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
Roxanne had long guessed Sonya would treat her with an unpleasant attitude. Although she was displeased, she didn’t show it on her face.“It’s Essie and Mr. Farwell’s wishes that Essie stays here. As you’re her grandma, I have nothing to say if you want to bring her back, but I hope you respect Essie’s opinions.”Sonya frowned in displeasure.I’ve already asked Essie just now. I wonder what sorcery Roxanne has cast on her to make her refuse to go home. That’s why I turned to ask Roxanne, but I didn’t expect this woman to be so tactless!Sonya was livid.Just then, Estella spoke. “Grandma, I don’t want to go home. I want to stay here and play with Archie and Benny.”Estella looked at Sonya pitifully.Usually, when Estella wore such an expression, Sonya would have gone along with her wishes. However, she was filled with rage right now, so Estella’s look only added fuel to the fire.“You have to go home even if you don’t want to. You belong to the Farwell family. How can you stay at some
Ten minutes ago, Catalina had been instructing the rest of the household staff on their chores when she heard the doorbell ring.The moment she opened the door, she saw that it was Sonya.Before Catalina could greet her, Sonya questioned her, “Where’s Essie? Tell Essie to come out. Tell her that her grandma is here.”Catalina was put in a difficult position.Estella had not been in the manor for the past few days.She had thought that the little girl was with Sonya.However, judging from Sonya’s reaction, Catalina knew there and then that Estella was with Roxanne.It was obvious that Sonya must have discovered that, and that explained her anger.As a servant, Catalina did not know how to answer her question. In the end, she replied, “I will inform Mr. Farwell right away.”She was about to go and seek help from Lucian when Sonya stopped her in her tracks.“I want to see Essie. If she doesn’t come down, I will go up myself.”With that, she began to walk upstairs.Catalina had no choice
“Please wait for a moment as Mrs. Farwell is taking a nap. I’ll tell her you’re here.” After inviting Aubree to sit on the couch in the living hall, the butler was ready to go up to call Sonya.Aubree knitted her brows and responded, “It’s okay. I can go up and check on her.”The butler knew Sonya doted on her. He hesitated but eventually agreed to allow her to go upstairs.Aubree responded with a nod. After plastering a smile on her face, she took the stairs and went up.Sonya had just woken up from her nap in the master bedroom upstairs. Upon hearing a knock on the door, she opened it right away.“Mrs. Farwell.” Aubree grinned politely. “I hope I’m not disturbing you.”Sonya, too, responded with a smile when she realized it was Aubree. “Not at all. I just woke up.”Aubree walked up to her and held her arm affectionately. “I brought you lots of gifts. Let’s go down and check them out.”“Aww, you’re too sweet.” Sonya glanced at her. “You didn’t have to do that. I’m happy that you’re h
The search lasted the entire morning.The grim-faced Cayden, who returned with his subordinates in the afternoon, said, “We found nothing, Mr. Farwell.”Admittedly, Cory was an excellent private investigator.Cayden could not help but wonder how he had managed to keep in touch with his employers.Not only did Cayden not find any evidence of how the mastermind instructed Cory to spy on Roxanne, but he also could not find proof that could expose Cory’s identity as a private investigator.Cory began playing the sympathy card. “Mr. Farwell, I told you no one instructed me to do anything.”Lucian waited for half a day but did not get the answer he was looking for. His eyes blazed with fury when he saw the pretentious innocent look on the culprit’s face.“If no one put you up to this, why did you stalk her?” he asked.Cory blinked innocently. “B-Because I find Ms. Jarvis attractive. I wished to snap photos of her since I was trying my hand at photography.”He had felt nervous before Cayden
Meanwhile, Lucian, too, ordered Cayden to investigate the issue.With Farwell Group’s financial capability, the investigation was carried out effortlessly.In less than an hour, Cayden had managed to bring the private investigator to Farwell Group.It was not until the private investigator was led to Farwell Group’s entrance that he realized something was off.“D-Did I do something wrong? Why did you bring me here?”Cayden cast him a cold glance. “Why are you asking me that? I’m not the one who calls the shots here. You’ll find out soon.”The private investigator’s legs trembled when he heard Cayden’s words.The only person who came to mind when he thought of the person who called the shots for Farwell Group was none other than Lucian Farwell.The private investigator had recently been following Roxanne around on Aubree’s orders. During those times, he had indeed seen Roxanne interacting with Lucian.Yet, he paid no mind to that.After all, he was merely doing as instructed. He did no
Upon hearing that, the doubtful Roxanne and Madilyn exchanged glances.They had spoken to nearly all the research institutes that could develop that specific bacterium in Horington, and only that research institute confirmed that their laboratory had previously lost the bacteria.Although it happened half a month ago, the bacteria could remain viable as long as they were appropriately preserved.Madilyn was aware of that and didn’t hesitate to ask, “How did you guys lose the bacteria back then? Do you guys have any findings now?”The person’s answer did not disappoint them. “One of the researchers should have taken it,” he said frankly.Madilyn was filled with confusion when she heard that.“Although we have no solid evidence, we were certain about that. Two days after the bacteria went missing, that researcher suddenly quit. We haven’t heard from her since then,” the person continued.Before Madilyn could speak, Roxanne asked, “What’s the name of that researcher?”The person on the o
At the side, Estella had her head lifted and gazed at Roxanne, looking hopeful.Roxanne’s gaze flickered. Only after obtaining Lucian’s promise did she forcibly suppress the worry within her.“Got it. I’ll take good care of Essie for the next few days.”Lucian indifferently inclined his head a fraction in acknowledgment. Shortly after, he took his leave and left.Roxanne watched as his car disappeared into the distance before bringing Archie, Benny, and Estella into the mansion.All three children were already starving to the point that their stomachs growled incessantly.Without tarrying, Roxanne prepared some quick and easy breakfast to fill their stomachs first.After having breakfast, she had the children play by themselves while she stood up and went into the study.She simply couldn’t sit back and do nothing about the person who used the bacteria on the children.Worse still, Lucian left Estella at her place. Hence, she wanted to catch the culprit as soon as possible to eliminat
“Have you and the kids been here?”Lucian came to a stop under a gigantic tree.Stopping with him, Roxanne looked around before shaking her head. “No.”That tree was located at the edge of the woods.Yesterday, she had been with Archie, Benny, and Estella in the woods or by the waterfall.As such, they indeed hadn’t been to that particular spot.Nodding in understanding, Lucian motioned for her to take a look at the bottom of the tree.Roxanne followed his gaze and took a closer look, upon which she made out a vague footprint.From the looks of it, it obviously belonged to an adult.As the footprints moved toward the edge of the gra*sy area, they grew increasingly faint.Therefore, she had no way of knowing whether the owner of those footprints had gone anywhere near the tent.However, it was certain that someone else was there yesterday other than her and the children.In fact, that person had been watching from the side while she was playing with the children.That realization had a
After Archie, Benny, and Estella had dozed off, Roxanne turned off the small night light in the tent.Consequently, the tent was pitch-dark right then, and she had no idea whether Lucian was asleep on the other side.Well, I didn’t hear any movement in a long time, so he has probably gone to sleep.At that thought, Roxanne quietly got up and left the tent. She sat outside under the moonlight alone and stared blankly into space.The weather had been great for the past two days. The moon shone brightly, but there weren’t many stars in the sky.For safety reasons, Lucian had the headlights turned on, illuminating the tent’s surroundings and rendering it like daylight.As Roxanne looked at the scenery around her, her mind gradually began drifting.Too many things had happened that day.At first, the children suddenly contracted a bacterial infection. Then, she inexplicably ended up in the same space as Lucian.Both of the incidents had her emotions turn into a jumbled mess.While she was