Simon didn't return to Los Angeles until November 23rd, the day before Thanksgiving. Coincidentally, the two Jennies arrived from Australia with the three little ones on the same day.
Sophia stayed in Greenwich, planning to spend Thanksgiving with her family in the American tradition.
After three days of affection, when Simon was about to leave, the woman somewhat playfully mentioned that she felt like she already had another little one growing inside her, possibly a girl named Snow Westeros.
Dume Point Estate.
The date is November 24th.
Thanksgiving Day.
Due to the time difference, Simon and Jennie slept late last night, and the morning sun was already filling the circular master bedroom of the Shell Villa, but Janet still didn't want to get out of bed, insisting on using Simon as a body pillow.
With no work scheduled for the day, Simon patiently stayed in bed with her.
In fact, Jennifer also slept here last night, but the assistant didn't linger around; she got up early to take care of the three little ones.
It wasn't until after ten o'clock that Janet, fully awake, snuggled against Simon, started to feel a new wave of energy, and by the time they finally got out of bed, it was nearly noon. After showering and getting dressed, she held Simon's arm affectionately, just like when they first fell in love, as they walked downstairs together.
Lunch was already prepared.
Jennifer had just settled the three little ones at the dining table. When she saw Janet hanging onto Simon's arm as they walked in, she feigned an exasperated eye roll. "I was just thinking about whether or not to wake you two up."
Janet smiled sweetly, released Simon, went over to hug Jennifer, and playfully kissed her on the lips before sitting down next to Seattle. She then kissed her well-behaved daughter on the cheek, glanced at her eldest son, and with a mischievous grin, pointed to Simon behind her. "Sweetheart, why don't you tell your dad how grandpa taught you to hunt?"
Simon hugged Jennifer and sat down next to Melbourne, ruffling the little one's hair. "Go ahead, tell me."
Although the women took care of the children most of the time, among the family, other than Veronica, Melbourne seemed to be closer to Simon. Hearing both his parents urging him, the little boy began recounting the hunting experience on Tasmania Island.
It was essentially a tragic tale of a group of sheep being terrorized by a BB gun.
As they ate lunch, the family listened to Melbourne's hesitant storytelling. Then, Janet, with a gleam in her eye, shifted the focus to Seattle, asking Simon, "Guess what our little Seattle has learned lately?"
Simon played along with a smile, "What is it?"
Janet didn't answer directly. Instead, she turned to the little girl, who was focused on eating, and asked, "Okay, sweetheart, let's do a math problem. What's the sum of numbers from 1 to 100?"
Seattle, who had just turned one, still had a baby-like softness in her cheeks and body, but her expression was already very animated. Especially with those beautiful eyes of hers, she looked even more lively. Hearing her mother's question, the little girl merely glanced at Janet with a look of disdain and continued eating her lunch, clearly thinking, "Can you stop asking such childish questions?"
Unlike her still clueless little brother Nick, Seattle, who was naturally gifted with intelligence, was no longer the little girl who used to be held by Janet and asked to call Simon "Mommy" before she was even six months old.
When her daughter didn't answer, Janet wasn't embarrassed. She continued to coax her. "Alright, alright, we've already done that problem before; it's too easy. So, let's make it a bit harder. What's the sum of numbers from 1 to 1,000?"
After a brief moment of anticipation from everyone, the little girl, who had been intently eating her purple sweet potato and sticky rice porridge, finally looked up, glanced at Janet again, and then turned to Jennifer across from her. "Mommy, why does Mommy always ask me these kinds of questions?"
"…"
Jennifer, holding back a laugh, glanced at Janet, who looked a bit dejected, and gently explained to her daughter, "Because Mommy thinks you're very smart, and she's proud of you. She also wants everyone to know how smart you are."
The little girl thought about it for a moment, seemingly understanding, before returning to her lunch.
Simon leaned over to get a closer look at his daughter sitting beside Janet. "So, does Seattle know the answer to the question?"
Seattle looked up at him again and nodded.
Simon waited a moment.
And then...
And then...
Still nothing.
He had to give up.
The assistant, who had been watching all of this, couldn't help but laugh softly.
After lunch, Janet and Jennifer went to prepare for the Thanksgiving dinner while Simon was left to take care of the three little ones.
Simon knew that the women had deliberately arranged this parent-child time for him.
Not rejecting the opportunity, Simon took the children to the mini playground on the estate, where they played until about four in the afternoon. Janet then came over to take the children for some early education classes, something that had already started for the three kids.
A private school built specifically for the children in Malibu City had been completed, and Melbourne would start attending next year.
While Simon preferred home education for learning knowledge, he also knew that school was more about teaching the children the skills of social interaction.
After Janet took the children away, Simon found himself with some free time. He went to his office in the Shell Villa to handle some work emails and listen to A-girl's briefing on important matters.
"According to the latest information from Washington, there was an internal meeting at the Department of Justice yesterday afternoon regarding the Disney acquisition case. The conclusion was that they still do not plan to re-review the acquisition. The White House spokesperson also made a similar statement yesterday."
"Craig Ames posted a statement on Facebook last night, announcing that he will no longer participate in political campaigns."
"This morning, the Miami Herald published an article accusing the NRA and the Westeros system of severely interfering in the recent midterm elections, calling on the state government to implement stricter campaign regulations to prevent local elections from being manipulated by capital. Our PR team has already responded and is following up on the Miami Herald's report."
"The naturalization process and enrollment procedures at Columbia University's MBA program for Ms. Lin Su and Ms. Chen Qing have been completed."
"Mr. Jorma Ollila returned to Finland from China yesterday. During this trip, Nokia reached an agreement with China to increase investment by $150 million over the next two years, setting up a new R&D center and three mobile phone factories in China."
"Sergey Komorov sent a recent project investment report from Aldec Corporation. Over the past three months, the company's total expenditure was $17 million, with notable projects including taking over a gas company in Rivne Oblast and developing a special breeding program for foxes and minks to provide fur for Melisandre's subsidiary."
"My father has already discussed the stock option reward clauses with several Ygritte executives before the IPO. Here is the related memo."
"As of yesterday's close, AOL's market value surpassed $100 billion, reaching $103.7 billion, making it the third company in the North American stock market after Danijel Entertainment and Cisco to reach a trillion-dollar market capitalization. General Electric and Microsoft follow closely with market values of $97.2 billion and $93.5 billion, respectively, and are expected to surpass the trillion-dollar mark before the New Year."
"…"
"…"
In the office, A-girl smoothly listed a series of items that required Simon's attention, along with a stack of related documents.
The printer in the corner of the room began to hum at that moment.
Knowing that her boss was printing some email materials, A-girl walked over, gathered the printed documents, and glanced at them casually. There was no title, but the content seemed to be about some personnel issues in Ukraine.
A-girl was aware of most of the public affairs regarding Ukraine, but since these documents were delivered directly to Simon, they were likely related to less transparent matters.
Thinking about this, she didn't look further and handed them to Simon.
Simon took the documents, propped his legs up on the leather chair, and began flipping through the pages.
Since his visit to Ukraine in August, Simon had not only made additional arrangements for the country but had also started to increase his investments there.
This was the visible aspect.
In the shadows, the plan to export Ukrainian gang members had also been steadily progressing. Simon, of course, didn't personally handle the operations, but much of the layout information was passed to him through the Westeros family's intelligence network. Many former Soviet KGB members recruited by the Westeros system were also placed throughout Europe via this network, forming another more hidden underground intelligence network.
As for the series of proxies in Ukraine, Simon didn't fully trust them. The foundation for mutual trust had not yet been established, so he continuously monitored their actions.
The report in his hands was the result of this monitoring by the intelligence team.
People are inherently selfish.
And they are also prone to change.
Simon never expected too much from human nature. He only hoped that those working for the Westeros system would stay within their proper bounds. If they did more, he wouldn't hesitate to reward them generously.
Unfortunately, some people, having suddenly gained power and thinking themselves beyond reach, inevitably became restless.
These included officers from Ukraine's frontline military companies, management from Sergey Komorov's Aldec Corporation, and even some of the forces Simon planned to cultivate as "external relatives."
Some used the Wester
os system as a shield to bully others, some lined their own pockets, some seized what they could, and some even tried to set up their own power bases.
It was all to be expected, and Simon didn't feel much emotion about it.
However, he was pleased that most of the proxies still remained within their bounds. Key figures like Klim Dzelevyanko and Sergey Komorov had not encountered any issues.
Among the six "vase" forces cultivated due to six women, Simon's favorite, Yekaterina Noskova's father, Maksim Noskov, had managed to get the Rivne fertilizer plant back on track in just a few months. He had even begun discussing mergers and expansions with surrounding states.
As for the families behind the other five "vases," only the Lyudayev family, which was involved in Rivne's media sector, had met Simon's expectations. The other four had encountered various issues.
Some could be corrected and still used; others had to be abandoned.
This was also anticipated.
After all, both "dark horses" and "talent scouts" are quite common. It's just that it's rare for the two to meet.
Simon initially hoped that just one of the six families would be usable, which he considered a reasonable expectation. Now, having gained two—Noskov and Lyudayev—he felt that things had exceeded his expectations.
Seeing Simon engrossed in reading the documents, A-girl sat down on the sofa in the nearby reception area. When he finally looked up, Alison got up, walked over, and studied her boss's expression before tentatively asking, "Boss, do you need to arrange a trip to Ukraine?"
Simon shook his head.
Thinking about the little maneuver by the Miami Herald that A-girl had just mentioned, he realized that it wasn't the right time to leave the U.S. for now.
"Let's talk about it after the New Year," Simon said, then added, "Have someone bring Noskova and Lyudayeva to North America for a while. Just say I'm inviting them over for fun. Hmm, arrange for them to stay at the estate in the western suburbs of Toronto."
The two girls, one 14 years old and the other 16, weren't suitable to enter the United States.
But Canada was different.
At present, the age of legal consent in Canada for certain matters was still 14.
Since it was a rule, it was best not to give others any leverage. Simon was always careful about such things, avoiding leaving any vulnerabilities when possible.
Of course, the Glorav family was an exception.
Simon had once considered quietly eliminating them when he lost interest or when they became a threat.
Women often have a keen sense of intuition.
Victoria Glorav had probably sensed some kind of danger, leading her to stab her mother in the chest. While Simon had temporarily given up on the idea of ruthlessly crushing her, he hadn't entirely dismissed certain thoughts. Clark Glorav's initial attempt to orchestrate an assassination against the Westeros family was an original sin.
A-girl had not accompanied Simon to Ukraine last time, but she was aware of Simon's arrangements with the six "vases" and other matters in Rivne. She nodded, understanding that her boss didn't do things without reason.
She surmised that Simon might be sending a message or warning to certain individuals through such favoritism.
After giving these instructions, Simon began reviewing the documents related to the series of matters that A-girl had just reported on. He continued working until after five o'clock when Janet came to remind him that dinner was almost ready. Only then did he stop working and leave the office.
Due to the perpetually pleasant weather in Los Angeles, while it was very comfortable to live here, the unchanging climate sometimes diminished the holiday atmosphere.
Just like Christmas.
Such an important holiday seemed better suited to the East Coast, where the snow-covered weather added to the festive spirit.
Unfortunately, it doesn't snow in Los Angeles.
Still, being able to spend the holidays with family and enjoy a lively Thanksgiving dinner together made for a warm atmosphere.
After dinner, they continued to relax in a small living room in the Shell Villa, watching TV, chatting, and soothing the children. Before they knew it, it was late at night. After putting the three sleeping children to bed, Simon and the two Jennies returned to the circular master bedroom of the villa.
Dume Point was already the highest point on the nearby coastline, and the circular bedroom of the Shell Villa was the highest point of this streamlined architectural masterpiece, offering nearly a 360-degree view of the surroundings.
At around ten o'clock at night.
The eastern view revealed the still brightly lit Los Angeles cityscape, while the western countryside was shrouded in darkness. To the north, the scattered lights of Malibu were visible, and to the south, the horizon blurred into the vast ocean.
Being there felt like being in a dream.
In such an atmosphere, there was no need for much intimacy. Just a simple embrace was enough for the surrounding world to press the three of them together at the center, connecting their hearts and minds.
It felt as though they were surrounded by the world, or perhaps, they owned the entire world.
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