Chapter 118: Call Me Daddy, I’ll Buy You a Toy

"Alright." Amanda Vance gently pulled her son’s face away from Hayden Grant’s hands and stroked his cheek. "Don’t go corrupting my Jean."

"How am I corrupting him? As if I could corrupt this sharp little guy," Hayden Grant grumbled. He had no idea what this kid ate growing up; he wasn’t easy to fool at all.

Other kids could be bribed with a piece of candy, but with him, even a mountain of gold would be useless.

"Jean, what kind of dad do you want?" he couldn’t help but ask.

Jean Vance lazily lifted his eyelids to glance at him. "I don’t want a dad."

Hayden Grant choked, not expecting that answer. Unwilling to give up, he continued to coax him, "That’s because you’ve never had a dad before, so you don’t know how great it is. With a dad, no one would dare bully you. He could take you out to play during vacation and buy you lots of toys. Doesn’t that sound great?"

Jean Vance lifted his chin, his gaze filled with a touch of disdain. "No one dares to bully me now, either. Mom plays with me. Besides, I don’t play with toys anymore. And even if I wanted to, I have money. I can buy them myself."

Hayden Grant burst out laughing. "How much money can you have, kiddo? Toys are really expensive these days. How about this: you call me ’Dad’ once, and I’ll buy you a whole room full of toys."

Just as Amanda Vance was about to speak, Jean squeezed her hand and then let go. He silently picked up his backpack, took out a card, and placed it on the table. Looking at Hayden, he said seriously, "You call me ’Dad’ once, and I’ll buy you two rooms full of toys."

Hayden Grant was speechless. He stared at the black bank card on the table. The lettering on it was gold, giving it an understated yet luxurious look.

What a coincidence. He had seen this card once before, in the possession of one of his grandfather’s friends. It was a genuine Black Gold Card. There were no more than ten of them in the entire world. It had an unlimited spending limit, so you never had to worry about maxing it out. The wealth it represented was enough to buy anything on Earth, making overdraft impossible. Even his older brother didn’t qualify to own one yet.

Swallowing hard, he stared blankly at Amanda Vance, his eyes wide with shock. "Megan, what have you been up to? How did you earn so much money?"

He only knew she was the boss of "July." Was it really that profitable?

Amanda Vance leaned back in her chair, let out a low laugh, and shook her head. "That’s not a supplementary card. It belongs to Jean."

That was even more shocking than if it had been hers.

Hayden Grant, who prided himself on being worldly, still looked at Jean in astonishment. He felt like he couldn’t wrap his head around it. "It’s... It’s Jean’s?"

Jean Vance looked at him without speaking, which was a silent confirmation. He pushed the card a little further forward, his gaze fixed on Hayden’s.

Even though the boy hadn’t said a word, Hayden somehow read a clear message in his eyes.

’Call me Dad.’

The corner of his mouth twitched. Thinking back on how he had just been running his mouth in front of Jean, Hayden’s face burned with embarrassment.

Who would have thought a little kid could be so rich? How old was he, anyway?!

Amanda Vance chuckled softly, placed the card back in his backpack, and zipped it up. "Hurry up and eat. The food’s getting cold."

Hayden Grant was still in a daze, his eyes uncontrollably drifting toward the small backpack.

Amanda had picked out the backpack for him. Feeling his personality was a bit too serious, she always bought him cute ones, adorned with adorable cartoon characters. They were as cute as could be.

Of course, part of it was also due to a mother’s mischievous sense of humor; she just loved this kind of adorable contrast.

Who could have imagined that a kindergartener’s backpack would be hiding such an immense fortune?

Amanda Vance and Jean Vance were long used to it. After dinner, seeing that Hayden was still in a daze, Amanda decided to take him home first.

"What’s wrong with him?" Harrison Grant happened to be home. He looked at his younger brother, who seemed to have suffered some kind of shock, and was a little puzzled.

Amanda Vance didn’t brag about her son’s capabilities. She just shook her head. "It’s nothing. He just didn’t get enough rest. Hayden will be fine after a good sleep."

"Mm." Seeing that he wasn’t injured, Harrison Grant decided not to press the matter.

After they left, Hayden Grant suddenly announced, "I need to make money."

Harrison Grant was sitting on the sofa reading a document. Hearing this, he gave his brother a strange look. ’What’s gotten into him this late at night?’

Still, he was happy to see his younger brother showing some ambition.

"Then come to the company with me tomorrow. You’re old enough now. It’s time you found something serious to do."

He could mentor him for a while, then let him get some practice at a branch office. Whether he ended up managing the family business or starting his own company, it would be good experience.

Unexpectedly, Hayden just shook his head. "No way. Brother, your company is terrible. It doesn’t make enough money. I need to find a real money-maker."

The CEO of the Grant Group—a publicly-traded company ranked in the top ten nationally and top hundred globally: ???

’This isn’t profitable enough?’

After a moment of contemplation, Harrison Grant’s brow furrowed. "What are you planning to do? Don’t tell me you’re thinking of doing something stupid."

The most profitable ventures are all written into the criminal code.

At this thought, his expression suddenly turned stern. He put down the document in his hand and said seriously, "Hayden Grant, if you dare do anything illegal, I’ll break your legs."

Hayden snapped out of his daze just in time to hear this and rolled his eyes, speechless. "Brother, what are you talking about?"

’With Megan’s personality, she would never let Jean get involved in something like that.’

’But then again, what on earth does Jean do to make so much money?’

"Mom." After the mother and son returned home, Jean took the card out of his backpack again and placed it in her hand. "Mom, go buy whatever you want."

Amanda Vance was puzzled. "Why are you giving me the card?"

Jean hummed thoughtfully and said slowly, "Auntie Lina said that when girls are sad, shopping makes them happy."

Lina was Amanda’s former neighbor.

Hearing his words, Amanda Vance laughed, feeling touched. She cupped his small face and gave him a kiss. "Thank you, Jean. But Mom’s not sad. I was just missing your grandma a little."

Normally, she didn’t feel it so strongly, but perhaps thinking about the Jade Pendant today had stirred up these feelings of longing for her mother.

Jean snuggled into her embrace. "Mom, can you tell me about Grandma? I want to hear."

Amanda Vance gave a bitter smile, stroking his head as she held him close. "There’s not much to tell, really," she said softly. "I was still little when she passed away, so I don’t remember much. I just remember that she had a beautiful smile and was very gentle."

Her mother had committed suicide by jumping from a building. She had only been five years old at the time. She didn’t have many memories, but what she remembered most clearly was the wail of the ambulance siren, the person being carried away under a white sheet, and the large pool of blood left on the ground. And Holly Vance, standing there with that woman.

A chill settled over Amanda Vance as she closed her eyes.

Jean placed his small hand on the back of hers, rubbing it gently. He offered no words of comfort.

’This was Mom’s deepest pain, something that words could not erase.’

’She doesn’t need comfort. All that’s needed is to make those two people suffer a fate worse than death.’

’The Vance Family, is it? I’ll remember that.’