Luke kept silent and just stared straight at her.

Madam Mallory thought that it was because Luke was thinking about something. However, he did not speak even after a full minute.

Madam Mallory thought that Luke was looking down on her. She was fuming that he did not seize the opportunity even when she gave him an out. She said to the driver with a stern expression, "Drive."

The driver heard her and hurriedly started the car.

Madam Mallory slammed the door and left.

When the bodyguards blocking the road saw that, they got into their cars as well and left.

Luca breathed a sigh of relief. Her nerves were tense, but it was not because she was afraid that Luke would betray her for the sake of maintaining the harmony between Crawford and Mallory families. She was just worried that Madam Mallory would try to force Luke.

Madam Mallory's men certainly would not be able to hurt Luke, but it was hard to say whether he would get hurt trying to protect her.

After the Mallory family's bodyguards retreated, Luca looked at Luke, who was just standing there. The night wind blew. She could not help shivering from the cold.

Luke retracted his gaze and happened to see Luca shivering. He remembered that he had brought her a coat. He said, "I noticed that the temperature dropped, so I brought you a coat. It's in the backseat."

Luca nodded, opened the rear door, and saw a bag.

She picked it up and inside was one of her long coats.

'How thoughtful of Luke...' She picked up the coat, put it on, and instantly felt a lot warmer.

"Next time, you must keep me in the loop if you encounter such things. You shouldn't have been dragged into this mess with the Mallory family." Luke said. Madam Mallory acted like that because she had no one else to pick on. As such, she went after Luca.

"I was the one who provoked her first." In front of him, Luca admitted to what she did truthfully. After all, she was the one who made the first move on Pierre.

Luke shook his head helplessly when he heard what she said. Nevertheless, he did not ask her to keep her temper in check.

After all, Pierre needed a spanking, and Luca just dealt with Pierre before he and Percy did.

Moreover, she did nothing wrong. In fact, she did a good job...

"Let's go home. Tommy and the others won't go to bed until you're back," Luke said and returned to the driver's seat.

As soon as Luca heard that, she did not dare to delay any longer for fear that it would affect the children's rest. She got into the passenger seat, closed the door, and fastened her seat belt.

Luke drove back to the villa.

The children gathered around Luca when they saw that she was back. "Ms. Luca, are you cold? It's cold outside tonight."

Luca looked at how caring Rainie was, shook her head, smiled, and said, "It's not cold, not cold at all."

Tommy smiled and said, "Ms. Luca won't be cold with the coat that Daddy brought her."

Luca scratched his nose. ‘What a cheeky one, I wonder where he learned it from...' She said, "It's getting late. Why are you still up?"

"We were worried about your safety, so we waited for you to come back," Lanie replied obediently. Whenever he was with his mother, his temperament would shift from being cold-hearted to talkative.

Luca glanced at the clock on the wall. Usually, the children would have already returned to their respective bedrooms at this hour to get ready to sleep. She urged them, saying, "Okay, go to bed now. It's getting late."

The kids nodded and walked up the stairs.

Luca glanced at Luke, who was still standing there. If it were before, they would go upstairs together. If he was busy with work, she would stay downstairs and make him a glass of milk. If he was not busy, they would go upstairs and walk into the bedroom together.

However, things were different at that moment...

Luca nodded toward him, then said, "Mr. Crawford, if it's alright, I'll head to bed now."

"Mm." Luke did not ask her to stay.

After Luca went upstairs with the kids, he was the only one left in the huge living room.

Luke sat on the sofa and called Percy.

Percy was being lovey-dovey with Nina. When he heard his phone ring, he was slightly annoyed. However, when he saw the caller, he resigned himself to fate and sat up to answer the call.

"Luke, do you know that disturbing people's sleep in the middle of the night is a terrible sin?"

Luke heard Percy's dissatisfied voice on the other end of the phone and knew that he had ruined his and Nina's fun time together. Nevertheless, he did not feel guilty. "You can go ahead with your plans anytime you want, but there's something I need to tell you."

"What's the matter?" Percy pinched Nina's face. There was not much meat on her face, so it did not feel the best. He secretly vowed to make sure that Nina was well-fed.

"Your mother wanted to kidnap Luca tonight," Luke said. copyrighted © content.

"What? How dare she do that?" Percy frowned. He did not expect Madam Mallory to be so irrational.

He thought that only Pierre would dare to do such a thing in the Mallory family. He did not expect that Madam Mallory would be such a roughneck as well.

She was not mindful of the overall situation. All she was doing was causing trouble for the Mallory family.

"You're not relentless enough." Luke reminded him. Percy had more compromising things in his hands that could be used against Pierre.

If he had gone with a firmer approach, it would not give Madam Mallory time to plot against Luca.

Percy glanced at Nina, who was also looking at him worriedly. "I see. I'll take care of this."

"I've dealt with the matter, but I can't guarantee that she won’t badger Luca again. I don't want this matter to involve her any more than it already has," Luke said. Even in front of his best friend, he was imperious in protecting his wife.

Luca was his everything. She was a woman he could not bear to bully himself, so how could he allow her to be bullied by another person?

"Got it." Percy hung up.

Nina took his hand and asked worriedly, "What's wrong?"

"My mother went to badger Luca today and wanted to kidnap her." Percy wondered if his mother was crazy. Otherwise, why would she do such an impulsive thing?

It was lucky that Luke was there, or it would have been a big mess.

"How is that possible. Isn't Luca..." Nina suddenly stopped talking and thought that Madam Mallory must have made a move on Luca after she and Sue left. "Is she okay?"

"Luke happened to be by her side then, so she's fine," Percy told her.

"Luke?" Nina's brows furrowed deeper, and her emotions were complicated. On the one hand, she was glad that Luca was fine. On the other, she wondered why Luke was by Luca's side so late at night.

"Can you promise me one thing?" Percy brushed through her long hair lightly.

Nina looked at him. A lot was on her mind.

"You've always regarded Bianca as a good friend, but can you promise me to stay out of Luca and Luke's relationship?" Percy said.

"Why?" Nina frowned. She had always felt that these two men were hiding too many things from her.

However, no matter how many times she tried to ask, they refused to say anything.

"You'll know why in the future. Just trust me on this," Percy said. Luke had not figured out the truth, so Nina's blind involvement would only make his investigation more difficult.