Nicole pouted her lips. By looking at Evan’s deadpan expression and how firm he was, she knew he would not say yes to her request.
Evan went up and gave her a hug. “I’ll be back in five days, okay?”
Nicole could not stop her heart from racing when she leaning on his chest. “You promise?”
Evan nodded. “Of course!”
Maya immediately expressed her disappointment after knowing her Daddy would be away for a few days. “No one will take me on an evening walk anymore.”
“Daddy will be back in five days. Wait for me, okay?”
Maya was still not happy about it.
“What if I miss you, Daddy?”
“Call me. We can video call too.”
“But I can only see you but not hug you. Daddy, you must come back soon, okay?”
“I will.”
Evan gently rubbed Maya’s head. He would miss Maya the most when he was not around.
Nina ran back to her room to retrieve a painting. “Here. A painting of our family. Bring it with you.”
“Should I get you something too, Daddy?”
Evan paused for a moment and did not know how to react. “All right, all right. Time for bed. Daddy has an early flight to catch tomorrow.”
Nicole did not like their reactions. Not one bit. Why do they make this temporary separation feel like a matter of life and death?
The four little ones bounced off the couch and went back to their room.
Even when Evan was about to leave the next day, Nicole was still not mentally prepared to let him go.
“Come back soon.”
Nicole instantly felt embarrassed by how clingy she was. It was as if she could not live without him.
Evan’s mouth curved into a smile. He gently nodded and said, “Okay. Let’s go hiking with the kids this Saturday. Wait for me.”
“Okay, Daddy.”
“Thank you, Daddy.”
The children emerged from nowhere and interrupted their conversation.
After sending Evan off, Nicole told the children to finish up their breakfast quickly to avoid being late for kindergarten.
Upon arriving at K Nation, Evan and John immediately got in touch with their own people.
About half an hour later, Evan checked in to a presidential suite. A person stood in front of him and said respectfully, “Mr. Seet, that Howie Delton you’re looking for owns a semiconductor company, and he has been trying to find out about the development of our chips. He must have viewed our company as his business rival.”
“Is he afraid of us stealing a piece of his pie?”
“Once we launch our chips, many semiconductor businesses would be affected. Howie’s company would take the worst hit as it was the key player in the industry. That’s all the information we have for now.”
Evan remained silent for a moment. If he sees me as his competitor and wants to get rid of me, he could have come after me.
Instead, he chose to approach me by using Sylphiette and even delivered the letter to Grandpa. It seems like everything he did was to keep me away from Nicole. I’m afraid it has nothing to do with business rivalry.
“Can you make an appointment with Howie? I would like to meet him.”
“I… I’ll try, sir.”
“All right.”
“Any news on Zane?”
“Yes, sir. You can meet him anytime you want.”
“Find someone to follow him for now. We’ll bring him back to the country after this.”
“All right, sir.”
In the late evening, Evan arrived at the K Winery and had a meeting with Howie in the VIP room.
Evan was surprised to see how ordinary Howie looked.
Howie looked just like any businessman but steadier, and every answer he gave was well thought out.
When Evan asked him why did he help Sylphiette, he said he was doing Zane a favor because they were close friends.
“That’s all?”
Howie remained calm throughout the conversation. He even casually asked Evan, “Why makes you think I lied?”
Evan did not know how to respond to his question. He then asked Howie about the letter he sent to Russell.
“How did you know about the accident, and why did you give the letter and the photos to Grandpa?”
