A Matter of Wife and Love
Chapter 186

Chapter 186

What Brianna found was a news report concerning Leo.

The headline was, 'Elyse Clayton's On/Off Relationship with the Rich Young Master Finally Blossomed', and the sub headline was, 'The Alstons officially announce their engagement date', followed by the date.

The main text wrote about the story of Leo proposing to Elyse on the hospital rooftop a few days ago, and she agreed to the engagement. However, he was worried that his lover might have a change of heart, so he brought the engagement forward to keep her heart.

The more Amelie read, the harder it was to continue reading, and she pursed her lips silently.

Even though she knew that it was only a matter of time before Leo and Elyse got married, it still made her very uneasy, especially after she found out that Elyse had ganged up with Ashton to take Brianna away.

Leo had repeatedly verified for himself that Elyse had a vile character, but he still held her dearly in his hands, giving his whole heart to her. What sort of mentality was this?

She was even a little suspicious about whether Elyse had saved the universe in her past life. Otherwise, why would a man be so loyal to her?

As Brianna could only read a few words, she couldn't understand such a lengthy news report, and the reason for her excitement was seeing her father in the news.

She became puzzled and rubbed her big eyes, asking, "Mommy, why did Daddy take a picture with this strange lady? What's written there?"

Amelie gently drew the report out of her palms and held her in her arms. "Listen to me, Bria. We're separated from Daddy and the Alston Family. So, Daddy will get engaged and marry another woman in the future, and this lady will be his future wife."

Although she knew that Brianna's opinion of Leo had changed recently, she didn't want to hide the truth from her. The last thing she wanted was to see her darling daughter pin any hopes on him, and neither did she want Briar to be hurt when she found out about this from someone else. Therefore, she decided to take precautions in advance.

"Really?" The smile on Brianna's face disappeared immediately, and great disappointment took its place instead.

She bit her lip, played with her tiny fingers, and hung her head quietly as she processed the news.

Amelie felt her heart wrenching when she saw Brianna in this state, but all she could do was stroke her head over and over as a form of comfort.

"I'm tired. I want to go to bed," Brianna said after a while.

Amelie took it that she was tired from playing in the kindergarten during the day and brought her back to her room without thinking further.

After Brianna climbed into bed, Amelie tucked her in carefully, kissed her on the forehead, and stayed behind a few more minutes before finally leaving the room. Behind the tightly closed door, Brianna bit her nail and opened her eyes. The scene where Leo played with her during the day kept replaying in her mind.

Her father, at that time, seemed to care about her and loved her. So, why did he suddenly abandon her and her mother to marry another woman?

In her mind, she actually thought that her parents would reconcile.

Outside the door, Amelie stood for a while, aware that they were divorced and everything about Leo was unrelated to her. So, she shook her head as she dismissed any unnecessary thoughts by throwing that news report to the back of her head and quickly helped Steven over for dinner when she saw him returning home with a bunch of groceries in his hands.

Usually, Steven would let Brianna eat first while he insisted on waiting for Amelie to return. Then, at the dinner table, he always kept piling food on Amelie's plate, worried that she would not be well-nourished. Since she was a child, she grew up showered in Steven's love and never lacked familial love.

Although she was raised in a single-parent family, she never felt she was any less because of the absence of a mother. Therefore, she believed that Brianna would grow up strong, just like her.

"Have some as well, Dad." She added some more food to Steven's plate. "Don't just worry about me. I'm a grown-up who can take care of myself now."

Steven chuckled as he laid his eyes on the food on his plate. "In my eyes, you'll always be a little girl. My sweet, little girl."

After dinner, she went to the study, reviewed the manuscript for the new platform, and had a meeting with the influential figures who had just joined to discuss their work for a while.

When it was almost midnight, she finally returned to her room to retire for the night.

Just as she was about to turn off the lights, her phone beeped from a text Julia had sent her.

She grabbed her phone and squinted while she read through the text, 'Did you see the news that Leo Alston is going to be engaged?'

Her soft brows knitted together at this text, but they relaxed in the end as she calmly replied, 'Yeah.'

Immediately, Julia followed up with voice messages. "That shameless couple has no limit to their public display of affection, and they suddenly sent their wedding invitation. What do you think they mean by this? Didn't Elyse embarrass herself enough on her birthday? Does she want to embarrass herself again?"

She even included a photo of the wedding invitation card she received.

Amelie tapped to view and saw the wedding invitation with Leo and Elyse's names, and the edge of her lips froze.

"Elie, since they're so shameless, we don't have to give any regard to their reputation as well. So, we can make a huge ruckus this time and give them an unforgettable engagement ceremony!" Julia said, angry and loud like firecrackers.

Amelie's fingers paused on the screen and didn't move for a while. Meanwhile, Julia had already thought of all sorts of ways to embarrass Leo and Elyse, and Amelie's phone kept beeping from the messages she sent without stopping.

Amelie could help but laugh at her ideas as she listened to Julia's angered rambling and replied, "It's their business that they're getting engaged. I'm running a verified account with millions of fans, and I don't want to be involved, never mind create a publicity stunt for them."

"Damn!" It dawned on Julia suddenly, and she cursed. "I almost fell for it if you didn't mention it. Alston already knows that you're Foxy, and they're using this engagement to increase Clayton's popularity, aren't they? If we do anything on that day, we will ruin only our reputation. The more criticisms there are outside, the more it will ruin our reputation, and Clayton will have all to gain from this! She wants to use us to increase her popularity, eh? Well, she can keep dreaming!"

Amelie pursed her lips silently and didn't say anything else, seeing that Julia had realized the situation for herself.

Nevertheless, Julia was still hopping mad. "Elyse Clayton and Leo Alston are simply a scumbag and a shameless slut! Four years ago, they made use of you once and even painted themselves as the victims, and four years later, they wanted to pull another trick again. If we don't do something, I can't quench the anger in my heart! So, Elie, we have to think of a way to get our revenge on them!"

"The best revenge is to ignore them," Amelie replied. "So, just pretend that you didn't receive this invitation."

On the other end, Julia was quiet for a long time and finally said, "Yes, I'll do just that. But before we do that, I have to show them something."

After she said that, she sent a text, 'Let's just wait and see.'

Amelie couldn't guess what Julia was up to, but she didn't ask. Of course, if anyone were to ask her why she would probably say something along the lines of 'plausible deniability'. Thus, she didn't pay it any mind and went straight to bed after switching off her phone.

On the other end, Julia's long fingers-with aqua green nails that she had painted-danced across her keyboard.

"Bingo." Once she was satisfied, she tossed her phone aside.

The next day, Elyse sat in front of the mirror; although she was still dressed in the patient's garb, it was clear that she was delighted.

At the end of the day, Melissa was a foolish woman and would do anything for the sake of her reputation.

With Melissa's help, her engagement with Leo was finally on the agenda.

A smirk spread across her face, carrying traces of glee and elation.

This time, not only did she want to be engaged to Leo, but she also wanted to make use of Amelie and Julia to increase her popularity.

Back when Leo was investigating Amelie, she also asked Ashton to investigate the matter, and that was when she found out that Amelie was Foxy!

It was amazing that she turned out to be Foxy, and it would be even better if she showed up with Julia to make a scene at the engagement. The bigger the stir they caused, the more famous she would become, and in turn, the higher her chances to make a comeback.

She tapped the table's surface lightly as a triumphant glint flashed in her eyes.

"There's a parcel for you, Elyse."

While she was thinking about that, Michael came in with a delivery box in his hand.

"Why is there a delivery?" she asked, turning to him in confusion.

She had been resting for the past few days and didn't buy anything online.

"Maybe your fans know that you're sick and sent you a gift," Michael said after thinking about it.

That sounded reasonable to her, and she took the parcel from him before starting to unwrap it slowly.