Julian nodded pensively. “I’ll stand with you no matter what.”
At the same time, Charlotte kept asking Justin to feed her the soup Rachel brought. “Why isn’t Mommy back yet?” Charlotte started throwing a tantrum, apparently running out of patience.
Justin said, “She’ll be back once you finish this.”
“You’re lying, Daddy. She left me because you and Amber made her mad. I don’t wanna see you.”
Justin was still thinking about the report. Mary has taken care of Charlotte for three years, but she betrayed my trust anyway. I can’t let any stranger take care of Charlotte from now on.
The sound of a door opening broke his train of thoughts, and in came Rachel.
“You’re finallyback, Mommy!” Charlotte extended her arms. “Hug.”
“Sure, honey.” Rachel went to her daughter and held the girl in her arms. “How’s the soup?”
“Tasty. Did you make it, Mommy?”
“Yes.”
“I want you to feed me, Mommy.”
“Okay.” Rachel looked at Justin, but he was still immersed in his thoughts, so she coughed. “Give me the bowl.”
Justin snapped out of it and gave her the bowl and ladle. “Where’s Julian?”
Rachel didn’t even look up. “He left. He’s a busy man.”
A frown creased Justin’s forehead. “You seem close to him.”
“Relatively speaking. Compared to you, I am closer to Julian.”
“I’m your husband. But you’re saying you’re on better terms with my cousin than you are with me?”
“Ex-husband,” Rachel corrected him calmly.
Charlotte was in Rachel’s arms, drinking her soup. When she saw her father looking lost, she quickly tried to come up with something to help him out. “Mommy, Daddy is obviously jealous of Julian.”
Justin stiffened up. “Nonsense, Charlotte.”
Charlotte answered seriously, “I am not talking nonsense. You saw it too, right, Mommy?”
Rachel was surprised, and she looked Justin in the eye, but an awkward silence fell between them. Jealous? No. He’s just being possessive.
After finishing her soup, Charlotte finally went to bed.
Rachel patted the blanket and got up after the girl was sound asleep.
“Don’t leave me, Mommy…” Charlotte mumbled in her sleep, and Rachel sat back down. She couldn’t leave Charlotte alone.
Justin had been working outside all this time. After he was done with his emails, he looked at the time and realized it was late at night. Rachel hasn’t left yet? He opened the door silently and saw Rachel
leaned over on the bed, apparently asleep. She was holding Charlotte’s hand, and a warm light illuminated them. It was a heartwarming sight.
Justin stood at the doorstep, not knowing what to feel. Regarding Charlotte’s honey allergy, he knew he’d accused Rachel wrongly, but that couldn’t prove that she was a responsible mother. She still hadn’t explained why she was gone for five years.
It was late at night, but business was booming for Riverdale’s bars.
“You can’t go inside, miss.” A pimp stopped Amber, but she went past the disgustingly lit dance floor, pushed the pimp away, and barged into the room.
A couple was making out in the room, but the woman screamed when she heard someone coming in. “Who are you? Who let you in?”
“I’m not here for you.” Amber looked dark. “Noah, we need to talk.”
The man making out with the woman was none other than Noah. He was a prodigal son to begin with, and he veered off rails after he was humiliated at his engagement banquet six years ago. Ever since then, he changed his girlfriends faster than anyone could say ‘phwoar’
“Who is she, Noah?”
Noah waved the woman down. After she was gone, only Amber and Noah were left. “So what brings you here?” He lit up a cigarette and shot a sidelong look at Amber. “First time you made the first move. Finally giving in?”
Amber looked at him coldly. “Someone found out about our affair.”
“So? I’m not afraid.”
“I know. But do you know who found out about that?”
“Who?”
“Rachel.”
Noah kept on puffing his cigarette, but when he realized that Amber brought Rachel up, he looked at her. “Rachel? Your sister? I thought she was dead.”
The Burtons didn’t tell anyone about Rachel’s condition, including Justin and the public.
“No. She’s back, and she’s threatening me with our sex video. The one at the staircase.” Amber gritted her teeth. “Do you know what that means? I can never say no to her terms now.”
“What does that have to do with me?”
“Did you forget why you turned out this way?”
After the incident at the banquet six years ago, Noah was in the gutters for a while. When he finally mustered enough motivation to work again, the company was already taken over by his sister’s husband, and he lost his parents’ trust.
He used to be a famous president in Riverdale, but since then, he lost everything but his name under his belt. After losing everything, he went off the straight and narrow.
Amber continued, “If it weren’t for Rachel telling you about Tina’s affair, you wouldn’t have insulted her on a whim. If you hadn’t done that, none of this would have happened.”
Sure enough, Noah’s face fell. Back then, Rachel told him about Tina’s affair and embarrassed him. He couldn’t swallow his pride, so he insulted Tina without even thinking. Because of that, his parents thought he was an emotional, impulsive man who’d ruin the company.
“You want me to kill her, don’t you?” Noah looked at her darkly, and the smoke made him look dangerous. “It’s a simple task for me, but what can I get from this?”
Amber clenched her fists. “Come here.”
A short while later, Noah’s moans could be heard from the room, and his belt clanged as his pants fell on the floor.
Rachel woke up early the next morning, and her arms felt numb. There was a blanket on her, though she wondered who draped it over her. She remembered someone doing it vaguely last night, but she thought it was the nurse.
It was nearly time for work. Since Charlotte was sound asleep, Rachel could leave her. She carefully let the girl’s hand go and tucked her in before she left. After she went home, she changed into her work attire before heading to her company for a meeting.
