My Mommy’s Brave Heart

Chapter 11

Adina was absolutely certain that the man they met was Duke Winters. But why did he deny it? She recalled everything that had happened a moment ago, and her expression turned dark. Did Duke Winters think that she used Melody to approach him? Could he be any more narcissistic? Adina rolled her eyes in an extremely unlady-like fashion. Then, she looked down at her daughter, only to notice that Mel’s eyes were still fixed on Duke’s car. “Mel, do you know him?” she asked with surprise. But her daughter did not give her any response. It was only when the car vanished that Mel looked away and hugged Adina’s neck. Adina checked the driver’s hand and said guiltily, “I’m sorry. When Mel gets worked up, she sometimes bites. I’ll bring you to the hospital to get it treated…” The driver waved his hand in dismissal and said, “It’s normal for children to bite people. My son often bites me too. This is nothing. Miss Adina, you should get back into the car.” Adina sighed. She had been trying to correct Melody’s habits, but it didn’t seem to be working. They went on their way, and soon, they stopped in front of Xavier Corporation. Adina brought her children to the waiting room and asked Alden to take good care of his sister before she went to the office. The person who was going to help her upload the chip’s program into the main product system was her cousin, Ethan Xavier. He had gone to study abroad when he was eight and only returned to the country once every year. Before everything, Adina had not known him. But she had to admit, he was really amazing. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for him to stand out among the dozens of younger members of the Xavier family. “Addy, let me take a look at the code of your chip.” Ethan went straight to business the moment they saw each other and started talking about work. Adina did not delay things either. She sat down in front of the computer and started typing away on the keyboard. Soon, a whole page of code appeared on the screen. Ethan had also majored in programming, so when he saw the string of code on the screen, he was stunned. His cousin had used the simplest programming language of all—C++—to write the most complicated code he had ever seen! If they inserted chips written in it into their products, Xavier Corporation’s products would surely rise to the top of the IoT market. It was no wonder why his father had been in such a hurry to sign the contract. “Ethan, I’ve already uploaded the optimized code into the

system. You just need to connect it to your internal…” Adina gave Ethan the instructions in an organized fashion without missing out on the tiniest of details. Ethan stared at her with admiration. “If we succeed in launching these products, you’ll be one of our greatest contributors.” Adina smiled and said, “It’s because you and Uncle Richard are willing to trust me that this chip is able to be put to use, no?” Ethan shook his head. He was sure that plenty of companies had contacted Adina before them. If she hadn’t approached them, the Wilheim family, Lorde family, and countless others would fight tooth and nail to work with her. The Xavier family was only able to get this chance because Adina was Madam Xavier’s granddaughter. When they got ready to take a look at the company’s prototype, Ethan’s secretary suddenly walked in. “Young Master Ethan, Miss Dew came over to talk about a cooperation.” Adina narrowed her eyes. ‘Miss Dew? Dew Daugherty?’ But that made sense. Daugherty Corporation was built with the help of the Xavier family, so it had deep ties with Xavier Corporation. Even though the Xavier family and Daugherty family had a falling out four years ago, it was not easy to just cut all ties in the business world as well. Adina turned to Ethan and asked, “What sort of business cooperations is Xavier Corporation involved in with Daugherty Corporation?” “The Daugherty family has been wanting to get a share of our smart products and join us in working with them,” Ethan said. “But the Daugherty family has never shown much sincerity, so my father is still considering this cooperation. He hasn’t signed the contract yet.” Adina tapped her finger against the table. “Ethan, if you trust me, could I handle this deal?” Her eyes were calm when she looked at him, but Ethan could guess what emotions were stirring behind that calmness. The day before, he had heard about what had happened four years ago from his grandmother. The Daugherty family had actually killed two of Adina’s children. Honestly, if no lives had been involved, he would have been fine with the Xavier family turning a blind eye and working together with the Daugherty family. But two lives were lost. Even if he was not close with his cousin, he could not ignore this. “Addy, part of this project’s shares are yours since you provided the tech, so you can make the decision regarding this. I’ll let you handle it,” Ethan said softly. “Thank you, Ethan.” Adina exhaled. Meanwhile, Dew leaned against the couch in the meeting room with an impatient look on her face. She had been waiting for twenty minutes, but the Xavier family did not send anyone over. They actually dared to ignore her like this! Since the Xavier family was Adina’s

maternal grandparents’ family, she actually did not want to have anything to do with it! But she had no other choice. She was the heiress of the Daugherty family, and Daugherty Corporation’s business was going downhill. Hence, she had to prioritize the company in anything she did. It would be great if Duke just announced her status to the public. Then, countless people would try to get on her good side. Yet Duke had ordered her to never tell anyone about the children, much less say that she had any ties to the Winters family. This meant that even though she had successfully made Duke believe that she was the children’s mother, she did not get any benefits from the Winters family. This thought always made her fume. Dew finished her coffee in a rage just as she heard the sound of heels outside.