After hanging up the call, all Aubree could think of was everything Lucian had done for Roxanne. At the same time, she felt grateful for staying out of that matter. If I’d done anything, Lucian would definitely find out. If that happens, I’m afraid I’ll face a fate as terrible as Jessica’s. Still, Lucian is blatantly favoring that b*tch, Roxanne, now. If this situation drags on, I’ll risk losing my position as Lucian’s fiancée! I need to make a move.Aubree sat inside the room for the entire morning but failed to come up with any plan.In the afternoon, when the waitress came to deliver her meal, she got up to open the door.Aubree frowned slightly at the sight of the waitress pushing the cart full of food into the room as an idea popped into her head.The waitress was shifting the plates of food from the cart to the dining table when a hand suddenly appeared from behind her.“That’s not needed. I’ll do it myself,” Aubree uttered gently.The waitress was stunned after hearing that. S
That night, after Lucian picked up Estella and returned home, he saw his mother and Aubree sitting on the couch. Rage was seen on Sonya’s face, while Aubree looked troubled. The latter stood and greeted, “Lucian, Essie, you’re back.”Expressionlessly, Lucian nodded at her and turned to look at his mother.As for Estella, after she saw Aubree, she timidly hid behind her father and didn’t even greet Sonya.Holding Estella’s hand, he wordlessly comforted the child as he asked in a deep voice, “Why are you here with Aubree, Mom?”Upon hearing her son’s question, Sonya’s scowl grew more intense. “You’re still wondering why the two of us are here? I entrusted Aubree to you, yet you refused to let her stay at home. To make matters worse, you didn’t even check up on her when her injury relapsed!”Annoyed, Lucian felt his head throb. “I already asked someone to send her to the hospital, but she didn’t want to go.”He was telling the truth, but the person he sent informed him that Aubree refus
Initially, Estella only hid behind Catalina, but after she heard what Aubree said about being her future mother, her expression instantly changed. She glared at Aubree angrily before running upstairs by herself. Aubree’s face fell as she watched the girl leave.Catalina breathed an inward sigh of relief when she saw Estella running away. “Ms. Estella’s emotions are often unstable. I hope you’ll forgive her, Ms. Pearson.”In response, Aubree flashed her a forceful smile.Amidst her frustration, she heard sounds at the mansion’s entrance. Subsequently, she saw Lucian stepping back into the building.“Has Mrs. Farwell left already, Lucian?” Aubree made swift adjustments to her expression before staring at the person at the entrance pitifully.After shooting a glance at her, Lucian nodded indifferently and turned to Catalina. “Where’s Essie?”He asked Catalina to take care of Estella before he went out, which was why he was wondering where his daughter had gone to.Catalina subconsciousl
Aubree was already waiting at the dining table downstairs. When she saw Lucian and Estella coming downstairs, she faced the girl apologetically. “I’m sorry, Essie. I think I said the wrong thing again earlier.”Estella grabbed her father’s hand tightly as she glanced at him, nonverbally asking him if she really could ignore the woman.He patted her head in consolation and pulled her to his side.Both of them ignored Aubree.The atmosphere at the dining table was incredibly awkward.Aubree was enraged when she saw the father-and-daughter duo sit down to eat without paying even a bit of attention to her as though she wasn’t there. However, she couldn’t vent her anger and even had to try and please the little girl.“You’re still growing, Essie. You need to eat more so you’ll grow taller.” Wearing a fake smile, she put a piece of pork on the girl’s plate.Estella paused in her tracks as she stared at the pork on her plate.Lucian scrunched his brows as he removed the pork from his daught
The next morning, Lucian heard a series of careful knocks on his door when he woke up. The only person who would do that was Estella.As expected, he saw the girl standing in front of his bedroom with puppy dog eyes when he went to open the door.Upon seeing him, she greeted sweetly, “Good morning, Daddy!”Nodding slightly, he patted her head. “What’s the matter? Why did you wake up so early today?”After glancing at Aubree’s room, she lifted her head and stared at her father. “I want to meet Ms. Jarvis! Take me to see her!”The last thing she wanted was to spend time with Aubree, and even the mere thought of having breakfast with the woman filled her heart with disgust.A frown marred Lucian’s face as he knew what the girl was thinking and understood her feelings.However, he needed to attend an important meeting that morning. He would be late if he sent his daughter to Roxanne’s place before going to the company.Thus, his initial plan was to let the girl stay in the house, but whe
Not long after, Lucian brought Estella downstairs. Aubree was already sitting at the dining table.When she saw them, she stifled the displeasure in her heart and smiled at them before pointing to the spot next to her. “Come over here, Essie. Let’s eat breakfast together.”She thought her threat from earlier would make the girl listen to her.To her surprise, the little girl blatantly ignored her. Grabbing onto the hem of her father’s shirt, Estella followed him to the dining table and allowed him to lift her and plop her down on the seat next to him.Aubree’s expression froze when she saw neither of them had any intention of paying attention to her.“You’re heading to work in a while, right, Lucian?” she asked a few seconds later, refusing to give up.He nodded indifferently.Aubree’s rage dissipated slightly when she at least got some response out of him. With a smile, she suggested, “Then let me take care of you today, Essie! I’ll make sure you’ll have tons of fun!”The instant sh
In truth, Lucian was stifling a hint of a laugh as he noticed that Roxanne’s lipstick was drawn out of line. It seems like she was still in a daze when she was doing her makeup. She doesn’t have a clue that her lipstick is out of line.He felt the urge to tease the woman when he saw the blank expression on her face.Lucian let his mischievous side get the better of him and reached out his hand.Upon noticing that Lucian’s hand was mere inches away from her face, Roxanne flinched and hurriedly took a step back to keep some distance between them.His hand was left hanging mid-air, and he titled a brow in displeasure.“Do you have anything else, Mr. Farwell?” Roxanne asked warily.A ghost of a smile fleeted across his eyes as he noticed Roxanne getting all flustered. “Your lipstick is out of line,” he said impa*sively.Roxanne’s face was tinged pink as she instinctively lowered her head to avoid meeting Lucian’s gaze. “Thank you for reminding me, Mr. Farwell. I’ll deal with it myself.”
At the same time, Roxanne was spending time with the three children in her house. Since Estella headed inside, she had been unhappy. No matter what Roxanne and the other two little ones said to her, the girl still seemed to be low-spirited.“Essie, can you tell me what’s bothering you?” Roxanne stopped playing games with the children and brought Estella over to sit on the carpet.Trailing behind them, Archie and Benny were worried as well.After hearing their mother’s question, the little boys stared at Estella expectantly as they waited for her answer.Estella pursed her lips and thought of Aubree, who was currently staying at her home, before looking at the beautiful Roxanne in front of her.If Ms. Jarvis knows that Ms. Pearson lives in my house, Ms. Jarvis will definitely be upset. Daddy is still pursuing Ms. Jarvis. It’d be bad if she misunderstands…Estella’s expression was filled with hesitation as she considered the consequences.Noticing that Estella seemed to have some conce
Naturally, Archie and Benny also knew Estella wouldn’t be thrilled to attend a new school.Nevertheless, they decided not to push that matter further when they saw Roxanne’s reddened eyes.“We got it, Mommy.”Roxanne forced a smile at her kids. “Let’s finish our meals and get rested earlier.”The boys nodded obediently.Subsequently, the trio had their dinner absentmindedly.They returned to their rooms after taking a few bites of their food.Roxanne lay on her bed, looking at the conch shell Estella gave her, with complicated emotions churning within her.She had just been listening to Archie and Benny giving her an account of their fun time hanging out with Estella the day before.Unexpectedly, Lucian had transferred Estella to another school that day.She could easily imagine how hard Estella would’ve cried when the latter was informed of that matter.Nonetheless, she wa
Archie and Benny told me that Essie took the day off yesterday afternoon. I a*sumed Lucian had something urgent to do, so I didn’t give it much thought. Who would’ve known Essie would be transferring away the next day… After taking a moment to recompose herself, Roxanne asked, “Did she cry?”Estella had cried a lot when Archie and Benny had been expelled, so she a*sumed Archie and Benny would also feel upset about her leaving.Benny shook his head. “We didn’t get to see Essie. It was Ms. Ward who told us about it.”They didn’t know if Estella had cried about her transfer.It wasn’t until they heard Roxanne’s question that they realized Estella was probably just as upset as they were, if not more.Archie and Benny tugged anxiously at Roxanne’s shirt. “Let’s go visit Essie, Mommy! She must be really sad right now!”Roxanne wanted to visit Estella too, but the mere thought of heading over to the Farwell residence reminded her of what she had seen that night.Lucian and Aubree were chatt
Meanwhile, Archie and Benny were standing next to Pippa at the kindergarten. “Where did Essie go, Ms. Ward?”Pippa had no idea where Estella went, but she tried to rea*sure the boys. “Essie took the day off. But I’m not too sure about the reason.”“Will we be able to see her tomorrow?” Archie asked.Pippa was hesitant to answer that question at first. Seeing how anxious the two of them were, however, she flashed them a smile. “Yes, you will.”Only then did Archie and Benny breathe sighs of relief.When cla*ses were almost over, Pippa received a call from the head of kindergarten.He summoned her to his office and handed her a document and a pen.“All that’s left to do is for you to sign this.”Pippa took the pen and quickly read through the document.“Essie is transferring to another kindergarten? But why? Is there something we’re not doing well enough?” she asked in confusion when she realized what it was.“Mr. Farwell said it was a personal reason. He also said he would continue fu
Jonathan had wanted to try persuading him further, but Lucian cut him off, “I have a meeting to attend. We’ll talk about this some other time.” Jonathan had no choice but to get up and leave the office.After stepping out of Farwell Group, Jonathan thought about the advice he had given Lucian earlier and regretted every single word he said.If I had known things were that bad between them, I would’ve changed the way I worded my sentences! Now, look what I’ve done! Not only did Roxanne show no interest in Lucian whatsoever, but he has also given up on winning her over! Honestly, I feel really bad for Essie. She really likes Roxanne and wants her to become her mother someday. The best part about this is the fact that Roxanne is her biological mother. However, she’s in for a huge disappointment, as Lucian has already given up on winning her over. There’s only so much a child like Essie can handle…Of course, Lucian had thought about the exact same thing.He showed up outside the kinderg
Meanwhile, in the CEO’s office of Farwell Group, Jonathan was sitting in front of Lucian with a teasing smile on his face. “I hear a portion of medicinal herbs from Herbscape Group’s overseas branch has been shipped back to Horington.”Lucian simply nodded without saying anything in response.“Back then, I suggested you lend a helping hand, but you refused to do so. Now, look what has happened!” Jonathan continued with a chuckle.I thought he was actually going to ignore Roxanne completely, but he ended up intervening anyway!“Well? How did Dr. Jarvis respond to you lending her a hand?” Jonathan asked.The look on Lucian’s face turned gloomy the moment he heard that.When Jonathan didn’t get a response from Lucian, he slowly came to realize that he had said something he shouldn’t have.From his expression, it’s obvious that their relationship has yet to improve. In fact, it might even have gotten worse. This doesn’t make any sense, though…Noticing the confused frown on Jonathan’s fa
“What is it?” Aubree asked with a scowl. Frieda retrieved her phone and showed her a few photos.There was a tent in the first photo. Not far away from the tent was a white skirt.Nothing else was shown, but Aubree’s face was already grim.I know the tent. It was the one Roxanne and the little b*stards set up that day. The white skirt is most probably the one I wore that day.The photo didn’t show anything else, so the person who took the photo was obviously targeting her.In the following photo, Aubree could be seen wearing that white skirt. She was holding a white medicine bottle with an unknown substance inside.The photos showed what Aubree had done that day.Finally, the series of photos ended when Aubree finished positioning the bacterium and made her exit.Aubree’s face was as dark as thunder by the time she scrolled to the last picture.“Where did you get these?” she demanded.Frieda quickly explained, “I don’t know. Someone sent them to me yesterday with a text.”She hurried
The next morning, words about Aubree’s injury became public knowledge. Sonya contacted Aubree to show her concern.“Aubree, I heard you were injured. Is that true?”Aubree sat on the edge of her bed and stared at her wounded ankle. Her expression was cold, but she replied nicely, “I accidentally fell down, but I’m fine. You don’t have to worry about me, Mrs. Farwell.”Sonya furrowed her brows. “How did you fall? Didn’t you visit Lucian yesterday? Does he know that you’re hurt?”Aubree sounded conflicted as she responded, “Mrs. Farwell, you should stay out of this.”“He knows about it, doesn’t he?” Sonya immediately guessed.Every time Lucian mentioned his relationship with Aubree, he would tell me to stay out of it. Even Aubree is saying the same thing now!At that thought, Sonya grew breathless with anger. “Tell me how you got hurt.”A smug look flashed across Aubree’s eyes as Sonya was close to the truth.She pretended to be hesitant for a few seconds as if struggling with what to
Lucian’s phone rang when he arrived at the hospital entrance. It was the landline from home.“When are you coming back, Daddy?”Estella’s demure voice sounded from the other end as soon as he picked up.“I’m on the way,” Lucian replied softly. “Go to sleep first, I’ll be home to see you soon.”Estella promised and hung up quickly after that.It was already late at night when Lucian arrived back at his manor.Then, he made his way to Estella’s bedroom as soon as he got home just like how he had promised her.To his surprise, he found the child still awake. She watched him enter indignantly without saying a word.Lucian frowned. “What are you angry about this time?”“You’re back so late!” Estella complained.I would love it if Daddy spent all night with Ms. Jarvis, but he was with Ms. Pearson. I dislike her! Counting in the travel time, it would not take him more than an hour to make it back.Lucian’s brows twitched at the child’s complaint.The child had never complained when I was ou
“Daddy!” Estella urged a moment later when she did not receive an answer from her father. Shaking himself out of his reverie, Lucian nodded resignedly at his daughter.Only then did she let go and watch him go down the stairs.Aubree was beside herself with anxiousness as she waited downstairs and remained in doubt as she watched Lucian descend the stairs.That little b*tch’s private word with Lucian is obviously trying to get him not to send me to the hospital.Aubree was aware that Lucian spoiled Estella and was even delaying marrying her because of the girl.I wonder if I would have to go to the hospital alone because of her.Aubree could not quell her racing heart, even when Lucian stood firmly before her.Lucian turned to address the family doctor. “I must trouble you with Ms. Pearson, Dr. Elswick.”Aubree’s eyes widened at those words when she realized she was correct in her hunch that he did not intend to keep her company.“Do you hate me that much, Lucian?” Aubree hung her he