"I need to talk to Vernon. Maybe he will allow me to live somewhere with my salary," Chloe mumbled. "Ah, speaking about salary…."
Chloe wasn't sure how to talk about salary with Vernon. But she needed to pay for Mackenzie's semester tuition since Vincent refused to say it. She absolutely despised going on marriage counseling with Vincent, knowing he could pull up some strings to do that.
Thus, she needed her salary to be paid forward.
"I need to talk with him about that too…."
**
Chloe busied herself by cleaning the bed and washing the rest of the dirty laundry. Once the cleaning was done, she prepared the ingredients for cooking dinner.
She didn't know what Vernon liked, but she remembered when Vernon was a teenager, she often cooked in Gray's family kitchen for Vincent. Little Vernon would request a few things that he liked, such as corn soup, lasagna, and many things that couldn't be cooked because of their dietician.
After Chloe had cooked everything, she checked the time, and it was time for her to pick up Mackie from her school.
She finished everything and put her cooking in the fridge, so she could reheat it again tomorrow.
Chloe went out to pick Mackie up, and when she arrived in front of the school, she saw her daughter with red and puffy eyes. Her hair was messy, and she also had scratches on her arms.
"Mackie!" Chloe opened the car door and rushed to her daughter. Mackie turned her head towards her Mommy, and she bit her lips but said nothing as Chloe hugged her.
"Oh God, what happened?!"
"It's nothing, Mommy."
"Mackie, you have to tell me! Did someone bully you? I will talk to your homeroom teacher—"
"Mommy… Mackie wants to go home. Let's leave…."
…
Chloe picked her up and carried her daughter to the car. She put her on the seat and strapped up the seatbelt before driving away.
They were silent for a while until Chloe couldn't hold it anymore, "What happened, Mackie? You need to tell Mommy."
Mackie lowered her head and fiddled with her fingers, "Mommy, is it true?"
"What truth?"
"That Daddy is sleeping with Jaden's Mom and Mia's Mom too…." Mackie said.
…
"Did Jaden say something again today? Did he beat you up?"
"No, Mommy. Mia came to me and said that Daddy is the reason why her Daddy and Mommy are separated," Mackenzie replied. "Daddy is sleeping naked with her Mommy, and now Mia's daddy left her."
…
Chloe clenched her grip on the steering wheel. That bastard never learned. No matter how often Chloe told him not to screw around with people, that might affect Mackenzie. But he didn't even give a shit about her daughter's wellbeing.
"And Mia picked a fight with you?"
"Mmn…" Mackie nodded. "Mia pushed me, so I pushed her back, then we fought…."
"Miss Alisha didn't do anything to separate you two?" Chloe mentioned the homeroom teacher.
"She did, but it's too late, Mommy…." Mackie rested her back on the seat and asked again, "Mommy, why did Daddy sleep naked with Mia's and Jaden's Moms?"
Chloe bit her lower lip, trying to contain her anger as she was 100% sure not going to cover up for that bastard Vincent for what he did, not even in front of their daughter.
But she had to be careful of her words. Telling everything without a filter would only shock a child's mind.
"Daddy and Mommy are going through a difficult time together. That's why we have to move out for a while," Chloe said as she tried to be as gentle as possible.
Mackie went silent for a while and continued asking, "Would Daddy let us return home someday?"
"That depends on Daddy. If he wants us to return home, he has to stop sleeping naked with Jaden's and Mia's Mommy."
"But Daddy told Mackie once that he loves Mommy the most…."
'Ah, what kind of bullshit is he spewing in front of our daughter?' Chloe thought. 'That's just straight up the worst lie I've ever heard in my life.'
Chloe got even more annoyed with Vincent and all of his crap. But she had to keep her calm in front of her daughter.
"Well, I hope he meant that," Chloe said. "Well, don't worry about your Daddy, dear. I will treat your wound once we reach home, okay?"
"I don't want to go to that scary place again…" Mackie said. She pouted and was about to throw another tantrum.
"Who said we will go there? We have a new house now!"
"Wah!?"
Mackenzie looked excited. This was probably the most exciting thing she had heard since a few days ago. She turned her head to Mommy and asked, "Is it bigger?"
"Oh, a looooot bigger! So you can run around freely!"
"With my own room?"
"Yes! Big room, just like in our home before!"
"And kitchen and snacks?!"
"Yes! There are a lot of snacks! We can buy more later!"
"WEEEE!" Mackenzie forgot about her woes immediately. She got so excited that she almost jumped out of her seat.
"Mommy, I want to eat your cooking again! I don't want to eat sandwiches and burgers every day!"
"Okay, okay, Mommy has cooked dinner for you. Let's go to our new home, okay?"
"Okay!"
**
They arrived at their new apartment, and only two words came out of Mackie's mouth.
'Wah!' and 'Wow!'
She was so happy with everything that she jumped around happily around the big apartment. Chloe had to chase her around the apartment because her scratch wounds hadn't been treated.
It wasn't until nine that she fell asleep, and Chloe went up to Vernon's room to wait for the young CEO.
She reheated the dinner that went cold and prepared it for Vernon.
Chloe kept looking at her phone to check the time, and the front door of the penthouse was finally opened around two in the morning.
Chloe got up from her seat to greet Vernon, "Vernon, do you want me to reheat dinner—"
Chloe halted her step immediately because she saw Vernon return home drunk with a woman in his embrace.