Chapter 31 Impulsive
“See? This is my father!”
Emilia stopped crying after seeing Leo, and shouted at the others in the office.
Meanwhile, Janet and the O’Brien trio were staring at him in disbelief.
The girl called him “Daddy”?
When did Emilia have a father? Wasn’t she from a single-parent household?
Where did this man come from?
“Who are you?”
Janet looked at Leo with a confused expression on her pale face.
“I’m Emilia’s father. Who did you say you wanted to expel just now?”
Leo did not show any signs of anger, and was still smiling sweetly at Janet. But the subtext of what he said made Janet’s heart tremble.
Those familiar with Leo would know that he was most dangerous in moments like this.
From their conversation, Leo had a rough understanding of the situation.
The boy, Ken O’Brien, was a class bully who often tormented Emilia for not having a father. Emilia finally snapped and hit him hard on the head, scraping his skin.
However, her teacher and Ken’s parents vilified and even tried to expel her.
For the past five years, Emilia had never received love from her father. She did not even know what her father looked like. She had always been picked on and ridiculed in kindergarten because of this. Leo happened to encounter it this time, but how many other times in the past had this occurred?Content property of NôvelDra/ma.Org.
Resentment and anger rose inside him, and the temperature inside the office dropped in an instant.
Facing Leo’s icy stare, Janet’s heart raced so hard that it threatened to jump out of her ribs. She held her breath unconsciously.
“I asked you a question. Didn’t you hear me?” Leo asked, walking up to the teacher.
Struggling to control her fear, Janet changed her tone, “Did I say anything about expulsion?”
“Oh, I must have misheard you then.” Leo chuckled.
“Yes, yes, you did…” Janet immediately nodded her head. She was the archetype of a duplicitous individual right now.
Mrs. O’Brien took issue with that. “What are you saying? You just told us that you’d expel Emilia! Why would you suddenly go back on your word?”
“That’s right. How can you go back on your word now?” Mr. O’Brien echoed, similarly discontent.
Leo turned to the O’Brien couple with cold eyes and said emotionlessly, “The teacher said that Emilia won’t be expelled. Do you have a problem with that?”
His tone allowed for no refutation whatsoever.
Mrs. O’Brien looked at him indignantly. Suddenly, an idea came to her and her expression changed. She turned to Emilia and said, “Oh, all right, I get it now. He’s not your father at all. He’s just an actor, isn’t he?”
Emilia’s expression changed, and the look in Leo’s eyes turned dark.
Realization dawned on the others after hearing what Mrs. O’Brien said. One clapped and said, “Yes, why didn’t I think of that? You’re not Emilia’s father at all. You’ve just been hired for the occasion.”
Emilia’s father had never been a fixture before. How could he suddenly appear at this moment out of nowhere? It was preposterous.
“No, he’s really my father!”
Emilia was so panicked that her eyes turned red again.
She did not know what they meant by calling Leo an actor, but she could tell that they did not believe that he was her real father.
She wanted to explain more to prove that Leo was her father, but she was too young to explain things coherently. In the end, her face was all red but she still could not say anything.
“Can’t explain it anymore, can you? You’re just an illegitimate child without a father!” Ken hid behind his parents and laughed at her.
Emilia curled her lips and looked like she was about to cry.
Leo pulled her into his embrace at once. He looked at her and said with a smile, “Emilia, do you trust me?”
Emilia wiped her nose and nodded. “I do.”
“Then don’t cry.”
“Don’t lower your head or you’ll drop your crown,” Leo said quietly. “Don’t cry either, or idiots will laugh at you.”
Emilia burst into laughter at these words.
Leo caressed his little girl’s face before turning back to look at the other people in the office.
This time, his eyes were ice-cold.
“Let’s not worry about my identity for now. Don’t you think that ganging up on a little girl is completely reprehensible?” he said with a chilly expression. “Apologize to my daughter straight away, and then transfer to another school.”
“What?!”
Leo’s demand prompted drastic changes in the others’ expressions. Only one thought came to their minds.
This man was arrogant beyond belief.
They found him ridiculous, too.
Who did he think he was, coming out of nowhere and demanding that their son be transferred to another school?
They would never let it happen!
“I think you don’t really understand what’s going on here.”
Mrs. O’Brien gave Leo a sarcastic look and said, “Do you know who I am? I can make life hell for you. Never mind expelling your daughter, I can get you fired from your own job with ease.”
“O’Brien, right?”
Leo paused, a little confused. He could, if only barely, remember that the O’Brien’s were one of the families that he had invited to his wedding.
The representative of the family was named Dwayne O’Brien.
“Scared now?”
Mrs. O’Brien’s expression became mocking at Leo’s silence. She turned to Janet. “If you don’t give us a satisfactory outcome, we’ll stop funding this kindergarten. You know what needs to be done, right?”
“Of course, of course… Mrs. O’Brien, you’re a VIP who has made many generous contributions to our kindergarten,” Janet said without even thinking about it. There was a fawning smile on her face.
Emilia sensed that the situation was not right. She tugged at Leo’s sleeve cautiously. “Dad, should we call Mom over?”
Her mother often told her not to reveal the fact that she was the CEO of Atlas Beauty, so as not to encourage resentment in the kindergarten.
She knew that kids would judge each other by their family’s wealth and form cliques.
Even though kindergarten-age children were young, they had their own ways of thinking. They knew that it was wise to play with others on their level. Emilia was an obedient child, so she never told the other kids who her mother was.
“It’s all right. Mom’s in a meeting, so let’s not disturb her.”
Leo caressed her head affectionately, only to suddenly change his expression. He gently lifted her hair and found a large part of her scalp swollen and stained with dried blood.
His touch made Emilia cry out in pain.
“How did this happen?” Leo asked in a grim voice.
Emilia rubbed her head and said with grievances, “Ken’s father hit me just now…”
Leo looked murderous in an instant. He stared at Mr. O’Brien with a livid expression. “Did you lay a hand on my daughter?”
Mr. O’Brien’s expression changed but still he said disdainfully, “I was a little impulsive…”
“Is that so…”
Leo nodded, only to abruptly raise his foot and kick Mr. Obrien hard in the stomach.
With a loud bang, the other man fell to the floor along with his chair.
Leo slowly put down his foot and said calmly, “I guess that was impulsive too.”