afternoon nap. Despite


    finally cheering their child up, Michael and Sophia entered the study with solemn expressions. If Cooper


    and Michael were just putting on an act, then there must have been an audience they were acting for. At


    the time, only Cooper, Linus, Annabel, Sophia, and Michael were present. Since neither Sophia nor


    Linus was the targeted audience, it could only be Annabel! That meant that something was up with


    Annabel! However, that was probably thest thing Sophia wanted to hear.


    Cooper had waited for more than 20 years before finally reuniting with Annabel. But now, he discovered


    that she was a fake! Even if she were the real thing, she was here with ulterior motives. How torturous


    was that to him?! The worst part was that he had to act along with her.


    Sophia used to have her suspicions too. However, she had never spent a single day with Annabel


    before, and her understanding of Annabel as a person was too shallow. Besides, Cooper did not seem to


    have any misgivings. Thus, she kept her doubts buried in her heart and suppressed her feelings. Now,


    her doubts were confirmed. Thinking back on it carefully, various questionable points were everywhere.


    For example, Cooper once mentioned that Annabel was a stubborndy who struggled against her fate.


    Like mother, like daughter; they were very simr.


    Sophia wanted to study to change her fate. On the other hand, Annabel had been forced to drop out of


    school at a young age. She then entered society and struggled to earn a living, working many different


    jobs. In the end, she established ‘Crimson House’, a franchise restaurant, with Sam. To be honest, she


    was very talented and innovative. Bing a multi-millionaire in that era was just a matter of time for


    her. On the contrary, the current Annabel was full of conservative and rotten beliefs from the olden days.


    She could even go so far as to mention something like ‘surrogate mother’!


    Still, Sophia had not dared to investigate further into the matter. What if… she found something during


    her investigations? For example… the existence of that hooked-nosed man; what if that hooked-nosed


    man and Annabel were in cahoots with each other?


    Finally, Sophia and Michael decided to bring out the previous data they collected to analyze them again


    and see if they could find new clues. Inside the study, she took out all the information she had gathered


    in the past and ced them in front of him. “This is the data I collected from some of the vigers Justin


    and I questioned before. And, this is a sketch of that hooked-nosed man based on their descriptions.”


    She hadpiled them into a document and printed them out. Even so, it was arge stack of


    documents. He flipped through the documents while instructing Maria to bring out the information he


    gathered several years ago.


    With both their materialsbined together, Michael picked up a pen and started doodling on the


    documents Sophia had gathered. Meanwhile, Sophia looked through the information Michael had


    gathered. That information waspiled from the traces of Annabel’s existence and gathered into a


    document for safekeeping. To give Sophia a rough idea of the information, it included photos of some of


    Annabel’s personal effects, a diary, and pictures. Comparing the two sets of information, they


    immediately detected many discrepancies between the information.