Filed to story: A Second Chance with My Billionaire Love
“Well, it’s stable for now. If he wants to take my position, I’ll let him, but he has to be capable enough to do it,” Halston’s gaze turned cold as he muttered. He made light of the matter, but it actually worried him. Jovan didn’t just want to take Halston’s position-he wanted to replace him. Jovan wanted power in Guajardo Enterprise, and he also wanted to be the leader of their family. Timothy was heading the Guajardo family, but his health was getting worse, and his consciousness was muddled. Jovan had used some tricks to make Timothy favor him more, and Timothy would sometimes chat with Jovan for a whole afternoon, banning anyone from entering the room. Honestly, it had been a long time since Timothy had chatted with Halston.
If Jovan managed to bribe Timothy, Halston would have less power in the Guajardo family, and would be considered inferior to Jovan. Halston’s head started to hurt at the thought of it, but he didn’t tell Flossie about it because he didn’t want her to suffer with him. “It’s more than enough to have you and the kids. Nothing else is important… Just sleep!” Halston sighed heavily and whispered.
Flossie heard the underlying disappointment in histone, and started to worry. She wanted to help him.
Halston planned to go to Guajardo Enterprise early the next morning while Leia stayed in the manor to help take care of Flossie.
“Don’t take her out again. I won’t forgive you if yesterday’s incident happens again,” Halston told Leia firmly before he left.
“Fine, I won’t take her out, but don’t worry even if I do because my throat is cured. If anyone dares to bully me, I’ll scold them,” Leia promised as she drank a glass of milk.
Halston stared at her oddly, then shook his head and walked off. Maybe it would have been better if her throat never recovered-she wouldn’t be as talkative then. He had no idea how Xavier could tolerate her endless chatter.
After he was gone, Leia stretched a little and exercised, then went to the wooden house that Flossie had snuck into yesterday. At that moment, Flossie was still sleeping, and was too lazy to get up.
“Flossie, why are you still sleeping? You know, you seem to be getting lazier. It’s not like you at all!” Leia sat at the side of the bed and complained.
“I don’t know what’s wrong either. I’ve been very sleepy lately. Maybe I’ve become lazy since my days are so relaxed now,” Flossie muttered weakly, her eyes still closed. She was usually very energetic, but recently, she’d become feeble and lethargic. She wondered if the surgery had ruined her body.
“I don’t think it’s that simple. Are you… pregnant?” Leia inched closer to Flossie and asked curiously.
“Pregnant?” Flossie’s eyes lit up, but she quickly calmed herself down. “No way, we took precautions.”
“Well, maybe your precautions weren’t that thorough?” Leia couldn’t hide her excitement. “Abby and Adie will have a younger sibling if you’re pregnant! But you both are so fast- you’ve just gotten back together but you’re pregnant again!”
“Stop it. It’s not that easy to get pregnant!” Flossie growled, her head throbbing. Flossie was very satisfied with a son and a daughter, and didn’t want a third child.
“Then why are you always sleepy and weak? Aren’t those symptoms of pregnancy?” Leia asked urgently.
“I’m pregnant?” Flossie shook her head and said firmly,” That’s impossible.”
“Why not? Just do the test and we’ll see.” Leia thought about it for a while, then said cheerfully, “Well, I’ll go get the pregnancy test kit. Wait for me!” Immediately, she went to a nearby pharmacy to buy one. When she returned, she found Tess, the part-timer, making coffee. “What are you adding to it?” Leia glanced at it and asked Tess.
“Oh, nothing.” Feeling guilty, Tess upset the cup of coffee and said in a panic, “It’s sugar. Ms. Ellsworth hates bitter coffee, so she asked me to add some sugar to it.”
“Really?” Leia frowned, wondering when Flossie’s taste had changed since she always had sugar-free coffee. However, she didn’t think about it much and just headed upstairs to give Flossie the pregnancy test kit. At first, Flossie was reluctant to take the test because she was certain that she wasn’t pregnant, but after Leia persuaded her, she braced herself and did the test.
After a while, Leia squealed excitedly. “Flossie, you’re pregnant! I was right-there’s no way you’d suddenly become so lazy and lethargic. Turns out you’re pregnant!” Leia was happy for her friend, but also worried about her. “I didn’t get to take care of you when you were pregnant with Abby and Adie, so I’ll take good care of you now and try my best to be a good godmother.” Leia held Flossie’s arm, dreaming about the kind of life they would have as if she was the one who was pregnant. Finally, she said, “I don’t know if Halston is serious or not this time. If he’s serious, we can give him a chance to fulfill his responsibilities as a father and make him realize how difficult it is to raise a kid. However, if he wrongs you again, I’ll hack him to death!”
“Lei, don’t be mean. I can’t believe it… I’m pregnant!” Flossie’s initial bewilderment and denial slowly turned into acceptance. When she was pregnant with Adie and Abby, she had to lie low like a fugitive, and naturally assumed that her children were unwanted, but it was different now. She was surrounded by people who loved her, especially the child’s father. He was with her, looking forward to the child’s arrival, and that kind of deep love made her look forward to it too.
“Okay, maybe that was too extreme. If he wrongs you again, I… I’ll give him laxatives!” Leia declared after a while.
“You’re such a kid.” Flossie chuckled in amusement.
“Haha! Don’t worry though, I think he’s serious this time. He dotes on you all the time, completely at your mercy. I’m sure he won’t wrong you again.” At first, Leia didn’t trust Halston, but after spending some time with him, she could tell how much he loved Flossie.
In the end, Flossie had gotten a happy ending with a new member of the family. It seemed like good things did come in pairs.
“Honestly, I didn’t think I could get pregnant because we took precautions.” Flossie was very surprised, but she would certainly give birth to the child.
“That means that it’s written in the stars. This child is yours to have, and you can’t stop it! Haha! I’m sure Mr. Guajardo will be overjoyed to hear he’s going to have another child!” Leia grinned, sincerely happy for Flossie.
“What’s there to be happy about? It’s not a good time for us to have a baby.” Flossie sighed deeply, feeling worried. It was a stressful period for both of them, especially Halston. He had to gain a firm foothold as the president of Guajardo Enterprise, and he also had to take care of Flossie since she was blind. If they had another child, he alone would have to take care of four people, and the stress would be unimaginable. Another child right now just meant another weakness for others to exploit; it really was bad timing.
“Stop overthinking-you’re already pregnant. You felt the same about Abby and Adie back then, but look at them now. Do you regret giving birth to them?”
“No, of course not!”
“There you have it, then!” Leia exclaimed with a smile. “How perfect it’ll be if this child of yours is a combination of Abby and Adie!”
“You’re right.” At the thought of Adie and Abby, Flossie placed her hand on her belly, finally looking forward to the baby.
“What should we get you for early pregnancy? Should you get supplements for calcium, folate, and DHA?” Leia fished her phone out and started making orders to buy things. She felt like Flossie’s baby was hers too, and wanted to spoil the child before it even entered the world. “Hmm, do you think it’s a boy or a girl? Could it be a pair of mixed-gender twins again? Let me get them a transformer!” After purchasing some pregnancy supplements, Leia began buying lots of toys and clothes for the baby.
Flossie groaned and said helplessly, “It’s still too early-the baby is probably the size of a needle at this point. There’s no point in buying things for it now.”
“I don’t care—I’m still buying them! After all, this is a happy occasion!” While ordering things, Leia recalled how she saw Tess adding sugar to Flossie’s coffee. As she scrolled through her phone, she asked Flossie casually, “By the way, Flossie, when did you change your taste in coffee? Is it because you’re pregnant?”
“Change my taste?”
“Yeah, Tess added sugar to your coffee just now. You liked sugar-free coffee before this, right?”
“She did?” Flossie frowned. She had never asked Tess to put sugar in her coffee, and her coffee wasn’t even sweet either. It meant that Tess might have lied… but why would she?
“What’s the matter?” Leia asked, realizing something was wrong.
“It’s nothing.” Knowing Leia’s character, Flossie didn’t want to tell her anything until she figured out the truth. Tess was a recently hired part-timer whose sole job was to take care of Flossie. She was kind and hardworking, and although Flossie had never seen Tess, she could tell from their daily interactions that Tess was a nice person. She didn’t seem like the type to harm Flossie, but Flossie wondered why Tess would lie for no reason. She thought about it for a while, then sent Leia off with a casual excuse and called Tess into her room.
Ms. Ellsworth, is there anything I can do for you?” After getting things done in the kitchen, Tess wiped her hands clean and hurried upstairs. She always did her best, and her work was smooth and neat; Flossie honestly didn’t have anything to complain about.
“I heard that you added sugar to my coffee today?” Flossie asked Tess directly.
“I was mistaken. It wasn’t sugar, but just another ingredient to make the coffee taste better.” Tess knew that Leia would tell Flossie about the incident, so she had thought of an excuse while she was in the kitchen. She had even prepared the so-called ‘coffee ingredient’.
“Oh, I see. That’s great.” Flossie knew Tess wouldn’t tell her anything else, so she decided to stop asking about it.
“Is there anything else I can do for you? If not, I’ll get back to work. There’s quite a lot of things to do today.”
Tess seemed to be stressed. She would usually patiently chat with Flossie, sometimes not even wanting to leave, so Flossie found her reaction strange. Flossie tried the coffee that Tess served her, and found that it tasted normal. A sinking feeling hit her, and she knew she could no longer trust Tess.
“Let me ask you something, Tess… Were we good to you while you worked here?” Flossie put the cup of coffee down and asked softly.
“You, Mr. Guajardo, and Margaret are very good to me, and Adie and Abby are very cute. They love to play with me. I think you guys treat me like family,” Tess confessed sincerely. Since her family was poor, she had dropped out of school at an early age to work and help her family. She had met a lot of employers, and an employer as kind as Flossie’s family was rare. If she hadn’t been forced, she would never do something so horrible to them.
“You must tell us if you’re facing any difficulties since you say we treat you like family. We’re rather influential in Beach City, so we can help you settle it…” Flossie hoped that Tess could tell her the truth, since she knew that Tess wasn’t the kind of person who would shirk her responsibilities and harm someone for no reason. Tess must be in a tough spot, so Flossie figured it was better to resolve Tess’ problem instead of interrogating her. If she knew the issue could be resolved, she would tell Flossie the truth.
“I… I…” Tess wrung her hands, looking conflicted. She wanted to tell Flossie the truth, but she didn’t dare disobey that woman that had kidnapped her mother.
“It’s okay, you can tell me whenever you want to… but I’m afraid I’ll have to fire you.”
Flossie’s tone was light but firm. She never employed people she couldn’t trust, and didn’t dare to let Tess stay no matter what difficulty she was facing.
“Ms. Ellsworth, I… I’ve wronged you, but I beg you-please don’t send me away. I don’t care if you don’t pay me, but if you fire me, my… my mother is doomed!” Tess dropped to her knees in front of Flossie, sobbing loudly. That woman told her that she would never see her mother again if the plan failed, so she had to keep working there.
“So, someone kidnapped your mother to threaten you and make you harm me… Is that what you’re saying?” Flossie asked Tess sharply.
“I… I…”
“I stand by what I said —I might be able to help you if you tell me the truth now.”
Tess thought about it briefly, looked around to confirm that the woman was not around, then confessed, “Yes, someone threatened me a few days ago. It was a woman, but I don’t know her name. I couldn’t even see her face because she wore a mask, but she seemed mysterious and wicked. She… asked me to add a pack of drug powder to your drink every day for ten days. You took the fifth pack today. If I fail, she’ll kill my mother… I’m so sorry, Ms. Ellsworth. I’m really sorry!”
“I see.” Flossie slowly clenched her fists. She wondered who was behind such a wicked plan. Was it Seraphina? No, Seraphina would never do something like this. Flossie tried to think about it, but she didn’t know any other women who had such a deep grudge against her.