Chapter 22
Seattle had seen many rainy days recently, even making business at “Serene Moon” bookstore unusually quiet.
Yet for many days, a Maybach had been parked outside.
Persistently waiting, never leaving
“Miss Cassidy, look at my drawing!” Lily held up a crayon picture, skipping over excitedly, but stopped suddenly upon seeing her expression.
“Miss Cassidy,” Lily cautiously asked, “are you sad again?”
Cassidy forced a smile, avoiding the question as she took the drawing: “This is beautiful. Is it a bunny?”
“Yes!” Lily nodded vigorously, then turned her small hand to point outside.
“Is it because those bad people came back that you’re sad?”
Wesley emerged from behind a bookshelf, carrying a steaming cup of herbal tea.
He discreetly positioned himself to block the view from across the street.
“Should we call the police?” he asked quietly, his gaze sweeping toward the luxury car that had been parked there
for a week.
Through the rain, two small figures could be seen pressed against the car windows, gazing longingly toward the
bookstore.
Cassidy shook her head, saying coldly: “They’ll give up eventually.”
The rain intensified, and suddenly, the car door across the street flung open.
Emma struggled with an umbrella too large for her, stumbling toward the bookstore.
Rain soaked her skirt and small leather shoes, but she paid no attention, stubbornly knocking on the firmly closed shop door.
“Mommy! Please open the door!” her childish voice penetrated the rain, breaking with tears: “I know you’re in there!”
“Mommy, you can see us. Why won’t you talk to me and my brother? Do you really not want us anymore?”
Cassidy’s fingers gripped the curtain tightly, her knuckles turning white.
Wesley silently stood beside her, his warm palm gently covering her trembling hand.
21:19
CHEAL You
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ifa’s 11 Man Vou Wanner.
Chapter 22
“One last time,” Cassidy suddenly said, her gaze gradually becoming resolute.
“This time, I’ll end it with them for good.”
With that, she took out her phone, found the number she had blacklisted long ago, and sent a message.
At the café, Cassidy chose a window seat, quietly waiting for the three to arrive.
Soon enough, Gabriel entered with the children.
Unusually, he wasn’t wearing a suit today–just a simple white shirt wrinkled against his body, with obvious dark circles under his eyes.
Both children also looked pitiful in dirty clothes, appearing notably thinner, utterly bedraggled.
“Mommy!” Emma spotted her and rushed over, but just as she was about to touch Cassidy, she was gently avoided.
“Sit down,” Cassidy indicated the chairs opposite her, her voice unnaturally calm.
Gabriel’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he struggled to speak: “Cassidy, the children haven’t been well. They were already fragile, and without their mother’s care…”
“I know,” she interrupted, pulling a manila envelope from her bag.
“These are the growth journals I kept for them from birth until now. Everything you need to know about caring for them is here.”
“Plus allergy lists, medication records. They’re not little anymore. I believe you can take care of them properly.”
Gabriel’s face instantly paled as he stammered: “What are you saying? I don’t want these… Cassidy, don’t you understand? We just want you back.”
Cassidy didn’t look at him, instead laughing bitterly as she slowly rolled up her left sleeve, revealing a jagged scar.
“Remember this? It happened when Ethan pushed me down the stairs and I hit broken glass.”
“That night, I got twelve stitches at the hospital. While you and Natalie were playing happy family at home.”
Ethan’s little face instantly drained of color. He stared at the scar in horror, his lips trembling: “Mommy, I didn’t
mean to…”
Cassidy shook her head slightly, then lifted her skirt to show the horrific scar on her leg.
A centipede–like scar crossed her leg, looking as if a chunk of flesh had been gouged out.
“This is from when Natalie and I were trapped in the elevator together. You said she needed to dance, so you didn’t hesitate to sacrifice me.”
Chapter 22
“I almost lost this leg entirely. The doctors said I was inches away from eation
“Each of you claims you ‘didn’t mean it,“” Cassidy’s voice was soft butt like akade
“Just like you didn’t mean to falsely accuse me of giving you mango, or tell everyone you hated ma
She turned her gaze to Gabriel, her eyes filled with undisguised contempt.
“And what about me? Are all these injuries supposed to be overlooked just because you offer a flimsy we didat
mean it‘?”
Emma suddenly burst into tears, lunging forward to grab Cassidy’s arm
‘But we know better now! Please come home, Mommy! We’ll never do those things ayant
Cassidy looked at her sobbing daughter and felt strangely calm, no longer experiencing that familiar tiding pain
She simply sat quietly, waiting for the crying to subside.
“I once…” she began slowly, each word seemingly squeezed from her chest with great difficulty,
‘I once loved you all so deeply. Emma was only four pounds eight ounces when born premature–1 sat by her incubator for seven days and nights.”
“When Ethan was bullied and afraid to go to school, I walked him to his classroom door every day. I kept everyone’s birthday in my heart, making cakes from scratch…”
‘But love can be completely depleted.”
‘When you pushed me down the stairs, said you never wanted to see me again, and chose Natalie as your mother… whatever bond we had was severed.”
‘I’m here today to tell you,” Cassidy stood up, placing money for the coffee under her cup, each word deliberate:
‘I’m not coming back. This isn’t about punishing you. It’s because I’ve built a new life for myself and refuse to be iragged back into that toxic swamp with you.”
She turned unhesitatingly toward the exit. Emma’s heart–wrenching cries echoed behind her, but Cassidy’s steps never faltered.
‘Mommy! Please! Don’t abandon us!”
Cassidy pushed open the café door. Across the street, Wesley stood waiting by the car with Lily.
The little girl spotted her and immediately broke free from her uncle’s hand, racing over.
“Miss Cassidy!” Lily flung herself into Cassidy’s arms, her small hands anxiously touching her face.
hapter 22
‘Are you okay? Did they hurt you?”
Cassidy bent down to lift the little girl, kissing her soft cheek:
I’m fine, sweetheart. Let’s go home.”
Wesley walked over, asking nothing, simply placing his arm gently around her shoulders.
The three walked toward the car, their silhouettes in the sunlight appearing perfectly harmonious.
nside the café, Emma’s crying gradually weakened.
jabriel stared blankly out the window, watching Cassidy get into the unfamiliar sedan
Vatching that little girl nestling affectionately against her, while the bespectacled man tenderly fastened her eatbelt…
Daddy,” Ethan tugged at his sleeve, his voice filled with unprecedented fear, “does Mommy really not want us nymore?”
Gabriel couldn’t answer. The certainty he’d felt before coming had completely vanished.
This time… they seemed to have truly lost Cassidy forever.
