Chapter 333: A Mother’s Sixth Sense

"You’re still making excuses!"

Disappointment flashed across Elena’s face as she pointed toward the living room.

"Your Aunt, Rosemarie told me she saw Luca’s wife today, along with his daughter. How can there be any misunderstanding when the man already has a wife and child?"

When Rosemarie had first told her about it, Elena hadn’t believed her either. She had even tried to defend Luca, coming up with every possible explanation she could think of.

It wasn’t that she doubted her sister’s judgment. The problem was that she genuinely liked Luca, the young man she had always thought would eventually become her son-in-law.

Their first meeting had left a good impression on her. Luca was handsome, polite, and well-mannered. He knew how to conduct himself around others, yet he wasn’t the sort of man who would stand by and let someone mistreat the people he cared about.

She remembered how fiercely he had stood up for Naomi when they dealt with Chris Reginald, refusing to let the other man turn the situation around or get away with his behavior.

With a prospective son-in-law like that, Elena had felt she could entrust her daughter’s future to him without worry.

More importantly, whenever Luca looked at Naomi, his eyes were filled with affection.

How fortunate could a mother be? Her daughter had found a man she genuinely liked, and that man seemed to love her just as much.

Naturally, Elena had always been delighted whenever Naomi mentioned her boyfriend.

But all that confidence had crumbled when Rosemarie placed a photograph in front of her.

In it, Luca had one arm around Vivienne while holding Daisy’s hand with the other.

Elena had fallen silent.

If Rosemarie’s account was true, then Luca was far better at pretending than she had ever imagined. A man who deceived his wife while presenting himself as a refined, courteous gentleman was hardly someone she could trust with her daughter.

And the more she thought about it, the angrier she became.

She didn’t believe Naomi was completely ignorant of the situation, either.

Her daughter might appear innocent and sweet, but Elena knew there was a clever side to her. Naomi understood how to read people and make the most of her own advantages.

That was precisely why this was so difficult for Elena to accept.

Her daughter had grown up comfortably, had received a good education, and had never needed to lower herself for anyone. Yet here she was, willingly becoming involved with a man who already had another woman in his life, even going so far as to defend him.

It was the sort of foolishness Elena would have expected from someone hopelessly blinded by love, not her own daughter.

"Mom, Daisy isn’t Luca’s biological daughter. He adopted her. Do you remember the story I told you about the little girl whose parents died in a car accident?"

Naomi’s explanation interrupted her mother’s thoughts.

Elena paused, searching her memory. Then she recalled that Naomi had indeed told her about Daisy before.

At the time, she had felt terribly sorry for the little girl. She hadn’t known that Luca would eventually adopt her and raise her as his own daughter.

That explained the child, at least.

Luca wasn’t much older than Naomi, after all. A man his age suddenly having a four-year-old daughter would naturally raise questions.

But there was still one glaring problem.

"And what about his wife? Are you going to tell me she’s imaginary, too?"

Now Elena began to wonder whether Rosemarie had simply misunderstood what she had seen.

Perhaps the woman in the photograph wasn’t Luca’s wife after all.

"She’s definitely not his wife," Naomi insisted. "I’ve already told you, Luca isn’t married."

However, the moment Vivienne came up, Naomi’s confidence faltered.

Her gaze drifted to the side, and she suddenly found it difficult to meet her mother’s eyes.

Elena noticed the change but chose to interpret it differently.

’Good. At least he’s not married.’

She felt a little relieved. Perhaps Rosemarie had jumped to conclusions after seeing Luca with Vivienne and Daisy.

Still, Elena decided she would have a word with Luca the next time they met. Even if he and Vivienne were innocent, he needed to understand that there were boundaries between men and women. Being close to someone didn’t mean every display of intimacy was appropriate.

People didn’t always care about the truth, especially online. Sometimes, all it took was a photograph taken out of context for a rumor to spread.

As the old saying went, three men could make a tiger. Once a story caught on, even the person at its center might struggle to clear his name.

After a moment, Elena looked at the photograph again.

"Who is that woman, anyway? Luca’s older sister? She’s quite beautiful."

She asked casually, but the truth was that Vivienne’s appearance had left a deep impression on her.

Elena had no intention of introducing the woman to a man. Judging from the photograph alone, Vivienne clearly came from a distinguished family and carried herself with an elegance that ordinary people rarely possessed.

Luca seemed like a suitable match for her, at least in terms of appearance and bearing.

Unfortunately, he was already Naomi’s boyfriend.

At the mention of Vivienne, Naomi lowered her head even further.

She mumbled something under her breath, so quietly that Elena, sitting right in front of her, couldn’t make out a single word.

"What did you say?"

Naomi drew in a shaky breath.

"Hiss... whoosh..."

"She... she’s just like me. She’s also... Luca’s girlfriend."

Elena stared at her.

For a moment, she couldn’t believe what she had just heard.

"You!"

A tightness seized her chest. She sank back into her chair and pointed at Naomi, so furious that her teeth practically ached.

Yet the words she wanted to say refused to come out.

After all that, Luca really was the same unfaithful man she had feared he might be!

"Mom, are you alright?"

Seeing Elena’s reaction, Naomi hurried forward. She reached out cautiously, hoping to help her mother calm down.

Elena immediately slapped her hand away.

"Are you trying to drive your own mother to an early grave?"

All Elena had ever wanted was for Naomi to marry a man who loved her wholeheartedly. She wanted to see her daughter build a happy life with someone who would cherish her, and she had believed Luca might be that man.

She had never imagined that Naomi would fall for someone who was already involved with other women.

And judging from everything she had heard, it seemed her daughter had willingly stepped into this situation herself.

This was the kind of ridiculous plot Elena would have expected to see in a television drama, not in her own family.

"Do you really love him that much?" she demanded, slapping her hand against the table. "Are you willing to share the man you love with other women just to stay by his side?"

"Mom..." Naomi caught her mother’s arm, her voice trembling slightly. "I really love him. I want to stay with him for the rest of my life."

To Naomi, Luca wasn’t simply a boyfriend. He was the person who had changed her life, the man who had reached her heart in a way no one else ever had.

If she couldn’t be with him, she would rather remain single for the rest of her life.

Elena stared at her daughter, feeling as though she had just heard something absurd.

"Foolish girl! How could two wonderful young women like you willingly share the same man?"

By now, she could see that Naomi’s feelings for Luca ran far deeper than she had realized. Her daughter wasn’t going to give him up easily.

But what on earth made the man so irresistible?

Did he really have that much charm? Was it enough to make otherwise sensible young women throw away their pride and willingly accept such an arrangement?

"Ahem..."

Naomi coughed awkwardly, struggling to find the right words.

"Mom, Luca... he isn’t exactly two-timing us, either."

"There are more of you?!"

Elena shot to her feet, her mouth falling open in disbelief.

Then, as another memory surfaced, her expression changed again.

"Wait a minute. That adorable girl you ran into in the neighborhood a few days ago. Could she be one of them, too?"

Two days earlier, Elena had gone shopping with Naomi. On their way home, they had encountered a petite young woman wearing a light green dress in the community garden.

The girl had been so cute that Elena had initially assumed she was younger than Naomi.

At the time, Elena hadn’t thought much of it.

Now, however, the memory took on a completely different meaning.

Elena glanced at the photograph of Vivienne, then looked at her own daughter.

Suddenly, she felt as though she had figured out Luca’s preferences.

’That little scoundrel has deceived my daughter’s heart, and he only goes after stunning beauties!’

Worse still, each of the women seemed to have her own distinct charm. It wasn’t as though Luca had simply fallen for the same type of woman over and over again.

"Was she one of them or not?" Elena pressed.

Naomi knew exactly whom her mother meant.

Sophie Kennedy.

Sometimes, she couldn’t help marveling at a woman’s intuition. Her mother’s suspicions had landed remarkably close to the truth, even though Naomi hadn’t told her anything about Sophie.

’Seriously, how is Mom’s sixth sense so accurate?’

Naomi hesitated for a moment before finally nodding.

"Mm-hmm."