Chapter 216
Chapter 216
Greg's brows were tightly knitted, and his hands dug into Abigail's shoulders as if he would never let go.
Abigail felt like teasing him when she saw how worked up he was becoming.
"What of me? Your mother looks down on me, and yet I'm supposed to act like I'd die without you just to prove that my feelings for you are real?"
Her retort vexed Greg even further.
"You could show a teeny bit of reluctance, couldn't you? Why do I feel like you don't even care whether I leave or not? Abigail, you're not still thinking about breaking up with me, are you? I'm warning you, and it's till death do we part, so don't even think about leaving me."
Greg spat his words out as domineeringly as he could, but at the very next moment, Abigail tiptoed and planted her lips onto his.
Her arms circled around his neck, and though their kiss was pretty tame, it still took Greg by surprise, but he soon responded in kind and deepened the kiss.
Things got rather hot and heavy as they continued kissing in each other's embrace.
Just then, Teal came out for a glass of water, but as soon as she spotted the scene by the balcony, she quickly fled back into the study.
Oh my god! Aren't they getting a little too into it in public?
Teal's face was red as she gingerly closed the door to not disturb them.
Soon, Abigail finally pushed Greg off as she gasped for breath.
"Are you trying to suffocate me?"
She pouted and glared at Greg.
Greg chuckled. "Haven't you learned how to control your breathing yet? We should practice a little more."
"In your dreams!"
Abigail tried to stomp on Greg's feet, but he sidestepped it.
He pulled her back into his arms and murmured into her ear, "Trust me. I'll put an end to all this."
"Don't strain your relationship with your mother, or it'll put me in an even tougher position. If you're determined to marry me and me alone, then your mother will become my mother-in-law, but she and I won't be able to get along at all if you fall out with her as well."
Although they could not get along now, at the very least, Abigail had to try to be more gracious about it.
Greg's expression was complicated.
"You don't hate my mother?"
"Do you want to hear the truth?"
Abigail let go of Greg and said coolly, "I won't deny that I'm not fond of her, but I don't hate her. She and I have different standpoints. I'm a mother, so I know what she's worried about. I just disagree with her and her methods."
"Thank you, Abigail. I'll make sure my mother apologizes to you."
Greg was dead serious about this, which took Abigail by surprise.
She knew very well what Valerie meant to Greg. Valerie had raised him as a single parent for all these years, and he rarely defied anything she said. Now, not only was he defying Valerie, but he was also going to make her apologize. It seemed like quite an impossible challenge.
However, Abigail saw the determination in Greg's eyes, so she did not want to dampen his zeal. Rather, she smiled and said, "Just do your best."
Valerie was an elder, so there was nothing Abigail could do, even if Valerie refused to apologize.
"Take good care of yourself. I'll come for you in three days."
Greg caressed Abigail's face with an adoring look in his eyes.
"Okay. I'll be right here. I won't go anywhere," Abigail promised.
Greg bent down and kissed her fiercely once more before pushing her away and leaving resolutely.
He dared not turn back to look at her. He might not be willing to leave if he did.
Abigail felt reluctant, too, as she watched him walking away resolutely.
The two cheeky girls swiftly closed their door.
Arianna's face was scarlet. She tugged at Alissa and said, "Allie, we shouldn't be spying on people. You're too…"
"Too what? Why are you talking as if you didn't see anything? If anything, we should blame them for being so shameless and kissing in the living room! Aren't they afraid of people seeing them?" Alissa announced matter-of-factly, but her face was burning too.
Oh gosh! That was too much! Is that something a child like me should be seeing?
She would not be able to look her parents in the eyes again.
Alissa quickly turned the television on to watch something and calm down.
This memory would be taking years off her life!
Arianna had nothing to say in retort, so she started looking up laptops on her phone instead.
The room fell into silence.
Abigail stayed on the balcony for a bit longer, and once she calmed down completely, she went into the study. She wanted to discuss the treatment plans with Teal, but the glint in Teal's eyes made her uncomfortable.
"Can you stop looking at me like that?"
"Dr. Kain, I think you and Mr. Buckley should adjourn to the bedroom next time."
"Teal Reeve!"
Abigail was completely red in the face.
Teal covered her mouth to muffle her laughter, and Abigail broke out in laughter herself.
"How can you be so shameless? Spying is one thing, but you're shameless enough to bring it up too."
"You weren't embarrassed when you did it, so why should I be embarrassed for seeing it?"
Their friendship deepened after this eventful day.
After leaving the Reeve residence, Greg drove straight to Valerie.
Valerie was surprised to see that Greg had returned, but her expression was displeased.
"I'm surprised you still know the way home," Valerie grumbled with a hint of dissatisfaction.
Greg had tossed everything to her in a huff even though she had not touched anything to do with work in a very long time. She was nearly driven mad by all the things she had to do when he left the company and Night Assassino to her. Now that he was back, she immediately commanded him, "Hurry up and deal with all the work that's piled up. How can you still be so willful at this age? Do you still think you're a child?"
Despite having foreseen this, Greg still felt bad when he saw how tired Valerie looked, but he said softly, "Mom, we need to talk."
"Talk about what? If you want to talk about Abigail, I think there's nothing more to say. That woman cannot step foot into our Buckley Family! I told you many times that you are free to date any woman from any class of society, but you can't date a woman like her! So, you might as well give up sooner rather than later."
Valerie's head throbbed every time she thought of Abigail.
She had a pretty good impression of Abigail at the start, and she never thought that Abigail would be such a person.
"By the way, Troy has worked with you for so many years, but you still treated him like that just for the sake of a woman. Don't you care about your friendship at all? He knows all your secrets, but you let him go free after offending him like that? Do you think that you're invincible?"
Valerie massaged her temples, but her words were firm and left no room for rebuttal.
Greg waited for her to finish before saying, "I won't be using Troy ever again. If he wants to move against me, then so be it. I'm not afraid of anyone. If you bring him back, Mom, I have a million and one ways to do away with him without anyone knowing."
"Foolish boy!" Valerie exploded as soon as she heard what he said.
"Are you going to willfully put yourself in harm's way just because of Abigail? Greg, don't you know that what I'm doing is all for your own good?"
"I know you're doing what you think is best for me, Mom, but Abigail is the only woman I want to spend the rest of my life with, just like how you feel about Dad. After all these years, even though you and Dad have divorced, you didn't try and find another man. Isn't it because he's irreplaceable to you?"
This was the first time that Greg brought up his father to Valerie.
Valerie was taken aback by his words.
She stared at him in shock as she never expected such a retort from her son. Ever since he became a grown-up, he could handle everything that came his way, and she never had to worry about him. Then, suddenly, he brought up her past relationship, which finally made her realize how deep his feelings were.
"How can she compare to your Dad? I was with your Dad for five years, so how can you compare your relationship to ours when you've only been with Abigail for a few months?"
"Timing doesn't matter when it comes to love. Mom, I have my heart set on her."
Greg's words left Valerie feeling a little helpless.
"Greg, I'm not trying to interfere with your love life. You know that I've respected every decision you've made all these years, but Abigail's not the same. So, why must you go and get yourself involved with a person from her background? And she's a woman with a salacious love life…"
"She's not like that! I am the only man she ever slept with. Mom, she's not the kind of woman you think she is."
Greg interrupted Valerie at once, and his defensive tone made Valerie feel even more upset.
"You don't know anything! She came barging in with her people to take the children away, and you didn't see what they were capable of doing. If she has subordinates with that kind of ability, then she's not just an assassin from Hitman Island. She might even be their leader now. Don't you know what it would take for a female assassin to get into that position?"
Valerie was so mad that she threw whatever she could get her hands on at Greg.
Greg did not try to move away. Instead, he let himself be knocked on the head by what Valerie had thrown at him, and a bump started growing on his head.
It was only then that Valerie realized she had picked up an ashtray.
Immediately, she began to feel bad about what she had done.
"Why are you so silly? Don't you know how to move away? Why are you still standing there? Hurry up and find a doctor."
"No thanks."
Greg declared coolly, "Mom, she has such subordinates, not because of Hitman Island, but because she founded Shadow.
"What did you say?"
Even though Valerie had stopped concerning herself with work for a long time, she still paid attention to the goings-on. She had heard about the rise of Shadow, and she immediately sent someone out to investigate. Still, they could not find anything about Shadow as the organization was too enigmatic.
However, Greg was now telling her that Abigail was the founder of Shadow. This was something that Valerie would have never seen coming.
If what Greg was saying was true, then did it mean that she had been wrong about Abigail?
Sensing the change in Valerie's attitude, Greg swiftly handed his investigation report over to her. It was only recently that Greg realized why he finally found information about Shadow when he had failed to in the past. It was very likely that Abigail had allowed it.
She did not plan on hiding her identity from him.
Valerie studied the documents detailing how Abigail founded the organization, 'Shadow'. By the end of it, she was floored.
How could this be?
Isn't Abigail a doctor?
Isn't she just a powerless woman? Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.
How could she be the founder of Shadow?
Valerie began to feel a little frantic once she recalled Shadow's influence in their line of work.
Things were spiraling out of her control.
All along, she had been afraid that Abigail might cause trouble for Greg and the Buckley Family, but who would have thought that Abigail herself was a force to be reckoned with, and she had poked the sleeping bear with her actions?!