After about an hour, Lt General Duanmu had to leave to attend another meeting.
Before he left, he noted the sad look in Quinn's eyes.
Quinn slipped her tiny hand into his and asked sadly, "Are we going to meet again?"
"I-I don't know."
Not knowing what else to say, he merely patted her head and left quickly.
Quinn wanted to chase after him but she stopped halfway to the door and turned back.
With tears in her eyes, she ran straight to Kai Xin.
...
In a moving car with darkened windows, Lt General Duanmu sighed as he thought about the look on Quinn's face as he left.
He took out his wallet and pulled out an old photo hidden behind his family photo.
It was the photo of a toddler with dark curly hair and a white patch right in the middle of the forehead.
His chauffeur of 20 years glanced from the rearview mirror and asked in concern, "Young Master, is everything alright with the meeting?"
As he lovingly rubbed the photo, he nodded, "Yeah."
"Is it a productive meeting? I'm surprised that you actually cancelled a meeting with the Vice President for a message from an unknown sender."
Without taking his eyes off the photo, Lt General Duanmu smiled, "It's very productive."
...
In the black R8, DX and Kai Xin glanced at the rearview mirror and they frowned when they saw the little girl quivering lips.
Concerned that she might be unwell, Kai Xin asked, "Quinn, what's wrong?"
Quinn shook her head and turned to look at the moving cars outside.
"Quinn..."
DX patted her thigh and shook his head, "Let her be. She needs time to think."
Kai Xin glanced at her for one last time before turning. DX was right. Quinn needed time to think.
After all, that was probably her first memory of her father.
By watching their interactions, Kai Xin managed to guess the relationships between those two.
If Lt General Duanmu was a person as cold as what DX described, then he would not have spent the time listening to a random 8 year old rambling on about her life...
Unless, the child was someone important to him.
He was completely enamored with Quinn as he laughed at her jokes and stories.
Besides, Kai Xin can see the resemblance between those two.
The way they eat their ice cream, the way they smile, and the little half dimple on their left cheek.
Most importantly, he knew exactly that Quinn was a girl.
Anyone who saw those two together would have no trouble believing that they were related.
Once they arrived home, Quinn dragged herself over to the garden and sat at the swing with a dejected look on her face.
Kai Xin watched from inside the mansion and asked the man standing next to her, "Did you know?"
DX shook his head, "I only knew when I saw them together earlier. Layla never told me."
He looked at Quinn, "She probably knew it as well. I'm sure she would have a lot of questions for her mother."
Kai Xin sighed as she watched the little girl downcasted face.
....
Back at his room in his own mansion, Ghost watched the interaction between Quinn and Lt General Duanmu through a video feed.
His earpiece was on and amidst the typing sound, he heard Phantom asking,
"How did you know that he would go?"
Ghost glanced at the paused video of Quinn and Lt General Duanmu laughing at something and said, "Because he's a good father."
"Seriously, Ghost. How would you know? No one knew who the father was. Not even Ms. Layla's family knew."
Ghost yawned, "If you wait until your enemy to start moving, you would be too late."
"What?"
He heard someone knocking on the door and said, "Someone's here. I would talk to you soon."
He hung up the call, and looked at a photo of Layla, her partner, and Quinn.
Layla thought that no one knew but her. Little did she realized that he had been placing surveillance on her family for almost 10 years.
He had hoped that one day, he would be able to create a good alliance with Layla's family.
When he realized that Layla and Lt. Gen Duanmu had a secret tryst that resulted in a baby, he was elated.
A family with strong legal influence, and a family with huge powers over the military.
An alliance with them would definitely helped them in getting rid of the Shangguan, Ye and Luo Family.
He encrypted the files using Phantom's software before shutting down the laptop.
As he walked towards the door, he thought about how sending Kai Xin to work under the woman was a better move than he originally planned.
In this world, the people with money had some power, but people with both money and power was untouchable.
...