A smile spread across Wendy’s face when she read the comments online.

Michael read them too and gripped her hand tightly. "Are you happy?" he asked with a smile.

"Yeah," Wendy nodded.

While the online chatter did not physically hurt Wendy, nobody likes reading negative things about themselves. Now that Michael had helped to clarify the matter, nobody would misunderstand her further.

"Thank you, Michael," Wendy’s eyes were shining with joy.

Michael did not like Wendy thanking him, but this time, he accepted it graciously.

"Call me honey," Michael said with a smile. "Please call me honey from now on."

Wendy did not usually address him as "honey". Now that Wendy was on cloud nine, Michael wanted to take full advantage of it.

Wendy wasn’t really comfortable calling him "honey", but when she saw the eager look on his face, she gave a small cough. "Hon... honey..."

Michael was very satisfied. The next second, he pointed to his face. Wendy knew what he meant and she looked away to avoid his eyes. But she gave a quick peck on his face anyway.

"That’s it?" Michael did not seem to be satisfied.

"What do you want then..." Before Wendy could finish her sentence, Michael turned his face toward her, locked his hands behind her head, and planted his lips directly onto hers.

Wendy instinctively struggled slightly, but she stopped almost immediately. Michael was relishing how Wendy was so willing to go along with him today when the cellphone rang.

Wendy immediately pushed Michael away and pointed at the cellphone. "There’s a phone call," she said with a small cough.

Wendy tried to avoid looking at Michael and he found it amusing. "We’ve been married for so long, why are you shy?" he teased her.

"Who’s being shy?" Wendy coughed again, trying very hard to hide her emotions.

Michael stopped teasing her because he knew that she was easily embarrassed.

Michael looked at his cellphone and saw at once that it was Christian. Michael’s face turned dark immediately. Christian could not have picked a better time, he thought.

Taking the call, he heard Christian’s cold voice, "I’ve already held a press conference according to your request. Now you can let him go, can’t you?"

"Don’t worry, I will keep my promise," Michael said. "Come to the warehouse and I will release him immediately."

"I’m already at the warehouse," Christian said, searching all around. Sure enough, he saw Michael’s car parked a little away from the warehouse.

Christian walked over and knocked on the car window. Michael rolled down the window and saw Christian standing outside holding his cellphone.

Once the press conference was over, Michael had come to the warehouse with Wendy. Since Michael had promised to release his hostage, he would not go back on his word. That was why they had arrived earlier to wait for Christian.

At that moment, Christian’s eyes stopped at Michael’s lips, which had lipstick smeared on them. And then he saw Wendy’s head bent, and her face was red.

Anyone could tell what had just happened in the car. Before Christian realized it, his eyes had started to blaze in anger.

He curled his hands into tight fists by his side. He closed his eyes and opened them again, and pretended not to notice anything. "Let him go," he said in a cold voice.

Michael opened the car door and stepped out. Wendy came out to join Michael. That was when she noticed the lipstick on Michael’s lips.

...

Wendy was so surprised that she quickly rubbed the lipstick off Michael’s lips with her hands and whispered urgently, "There’s lipstick on your mouth."

"Huh?" Michael was taken aback for a while. When he composed himself, he glanced at Christian. No wonder Christian had given him such a terrifyingly cold stare earlier.

Michael had thought it was because he had forced Christian to hold a press conference. But it seemed like this kiss was the reason for Christian’s hostile glare.

Without warning, Michael wrapped his arm around Wendy’s waist and pulled her into his embrace. He lowered his head and kissed her on the lips again.

Wendy pushed Michael away instantly. Christian was still standing next to them!

However, Michael was doing this deliberately, so he was not going to let her push him away that easily.

Christian, who had been able to hold his emotions in check this whole time, was now triggered. He became extremely furious.

He clenched his fists tightly but his shaking body betrayed his emotions as he demanded, "Michael!"

There was a bit of ambiguity as to whether Christian was shouting at Michael to get his attention, or to get him to release Wendy.

"I have done everything according to your request. Let Clement go," Christian reined in his feelings and repeated himself.

Michael let go of Wendy and held her hand tightly in his. Their fingers were intertwined. Michael was in a very good mood. "Come with me," he said.

Wendy knew that Michael was deliberately trying to agitate Christian, so she used her other hand to smack him.

"My darling," Michael deliberately said affectionately. "We shouldn’t engage in public display of affection. We can enjoy ourselves in private later. Let’s get to business now."

Wendy wanted to slap Michael. Christian followed behind them. He could hear what Michael said. Coupled with seeing them holding hands, it took a lot of effort for Christian to control his emotions.

Christian entered the warehouse after Michael and Wendy. At this point, The tendons in Clement’s arms were torn. He was deathly pale as he laid on the ground.

It was obvious that he had been tortured badly.

"Take him away," Michael said calmly.

Christian waved his hand and two bodyguards came into the warehouse. They helped Clement up immediately. Clement was on the brink of death but he managed to say weakly as he went past Michael, "Michael Lucas, we will meet again."

"And I’ll be waiting for you," Michael waved goodbye. He was in a good mood.

Clement was assisted out of the warehouse. Christian continued to stand where he was for some time. His eyes could not help moving from Michael to Wendy.

She felt very uncomfortable from his stare and she shifted her gaze. Michael took Wendy’s hand and placed himself in front of Wendy to shield her from Christian’s eyes.

"My good brother, do you plan to stay here for lunch?" Michael snickered at him.

"Michael, don’t be too sure of yourself so soon," Christian said before leaving. As he turned around, he clenched his fists. He vowed to defeat Michael. And he would also take Wendy too.

"Let’s go home," Michael said, still holding Wendy’s hand, with a smile on his face.

"Why are you so immature?" Wendy sighed in resignation. She was referring to how Michael had kissed her in front of Christian. She had not said anything earlier because Christian was around. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

"That’s his fault for falling in love with you," Michael said as his face darkened. "He does not deserve you!"

...

Michael had done that to infuriate and provoke Christian. It was Michael’s way of showing who’s boss. Wendy was Michael’s wife. Who did Christian think he was? In all of their battles, be it business or romance, Christian must be defeated.

Wendy shook her head. She did not know what else to say to Michael. Just then, Wendy’s cellphone rang. The call was coming from the mansion.

"It’s Grandma," Wendy said as she waved her cellphone at him.

"Grandma must have seen the news by now and wants us to go home," Michael guessed.

Wendy nodded her head in agreement. For Mrs. Lucas to call at this moment, it could only be because of this matter. Wendy took the call.

"Wendy, if you and Michael are free, come over now. It’s about lunchtime and I’ve asked the helpers to prepare your favorite food," Mrs. Lucas said. It was exactly as Michael and Wendy had guessed.

"All right, we’ll head over now," Wendy said after looking at Michael, who nodded at her.

"I’ll wait for you then," Mrs. Lucas said.

As their car drove past the gates of the mansion, Wendy saw Mrs. Lucas standing with her crutch by the front door, waiting for them.

Wendy got out immediately and went to Mrs. Lucas, "Grandma, you should have waited for us in the living room. Why are you standing alone by the front door?"

"I wanted to welcome you at the front door," Mrs. Lucas said with a kind smile on her face. Upon closer look, there was also a tinge of guilt. Wendy helped Mrs. Lucas into the living room.

"Lunch is all prepared. Let’s eat," Mrs. Lucas said.

"Okay," Wendy nodded.

There was a huge spread laid out on the dining table. They were Wendy and Michael’s favorites.

Mrs. Lucas sat down and immediately started heaping food onto their plates. Soon, they had a small mountain of food in front of them.

Wendy laughed. "Grandma, please stop putting more food onto my plate. It’s running out of space and I can’t finish that much."

"You should eat more. You’re too skinny." Mrs. Lucas had wanted to continue putting more food onto Wendy’s plate, but she realized that her plate was indeed full, so she stopped.

Wendy did not want to waste Mrs. Lucas’s effort, so she concentrated on eating. As they ate, Mrs. Lucas finally said, "Wendy, I saw the news today."

Wendy slowed down, but she did not speak. Instead, she waited for Mrs. Lucas to continue.

"I apologize for my attitude earlier. I’m sorry," Mrs. Lucas sounded apologetic.

"No Grandma," Wendy said quickly, setting down her fork. "Grandma, you’ve been very good to me. You did nothing wrong."

Mrs. Lucas had indeed been very good to Wendy. Even though she had thought then that Wendy was not carrying Michael’s child, she had not forced Wendy to get rid of the baby. Mrs. Lucas had let them make their own decision.

Any grandmother would have been furious if they found out that their granddaughter-in-law could be pregnant with another man’s child. Wendy could not expect Mrs. Lucas to be a saint. She had never blamed Mrs. Lucas.

In fact, Wendy had thought of not keeping this baby too.

"Could you tell me what exactly happened?" Mrs. Lucas asked. "Also, this baby, do you now know who’s the father?"

Although Christian had clarified the matter, Wendy had told Mrs. Lucas that they were not sure who the father of this child was. So Mrs. Lucas wanted to hear it from Wendy. To her, the most important thing was to establish the identity of the child’s father.