Chapter 4

Nora turned her head. Her heart was pounding. There was a glimmer of hope that the person calling her name was Adam, though she quickly dismissed the thought. At least someone still cared about her. She wondered, 'Is there anyone else besides Tamara who knows I'm gone?'.

When she turned around, she saw a man her age running towards her. The man waved his hand. Nora furrowed her brow, trying to recall a memory of her and this man interacting. However, the more she tried to remember, the more she forgot. "If I can't remember, I'll just ask him later."

Just as Nora was about to respond, the handsome man immediately hugged a little girl standing not far from Nora.

"Nora... why didn't you wait for me? I thought you were waiting for me in front of the toilet, but you've already walked this far." The handsome man immediately stroked the little girl's head gently.

"Sorry, Uncle!" she said with a small smile.

"Next time, don't do that again, Nora! It's dangerous if someone has bad intentions!" The man took the little girl's hand and walked past Nora.

Nora's eyes twitched slightly. 'Luckily I didn't make a sound, otherwise I don't know how embarrassed I would be!' thought Nora as she headed straight for the waiting room.

Nora's flight was in an hour. Nora had turned off her mobile phone and chose to read a novel by her favourite author. The novel told the story of the adventures of three people in various parallel worlds. This work was the second part of the previous work. Just by reading the novel, she felt like she was in another world and forgot for a moment what was happening to her at the moment. She seemed to be immersed in her own world of reading.

Meanwhile, at the Torrence family mansion, Vivian, Adam's mother, was engrossed in reading a magazine in the living room. There was tea and freshly baked cookies on the table.

"Mum..." said Adam as he entered and immediately approached Vivian. He kissed his mother on the cheek before sitting down and taking a piece of the delicious-smelling cake.

"How was last night? Did you introduce Rose to your friends?" asked Vivian, who immediately put the magazine on the table and sipped her tea.

Adam nodded. "I introduced her as my fiancée. My friends were so warm to her. Most of them are Rose fans."

Vivian nodded. She looked at her only son gently and lovingly.

"But, Mum..." Adam took a deep breath and then exhaled slowly. "I have no feelings for her at all. All this time, I've only thought of Rose as a friend, nothing more!"

Adam's face suddenly turned sad. "It's so hard to pretend to love her and be happy about this engagement, Mum."

"Adam!" Vivian's voice was sharp and soft.

Adam looked at his mother and tried to hide his dislike for this arranged marriage.

“I’m just being honest, Mum. Feelings can’t be faked. I really don’t have any special feelings for Rose. I actually…”

"Enough, Adam!" Vivian interrupted, "I don't want to know. Feelings can develop over time. Your father and I didn't like each other at first, but look at us now. We're still harmonious."

"If we were harmonious, Father wouldn't have had that illegitimate child, Mum," Adam cut in quickly.

Crash! Vivian threw the teacup onto the floor. The noise immediately attracted the servants. They were curious to see what was happening. A little commotion would add some colour to the boring life in this mansion.

Shards of glass were scattered across the carpet. One small shard cut Adam's foot. However, Adam didn't feel any pain, even though there was a small red spot there.

"It's because of that illegitimate child that I set you up with Rose, Adam. Until now, the child's existence was unknown and you could relax because you would remain the sole heir. But now, the situation is different. You need support!" Vivian rose from her seat and pointed her finger at her son.

Adam also stood up. He stared intently into the eyes of the woman who had given birth to him. "Ma, I don't need support from a woman!" he said firmly.

"Oh... is that so?!" Vivian folded her arms and snorted. "Then what do you have? What abilities do you have other than spending money and playing around? Compared to that illegitimate child, are you sure you can surpass him?"

Vivian sat back down. Her gaze fell on several servants who had been standing at the door. The servants were too awkward to enter. They wanted to clean up the broken glass, but were afraid of disturbing the conversation between the mother and son.

"You go in and clean up this mess. Also, bring me a fresh pot of tea," Vivian ordered.

The trained servants quickly cleaned up the glass shards without disturbing the mother and son who were arguing.

Meanwhile, Adam remained silent. Arthur Torrence's face flashed through his mind. At a glance, everyone knew that he was his brother. The resemblance between their father's face and Arthur's was striking, differing only in their eyes. Arthur's eyes were more like his mother's. As for himself, Adam Torrence, he took after his mother, Vivian. Until now, no one in the Torrence family except his father knew of Arthur's mother's existence, even though they had all tried to find her.

"Come on, Adam, just follow my instructions. I am your mother and I know what is best for you. There's no way I would lead you astray, right?" Vivian's voice immediately made Adam look up again.

"The Fisher family is a respectable family and still of noble blood. Although most of their family members are involved in politics, their business cannot be underestimated. Their family is hundreds of years old and has strong roots in this city, even in this country. With their support, I'm sure your grandfather will consider you more favourably." Vivian gazed into the distance, as if she could reach the horizon.

"The more time passes, the more that bastard thrives. Your grandfather really appreciates his talent in the business world. Even though he has only just returned to this family, he has already shown his abilities. Are you worthy of being compared to him?" Vivian clicked her tongue.

Adam fell silent once again. What his mother said was true. He still remembered when Arthur arrived in the family, his grandfather was struggling with a small company that was on the verge of bankruptcy—although the company would not have a significant impact on their business, it was his grandfather's first company with his best friend, so he would feel guilty towards his friend if the company went bankrupt and closed down. However, Arthur's fresh ideas revived the company, making it even bigger than before. Therefore, his grandfather immediately gave the small company to Arthur as a gift for his 20th birthday.

"I'm not looking down on you, Adam. You know yourself that most of the shareholders at the head office are still conservative. They would never choose a bastard child over a legitimate child as their successor. Your position is your advantage. Especially with the support of the Fisher family. So, you must not be lazy from now on. You must not lose to that illegitimate child!" Vivian sipped her new tea, which had just been poured by the waiter.

"Never mind, go back to your room. There was a large package for you earlier. I don't know who sent it. Check it yourself!" Vivian told her son to leave. She didn't want to look at Adam's face for too long. She didn't want to worsen their relationship if she was too harsh on her son.

"A package?" Adam furrowed his brow. "A package from whom?" he asked.

Vivian just shrugged her shoulders. She didn't answer and went back to reading her magazine.

Adam left Vivian and went straight to his room. He was curious about who had sent the parcel directly to the house. Until now, all parcels had been sent to his flat.

Adam walked up to the second floor and immediately entered his room. Although he spent most of his time at the flat near the school, he always came back on weekends and spent a lot of time here.

In the corner of the room, a large package had been placed there. Adam immediately grabbed the scissors on the table and began to open the package.

When the box was completely open, Adam's eyes narrowed. He was very familiar with all the items inside. There was a necklace, hair clips, bracelets, a bag, a jacket, shoes, wilted flowers, and an envelope.

Adam opened the envelope and immediately frowned at its contents. A pregnancy test, ultrasound results, and the black card he had given to the overweight woman a few days ago.

"Nora..." Adam clenched his fists. He knew all these items had been given to Nora. He was furious, especially about the ultrasound results and the pregnancy test. "Is she threatening me right now?"

"No... no one can know about Nora and her pregnancy. If that happens, Mum will be very angry and Grandfather will definitely disinherit me!"

"I have to go see Nora now!" Adam was determined to accompany Nora to terminate the pregnancy.

He took his smartphone and called Nora. None of Nora’s social media accounts responded. Finally, he called her phone number.

“The number you are calling is inactive and out of range. Please try again later!” The operator’s voice answered Adam’s call immediately.

Adam tried again, but the result was the same—the operator’s response.

"Aaargh, damn it!" Adam ran his fingers roughly through his hair. He immediately called one of his subordinates.