Araceli POV
I pursed my lips.
As soon as I sent the paternity reports of my two children and Raphael to him, the Fleming family would stop pestering me.
However, I couldn't talk to Raphael about it.
I was worried that Raphael would make the same choice as the Fleming family.
If Valeria and Krish's identities were revealed, I would definitely not get custody of them.
"Raphael, this is between my Ramon, so it's better to leave it to me."
I said slowly, "He's the children's real father no matter what..."
Raphael stared at me for a few seconds without saying anything else.
He sighed slightly and took out his cell phone.
I didn't know what he was going to do and was a little confused.
He made a call and said something. Soon, several sedans drove up. A group of men in black got out, put their hands behind their backs and stood in a line.
Raphael had them patrol the neighborhood every half hour. Then he had them take the two men who had been placed in the basement.
I looked at his back and suddenly felt a little moved.
All these years, no matter what happened, I was always left to fend for myself, but just now, Raphael had me protected behind him.
So this was what it felt like to be protected.
I walked into my room after locking the doors and windows, took out my cell phone, and dialed Ramon's number.
The call was quickly answered.
Ramon's exasperated voice came through.
"Araceli, who is that man?"
I walked out onto the balcony with my cell phone in hand, my eyes icy cold.
I pursed my lips and said coldly, "Mr. Fleming, if the people you sent tonight really took my child, do you know what price the Fleming family will pay?"
"Don't try to make a fool of yourself here! The two kids are mine!" Ramon said angrily, "You'd better voluntarily hand over the two children to me, or else you're not going to live in peace!"
I sneered, "Mr. Fleming, have you done a paternity test with my two children?"
"Do I need to do that?" Ramon yelled, "You seduced me into letting me have sex with you five years ago! That's an indisputable fact!"
"Don't be so confident, Mr. Fleming."
I stared calmly out the window. "By the way, do you know the president of Royal Group, Raphael Lancaster? He's the man who was at my house tonight."
"You bitch! You actually hooked up with Mr. Lancaster!" Ramon gritted his teeth in anger. "Do you really think Raphael would like you, a slut who had two kids? He just wants to fuck you! If you'll come with me, sooner or later I'll have you married into the Fleming family and become my wife."
My patience was completely exhausted after hearing Ramon's arrogant words.
I said coldly, "Listen, Ramon, Krish and Valeria are not your children. Raphael is their father. So, if you dare to take away Raphael's children, your family will be hit like never before. I'm not kidding you. I can show you the paternity report if you want."
"What?"
"Mr. Fleming, haven't you met my son, Krish? Don't you think he looks exactly like Raphael?"
I sneered, "Mr. Fleming, I advise you to give up as soon as possible. Otherwise, I can assure you that you will regret it."
I hung up the phone immediately after I finished speaking.
The Fleming family shouldn't send anyone else to me for a while.
I lay on my bed and tossed and turned for a long time before I fell asleep.
Early the next morning, I drove the kids to daycare after they had breakfast with me.
After that, I drove to Creaty's office.
As soon as I entered the office, Leanna came up to me and lowered her voice, "Ms. Chancey, there's a man who says he wants to see you about something. He's waiting in the break room right now. I think there's something strange about him, though..."
I raised my eyebrows and said, "Why?"
"He said he wanted to work with our company, but he said he had to talk to you face to face, so I told him to wait in the lounge first."
Leanna continued, "Ms. Chancey, he looks really strange. You need to be careful."
I frowned slightly and nodded.
I went into my office to get my files, then walked to the break room door and knocked.
A low voice came from inside.
"Come in."
The voice made me feel a little warily steeped. A chill was felt on my back.
I frowned, a little uneasily, and pushed the door open and walked in.
There were two people in the lounge. A man stood by the couch while a man wearing a black mask sat on the couch.
The mask blocked most of the man's face, revealing only a pair of deep and cold eyes.
I frowned slightly, withdrew my eyes bashfully, and smiled, "Hello, I'm the general manager of Creaty Company. My name is Araceli Chancey."
The man's cold gaze slowly moved over and slowly landed on me.
I instantly felt as if I had fallen into a pit of ice.
I involuntarily pursed my lips and took a step back to distance myself from him.
The man stood up and held out his hand to me, saying in a low voice, "Mathew Clayton."
I froze for a second before reaching out and shaking his hand. "Mr. Clayton, nice to meet you."
He glanced at me and didn't say anything.
I smiled, "Mr. Clayton, how do you do. May I ask what area of business cooperation you're here to discuss with our company?"
He turned around. The assistant standing behind him immediately came forward. "Ms. Chancey, we've heard that Creaty has done outstanding work in the area of artificial intelligence products. Our company needs to design an AI program."
"Of course," I was still smiling, "May I ask what industry specifically?"
"We need you to design an AI program that can match our latest bionic robot."
The assistant continued, "In short, we want to embed this program into the bionic robot's body."
I couldn't help but show a shocking expression.
There were a lot of ethical issues involved in this program. Even though the idea had been proposed a few years ago, I was still worried about the ethical pitfalls involved.
"Ms. Chancey, what do you think?" The assistant inquired respectfully when she finished.
I coughed twice in embarrassment and explained, "I'm sorry, but I don't think there are ethical or moral issues involved in this project, so I won't be participating. Thank you for your appreciation, Mr. Clayton."
"Don't be in a hurry to turn us down, Ms. Chancey. If you join us, in just three months, we can make you the richest entrepreneur in New York. I promise you."
The man called Mathew Clayton spoke again.
His voice was low and cold. In this moment, I even felt the temperature of the room drop a lot.
He stared at me calmly and said slowly, "I can give you a few days to think about it. You don't have to rush to reply to me because I will come back to you."
After he finished speaking, he got up and headed out the door. His assistant rushed to follow him and opened the door for him.
After he left, the temperature in the lounge gradually picked up.
I finally felt relieved. The gloomy feeling that had enveloped the entire room slowly dissipated.