Chapter 809

"Follow me," she said.

A sly glint flashed in Lola's eyes as she led the way toward a room in the back.

Natalie had already come this far; backing out now wasn't an option. She followed Lola into the private room, but the second the door opened, a thick cloud of smoke and alcohol hit her face, making her choke. She quickly pulled her daughter a step back.

The room was originally dim, but Lola flipped on the lights. Through the haze of smoke, Natalie spotted Marico sleeping on a sofa in a ridiculously uncomfortable position.

He was surrounded by several other men, each with a woman curled up in their laps. They were smoking, drinking, and laughing loudly as they groped their dates.

And somehow, in the middle of all this chaos, Marico was fast asleep.

Lola walked over and kicked Marico hard in the leg. "I brought you out here to party, not to take a nap!"

Marico didn't even open his eyes. He just shifted his position and grumbled, "I'm dead tired. Leave me alone!"

"If you want to sleep, take your ass home!"

"Not going!"

"What, did your wife kick you out?"

Marico scoffed but didn't say a word. He just furrowed his brow, looking incredibly annoyed.

"Pathetic!"

Lola cursed again and plopped down on the sofa right next to him. Seeing her sit down, the guy on the other side of her shoved his own date aside and immediately started flirting with Lola. Within seconds, the two of them were making out.

Natalie's entire worldview was being rocked. This 'Lola' really had absolutely no boundaries.

"Mommy, is that Marico?" Kristin asked, pointing at the man sleeping on the couch. Natalie scoffed. "That's not a man. That's a dog."

Kristin's eyes widened as she looked closer. "It really is Marico!"

She immediately cupped her hands around her mouth and screamed his name at the top of her lungs. Her bright, childish voice pierced through the room's toxic atmosphere, making everyone freeze and turn to look at her-including Marico.

Seeing Kristin standing there, Marico shot up from the couch in pure panic and bolted toward the door.

Realizing Natalie had brought her into a place like this, he lost his temper and roared, "Why the hell would you bring her here!"

Equally furious, Natalie fired back, "If you weren't in a place like this, why would I have to bring her here?"

"You!" Marico gritted his teeth. "Fine. Just take her home!"

"I have to get back to the set right now."

"Well, you still can't just..."

"Kristin is your problem now!" Natalie shoved

"Oh, astin's hand into Marico's.

"Oh, and she still has an arts and crafts project due for school Take her home and help her finish t!"

With that, Natalie spun around and stormed out.

Seeing that Natalie had actually left the building, Marico let out a frustrated sigh. He picked Kristin up, turned back to his sleazy friends, and told them he had an emergency and needed to head home

"Who does that cute kid belong to?" one of the guys asked.

Marico grinned. "She's my daughter, obviously."

"You have a kid? Since when?"

"There's a lot of things you idiots don't know!"

Marico lifted his chin toward Lola. "I owe you a dinner. I'm out of here!"

Lola waved him off dismissively. "Get out of here. A family man has no business partying with us anyway!"

Marico didn't get angry. He shot Lola a playful grimace and walked out.

When they reached the street level, he saw Natalie was still standing on the curb waiting for a cab.

Marico buckled Kristin into the backseat, then grabbed Natalie's arm and practically dragged her into the passenger seat.

"I'll drive you."

Natalie was still fuming over last night, so she stared straight ahead with a stony expression.

After taking that slap to the face, Marico wasn't even mad anymore. He even teased her, saying that if

she hadn't come looking for him, he would have stayed out forever and made her a widow.

Since her film set was located inside a scenic tourist reserve, non-production vehicles weren't allowed past the gates. They had to park in the visitor lot outside.