Chapter 2

I watched Marcus shielding Chloe, and my heart sank, piece by agonizing piece.

In the suffocating silence, a light, quick footsteps echoed from the entryway.

“I’m home!”

Leo Hayes had just returned from school, his eyes sparkling as he searched for me.

However, when he saw the scene in the living room, his steps abruptly halted.

The moment Chloe saw Leo, tears instantly welled up in her eyes. She covered her mouth, her voice trembling as she murmured, “Leo… Is that my Leo?”

The next second, Leo lunged towards Chloe, burying his face in her embrace.

“Mommy! Mommy, you came for me!”

I stumbled backward, caught off guard, frozen in place. I whipped my head around to Marcus, my voice raw and husky.

“Marcus Hayes, what is going on?”

He first calmed the two, who were now crying in each other’s arms, then escorted them upstairs.

As I watched the two figures, one large, one small, disappear up the stairs, my voice turned cold as ice.

“Now, you can explain.”

Marcus turned to me, his guilt deepening, but now mixed with a resigned, almost defiant honesty.

“Leo is Chloe’s son.”

“She was already pregnant with my child when she left back then.”

“Later… she couldn't raise him, so she contacted me and sent him back.”

“And why didn’t you tell me?” I could barely control the volume of my voice. “I treated him with genuine sincerity, I raised him as my own son!”

Marcus offered a bitter smile, about to speak, but I cut him off.

“Leo knew everything, didn’t he?”

Marcus was silent for a moment, his silence a confirmation.

“Last year… Chloe occasionally FaceTimed him. A child’s longing for his mother is natural…”

So that was it.

No wonder, for a while last year, Leo kept hiding to make calls and started acting strange around me. This was why.

Marcus took a step forward, trying to soothe me.

“Chloe is only staying temporarily. Once I find a suitable place, I’ll send them away.”

“You’re always so generous and understanding, don’t make things difficult for me, okay?”

My chest ached, a deep, suffocating pain. Suddenly, I didn’t even have the energy to question him further. I simply pulled at the corner of my mouth, a smile utterly devoid of warmth.

“Marcus Hayes, you both make me sick.”

With that, I walked straight back to my room. The world fell silent, and only then did I feel a faint, heavy ache in my lower abdomen. I leaned against the door, taking a deep breath, trying to ignore the subtle yet undeniable pain.

Over the next few days, Chloe and Leo stayed in the guest room on the second floor. Leo seemed like a completely different child. When he saw me, his eyes held a stubborn hostility, completely lacking the closeness and dependency he used to show.