Chapter 310
Clayton hurried to carry Luna back to the room. Then he rummaged through the laundry basket to find the pants he had worn that day and pulled out a crumpled business card from the pocket.
He pinched the card and said in a trembling voice, “I need to make a call. Luna, wait for me to come back and give you a bath.”
“Okay. Uncle Clayton,” Luna replied obediently.
Clayton rushed out the door. Hearing the noise, Valerie staggered over and gave Luna a sneering smile. “You should call him Daddy. If you keep calling him Uncle Clayton, how can he be willing to spend money on you? Idiot.”
Luna nervously grabbed the towel around her and slowly shrank toward the back of the bed.
“What are you hiding from?” Valerie pounced and grabbed Luna’s ankle, pulling her roughly into her arms. “Next time that Uncle Cruz contacts you, you must call me. He has no relation to you–he must have ulterior motives for being nice to you.”
Luna was so scared that she let out a scream, unable to form a complete sentence.
Drunk and disoriented, Valerie forcefully pulled Luna into her arms and clamped a hand over her mouth. “Why are you shouting? I’m your mother. Shut up, shut up! You better shut up!”
With her mouth and nose covered, Luna’s face turned red, then purple, and her eyes began to redden. Her small hands scratched wildly at the bed, suddenly grabbing something and swinging it hard at Valerie.
“I told you to shut-” Suddenly, Valerie lost consciousness after being hit and collapsed on top of Luna.
Her hand slid off Luna’s face, and the girl finally took a gasping breath. Coming to her senses, she pushed Valerie away, stared blankly at the massage hammer in her hand, then threw it away in horror and scrambled out of bed.
Meanwhile, Clayton was crouching on the curb outside the apartment building, the phone number Jocelyn had given already typed into his phone–but he couldn’t bring himself to hit dial.
If his regret about divorcing Audrey had been 60%, it had surged to 90% after hearing Valerie reveal how his family had benefited from Audrey.
He did want to win Audrey back, but he didn’t know Jocelyn and couldn’t trust her. He knew there was no such thing as a free lunch–she must have an agenda.
Clayton thought it would be great to reconcile with Audrey, but if things backfired, given Audrey’s current power, his life might become even more miserable. So he decided to first investigate Jocelyn’s identity.
He searched for Eclat and found a slew of negative news–poor product quality, unfair competition, hiring people to smear rival companies. In contrast, its competitor, Lunessé, had an excellent reputation.
He kept digging and discovered that Lunessé Skincare was a subsidiary of StrideVestment–and the person in charge of StrideVestment was Audrey.
Clayton’s legs gave way, and he fell to the ground, scraping his arm.
Thank goodness he hadn’t made that call–otherwise, he would have become Jocelyn’s stepstone.
Just as he stood up, he saw a child fleeing frantically from the apartment building. “Luna?”
Luna stopped, and upon seeing him, burst into tears. “Uncle Clayton.”
Noticing Luna was naked, Clayton quickly took off his T–shirt and draped it over her. “Why did you run out? Did your mom go crazy again?”
Luna was sobbing uncontrollably, refusing to go back inside when he tried to lead her home.
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Chapter 310
Clayton cared deeply about his image. Shirtless, he feared being stared at, so he took Luna to a bench away from the road.
After patiently comforting her for a while, Luna said timidly, “I hit Mommy on the head, and she won’t move.”
“What?” Clayton exclaimed, jumping to his feet–only to wince at the searing pain in his elbow from the fall. “What did you hit her with?”
“A massage hammer,” Luna said.
Clayton breathed a sigh of relief. The massage hammer was plastic–even an adult couldn’t kill someone with it, let alone a child.
“Don’t be afraid, it’ll be okay. Come back with me to check, alright?” He assured Luna everything was fine and led her home.
Valerie was lying face–down on the bed, legs hanging off the edge, motionless.
Luna refused to enter the bedroom, so Clayton went in alone and shook her. “Valerie? Valerie!”
With a harder shove, Valerie slid limply to the floor. Luna, standing in the doorway, jumped in fright.
Clayton felt a surge of fear. He reached out a trembling hand to check her breath–she was still alive. He then felt the back of her head and sighed in relief
when he found no blood or wound.
“It’s okay, don’t worry,” Clayton said, comforting both Luna and himself. He took out his phone and called an ambulance.
By the time the ambulance arrived, both Clayton and Luna had changed clothes. The medics smelled strong alcohol on Valerie and, after transporting her to the hospital, confirmed she was suffering from alcohol poisoning.
Despite the doctors‘ efforts, Clayton was told Valerie had suffered damage to her central nervous system and might be paralyzed on one side if she woke
- up.
Clayton took Luna to pay the fees. Watching the compensation from his bone marrow donation dwindle made him feel miserable.
Luna, already quiet, became even more silent. She would turn pale and flinch at the slightest touch.
The next day, with Valerie still unconscious, Clayton needed to stay and care for her, but Luna’s condition was clearly unsuitable for kindergarten.
Finally, he discussed with Luna, “I need to stay at the hospital with your mom and can’t take care of you properly. If you don’t want to go to kindergarten, would you let Uncle Hardy look after you for a few days?”
Luna nodded silently.
Clayton called Hardy and explained the situation. Hardy arrived quickly, bringing Quentin with him.
Clayton told the whole story, then hoped Hardy could help take care of Luna for a few days. He also said he was willing to pay Hardy.
Quentin had asked the doctor and was sure there was a high chance Valerie would be paralyzed after waking up.
After hearing the story, Hardy took Luna’s hand and said to Clayton, “Mr. Patel, you’ll be stretched thin working and caring for a patient.”
“I suggest you formalize foster care so I can take care of Luna. Then, you can return to Ironhaven to start a business and pick up Ms. Patterson when you’re back on your feet,” he added.
Clayton was stunned. He stared at Hardy in disbelief, then at Luna. He thought, ‘They didn’t resemble each other, so Hardy couldn’t be her father. Why was he being so kind to Luna?‘
“Don’t overthink it. I just get along well with Luna. Although she wasn’t at fault for Valerie’s injury, she did hit her. I’m willing to cover Valerie’s medical bills,” Hardy said.
Luna looked shocked to hear he would care for both her and her mother. After a moment of surprise, she tightly clasped his finger.
