Entwined Path

At the sight of Estella throwing herself into Lucian’s arms, Roxanne stopped awkwardly and held back the two boys running behind her.

“Daddy!” Unaware of the change in Roxanne’s mood, Estella tugged ecstatically at Lucian’s sleeve. “Let’s play hide and seek for a while before going home!”

Lowering his head to gaze at Estella, Lucian then shifted his attention to Roxanne with an indiscernible look in his eyes.

When she met his gaze, Roxanne felt a sudden sense of guilt.

She had just reprimanded the brothers for running wildly with Estella. But now, she was the one doing it instead.

After an awkward silence, Lucian remarked in a deep voice, “It’s getting late. I’ll be taking Essie home now.”

He had barely finished when he turned toward Estella and said, “We have to go now, but we’ll come back again tomorrow.”

Despite puffing her cheeks up to express her unwillingness, Estella recognized that she had had a lot of fun that evening already. After a brief hesitation, she demonstrated her ac