Chapter 562: Don't Be Too Cruel To Me (part one)
Leo tried to slowly get up with his palms on the table supporting him. But a great cloud of grief came upon him again, his knees gave way and he eventually sank to the ground. What shocked him the most was the fact that Grace was actually pregnant at that time. The knowledge hit him like a sharp knife that ripped his soul and left him breathless. Bitterness started to creep in and overcome him, forcing the tears that had gathered in his eyes to stream down his face. Men only wept when they were deeply hurt.
His mind was preoccupied with thoughts of Grace, his petite and gentle lady. Her otherworldly beauty and deep affection for him added to his remorse. He couldn't bear it anymore. Raising his hand, he slapped himself across his face several times. The sound was so loud that it echoed throughout the quiet room. It still couldn't drive away the chill of anguish that haunted and suffocated him.
He suddenly burst into manic laughter. 'Yakira, you nasty woman. Do you have any idea what a heartless person I've become because of you? Come what may, I must kill you today, or my rage will never subside. How dare you use me as a puppet! Well, I have to admit that you are indeed manipulative enough. You managed to wrap me around your fingers and lead a luxurious life, while successfully hiding all your vicious behaviors from me. How cruel you are to me!'
Leo started banging his head against the table, as if he could tear it open and see what exactly it was that had blinded him. He couldn't believe that he had put his faith in such a scheming woman like Yakira. He then recalled the way he had treated Daisy, and what he had done to her. He felt too ashamed to even see her again now. Just imagine, would a real father help his step daughter take the husband away from his own daughter? Would a real father act aggressively against his own daughter every time they met? A good father would never have done that. But Leo had done all of these to Daisy, in the most obvious, thorough, and ruthless way. He must have broken her heart and made her suffer a lot.
Came to think of it, Leo realized that he had been wallowing in the self-pity because of a baseless betrayal. Daisy reminded him of the betrayal every time he saw her, and that was why he would hurt her time and time again without any mercy. But after finding out that she was actually his own daughter, his attitude towards her changed completely. Leo grew to care for this girl, something he would never have done before the DNA test. The tie of kinship was truly a magical thing, for it could change your mind and refresh your thoughts. He was caught off guard by his tenderness for Daisy, someone he had disliked until not long ago.
Back then, Leo had done nothing to stop Yakira from throwing Daisy out of the house. If this was the biggest regret of his life, then meeting Yakira was his biggest misfortune. Originally, he had only planned to divorce her and pay for alimony. But he completely changed his mind. Given all the misery she had brought him, Leo now thought that killing her would be too merciful. But he was unwilling to contaminate his hands with her blood. An idea lingered in his mind until he was overcome by it. He must think of a way to torture her, and let her end up worse than dead. Only in this way, Leo hoped, could Grace's soul rest in peace.
Leo put off all his meetings and social activities and locked himself in his office for a long time. He had been sitting in his chair for so long, that his body grew numb and seized up in this solitude. But he didn't realize it, nor did he notice that time was passing by. When he finally managed to take his mind off the matter and awaken from his thoughts, he found that the day had nearly passed.
He had resisted the urge to confront Yakira at once and decided to clear his thoughts and straighten things out first. To avoid falling into yet another trap set by Yakira, it was important that he stayed calm and acted with caution this time. Since he had already made unforgivable mistakes in the past, he wouldn't be able to forgive himself If he continued to make more out of carelessness. He had hurt his daughter's feelings, so he would try his best to avoid doing any harm to his son Brian. After all, it had all been the sinful Yakira's doing from the very beginning, and Brain had nothing to do with it. To protect him from all the hurt, there would be a lot for Leo to consider before taking action.
At the same time, Edward was struggling with the same kind of problem. He had spent the whole day trying to figure out a proper way to tell Daisy the truth about Grace's death. The truth would definitely hurt her, and he wanted to make it less painful for her. But his efforts were to no avail. He had to surrender to the fact that since Grace was Daisy's mother, the truth would be a devastating blow to her no matter what.
"What's on your mind, Edward? You look like you're in a trance." Daisy frowned. She took some documents out of her briefcase carefully, and laid them out neatly on the table. Edward seemed to be acting strangely the whole day, but she couldn't figure out the reason.
"Come here, honey," Edward gestured to her with a grim face. He found it difficult to imagine how she would react to his news. Would she storm off and rush to confront Yakira? Or would she simply become motionless and speechless from the overwhelming shock and grief? Edward was unwilling to see either of them.
"What for? I've got work to do," Daisy replied solemnly. She was still in her military uniform, which added to her dignified bearing. Although she didn't want to stop halfway through her work, she walked over to him because of his strange behavior the entire day.