John's question left James a little flustered. He wasn't sure how to react and froze for a second.
"Friends. They might be friends."
"Might be?" John frowned.
"In fact, I don't know. Sheila has been very busy this year and we seldom hung out together. Linda said that they knew each other at a party," James said.
'Since they knew each other, what happened to Linda must have something to do with Sheila.'
John was lost in thought.
He had his spies around Vivian for two years, but they attained very little useful information. It was nowhere near enough to bring her to justice.
He and Noah had been setting up a trap for her for two years. Finally, Vivian took the bait. As long as she was caught drug trafficking, she would get convicted.
The time and place of the deal hadn't been decided yet. This was the one thing that they needed to be extra cautious about.
They guessed that Vivian would do it in one of Tim's places. Although Tim was not involved in this kind of thing, his clubs' security facilities were in place. Those things were, to a certain extent, used to protect Vivian.
Tim had always turned a blind eye to her actions. Many of his subordinates worked for Vivian. If she was caught, he would suffer great losses.
That was why Tim had been interfering with their investigation. This was the real tricky thing.
They knew there was something wrong, but they couldn't get the evidence they needed. They didn't even know how to start the investigation.
But now, they could have the breakthrough that they needed. If what Adrian said was true, Sheila couldn't just be any random person. Their next step had to be to investigate her and Linda and follow the clues.
John had already made up his mind, with his deep eyes gradually becoming clear.
"Got it. Don't contact Sheila," John ordered.
"What's wrong?" asked James, confused.
"You shouldn't be too involved with another woman. A married man should be aware of this."
James couldn't deny that reasoning, so he nodded and agreed, "Uncle John, you are right."
The two of them raised their glasses and clinked.
At about half past nine, Van's and Don's voices sounded from outside. They yawned and threw themselves into their mother's arms.
"Mommy, I want to listen to bedtime stories. Then I want to have a good sleep." Don raised his little head and acted like a spoiled child.
"Mommy, me too." Van also began acting a little spoiled.
Touching the children's heads, Nina said, "I will take you to brush your teeth and wash your faces first. After that I'll tell you stories, okay? Get off me first."
The little boys stood up obediently.
"Let me do it." Before Nina could get up, John had already walked over and squatted in front of the children. "Come up."
Van obediently hopped on his father's back, while John reached around and propped him up to keep him secure. When he stood up, he lifted the other boy and held him in his arms.
He carried both his kids. Don clapped his hands and exclaimed, "Daddy, you are Superman!"
Van chuckled and echoed, "Daddy is awesome."
Hearing his sons' praise, John smiled and took the children upstairs.
James was envious. "Those kids are so lucky. Uncle John never carried me on his back when I was young. If I ever fell, he would at most pull me up from the ground. He was not this gentle at all.
"Van, bubbles." Don grabbed a handful of bubbles and tried to blow them to his elder brother, but he couldn't blow hard enough to get them all the way over there.
Van said with concern, "Mommy said you can't eat bubbles so keep them away from your face."
"Oh, I quit." Pouting, Don threw the bubbles back into the bathtub,
accidentally hitting them into Van's face. Don immediately burst into laughter.
Van wiped the bubbles off his face and said helplessly, "Don..."
Don was still smiling. Van waved his feet and splashed the bubbles and water onto Don's face.
It was Van's turn to laugh now.
As the brothers played and joked in the bathtub, the water that they kicked up splashed all over the bathroom. It was not until John pulled up a chair and sat with them that they finally restrained themselves and started behaving.
Van and Don called out together, "Daddy..."
"Did you get burned today?" John's face was far too stern so the two boys immediately stopped playing with the bubbles.
As the elder brother, Van spoke up and apologized, "I didn't protect Don well enough. He got scalded and I'm sorry."
"No, no." Don shook his head. "I said I would protect Van. It's my fault. I'm sorry, Daddy."
They were only four-year-old kids, so their speech was nowhere near as polished as an adult's. Watching these two boys so guiltily bow their heads would have melted anyone's heart.
John didn't blame them. Realizing he was reacting too harshly, he softened his tone and said, "You don't have to apologize to me. It's not your fault. Do you remember what I told you?"
The brothers said in unison, "Yes."
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