"..."

Hillary stared at Mia incredulously.

She even suspected whether she had misheard just now. What was that heartless little wench saying? Did she not feel even the slightest bit of reluctance to part with her?

She clenched her fists. "What did you say, Mia?"

Mia met her eyes and repeated timidly, "I'll be a good girl, Mommy. You don't have to worry about me."

"..."

Hillary felt a wave of frustration that she simply couldn't get off her chest. The look in her eyes gradually turned menacing. She wanted to lose her temper and make a scene, but when she saw the man seated on the sofa, she ultimately suppressed the urge.

As expected, those unrelated by blood would never be faithful!

She had never dared to treat her unkindly all these years—or at least, she hadn't dared to abuse her, lest Joel discovers it. All she had done was complain that Mia wasn't a boy and even so, Joel had given her a warning.

Hillary wanted to say more, but Joel looked over dispassionately and said, "Aren't you in a hurry? You can leave after you say goodbye to Mia."

"... Okay."

Hillary didn't dare to say any more. She nodded, took a deep breath, and went upstairs. After doing a simple packing of her things, she came back down and said, "I only took some of the clothes that I usually wear, Joel. I'll go home for a few days for now... I'll come back again when you aren't this mad anymore, okay?"

Joel neither agreed nor disagreed. He merely gave her a small smile.

Hillary couldn't help but become lost in his smile.

Who wouldn't fall in love with such a handsome and gentle man?

She left the house with her suitcase. After she left, Joel turned to Mia. He picked up his daughter and looked at her little oval-shaped face. Her big eyes were filled with puzzlement.

He suddenly asked, "Mia, let's not allow Mommy to come back anymore. Is that okay?"

Mia was still young, so she didn't understand any of this. Her eyes merely flickered a little when she heard what her father said.

To be honest, her mother treated her alright.

Although she had a nanny taking care of her daily needs ever since she was a baby, her mother had still taken her to school in the morning and picked her up in the evening every day. She even slept together with her.

However, she had never told anyone that she was afraid of her mother.

There was no love in her mother's eyes whenever she looked at her. The way she smiled when she looked at her seemed more like how she looked when she was inspecting the jewelry that she had bought...

Her mother often told her to make her father happy. She wanted her to be obedient and forbade her from making any noise and making trouble unreasonably. She forbade her from doing this and doing that, making the timid girl even timider than she originally was...

Later, she even occasionally complained resentfully, "It's all because you're not a boy. That's why your father doesn't want to marry me..."

After hearing too much of that, she had become a little afraid of her mother before she even realized it.

When she said that she was leaving, Mia had actually breathed a sigh of relief inwardly.

She stretched out her little arms and put them around Joel's neck. She sounded as timid as ever as she said, "... Okay."

As soon as she said that, Joel called out to the butler.

The butler immediately walked over respectfully and asked, "Is there something you need, sir?"

Joel looked up at the second floor with his upturned eyes and said, "Pack up the things in that woman's bedroom and send them to the Joneses. Do not allow her to ever enter the house again."

"Yes, sir."

At the sight of the butler going upstairs and getting people to pack up the things in the bedroom, Mia felt inexplicably relieved.

—

At Club Prism.

Justin was currently ordering food in the private room.

As the head of the Hunts, he actually had nutritionists especially in charge of managing his diet. Justin had always preferred mild-tasting food and didn't particularly hold any desire for good food.

He was equally strict on Pete.

However, he looked at Cherry in this instant and said, "You can order whatever you want."

Cherry pointed to the ice cream and said, "Daddy, this looks delicious, yeah!"

The weather hadn't completely become warm yet. Having ice cream during this period easily gave one the runs, so Justin was rather hesitant. However, when he made eye contact with his daughter's big innocent eyes, he nodded and said, "... Okay, we'll order it!"

Cherry pointed at the French fries. "Daddy, I wanna eat this!"

Fried, greasy foods like French fries were obviously unhealthy. Justin never ate such things, but he nevertheless said, "Okay, we'll order it!"

"Daddy, I want this, too!"

"Okay, we'll order it!"

"Okay, we'll order it!"

"Okay, we'll order it!"

As a result, the table was filled with messy, random dishes before Nora even arrived.

The table was full of food, but both of them merely stared at the food without touching it.

Cherry swallowed. "Why isn't Mommy here yet?"

Justin also raised his eyebrows. He was about to reply when the thudding of footsteps suddenly reached them from the door.

Justin couldn't help but say, "Your Mommy likes being late quite a bit, huh."

Cherry nodded. She was already holding the ice cream and ready to dig in the moment Mommy sat down.

Click! Clack! Click! Clack!

The footsteps got closer and closer. Something suddenly occurred to Justin and he remarked, "I don't think I've ever seen your Mommy wearing high heels?"

He couldn't help breaking into a smile the moment he said that.

The woman had always worn flat-heeled shoes whenever he saw her in the past, yet she had suddenly put on high heels for the date today. Had she put on makeup and specially dressed up for it?

It seemed that he wasn't the only one who was looking forward to the meal after all!

However, Cherry blinked and tilted her head to the side hesitantly. She replied, "But Mommy doesn't ever buy high heels!"

She didn't ever buy high heels?

The moment Justin heard what she said, someone suddenly pushed the door open. At once, a tall and slender woman with long arms and legs appeared at the door. Before she even entered, her loud voice had already reached them.

"Nora, how can you pick a good place like this when you're asking me to treat you to dinner? I'll say this in advance—you'll also have to fork out some money if it's too expensive... No, wait, what the f*ck?"

A shocked Tanya stared at the two people in the room and subconsciously said, "Am I in the wrong room?"

But that didn't make sense! Cherry was in the room!

She swallowed, picked up her cell phone, and called Nora.

"Where are you?"

Nora's lazy voice rang out on the phone.

"Mr. Hunt was the one who did you the favor. Why do I have to be present when you're the one treating him to dinner?"

Tanya, "???"

Justin, "???"

Cherry was the only one who suddenly relaxed completely. She happily dug into her ice cream with a spoon.

"..."

The private room suddenly fell into a strange silence. In the end, after Tanya hung up, she smiled awkwardly and said, "I'll take care of the bill, Mr. Hunt. Please enjoy your meal with Cherry... Pit."

Tanya quickly slipped away.

With Nora absent and Justin indulging her, Cherry finally had her fill of food.

It was only when her belly was all round and bulging that she finally went home with her sullen-faced father.

As the villa was under renovation, the two of them stayed at the Hunt manor that night. It was already late, so they didn't see the other Hunts there.

Cherry obediently went to bed after Justin sent her to her room.

At one o'clock in the morning.

For some reason, Justin suddenly woke up. He went next door uneasily, intending to pull up the covers for Cherry. However, as soon as he opened the door, he saw his daughter holding her belly with her hands, her forehead covered in perspiration...