Chapter 17
The staff acted quickly, throwing out Samantha’s suitcases outside the front gate.
Her designer bags, jewelry, and luxury cosmetics were scattered all over the ground, looking like
thing more than a pile of messy garbage. Samantha shouted from the doorway, “You’ll regret this! Do you think Jennifer will still want you? She’s had enough of you a long time ago!”
The heavy front door slammed shut in her face, cutting off all her vile curses.
Inside, the living room fell into an eerie silence.
Leonard slowly crouched down and pulled the two children into his arms.
Their bodies were trembling, and their tears soaked through his suit.
“Dad, does Mom really not want us anymore?” Yvonne sobbed.
Leonard felt his throat tighten.
When he thought of Jennifer’s determination to leave and the divorce agreement he had signed, a dull pain spread across his chest.
“She would never,” he said softly, more to convince himself than the children.
His brows furrowed, “She loves you so much, she couldn’t bear to leave you. She must have just needed some time alone.”
“Then why hasn’t she come back?” Yannick looked up with reddened eyes and a gloomy expression. “Is it because we pushed her down the stairs?” Leonard couldn’t even bring himself to smile. He could only force himself to respond as he gently wiped away Yannick’s tears. “I’ll find her.”
Once the staff took the children upstairs, Leonard finally let himself slump down on the couch.
He pulled out his phone and called Victor, saying in a grim tone, “Find out where Jennifer is. Immediately.”
After hanging up, his gaze fell on the family portrait above the fireplace.
It had been taken three years ago. Jennifer stood on the far end with a reluctant smile.
At the time, he hadn’t even noticed her expression, because in his
eyes, she simply didn’t matter.
Looking back now, maybe it was his repeated neglect that drove her to give up on the family altogether.
Neil pulled Leonard out of his thoughts. “Mr. Faron, dinner is ready. Shall I call the children down?”
Leonard nodded with a frown. “I’ll eat with them tonight.”
In the dining room, Yannick and Yvonne quietly picked at their food. They were no longer the noisy, playful children they once were.
They hadn’t been properly cared for in a while, and the once round and healthy children now had visibly hollowed faces.
“Dad,” Yvonne suddenly whispered, sounding nothing like the spoiled girl she used to be. “I miss Mom. Where did she go? Why hasn’t she come back after so long? If you find her, will she forgive us?”
Leonard froze for a moment. Eor some reason, he couldn’t give a definite answer.
But when he thought of all that Jennifer had endured and how deeply she had loved both the children and himself, he finally nodded and said with conviction, “No matter what, she’s your mother. She loved you more than anything, so she’ll definitely forgive you.”
Late that night, Leonard stood alone in the study, silently reviewing surveillance footage from the past six months.
In every clip, Jennifer could be seen quietly doing chores, caring for the children, and waiting for his return.
She rarely smiled, but whenever the children needed her, she would always be the first to appear–until that one day, when the children pushed her down the stairs, and he hadn’t even looked at her once.
Leonard shut off the video, feeling a heavy pressure weighing down on him.
Once he found Jennifer, he would never take her for granted again.
