In the brightly lit backyard, the boys were kicking a ball around while Estella, holding up her skirt, ambled behind them. Even though she didn’t manage to get a kick in, she smiled widely the entire time.“Mommy!” Benny, who had just kicked the ball in the direction of the door, was given a fright when he suddenly saw Roxanne emerge from the house.The moment she stepped out, Roxanne was stunned to see the ball flying straight at her face.Just when it was inches away from her, she felt a hand reach out from behind and pull her to the side.In the next second, the ball brushed past her body before falling onto the ground.As Lucian appeared from behind Roxanne, he looked at the dumbstruck children and instructed in a deep voice, “Come back in for dinner.”It wasn’t until they gradually gathered their wits that they hurried up to Roxanne’s side.“Mommy, I’m sorry for scaring you. Are you all right?” Benny apologized meekly.Roxanne gave his hair a rea*suring tousle. “I’m fine, but you
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
Having heard Lucian’s words, the frowning Roxanne felt a strong sense of resistance within her.Lucian’s deep voice rang out again. “If we don’t rehearse it, please don’t accuse me of taking advantage of you when I kiss you by mistake.”In that moment, Roxanne couldn’t believe her ears.Nevertheless, she did find the scenario Lucian had conjured up to be entirely possible.“Besides, neither of us are actors by profession. If we don’t practice, how would we know where we should stand to make the kiss realistic?” Lucian, who could sense her wavering, pressed on calmly, causing her to feel ambivalent about the matter.She admitted that he had a point. However, given that the anniversary celebration was still a few days away, she would have to be in close proximity to him for consecutive days if they were to rehearse the scene.In the midst of her hesitation, Estella’s squeaky voice piped up, “Why are we rehearsing everything but this scene?”She proceeded to give Roxanne a quizzical yet
After several days of rehearsal, it was finally Friday.When Roxanne went to pick the little ones up in the evening, she saw the children carrying a pile of clothes in their arms. Excitement was written all over their faces.“Look, Mommy! These are our costumes!” Benny showed her the costumes as Roxanne walked toward him.Roxanne nodded gently in response and took over the outfits from the boys.Meanwhile, Estella was also waiting at one side while carrying two pairs of costumes—one for her and one for Lucian.Estella had always been physically weak. That was why she seemed to have difficulties carrying the costumes and a bag on her back.Once Roxanne took over the costumes from Benny and Archie, the boys ran to her and helped her with the clothes.Estella gratefully pa*sed the garments to the boys and thanked them.The three children then lined up in front of Roxanne, waiting for her to lead them to the car.In the last couple of days, Roxanne would always take them back together. Es
Estella was going to say something else, but Roxanne interrupted her, “It’s late. We have to get up early tomorrow. Let’s hurry up and wash up and go to bed.”It was obvious that Roxanne didn’t want to continue with the topic.Estella’s eyes turned dark, but she listened to Roxanne obediently and said nothing else.She slept with Roxanne. As she rarely had the chance to sleep with Roxanne, she slept soundly that night.Roxanne, however, couldn’t help but recall Estella’s innocent question.What did Lucian do wrong?There was only one answer that she could think of to that question. Other than the fact that he didn’t like her, he didn’t seem to have done anything else to hurt her.However, that alone was enough to make Roxanne keep a distance from him.Besides, Sonya and Aubree had also been keeping an eye on her.Roxanne did not sleep well that night as thoughts flooded her mind, and she woke up very early the next day.Meanwhile, Estella was still snuggled next to Roxanne, sleeping s
Chloe, who was holding onto Ca*sandra’s hand, suddenly saw that Archie and Benny were eating something. She asked curiously, “Archie, Benny, what are you two eating?”“Candy.” Archie and Benny opened their mouths to show her.After that, they touched their pockets and looked at Chloe apologetically. “We’ve finished ours. Otherwise, we could have shared two with you.”The disappointment was written all over Chloe’s face when she heard that.Roxanne’s heart softened when she saw how sad Chloe looked. She remembered the candies inside Estella’s pocket and called out to Estella, “Essie, can you give two candies to Chloe?”Estella turned at the sound of Roxanne’s voice and nodded, trying to take a few candies from her pocket.However, as she was being carried by Lucian, she couldn’t move her hands much. Besides, the pocket of the witch costume was deep. After trying for a long time and still couldn’t reach the candies, she looked at Lucian for help.Lucian did not seem to notice Estella’s
It was dimly lit below the stage.Lucian could feel the children smiling beside him. Feeling curious, he gazed in their direction. The three children were whispering to each other about who-knows-what with secretive looks on their faces. Every so often, they would cover their mouths to muffle out their soft giggles.From beside them, Roxanne was looking at the children with a gentle smile on her face.It was quite a tender moment.However, the moment her eyes met Lucian’s, her loving smile turned stiff ever so slightly.Roxanne lowered her gaze and composed herself before turning her face away so that Lucian could only see her side profile.Lucian’s gaze darkened. With his brows knitted tightly together, he, too, turned his gaze away.They were the last ones to perform.When the second-last performance was about to come to an end, Lucian and Roxanne directed the children backstage and got ready to perform.They had thought the children would feel at least a little nervous, as it was t
Lucian stood behind Roxanne and stared at her silhouette for a long time.What is she thinking about? She didn’t even notice I was here. She didn’t even move an inch the entire time I was here.After a long while, Lucian raised his feet at walked toward her with a frown on his face.Only when a shadow cast on her did Roxanne realize that she was not alone. Snapping out of her daze, Roxanne lifted her head to look at the person standing in front of her.As their gazes met, Roxanne immediately knitted her brows and stood up with solemn guardedness. She took a few steps back, increasing the distance between them.“What are you thinking about, Ms. Jarvis? Why did you leave Archie and Benny behind and come out here alone?” Lucian asked in concern as though nothing had happened.Roxanne looked at the man standing before her and retorted, “Didn’t you leave Essie behind and come out here as well, Mr. Farwell?”Lucian’s expression sank momentarily, but quickly, he flashed a smile at Roxanne. “
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