Sophia could almost see the cold gun at Capone's waist, even without him lifting his shirt.
Adding to this display of force was Joey's impatient and complaining gaze toward her...
"Have you been really busy lately? If you're busy, you didn't have to personally accompany me!" Sophia glanced at the car behind them. The phrase "mobilizing troops for nothing" couldn't be more fitting.
"Who told you I was busy?" Capone's voice was low, and in the limited space of the car, it echoed slightly.
Sophia shook her head and remained silent. No one had told her anything, but the imposing display was enough to make anyone uneasy.
Have their enemies arrived? Was it Lucas?
"Stop overthinking. Just go buy your stuff! I'm not that busy, but I can't accompany you shopping like this every day. The problem is, I can't trust anyone else to watch you. You're always able to escape, so I have to personally keep an eye on you. But there won't be many more chances like this!" Without giving Sophia more time to think, Capone pulled her into the supermarket. "What are you standing there for? Hurry up and pick what you want!"
He pushed a small two-tier shopping cart, holding onto her wrist tightly with one hand, as if afraid she'd slip away.
This was an upscale, members-only supermarket, selling a wide variety of imported goods and organic foods. The annual membership fee wasn't cheap, and its clientele was mostly expatriates and the high-income class. At this time of day, there were few customers. The people Capone had brought along had also disappeared, perhaps hiding somewhere else.
"Where's Dr. Cronus?" Sophia asked. He had been the one who said he'd take her shopping, but now Capone was the one accompanying her.
"He's with Joey and the others. He won't get lost! Stop worrying about others and hurry up and pick your stuff!"
Sophia pouted and let out a soft hum. "You don't have to say it. I already know you have people secretly watching me!"
"Good! So don't get any funny ideas. You want to shop, I'll accompany you, and we'll see how much you can buy!"
Neither willing to back down, the two of them bickered as they pushed the cart. From a distance, they might have looked like a young couple shopping together.
"I already promised to bake cakes and cookies for the kids. How could I just leave them hanging? You can break promises with anyone, but not with kids! Anyway, it wouldn't hurt to escape another day. Don't worry!"
After speaking, Sophia picked up a block of cheese and sniffed it, unaware that Capone was frowning deeply, frozen in place.
She was telling the truth. If it had been about making cakes for a group of adults, she might have really taken the opportunity to escape. But now, she was facing a group of children. Cronus had even told her that some of these children had leukemia or brain tumors. Maybe today, maybe tomorrow, they would leave this world, and now they were still looking forward to eating a piece of cake that she had made. How could she use their trust and expectations to run away?
Seeing that Capone didn't react, Sophia turned her head to look at him. They were standing in front of the open cheese cooler. White, yellow, light blue—various kinds of cheese were laid out in a long row, all individually packaged in blocks, triangular, fan-shaped, or round, stacked like building blocks. Behind them were whole uncut wheels of cheese, as large as roulette wheels, quite impressive.
Capone looked like a lost but hungry child, his eyes lowered, staring at the assortment of cheeses in the cooler. He seemed a bit confused and at a loss, yet filled with nostalgia and longing.
"Do you want to eat something?" Sophia poked his shoulder. Besides cakes, she could also make pizza and baked pasta with cheese, both quite tasty, and she could switch up the recipes.
She didn't mean to flatter him, but his sudden silence and the look in his eyes inexplicably reminded her of the children in the hospital.
He must have been a child once too, right? A child without such erratic moods, not yet understanding the reasons for harm, simply enjoying food and toys.
Capone sighed, pursed his lips, and didn't say a word. He casually picked up a block of cheese and tossed it into the cart, saying indifferently, "Just make something simple, let everyone try a bit."
Whether it was because of what she had said earlier or not, Capone was no longer following Sophia's every step so closely. Whenever she thought of something she needed and went to get it, he would stand within her line of sight, waiting for her.
Sophia felt something was off about him today. It was similar to how he had acted the day they visited the graves in Nishiyama, occasionally showing traces of sadness and nostalgia.
It had to be related to the person buried beneath that tombstone. She was quite sure it wasn't his father, so... was it his mother?
Sophia didn't dare ask him directly. While selecting some cream, she got lost in thought. There was only one can left of the brand she liked on the shelf. She reached for it, only to find her hand touching another delicate, fair hand.
"Oh, were you also going to take this? There's only one can left. You can have it, I'll go ask a staff member if they have more!"
Sophia turned to see that the person next to her was also a young woman, slightly older than her, with dark brown hair casually but beautifully styled into a bun. She was wearing a dark coat and a brightly colored sweater, with skin as pale as snow. She had a gentle yet stylish demeanor, her face lit with a friendly smile.
"No need, you take it. I just wanted to have a look. The brand I usually use isn't sold here, so I was checking if there's another suitable one."
"Are you using it to make cakes too?" Sophia asked.
"No, I use it for coffee. My husband likes to add some cream to his Blue Mountain coffee!"
Sophia nodded. She noticed the Van Cleef & Arpels diamond ring on the woman's finger, suggesting she was immersed in a happy marriage.
"Why not try this one!" Sophia picked up a nearby brand. "It has a smooth texture without needing much whipping, and it's not too sweet. It should pair well with coffee!"
"Ah, thank you! You seem to know a lot about this!"
"Well, I'm a pastry chef. These things are part of the job!" Sophia said, a little proud.
Capone walked over from a short distance away. Sophia bit her lip. She had almost forgotten that the devil was still waiting for her. She quickly bid farewell to the woman. "I have to go now. Thank you for letting me have the cream!"
The woman smiled at her, watching as Sophia hurriedly ran toward the young man, then pushed her cart and left.
Capone took a few steps to catch up, and Sophia bumped right into his chest. The woman had already disappeared from sight.
"I've got the cream. Let's go check out the powdered sugar over there... Ow, what are you doing?! It hurts, let go of me!"
Capone suddenly grabbed her arm, squeezing it so hard it felt like he might crush it. Sophia cried out in pain, not understanding why he was acting so irrationally again.
"What did you say to that woman? Speak!"
"I didn't say anything! She gave me the last can of cream and then asked me which kind was good for coffee!" What had set him off this time? Was she not allowed to speak to men or even to women now?
"Do you even know who she is... never mind!"
Capone angrily let her go, pulling out his phone to call Joey. "Check if Lucas has already arrived... What do you mean there's no news? His trip to Beijing was just a diversion. He must have secretly arrived at the port!" Capone sneered. "If I'm not mistaken, I just ran into his woman... Yeah, exactly, the eldest daughter of the Donkin family! She's always clinging to Lucas. If she's here, then Lucas must be here too!"
Sophia's surprise at this moment was no less than when Capone had nodded and agreed to let her go to the supermarket.
It was just a chance encounter, but that woman turned out to be Lucas's wife!
She still remembered the time she was alone with Lucas at the ROYAL. In order to protect herself from being violated, she had brought up his fiancée, believing that marriage required loyalty. No woman would be okay with her husband having relations with another.
What was Lucas's reaction at the time?
Many details of that day were fuzzy in her memory, but Lucas's change in attitude when mentioning his fiancée—from fierce to nonchalant—had aligned perfectly with what Cronus had once said about the nature of men, so that part remained relatively clear.