My Billionaire Husband

Meanwhile, Marie as waiting anxiously inside the car. Even though the Reyes family was nothing compared to her own, they were now in Emerdale, not Valenham. In other words, they were in the Reyes family’s territory, and the Henderson family had very little influence here.

Dejection filled Marie’s heart. How she wished they were back in Valenham now. At the moment, she felt like a lioness in the ocean. No matter how powerful a lioness was on land, it could never defeat a shark in water. In Valenham, nobody would mess with her; but in Emerdale, she was a nobody, a sitting duck. She was completely out of her element.

When Leo didn’t return after ten full minutes, Marie began to panic. If something were to happen to him, how was she ever supposed to tell Lydia? Lydia would never forgive her.

Two figures stepped out of the Royale Clubhouse just then. A man and a woman. A couple. It wasn’t until the couple was a few feet away from the car that Marie realized who they were. Leo and Nadine had returned.

Relief coursed through Marie. The Rolls-Royce was unlocked and its door yanked open. “Oh, thank God you’re back, Leo… I thought… I thought you were…”

Leo gave her an amused look. “What?”

From Marie’s stuttering and stammering, Leo knew Marie had been panicking.

“Oh, shut up,” Marie mumbled. “I was just worried.”

Marie felt her cheeks grow warm. This was her first time voicing concern for Leo.

When the car began to move, Marie cleared her throat. “Anyway. What about Cedric?”

“It’s all settled,” Leo said. “You don’t have to worry about him anymore.”

Marie frowned in confusion. “Settled? Just like that?”

Leo nodded, the look of amusement never leaving his face. “Just like that.”

Marie stared at her brother-in-law, stunned at the revelation. Cedric Reyes was one of the most powerful men in all of Emerdale, and Leo had dealt with him in all of ten minutes? How on earth did he manage to pull it off? Marie stole a glance at Leo, who appeared to be engrossed in the passing scenery outside the car window. “Leo?”

“Yes?” Leo answered while still staring out the window.

“How…” Marie cleared her throat again. “I mean, what did you do?”

“You don’t have to concern yourself with that.” Leo paused to give Marie a reassuring smile. “Although I do recommend checking out the headlines tomorrow.”

Surprise flitted in Marie’s eyes. “Headlines?” Marie frowned. “Why?”

Leo’s lips curved upwards. With a soft chuckle, he returned his gaze to the trees flying past them outside the window. The Reyes family would definitely try to get in touch by tomorrow the latest.

Thanks to Nadine’s superb driving skills, they made it back to Violet Residences in record time. At 8. 30 p. m. sharp, the vehicle pulled up in front of the house.

Leo smirked at the paleness in his sister-in-law’s face. The poor girl looked green around the gills, and Leo couldn’t blame her. Nadine had truly outdone herself in trying to follow Leo’s directive of making sure that they all make it back home before 8. 30 p. m. Throughout the entire drive, Nadine had unleashed her high-performance driving skills, weaving between lanes, pushing the Rolls-Royce to its limits. And poor Marie’s stomach had had just about enough.

Marie had always boasted about her driving skills, calling herself the “Goddess of Racing.” But after witnessing Nadine’s skills tonight, Marie realized that she didn’t know a damn thing about driving. After what she saw, Marie would never boast about her own driving skills again.

Marie’s body swayed the minute the stepped out of the car. “Oh God…”

Leo watched her in amusement. “You alright?”

Marie held on to the car. “Oh… shit… I think I’m gonna…”

Marie turned to the side and hurled out the contents of her stomach.

Before Leo could step forward to help Marie, a voice sounded behind him, a voice he was beginning to know and love: “Daddy! You’re home!”

Leo spun around and saw Emilia charging towards him. In an instant, Leo’s spirit soared, rising to the sky, plunging into a cloud of happiness. Before he knew it, he was crouching down and holding his arms wide open. Seconds later, Emilia’s tiny figure crashed into his chest. And at that moment, he knew. He knew that he was truly home. “Why aren’t you in bed yet, Emilia?” Leo pulled back to look at his daughter. “It’s late, you know?”

A patio’s look formed on Emilia’s features. “I couldn’t sleep without you, Daddy.”

Guilt tugged at Leo’s chest. “I’m sorry, Emilia.” He patted his daughter’s head. “I had something to take care of tonight.”

A huge pout formed on Emilia’s lips. “Humph!” Emilia turned away and lifted her chin haughtily. “I won’t speak to you ever again if you come home late next time.”

“What? Why?” Leo gave Emilia a helpless look. Admittedly, he was totally out of his element here.

Clearly, little Emilia Cohen was used to getting her own way. Leo decided right then that Emilia’s personality obviously took after her mother.

A moment later, Emilia placed her hands on her hips, much to Leo’s amusement. It looked as though she was about to give Leo an epic dressing-down. “In the past, when you were away, I’d always hear Mommy crying alone in her room,” Emilia said in a serious tone. “Now that you’re back, would you please spend more time with her?”

Emilia’s words hit Leo like a ton of bricks. Even Lydia, who came out shortly after Emilia ran into his arms, was stunned into silence.

Guilt lanced through Leo like a thousand swords. It was all his fault. He’d let Lydia carry the burden of raising a child alone. And he would spend the rest of his days making up for it.

“I will,” Leo said solemnly.

The change in Emilia’s demeanor was almost instantaneous. Her tiny hands left her hips as she began clapping happily. “Yay!” Emilia beamed. “Did you hear that, Mommy? Daddy said he’s going to spend more time with us!”

Seeing Emilia’s change in mood, Leo and Lydia heaved a sigh in relief.

Suddenly, Emilia’s clapping stopped. “Daddy?” Emilia gave Leo a hopeful look. “Would you sleep with us tonight? Please?”

Leo’s jaw went slack. When he stole a cautious glance at Lydia, he realized that she was looking right back at him.

Their eyes met across the meager space between them, though the eye contact lasted only for a split second as both of them quickly averted their gazes.

That detail didn’t go unnoticed by Marie, who had recovered from her motion sickness.

Marie’s gaze swept from Leo to Lydia like some kind of high-tech radar. If it weren’t for Emilia’s tactless remark, Marie never would’ve found out that Leo and her sister hadn’t been sharing a room.

In hindsight, Marie thought it made sense.

Emilia’s birth clearly wasn’t planned. For five whole years, her sister probably didn’t even know what the girl’s father looked like until he showed up recently. Even though they were legally married, they were still practically strangers.Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

And as someone who knew her sister’s personality inside and out, Marie knew that Lydia would never share a room with a man she didn’t know, legal husband or not.

Moments later, Lydia recovered from the shock brought on by Emilia’s thoughtless remark. Heat crept up Lydia’s neck before settling in her cheeks. “Emilia Cohen!” Lydia snapped. “Enough with that nonsense!” The more Lydia spoke, the angrier she became. “Sleeping together? Who taught you all that?”

Emilia flinched at her mother’s sharp tone and quickly hid herself behind her father. When her mother stopped talking, Emilia peeked out from behind her daddy’s leg.

Between her two parents, Emilia was clearly more terrified of her mother.

“Easy there, Lydia,” Leo said gently. “You’ve scared her.” Leo gave Lydia a tiny smile. “I’m sure she didn’t mean it like that.”

Leo’s words were like a bucket of ice water dousing the fires of Lydia’s anger. Realizing that she had overreacted, Lydia softened her features. “I’m so sorry.” Lydia crouched down. “I shouldn’t have raised my voice at you.” Lydia sighed. “But would you please tell me where you learned all this stuff?”

“Okay, Mommy.” Emilia stepped out from behind Leo’s legs. “Well… All my friends at the kindergarten told me that their parents slept in the same room every night.” Emilia’s face crumpled, and she broke into sobs. “This is so unfair! All my friends have their dads to keep them company when they sleep. Why can’t Daddy do the same for me?” Emilia sniffed loudly. “I don’t care! I want to sleep together with Mommy and Daddy!”

“Okay, okay,” Leo cooed gently. “I’ll sleep beside you tonight. Please don’t cry, Emilia.”

Emilia sniffed and rubbed her eyes. “Mommy?”

Those watery eyes landed on Lydia, tugging on her heartstrings.

Feeling conflicted, Lydia looked towards Leo, who appeared to be studying her intently.

Having mistaken her mother’s hesitance for reluctance, Emilia burst into tears again, her sobs so much louder this time. “Mommy doesn’t want to sleep with us! Mommy is a meanie!”

More sobs sounded, and Lydia went into a panic. “Okay, Emilia! Okay! I’ll sleep with you two.”

Emilia’s tears stopped almost instantly. “Mommy…?” Emilia yawned. “I’m sleepy.”

Emilia turned to face her mother and opened her arms wide.

Lydia took the cue and pulled Emilia into her arms. Lydia rose to her feet with Emilia clinging on to her torso. As Lydia made her way back towards the house, she turned her head around to look at Leo. “I’ll allow you to sleep upstairs tonight.”

After that, Lydia and Emilia’s figures disappeared through the front door while Leo remained in a state of stupor.

He clearly saw Lydia in Emilia’s embrace, smiling at him in a mischievous manner.