Ch. 491..495: The Adorable Twins and Their CEO Daddy Chapter 491-495
Chapter 491
“I have something urgent to deal with. I’ll call you back later! Bye!” Corbin seemed upset. After hanging up the phone, he looked at Maurice and asked, “Boss, what should we do now?”
“Damn it!” Maurice was furious!
The Stone family had the nerve to play trick on him!
He was so furious that he nearly crushed the phone in his hand.
“Boss, since the matter is settled, shouldn’t we get Eliana from Gerald first?” Corbin suggested.
Maurice tried to hold back his anger and worries about Eliana. He said to Corbin, “Calm down. We must first solve the current problems. Let’s deal with everything before Eliana hears this news…”
If Maurice’s troubles were almost solved, Eliana’s were only just beginning.
Eliana and Lucia followed Gerald to his villa.
Although Gerald and Maurice were from the same family, they were very different in almost everything. Even their tastes for interior design were very different.
Maurice’s villa was discreet but showed wealth and status. It had no fancy decorations. Instead, anyone who entered Maurice’s villa appreciated the sober style and noble taste. On the contrary, Gerald’s villa was extremely luxurious. It seemed like he wanted anyone who came to his house to see how rich he was! In fact, far from being charming, Gerald’s villa looked like an upstart’s house with mediocre taste.
As they walked into the villa, Lucia sighed. “It’s hard to believe that Gerald and Mr. Moran are from the same family. They have very different tastes.”
The only thing that didn’t match the luxurious decorating style of Gerald’s villa was an oil painting hanging on the wall in the living room.
Eliana’s attention was attracted by the painting and she couldn’t help staring at it for a while.
This painting looked familiar to her. Why did it look like her mother’s work?
As this thought crossed her mind, Eliana walked over and stood closer to the painting.
Lucia also noticed the oil painting and stared at it with a frown. “This painting looks very familiar to me. I think I once saw it at an auction. The painter was very mysterious. No one know who it is, or whether it is a man or a woman.”
Eliana didn’t comment what Lucia said. She seemed to be engrossed in the canvas.
Seeing that Eliana was so absorbed by the painting, Lucia suddenly thought of something. She looked at Eliana and said seriously, “Eliana, you know who painted this canvas, right? That’s why you suddenly stopped in front of it.”
However, Eliana didn’t answer and looked at the painting carefully. Then, at the lower right corner of the canvas, she saw the familiar signature. There was also a mark on the canvas that was accidentally made by her when she was a child.
She had guessed right. This canvas had been painted by her mother!
But why was her mother’s work in Gerald’s house?
“What’s wrong, Miss Pierce? Do you like this painting?”
Gerald appeared out of nowhere and asked.
“Mr. Moran, this canvas was painted by my mother. May I ask you how you acquired it?”
Eliana stared intently at Gerald, waiting for his answer. She wanted to know the truth.
At this moment, a look of nostalgia appeared on Gerald’s face. He sighed and said, “I specifically sought out this painting after the Pierce family went bankrupt. In fact, I had known your mother, Ingrid, when we were young. We were good friends back then. We even studied in the same high school. Alas, we each went our separate ways later…”
Gerald then went on to tell Eliana a lot of things about him and Ingrid.
“I had never thought that you knew my mother, let alone that you were old friends.”
Eliana made it seem as if she trusted Gerald now. However, she was still very vigilant inside.
Gerald was telling anecdotes about him and Ingrid with great enthusiasm. However, Eliana had never heard her mother mention Gerald.
It didn’t make sense.
Eliana and her mother were very close and talked about everything. In fact, Ingrid wasn’t the kind of person who wouldn’t talk about her friends, let alone her best friends. Why then had she never talked about Gerald?
“Since you and my mother were so familiar with each other, what do you know about my father’s suicide and the bankruptcy of my family? My… Did my mother have any enemy?”
Eliana mentioned these painful events on purpose. She was trying to sound out Gerald.
She still remembered what Asher had told her a long time ago.
He said that it was all her mother’s fault that the Pierce family went bankruptcy!
Because of that, Eliana had always suspected that her mother had some enemies at that time, and that they were the ones who destroyed the Pierce Group, probably for revenge.
Now Gerald was telling her that he was an old friend of her mother’s. Eliana knew Gerald’s reputation, and she found it unlikely that her mother could have had someone like him as a friend. Something was wrong.
When Gerald heard Eliana’s question, his face suddenly changed.
Chapter 492
“Actually, your mother and I hadn’t seen each other for many years. When I heard about her again, something had already happened to the Pierce Group. So I didn’t know the inside story, and I didn’t know what kind of enemy your mother had,” Gerald said casually with a somewhat unnatural expression on his face.
And his attitude made Eliana even more suspicious.
Just when she was about to ask something else, he suddenly changed the subject.
“Well, let’s not talk about this for now. As your mother’s friend, I have to remind you that Maurice and Miss Stone must get married in the future. This time, Maurice was so nervous when he saw Miss Stone get hurt. It was also because of the future alliance between the Stone family and the Moran family.”
“Why are you telling me this, Mr. Moran? What do you mean?”
As she asked, Eliana felt a dull pain in her heart.
Gerald said earnestly, “Miss Pierce, you are still young, and you have to plan for your future too. If you allow yourself to be my nephew’s mistress for the rest of your life, your identity will remain a skeleton in the closet even if you give birth to a child for him. And you won’t get any benefit from the Moran family. So why don’t you find another way out as early as now?”
After saying this, he looked at her meaningfully. Judging from his words, he seemed to want to ingratiate himself with her.
However, his gaze only made her uncomfortable. She always felt that there was something wrong with the way he looked at her.
“What do you think, Miss Pierce?” Gerald asked again.
Looking at Eliana’s face, which bore more than a passing resemblance to Ingrid, he couldn’t help but take a step closer to her.
All of a sudden, Lucia calmly stepped forward to separate them.
“Mr. Moran, it’s getting late, and we are hungry. You won’t refuse to let us eat at your home, right?”
Gerald stopped and vigilantly looked at Eliana and Lucia. He immediately adjusted his expression.
It seemed that he couldn’t rush.
So he smiled and said, “Of course not. What do you want to eat, Miss Pierce? I have a chef at home who can cook whatever you want.”
It was Lucia who spoke up. “Really? If that’s the case, we won’t stand on ceremony then.” Then she started ordering at once. “We’ll have beef for the main course. It doesn’t need to be too expensive. Just the Japanese A5 Wagyu is fine. It’s also a season for caviar, so we’ll have caviar and truffles. And…”
She ordered several very expensive dishes in succession.
Every time she mentioned those dishes, Gerald’s mouth twitched. His heart ached, but he couldn’t show it in front of them.
“Okay, that’s all. Mr. Moran, is it all right?”
Lucia turned to Gerald and blinked, looking very innocent.
“Of course! You can enjoy yourselves,” Gerald responded, reluctantly agreeing.
He couldn’t lose face in front of these beauties, so he could only grit his teeth.
Eliana was stunned for a moment. Then she looked at Lucia, who was very familiar with expensive dishes. And her doubts even deepened.
The average working class could not afford these dishes at all. Then she thought of that Aston Martin.
She was more confused. Who the hell was Lucia?
If it weren’t for the situation she was in now, she really wanted to ask about it.
After the chef finished cooking, Gerald took Eliana and Lucia to the dining room.
After an expensive dinner, Gerald arranged separate rooms for the two of them.
Lucia found that Gerald had arranged her room far away from Eliana’s. She was alarmed, so she opposed, “No. Our boss sent me to take care of Eliana. I have to stay next to her.”
Gerald frowned. He couldn’t continue showing a good attitude to Lucia, who was ruining his plans over and over again.
But before he could say anything, Eliana remarked, “I think Lucia is right. We have to stay close to each other. I’m here to wait for Maurice to find out the whole thing and prove my innocence. Besides, if Lucia and I take care of each other, it will save you some trouble. Mr. Moran, you won’t refuse such a small request, right?”
Her suspicious gaze left him with no choice but to compromise.
“Okay, Miss Pierce. Your wish is my command,” Gerald said. Then he turned to the servant and ordered, “Arrange two adjoining rooms for these two ladies.”
Eliana and Lucia then turned around and left. Watching their receding backs, he pulled a long face, and his eyes darkened.
He told the servant, “Remember, add sleeping pills to the milk that you will send to Lucia and Eliana tonight. Do you understand?”
The servant immediately nodded respectfully.
As he looked at Eliana’s slender back, Gerald’s eyes were full of obscenity.
He had to get her tonight.
Chapter 493
In the evening, Eliana was sitting on her bed and thinking about something when there was a sudden knock on her bedroom door.
A voice came from behind the closed door, saying, “Miss Pierce, Mr. Moran asked me to bring you some warm milk.”
“Come in,” Eliana said casually.
The servant came in, holding a tray on which there was a glass of warm milk.
However, Eliana was so restless at this moment and she was in no mood to drink milk.
She took the milk and put it on the bedside table.
“Okay, you can go now,” she said to the servant.
Seeing that Eliana didn’t drink the milk, the servant was flustered.
Gerald had ordered her to make sure Eliana drank up the milk.
What should she do now?
The servant didn’t dare to leave without having made sure Eliana drank the milk. She had no choice but to urge Eliana, “Miss Pierce, you should drink the milk while it’s still warm.”
“I’ll drink it later. You’d better leave now. I need to sleep now,” Eliana said indifferently.
“Okay… Good night, Miss Pierce. Remember to drink the milk.”
To press her further would arouse her suspicion, so the servant had no choice but to leave the room.
After that, Eliana locked the door of her bedroom. As for the milk, she had already forgotten it.
Lying in the bed, she couldn’t fall asleep. She kept thinking about what had happened today.
How was Maurice now?
Did they catch the person who set her up?
Feeling restless, Eliana took out her cellphone and browsed through social media. She was stunned to see all the recent articles about Maurice and Harriet.
“Harriet, the daughter of the Stone family, faints!”
“Are the CEO of the Moran Group and Harriet Stone going to get married?”
“The Stone family and the Moran family won’t only cooperate in business, but will also unite by marriage!”
“Mr. Moran and Miss Stone, the perfect match!”
As she read all these headlines, Eliana thought back to what Gerald said. At this moment, she couldn’t help feeling disappointed and hurt.
It seemed that what Gerald said was not completely false. Maurice and Harriet were really going to get married. She therefore had to put an end to her relationship with Maurice.
It didn’t matter to Eliana that she was treated unfairly. She couldn’t let her kids be badly affected by all of this.
Eliana was feeling depressed right now. Then all of a sudden, a message with the link of the live stream of the press conference held by Maurice popped up on her mobile phone.
She subconsciously clicked on the link.
During the press conference, Maurice denied all rumors about a possible marriage with Harriet.
He also said that Harriet had had an allergy earlier today and that was why she fainted. He made it clear that no one intentionally tried to harm Harriet. He added that the Moran Group’s legal team would take legal action against the person who dared to spread the rumor that someone had tried to murder Harriet.
Eliana was both pleased and moved when she heard Maurice’s statement.
He kept his word!
Maurice wouldn’t marry Harriet. Moreover, he even helped Eliana prove her innocence.
Eliana found herself wishing Maurice could be here with her, so she could give him a big hug.
Meanwhile, Lucia also received a cup of warm milk in her room. She drank it up without thinking too much.
Just as she finished drinking the milk, her phone suddenly rang. It was a call from Corbin.
“Lucia, are you all right in Gerald’s house? Did he try to make things difficult for you in any way?”
Corbin sounded very worried.
“We’re fine. You and Mr. Moran can rest assured. I will take good care of Eliana,” Lucia said firmly.
But suddenly, she felt dizzy and was beginning to lose consciousness.
“Lucia…”
After only a few seconds, Lucia was already sleeping soundly.
“Hello? Hello? Lucia? What’s wrong with you?”
Corbin called Lucia again and again, but she said nothing. All he could hear was her regular breathing.
Was she so tired? Why did she fall asleep so abruptly?
Corbin wanted to call Lucia again, but the press conference was over now and reporters surrounded him. He had no choice but to hang up the phone and deal with the matter at hand first.
Chapter 494
It was getting late at night, and the light was still on in Gerald’s room.
Sitting on an armchair, Gerald slowly sipped a glass of red wine.
He was busy watching the surveillance video on his computer. It was a video from Eliana’s bedroom. Eliana didn’t know that Gerald had placed surveillance cameras in her room. Right now she was sleeping soundly.
From the moment she entered the room, Gerald was watching her intently. She was like a bird in a cage.
Gerald couldn’t help sneering when he saw the untouched milk on the bedside table.
He had actually put sleeping pills in the milk. However, he didn’t expect that Eliana wouldn’t drink the milk at all. Apparently, she was very vigilant.
Unlike Eliana, Lucia had drank up the milk and fallen into a deep sleep. Even though Eliana did not drink the milk, she was still sound asleep. He could take action now.
“Sean! Come in,” Gerald called out.
The door was opened almost immediately and Sean walked into the room.
“Mr. Moran, what can I do for you?” Sean asked respectfully.
“Now that Eliana is sound asleep, we can carry on our plan!” Gerald said with a determined smile.
“Okay! But there’s one thing I don’t understand,” Sean said with a confused look.
“Eliana is here with you. Why would you spend so much energy trying to make others believe she escaped?” he asked.
Gerald was annoyed by his secretary’s stupid question. He cast a sidelong glance at Sean and said, “You’re really an idiot! Everyone in the company knows that I have taken away Eliana. If something happens to her, they would obviously know I have something to do with it.”
It wasn’t until he heard his boss’ explanation that Sean finally understood what his boss had in mind.
“I see. So that’s why you want me to pretend to be Maurice’s man and take Eliana away. You want to frame Maurice!”
Gerald scoffed, “You might not be that stupid after all. If Maurice’s man takes Eliana away and something bad happens to her afterwards, I can’t be blamed, can I? Maurice would take the blame, and no matter how hard he searches, he will never find Eliana. In the end, I will be controlling him. At that moment, I will make sure he suffers all the humiliations I have suffered because of him!”
“You’re a genius, Mr. Moran. You’ll achieve two goals simultaneously! Mr. Moran, I admire you so much! You’re so smart!”
Sean’s praise was sincere.
Gerald then looked back at his computer screen. His eyes shone with lust as he looked at Eliana’s sleeping figure. She looked so much like Ingrid!
Gerald had always been obsessed with Ingrid. Since he couldn’t get Ingrid, Eliana would soon become his woman.
In the room, Eliana wasn’t really sleeping. Her eyes were only closed. She was about to fall asleep when she suddenly heard someone turning the key to open the door.
His eyes widened in shock and the sleepiness suddenly vanished.
Who was trying to slip into her room at this time?
Eliana knew clearly that no matter who it was, the person clearly had ulterior motives.
She quickly got out of the bed and rushed to the door. She leaned against the door, trying to stop the person from entering into her room.
“Who is it?” she asked dryly.
Dressed in black, Sean was standing outside the door. His face was covered with a mask. He was stunned when he heard Eliana’s voice. He didn’t expect her to be awake. He quickly said in a low voice, “Miss Pierce, open the door. I’m the person Mr. Moran sent to rescue you.”
It was Eliana’s turn to be stunned. “Maurice sent you here?” she asked again.
Sean pretended to be anxious and replied, “Yes, we have to leave here quickly. Miss Pierce, open the door now. If we don’t leave now, it will be too late!”
Was this man really sent by Maurice?
Feeling something was wrong, Eliana asked tentatively, “What about Lucia?”
Sean couldn’t help wondering what was wrong with Eliana! Instead of trying to save herself, she was worried about others.
Although he was a little impatient, he had no choice but to patiently explain, “She will be fine. She has nothing to do with what happened today. The Stone family is determined to harm you. Mr. Moran is afraid that Gerald would hand you to the Stone family, so he asked me to take you away as soon as possible.”
Sean sounded very sincere. Moreover, his tone was anxious, as if there was really an emergency. However, Eliana was still skeptical.
Could she believe a man she had never seen nor heard of only because he claimed he was sent by Maurice to rescue her?
Being hesitant, Eliana was still unwilling to open the door.
Seeing that she was still hesitant, Sean decided to say something shocking to get her to open the door.
“Miss Pierce, there is one more thing that Mr. Moran wants me to tell you. He took your two kids to another house for their safety. The little girl seems to be sick. That’s also why Mr. Moran asked me to take you out in such a hurry!”
“What? Aileen is sick?”
In Eliana’s heart, her children were the most important for her. The moment Sean mentioned Adrian and Aileen, she immediately panicked.
Hearing that Aileen was sick, Eliana quickly opened the door.
Seeing that she finally opened the door, Sean was ecstatic.
“You said Aileen is sick?” Eliana asked anxiously, grabbing Sean’s shoulder.
“Yes!”
Sean nodded seriously.
“Let’s leave here quickly. I have to take care of Aileen,” Eliana said anxiously.
She was so worried that she lowered her vigilance. She had no idea that she had fallen into Gerald’s trap.
Chapter 495
Sean and Eliana had escaped from Gerald’s villa.
It was pitch dark outside but they could make out the silhouette of the car waiting for them. Sean pushed Eliana inside the car. He did it so fast that Eliana was not able to get a good look at the car.
Two burly men dressed in black were already in the car.
“Aileen!” Eliana blurted. She was worried about Aileen. “I need to know how she is. Let me call Maurice.”
She took out her phone and began to tap the dial pad.
“No! You can’t call him!” Sean then held Eliana’s hand to prevent her from using her phone.
“Why not?”
Eliana eyed Sean suspiciously. She now came back to her senses.
“Because… Because…” Sean was trying to think of a palatable excuse for Eliana. “Your phone… Your phone is being monitored!”
“Monitored?” Eliana was shocked.
“Yeah, they are keeping track of your movement. Using your phone will alert them of where you are. So turn off your phone, Miss Pierce. Now!”
Sean couldn’t believe how fast he had thought of an excuse. He was quite proud of his quick reaction. He let out a soft sigh.
Eliana was beginning to think that something seemed wrong.
She couldn’t put her finger on it just yet, but she felt that something was wrong from the very beginning!
Eliana closed her eyes and pictured the escape in her mind. That was it! The escape had been smooth… all the way!
Gerald warned her that he would watch her carefully. How could he be so lax in guarding her? And so, she was able to escape almost effortlessly.
And Aileen… if she was really ill, Maurice would tell her. Why didn’t he?
Something was really wrong with this escape. Maurice might not have anything to do with it. Maybe it wasn’t even him who sent these people.
Sean had no inkling that Eliana had already seen through his trick. Staring at Eliana’s phone, he insisted, “Miss Pierce, turned off your phone.”
Eliana was in a quandary and she didn’t know what to do.
She had to rack her brain for her next move. What should she do now?
She took a deep breath and began gathering her thoughts. Soon enough, an idea came to her.
“You’re right. I’ll turn off my phone right now!”
Eliana made a big show about turning off her phone. But she didn’t. When Sean wasn’t looking, she secretly called the emergency contact.
Maurice had told her that emergency contact was actually his personal phone numbers.
Eliana hoped that Maurice might come to save her when he saw the caller ID.
Alas, the dial pad lit up and one of the men in black took notice of it.
“She is calling someone! She is calling someone!”
The man who sat next to Eliana snatched the phone from her just as the call had been connected.
“Give my phone back!”
Eliana tried to wrestle the phone from the man who immediately hung up.
“It seems that you have thought of what had really happened.” Sean had changed his tone. He was no longer pretending to be nice. “Attempting to call for help? It’s too late for that now. You two keep an eye on her!”
Sean sat in the driver’s seat. He then stepped on the accelerator and drove the car.
Eliana started screaming as her hands were being tied by the two men.
“Who are you? What is it that you want with me?”
Eliana’s screaming irritated Sean. He looked at the rearview mirror, so he could see Eliana. “Will you shut up? Can’t you see that I’m driving?” Addressing the two men at the back seat, he barked, “Shut her mouth up!”
“And how are we going to do that?” one of the men asked in a slack tone. “We don’t have anything we can use to shut her up.”
This infuriated Sean all the more. He wouldn’t have to take these idiots if he had a choice. Maurice had been cruel and nearly dealt with all the men of his boss the last time.
Sean put his one hand in his pants’ pocket to take a handkerchief. “Here! Use this on her!”
He then threw the handkerchief at the two men. “Make sure to tie it over her mouth securely!”
The angrier Sean got, the more he forgot to disguise his voice.
Eliana could now recognize his voice. She knew who he was.
He was Gerald’s secretary!
So this was all Gerald’s doings!
Knowing the truth helped little. Her hands were tied and the two men were trying to cover her mouth with the handkerchief.
Eliana knew she had to think fast, and instantly, an idea occurred to her. “Wait!” she said in a voice that only the two men could hear.
She startled the two men. One of them snarled at her, “What’s wrong with you?”
“I just remembered something,” Eliana said in a tone that conveyed urgency. “I left something in my house. It’s invaluable. I must go back and take it with me!”
The two men’s eyes lit up when they heard the word ‘invaluable’.
One of the men in black asked suspiciously, “Really?”
“Of course, it is! Please let me go. I could sell it for a handsome price. I promise that I’ll divide the money I’ll get between the two of you,” Eliana said, trying her best to sound like she had to come back for an invaluable thing in her house.