"There are still three votes undecided, but the outcome is set."
After the phone call confirmed the voting intentions of almost all the congressmen, Madeline turned and winked at Homelander, her face practically blooming into a smile.
Vought would successfully enter the Department of Defense system, and she, who had single-handedly orchestrated this, might have a chance for a promotion, to go even further.
"You don't look happy. Is something bothering our Homelander?"
Madeline sat down next to Homelander, who was frowning on the sofa, and placed her hand intimately on his shoulder. Her entire body practically pressed against him, as if a female elder comforting an unhappy child, and she said with a smile.
"Do you remember that woman from the marketing department?"
Homelander was unmoved, his expression uncharacteristically serious towards Madeline, and he suddenly brought up.
"Who, Ashley? Why bring her up?"
Madeline's expression remained unchanged; she feigned ignorance and smiled, "Now isn't the time for us to celebrate this together.
You and I have achieved a great feat, successfully getting Vought into the Department of Defense."
She raised her hands, gently trying to pull Homelander into her embrace.
In the past, Homelander would have already been restless, his heart itching, and would have naturally laid down.
"No."
But today, he was uncharacteristically still, not moving at all.
"It's Becca from eight years ago."
Ashley was currently in charge of his market public relations, but eight years ago, it was the woman named Becca.
"Becca? Becca Butcher?"
Madeline seemed to be struggling with her memory, thinking for more than ten seconds, and asked doubtfully, "What about her?"
"She disappeared, gone for eight years, coincidentally disappearing after that incident."
As Homelander spoke, his tone suddenly shifted.
"What's even more coincidental is that as soon as I mentioned her, your heart rate suddenly accelerated, exceeding one hundred."
He stared intently into her eyes, his tone hostile.
"You're nervous, your heart is practically leaping out of your throat!
Because of what? A woman whose name you had to think about for a long time?!"
"I…"
Confronted by the sharp retort, Madeline didn't know how to explain. Her acting was superb, flawless, but unfortunately, Homelander was a human lie detector.
In the past, when he was with Madeline, he would be very relaxed, not thinking about anything, not doing anything, like a child who only needed to immerse himself in his mother's warm embrace, but today he was not in that mood.
"Tell me—is there something in this that I don't know about?!"
Staring sharply, a slightly angry voice sounded. Concealment equaled betrayal, and Homelander hated the betrayal of those he loved the most, especially when he was in an extremely bad mood.
"Okay, calm down."
Madeline, somewhat afraid, raised her hands and mumbled, "You carry too much usually; I did it for your own good.
That Becca got pregnant with your child after that."
"Child?"
Homelander was stunned, pointing at himself, "Whose child, mine!"
He suddenly stood up, losing his composure, and said loudly in shock, "You told me I couldn't have children!"
Vought had always told him that his 'tadpoles' were too powerful, and women's eggs couldn't withstand them, making it impossible to conceive life.
"You did have a child once, but the child miscarried. I was afraid you couldn't bear the blow, so I hid it from you."
She quickly continued.
"The… the child died?"
The joy that had just bloomed was extinguished as if by cold water; Homelander's expression was dazed, unable to accept it.
"Why did my child miscarry?!"
"Because the mother's body couldn't provide strong enough nutrition; the fetus couldn't continue development once it formed."
Madeline showed a timely sigh of regret.
"I actually had a child?"
His eyes were red, confused and sad, and he casually asked, "What about his body after he died?"
Homelander had an unusual affection for Madeline; he was already somewhat convinced.
"Body?"
Madeline, holding his hand, froze in her attempt to comfort him. She had never expected Homelander to ask this question.
It was something from eight years ago; why ask about the body of a dead infant?
"Why aren't you speaking?"
Feeling something was off, Homelander frowned, as if remembering something, and like an enraged evil dragon, his voice gradually turned cold.
"What did you do with his body? Did you dissect and research him like a lab rat?!"
"Of course not."
Ignoring Madeline's denial, the pent-up frustration and anger he had accumulated for days because of Ron exploded, and he questioned coldly.
"Dr. Vogelbaum said that my power far surpassed other Supes, that I was a miracle almost impossible to appear. Why—why is there a Ron now?!"
Dr. Vogelbaum, Vought's former Chief Strategic Officer who created him in a test tube, had proudly told him this many times.
Now there was a Ron whose power was comparable to his; how could that be explained?
"Ron?"
When Homelander mentioned his child, hearing Ron's name out of the blue, Madeline was startled, thinking Homelander had discovered the truth.
"That's right, did Vought create Ron by researching on the basis of my child's body?"
His voice was chilling, as if he wanted to devour someone.
"No, of course not."
Knowing that he hadn't discovered the truth, Madeline didn't dare to go along with it.
Homelander had lived in a laboratory since childhood, being researched, and his nightmarish childhood had given him huge psychological flaws. This was the evil dragon's reverse scale.
Seeing Madeline, whom he had once depended on and considered family, becoming increasingly suspicious, he would not allow anyone to betray him.
Homelander was furious and did something he had never done to Madeline before.
Madeline's neck was clutched by his single hand on the sofa, and he roughly lifted her up to his eye level.
"Then tell me, where is my child's body, his bones, or his ashes?!"
His eyes lit up with terrifying lasers, like a powder keg about to explode.
A familiar scene.
The same place, the same sofa, the same dazzling and terrifying eyes.
"He… he…"
Fear, like a tide, almost drowned her. Madeline gasped for breath, unable to fabricate any more lies.
Could she tell the enraged Homelander that she had thrown his child's body away like garbage, and if she hadn't thrown it away, where were the bones?
How could she produce them immediately?
"Your child is still alive!"
Helplessly, she said loudly with difficulty.
"Still alive?"
Homelander, who had not expected this statement at all, released his hand in shock.
"No… that's right, he's still alive, and Becca is also alive. They were imprisoned by Vought as a contingency to control you."
Madeline covered her neck, coughing violently, and repeated.
She wanted to hold onto Homelander as a trump card, but the way Homelander looked like he was about to laser her head off just now made her undeniably afraid.
"I can only push the blame to the company's Board of Directors…"
...
On the green lawn, Becca and her son Ryan sat in front of the yard, her face beaming with a motherly smile as she played with toys with her son.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, the sound of something rapidly breaking through the air and landing came.
Bricks shattered, and a figure landed on the road in front of the house.
Becca looked up and froze, as if seeing her most terrifying nightmare.
"Is… is that you?"