He remembered Elara’s resolute back as she left, and the divorce agreement he had personally signed, a dull ache spreading through his chest.
“No,” he said softly, more as if trying to convince himself, his brow deeply furrowed.
“Mommy loved you so much… She wouldn’t bear to leave you. Maybe she just went out to clear her
head.”
“Then why hasn’t she come back?” Leo lifted his tear-filled eyes, his small face clouded with gloom.
“Is it because we pushed her down the stairs…?”
Dominic couldn’t smile. He could only force himself to wipe away their tears.
“Daddy will find Mommy.”
After Mrs. Gable took the children upstairs, Dominic finally allowed himself to collapse onto the
sofa.
He pulled out his phone and dialed his assistant, his voice deep. “Find Elara Hayes’s whereabouts.
Immediately.”
Hanging up, Dominic’s gaze fell on the family photo above the fireplace.
It was taken three years ago. Elara stood at the very edge, her smile so forced.
But at the time, he had no eyes for Elara, didn’t even notice her expression.
Now, looking back, perhaps it was his repeated neglect that finally made her give up on them?
“Sir,” Mrs. Gable softly interrupted his thoughts. “Dinner is ready. Shall I call the young master and young lady down?”
Dominic nodded, his brow deeply furrowed. “I’ll eat with them tonight.”
In the dining room, Leo and Mia ate listlessly, no longer as noisy as before.
Perhaps it was because they hadn’t been well taken care of lately.
The two children, who used to be chubby and rosy-cheeked, now had noticeably thinner faces.
3:51 pm
<
“Daddy,” Mia suddenly asked softly, her usual wilfulness replaced by longing and plea.
“I miss Mommy… Where did she go? Why hasn’t she come back for so long?”
“After you find Mommy, will she still forgive us?”
Dominic’s hand paused. For some reason, he couldn’t give a definite answer.
But thinking of Elara’s selfless dedication to them over the past few years, remembering her love for him and the children,
He finally nodded, stating with certainty, “No matter what, she’s your mommy. She used to love you the most. She’ll definitely forgive you.”‘
Late at night, Dominic stood alone in his study, reviewing the past six months of security footage.
In the videos, Elara was always quietly doing housework, taking care of the children, and waiting for
him to come home.
She rarely smiled, but whenever the children needed her, she was always there immediately.
Until that day-the two children pushed her down the stairs, and he hadn’t even looked back at her.
Dominic turned off the video, his chest feeling heavy.
Once he found Elara, he would treat her well.
Dominic stood by the study’s floor-to-ceiling window, his knuckles tapping on the mahogany desk.
The photos his assistant had just delivered lay scattered on the desk, each one a knife plunging into
his eyes.
“Are you sure it’s her?” His voice was terrifyingly low.
“Absolutely certain,” the assistant wiped sweat from his brow. “Mrs. Hayes opened a bookstore in Havenwood, and business is good. These are photos we took last week.”
The photos showed Elara standing at the entrance of a bookstore named “Elara’s Haven.”
Sunlight filtered through the tree leaves, casting dappled patterns on her.
3:51 pm D
<
She wore a simple linen dress, her hair shorter than when she left, bending down to speak to a five
or six-year-old girl.
Her eyes held a softness he hadn’t seen in a long time.
The most jarring sight was the man standing beside her-
Tall and refined, his gaze, gentle behind gold-rimmed glasses, was fixed on Elara.
The man held the little girl in his arms. The three of them standing together made a scene so
harmonious it was suffocating.
“Who is this man standing next to Mrs. Hayes?” Dominic’s thumb pressed heavily on a photo, leaving a blurred mark on the man’s face.
“That appears to be Mrs. Hayes’s former college senior, Julian Vance. The little girl with him is his late sister’s child. They were only casually acquainted in college; they just happened to reconnect in
Havenwood.”
“However, Mrs. Hayes seems to be very fond of the little girl… often takes her out to play, and Julian Vance frequently accompanies them.”
“Enough. You don’t need to say more.” Dominic raised a hand to cut him off, a strange bitterness surging in his chest.
How *could* Elara? How *dare* she look at another man with that expression? That tenderness-it
was *his* alone.
At that moment, the study door suddenly burst open.
Mia and Leo ran in barefoot, tears still streaking their small faces.
“Daddy!” Mia clung to his leg. “Mrs. Gable said they found Mommy? Is it true?”
Dominic bent down and picked up his daughter, his gaze sweeping over Elara’s smiling eyes in the photos.
