Not One, But Two!
Chapter 210

Chapter 210

Chapter 210

Greg was tormented by how things had blown up between Abigail and Valerie, and when he found outthat the girls were at Valerie's place, he sped over to demand she hand them over. Alas, he was toolate.

He arrived to replace Valerie knocked unconscious. After the butler told him what had happened, Gregbegan a frantic search for Abigail, but it was a futile effort; she was nowhere to be found.

It was only then that he recalled she still had a cat in the villa over at Allie's Garden. Last heremembered, she had a soft spot for the cat. What is it called again? Snowdrop?

For the first time in his life, Greg carried the cat.

Snowdrop saw that he was a complete stranger and started hissing at him, her hackles standing in ashow of hostility. Still, he kept a firm grip on the back of her neck and carried her out of the house, theninto his own. He even moved her bed over.

He was sure that Abigail would return sooner or later to feed the cat, seeing as she liked it so much.But if she didn't return and the cat starved to death, Greg would be entirely left without recourse. Hemight not be a cat person, but he poured cat food into a bowl for the begrudging feline and warned, "Begood, you hear me? Keep to this part of the house and the living room and stay out of everywhere else,especially my bedroom. I swear, if I catch a single fur on my bed or on the floor of my room, I'll throwyou into the doghouse."

Snowdrop's ears fell flat against her head as she gave a high-pitched meow, seemingly affronted by hisharsh warning.

"Go back into your cage," he bit out. He had no intention of placating the cat. If it weren't for the factthat Abigail liked her so much, he would have thrown her out into the streets. The thought that Hughhad given Snowdrop to Abigail irked Greg to no end, and the sight of the cat herself only agitated him.

Just as he was considering throwing Snowball out of the house, Benjamin's sudden report made himfrown. "You found something on Shadow?"

"I did." Benjamin dutifully handed over the information he had compiled.

Greg stiffened upon reading that Abigail was the founder of Shadow. He was the head of NightAssassino, and there was no information about the underworld that he could not get his hands on.

Shadow had been active during the last few years, and their main business was in gathering andselling intelligence, though they did take up side jobs every once in a while. They had a ninety-eightpercent performance rate, and while their services were by no means cheap, they had undoubtedlymade a name for themselves.

The organization had never had any deals with Night Assassino, nor did the two ever interfere in eachother's business.

However, Shadow had helped out Night Assassino on two separate occasions now, which made Gregquestion their intentions. He was almost sure that altruism had little to do with the favors, and that lefthim to consider two other possible motives on Shadow's part: they either wanted a collaboration or theyhad plans on waging war.

He had decided to play it safe and asked Benjamin to look into Shadow, only to replace out that Abigailwas the founder all along. How is that even possible? He wanted to believe this was false, but when heglanced at the year she set up the organization, he was convinced otherwise.

Shadow was established about four years ago when Abigail gave birth.

So, she set up Shadow after she left Hitman Island and used the money from selling intelligence tomake ends meet? That makes sense, seeing as it took money to fuel her process of becoming the bestsurgeon in the world and building up a reputation in the medical industry.

In hindsight, it was no wonder that she had no interest in his money; she was filthy rich all along.

A single deal with Shadow came at a skyrocketing price, and money was not an issue as long as bothparties reached a consensus.

Presently, Greg read through the rest of the information. As it turned out, someone by the name ofAddison had shown up at Dock Number Three to ship Hugh off, and Addison happened to be the right-hand man of Shadow, delegated with full authority to run operations and management. However, hewould not act without Abigail's orders.

Greg connected the dots at once. Abigail was the one who sent Hugh away. She had knocked out afriend whom she'd known for five years and sent him away for me because that's how much she caresabout me, and what did I do for her in return? I let my own mother humiliate her. He might have won,but he had hurt her in the process.

A grim look flashed in his eyes as he demanded, "Where is Abigail now?"

"No, but a car just pulled into Willow Lane, and it's registered in Addison's name."

Greg was filled with renewed determination when he heard Benjamin's report. Finding Addison wouldbring him one step closer to replaceing Abigail.

He pulled on his coat at once and hurried to the door, saying, "Have the accountant compile all BuckleyGroup records and hand them over to the vice president and a few executives, then send thedocuments over to Old Madam Buckley. From now on, I will no longer be the company's president and

have the heads of the Night Assassino divisions report themselves to the old madam after this becauseI quit."

Greg sounded so casual about this that Benjamin could not believe what he had heard at first. "Thenwhat will you do, Mr. Buckley? Where will you go after you give everything up?"

"I'm going to become a househusband and let my darling become my pillar of support. Do you see howmuch money she's making? There's no point in me working my butt off when I can count on her tobankroll my life of luxury."

Greg's words left Benjamin speechless. Househusband? He failed to see how it could be anachievement for the leader of Night Assassino and the president of Buckley Group to give up suchglory in favor of becoming a househusband. He hastily asked, "B-But what about me?"

He was being abandoned now. He had only just been promoted to assistant, but he would beredundant if Greg really were to quit the company. Oh, no, that will not happen under my watch! I'mbetter off following Greg. Surely he'll still need an assistant and be able to pay my wages, right?

At the thought of this, Benjamin hurtled into the car as well so that he could take off after Greg, only toreceive a text from him. 'Stay home and take care of that damn cat. If she loses an ounce of weight, itwill be on your paycheck!'

The corner of Benjamin's lips twitched, and he wondered if this text meant he was going to work as anofficer for kitten duty from now on. If that were the case, it would be a considerable step down from hisassistant job. But as things were, he had no choice but to kill off his car engine and shuffle back intothe house.

Meanwhile, Greg's car rolled to a stop in Willow Lane; sure enough, Addison's car was parked there.

Abigail had wanted to go over to the Kain Residence to confront Philip. Still, things had beencomplicated, especially with Valerie being determined to hunt her and her children down. She wantedto avoid a direct confrontation with them, so she decided to drop by Addison's place in hopes of gainingsome sage advice on what to do next.

Unfortunately, Addison had yet to come home from whatever errand she was running.

As such, Abigail sat down in the living room and saw that Addison was still reading old books as usual.She had only just flipped through a couple of pages of them when she heard the sound of a car engineoutside.

I must be imagining things because why else would I think that sounds like an awful lot like Greg'ssports car? Abigail shook her head, smiling bitterly as she went on to read the books. Just then, sheheard the sound of the engine being switched off, and footsteps drew closer to the front door.

Everyone's footsteps sounded different. When Abigail heard the all-too-familiar set of footsteps, shefroze, then quickly rose to leave. However, the figure that came into the house moved swiftly, and hehad one strong arm wrapped around her slender waist before she could even register what washappening. "Whoa, there, where are you going, honey?"

She frowned and snapped, "Let go of me."

"No!" Much like a koala bear on a tree branch, Greg clung to Abigail and trapped her firmly in hisembrace, practically crushing her against him.

"Greg, I've made it very clear that we both need to calm down during this time apart. Why can't youunderstand that? Besides, do you really think it'll work out between us after what happened with yourmother? You can't tell me you don't know about the men your family sent to hunt the girls and me

down." She didn't want to bring this up because she wanted to avoid conflict, but Greg was corneringher at this point, and she had to point out the obvious no matter how hurtful it was.

On the other hand, Greg felt his heart twist when he saw how wounded Abigail looked. "I promise Iwon't let anything happen to you or the girls," he said solemnly.

"Save it. When things come down to it, will you choose to side with us over your mother?" She wassaying this out of anger, but she was also painfully aware that he would never go through with it.

Greg tightened his arms around her and said in a low voice, "My mom just had way too much time onher hands. Trust me. She's always been melodramatic since her retirement. So, in order to fill up herempty schedule and get her off your back, I've returned my dad's company and Night Assassino to her.She's going to be so busy that she won't even have time for toilet breaks. I also told my men to beinventive and stir up some mess for her to clean up. It won't be long before she pulls back the men shesent after you, and she probably wouldn't pick on you anymore." He paused and Abigail earnestly. "Buthere's the thing: your lovely fiancé is officially out of a job now. I've always been a big spender, anddon't have much savings. As such, I've decided that I'm going to become the best househusband thereis, so indispensable that you will simply have to pay for my choice of lifestyle on your own accord."

Abigail nearly choked at this. Househusband? Him? And I'm going to be paying for his lifestyle? "Youmust be sick in the head, Greg."

"Then, why don't you kiss me to make it all better?" he said wittily, blinking his eyes in such anendearing manner that she almost gave in to him.

Wait, no, she stopped herself. She would have no pride if she kissed him now. The fact that she evenentertained the idea angered her, and she barked, "Let me go right now, Greg!"

"No!" He was behaving like a petulant child.

Her scalpel slid into her hand as she hissed menacingly, "If you don't let go of me, Greg, I swear you'llnever be able to use those hands again!"

He was still grinning mischievously despite her threat, which made her blood boil. I'm basicallydeclaring war here, you big oaf! If you think that you can get me to change my mind just by smiling,then you are sorely mistaken, you jerk!

She gritted her teeth. "Let. Go." She was holding her scalpel now, and the sight of the sleek, silverweapon in her hand was enough to make anyone shudder.

However, Greg was unintimidated as he said stubbornly, "No, I won't let go. Not even if I die."

"Do you really think I wouldn't hurt you? You have no idea just how heartless I can be, Greg." With that,Abigail raised her arm and brought her scalpel down in an arc, aiming the glinting tip right at his hands.

Greg's eyes widened slightly, but he did not budge an inch. Instead, he tightened his grip around her,and even as the scalpel was about to scrape the veins on the back of his hands, he did not flinch.