--
"I would be happy if you wanted to wed me?"
"YES, THAT!" Vernon exclaimed excitedly. "You should've said that sooner! Damn, you made my day just now!"
...
Chloe got even more speechless to the point that she couldn't even utter one word from her mouth.
"That's a promise, okay? I won't allow you to retrieve that sentence!" Vernon said. "Just so you wait, I will make everything official between us in the end!"
...
"Vernon..."
"Yes?"
"FOCUS!" Chloe yelled. She didn't know what was in Vernon's mind and why he kept thinking about romance. "This is a serious matter! You're in danger!"
"About Vincent stuff?" Vernon sneered. "Heh, nothing will happen, don't worry."
"How can you be so sure!?"
"Because I paid all of those schools with a huge sum of donations as an initial offering to keep their mouths shut. I also told them that I will donate even more if my daughter decides to study in one of their schools. Most of them are just regular people with no real connection to the old rich like the Gray family, and I have intimidated most of them, so they will not dare to speak ill of us."
"And don't worry about Vincent, he is dangerous, but he has no time to check on random gossip like that," Vernon assured. "And don't worry about Maria as well, she got busy these days trying to match Vincent's erratic behavior at work. He made many erratic choices in business and Maria is trying so hard to keep everything afloat."
Vernon was confident that Chloe couldn't find any flaw in his plan.
"You don't need to worry about trivial stuff like this. Just focus on finding a good school for Mackie, so she can continue her study, alright?" Vernon said, then he chuckled excitedly, "I'm also going to focus on working here, so I can marry you and give you two a good life. So, put all of your trust in me, and I will never disappoint."
His confidence and assurance somehow gave peace to Chloe's heart. She was still scared of what would come next, but whenever she wanted to voice her concern, Vernon's words would linger in her mind, telling her not to worry.
'So, put all of your trust in me, and I will never disappoint...' Chloe repeated Vernon's words just now. 'Then I will trust you, Vernon....'
"Oh, I'll have a meeting in thirty minutes, I'll call you later, love," Vernon kept calling her with 'love' so naturally as if he had been in love with her for a long time.
Beep.
--
Vernon ended the call after giving assurance in Chloe's heart.
Chloe clenched her phone for a moment before tossing it back into her tote bag.
"I guess I can do nothing except trusting him and his judgment."
**
Mackie sat in the backseat of the car. She kept on staring at the tree that Mommy used to hide behind. She wondered what her Mommy said to her Uncle on the phone just now, but judging from how stern and angry she got, there must be an argument between them.
And Mackie didn't like an argument. She never wanted to see Mommy arguing with Daddy or Uncle.
Mackie asked Diamond, who was sitting in the driver's seat, "Diamond, why did Uncle say that Mommy is his wife, and I'm his daughter?"
? "It's to protect you and your Mommy, of course," Diamond replied. "Your Daddy is not really healthy right now, so there needs to be a better Daddy to replace him."
"Un... Mommy said that Daddy has a problem and we can't return until Daddy solves his problem first...." Mackie said. "So Uncle is Daddy's replacement?"
...
"Mm," Diamond replied with a short hum. She wasn't sure if what she said was correct, but her boss must've prepared himself with a solid plan. Since he had boldly claimed that Chloe and Mackie were his wife and daughter, V
"Umm... I don't mind having Uncle as Daddy's replacement," Mackie commented. "Uncle never hit Mommy. He loves Mommy so much, and he is very kind to her. Uncle is also very kind to me...."
Diamond smiled, "I'm sure your Uncle will be happy with what you said just now."
"Un..." Mackie played with the hem of her skirt as she kept staring at the tree. "I want Mommy to be happy. If she is happy, then I'm happy too! If she is not happy with Daddy, she should go with Uncle."
...
Diamond had a lot of questions in her mind, but the only one that came out of her mouth was;
"Do you miss your Daddy?"
"Of course," Mackie replied. "I miss him so much. Sometimes I dreamed of him. He promised me many things, but all I want is to spend my time with Daddy."
Mackie sighed. She stopped looking at her Mommy. Her eyes cast down as she had a growing sadness in her heart, "But Daddy is not good for Mommy. I thought Mommy fainting, being very thin, and crying often are normal, because Mommy said it's normal."
"But when I see her living with Uncle, I realize that Mommy is not supposed to faint everyday, to be very thin, or to cry often," Mackie fiddled with her fingers as she was telling her point of view. "So I know that Uncle makes Mommy happy, while Daddy makes her sad."
Diamond was astonished by Mackie's astute observation. She was smart for her age and very understanding despite all the coddling and white lies that Chloe gave her.
That being said, Diamond sympathized with this little girl. At such a young age, she had learned that her father was not good, witnessed him choking her mother, and also experienced bullying from her ex-friends in school just because her father was a sick freak.
'Chloe told me that Mackie is not like her, and she is happy with it because that means Mackie is not weak,' Diamond tried to remember her conversation with Chloe. 'But I think Mackie has her mother's quality as well. They have a strong perseverance, and still maintain good morale despite all the bad things happening in their lives.'
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