The CEO's Empathy Pregnancy Pains
Chapter 130 A Bolt from the Blue

Lunch was whipped up by Ava herself, and the table was loaded with all of Emily's favorite dishes.

Michael took one look and, even though he didn't really mind, couldn't resist giving Ava a hard time. "Ava, who signs your paycheck, me or Emily? Why do you always cater to her tastes? Aren't you forgetting who the boss is here?" Emily could tell Michael was just messing around.

She laughed along, remembering Michael's earlier hint to play nice in front of the staff. So she grabbed his bowl, ladled some soup, and smiled. "Why are you getting all jealous over me?" Michael didn't snap back, just gave Emily a loving smile.

Seeing their little lovefest, Ava got all emotional and had to sneak back to the kitchen to wipe her eyes.

With fewer people around, Emily's smile quickly vanished. She handed the half-filled bowl of soup to Michael.

Michael couldn't help but snort and mutter, "The Brown family's second daughter sure knows how to flip the switch!"

Hearing that title, Emily paused mid-bite and shot Michael a look. "Why are you calling me that? Who told you I'm the second daughter?"

Emily put extra emphasis on "second."

Michael shrugged. "Rumors."

Rumors again. These rumors were really stirring things up.

Emily couldn't figure out if Michael was genuinely clueless or just playing dumb. Didn't he know who was older between her and Sophia? "Do you even know how old I am?" Emily suddenly asked, and luckily, Michael remembered her birthday.

After a quick mental math, he said, "Twenty-five."

Emily pressed on, "And how old is Sophia?"

Emily expected a quick answer, but Michael guessed, "Twenty-six? Twenty-seven? She can't be the same age as me, twenty-eight, right?"

Emily was even more stunned. Michael didn't even know Sophia's age.

Despite their long-standing public display of affection, men were all the same unfaithful and unreliable!

Emily said, "She's a year younger than me, twenty-four. Now you know who the second daughter is, right? Mr. Smith, you're the president of Smith Corporation, yet you lack basic judgment and just follow baseless rumors. How have you managed Smith Corporation all these years?"

With that, Emily downed her soup in one gulp.

Then she stood up and left Emerald Lake Manor without looking back.

When Michael asked where she was going, she coldly replied, "To replace Abigail."

Fine, go replace her then. What was the big deal? Michael rolled his eyes and looked down at the half bowl of soup Emily had ladled.

He gritted his teeth, picked it up, then put it down again. "Why drink it? I won't drink it! Such an ungrateful woman!"

Suddenly, the doorbell rang again.

Michael thought it was Emily, waved to Ava, and swaggered to open the door himself. "What, did you forget something..." Before Michael could finish his sentence, the door opened, and it wasn't Emily standing there, but Sophia.

Sophia looked a mess, her eyes red and swollen from crying, reeking of alcohol, and her makeup was a disaster.

It seemed she hadn't been home all night.

"Where were you last night? How'd you get so wasted?" Michael frowned, looking at her with disdain.

Sophia saw Michael leaning against the door frame, clearly not planning to help her or invite her in.

She immediately started crying even harder. "Michael, I'm really upset. Why didn't you answer my calls last night? I missed you so much, you know? I really..."

As she spoke, Sophia tried to hug Michael. But Michael wasn't having it. He stepped aside, and Sophia stumbled forward, almost falling.

"Michael, what are you doing!" A flash of unrecognized malice crossed Sophia's face.

Fearing Michael would notice, she quickly reverted to a pitiful look.

But Michael had already caught her expression and felt instinctively repulsed by Sophia. "You reek of alcohol. I just took a shower and have a meeting at the company later. It's inconvenient." Michael had countless reasons. Neither Sophia nor Emily from the Brown family could out-argue him.

But Sophia still gritted her teeth in hatred. Not just because of Michael's distance, but also because of Veda's slander, Emily's disdain everything made Sophia insanely jealous.

"A meeting, how does Smith Corporation have so many damn meetings?" Sophia muttered unconsciously.

Fortunately, Michael didn't catch it, just responded with a "what," and Sophia hurriedly explained. "Nothing, Michael; I know Smith Corporation is in trouble; you must be feeling bad. I didn't expect our visit to the hotel to be secretly photographed. What should we do now? Emily must be feeling bad too, right? After all, she's my sister, it's hard for me too."

As she spoke, Sophia once again used her trump card, trying to faint from crying to gain Michael's concern.

But Michael was unmoved. Hearing Sophia call Emily her sister, he instantly recalled Emily's words at the dining table. "She's twenty-four, I'm twenty-five, the difference is clear. Mr. Smith, do you still think she's the first Miss, and I'm the second Miss? Regarding those baseless online rumors, saying I'm the illegitimate child, do you really think my mother would be a homewrecker? Or have you ever seen a mistress using her own assets to support the original wife and her family? Wouldn't that make the original wife too spineless?"

"Michael." Sophia once again sweetly and softly acted coquettishly.

Michael's thoughts were interrupted. He looked at Sophia, suddenly serious, and said to her, "Sophia, let's break up."

Break up? This was a bolt from the blue for Sophia. She hadn't come home all night, took a long cab ride to Emerald Lake Manor, not to hear this!

Sophia said, "Michael, what did you say? Are you not fully awake this morning? How can you say break up to me? We are so in love, we can't break up, absolutely can't break up."

Breaking up would mean losing everything. That would be a total defeat!

By then, forget about dealing with that arrogant Veda; she would never be able to step into high society again! What difference would that make to her life being over!