<
“I’m sorry to bother you so late,” his voice trembled slightly. “Lily kept asking to see you… She said she can only fall asleep if you tell her a story.”
Elara quickly let them in. She took the burning-hot Lily, seeing her flushed little face, and felt a pang
of heartache.
She gently patted her back, saying, “Auntie’s here, Lily, don’t be scared.”
That night, Elara stayed by Lily’s bedside, softly telling her stories. Julian sat nearby, watching them with a gentle gaze.
When Lily finally fell asleep, the rain outside had stopped. Moonlight streamed through a gap in the curtains, casting a silvery band of light on the floor.
“Thank you,” Julian said softly.
Elara shook her head. She was about to stand up, but her legs were numb from sitting for so long,
and she stumbled, almost falling.
Julian quickly reached out to steady her. As they stood up, they realized their proximity was a little
too close.
Both flushed silently, neither speaking, looking away.
It took a full month for Elara to disappear before Dominic noticed anything unusual.
He had initially assumed Elara was merely playing some childish game of push-and-pull, but it wasn’t until he realized he couldn’t reach her at all that he became slightly more serious.
Yet, when he called her former friends, they all said they hadn’t seen Elara.
He impatiently hung up, then went to his study, opened his computer, and pulled up Elara’s bank
account information.
The screen showed that the black card he had given her still had a zero balance.
She had only taken her own savings when she left, not a single penny from the Thorne family.
“Hmph, she’s got backbone,” he scoffed, closing the laptop.
She just wanted them to come crawling back to her, didn’t she? Such a childish tactic wouldn’t work.
3:49 pm D
<
The next morning at breakfast, Leo and Mia chattered away about school. Cassandra gently served them food, occasionally looking up to give Dominic a sweet smile.
The scene looked perfectly harmonious, yet for some reason, Dominic felt something was missing.
“Daddy, there’s a parent-child sports day at school next week. Can you and Auntie Cassie come?” Mia asked, blinking her big eyes.
“Of course,” Dominic answered instinctively, then paused. “Who… used to go with you? Was it your mommy?”
Both children simultaneously showed expressions of disgust.
“It was her… but we really didn’t want her to come!” Leo pouted, his small face etched with cold ndifference.
