Chapter 26
Lola had gone to this school during last summer’s vacation, and all the teachers had been really nice to her. She had been begging to come back again this summer.
Matilda instinctively searched for Lola in the crowd.
Lola had already spotted her but quickly turned her head away.
Matilda also turned her face aside. Just as she was about to walk off, she heard Gillian, one of the teachers, call out to her, “Lola’s mom, are you worried about her? She’s been so well-behaved today.”
Matilda had no problem with the teacher, so she couldn’t just ignore her. She forced a faint smile and said, “Thank you for looking after her.”
“That’s my job.” Gillian crouched down to guide Lola. “Lola, you noticed your mommy first, which is how I spotted her. But why didn’t you go greet her? No matter the situation, when we see our mommy, we can’t act like she isn’t there.”
Hearing that, Matilda suddenly thought of her own mother, and tears welled up in her eyes.
Just as Lola was hesitating over whether to call out to her, a chubby boy blurted out, “Lola’s mom is a criminal. My dad said so-he said she even went to the police station.”
The other kids’ faces shifted, and they all started looking at Lola strangely.
Flustered, Lola shouted, “She’s not my mom! My dad divorced her, and I don’t even know her. Go away! Who told you to come here? How embarrassing!”
Gillian quickly tried to calm Lola down, then awkwardly apologized to Matilda.
But Matilda knew this wasn’t Gillian’s fault-Gillian didn’t owe her an apology.
Still, Matilda’s mood sank even further.
Amid the noisy crowd, a pure, innocent girl’s voice suddenly rang out. “She’s not a criminal. She’s my daddy’s friend.”
Matilda looked over and saw Jolene step forward, still wearing the little pink camera Matilda had given her around her neck.
Jolene walked straight up to the chubby boy and, word by word, declared, “My dad said she was framed by bad people. And those people who framed her will pay for it-none of them will get away.”
Matilda’s heart surged with emotion. She walked past Lola, scooped Jolene up, and said softly, “You really are a little angel.”
Jolene wrapped her arms around Matilda, thinking Matilda smelled nice-like flowers and greenery, fresh and comforting.
Back when Gillian had mentioned that Matilda was Lola’s mom, Jolene had stood in the back, feeling envious.
‘So Matilda has a daughter. Why can’t I be her daughter?’ she thought sadly.
Matilda didn’t rush to leave. She and Jolene stayed behind to feed the swans, and her mood lifted. They took lots of photos together, and even the swans swam right up to them.
Soon, the other kids came over to Jolene to feed the swans with her, saying that she and Matilda looked just like the real mother and daughter.
As she was left out, Lola’s face flushed with anger. Even if she didn’t want her mom anymore, no one else had the right to
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have her either.
When Brandon came home from work, Tully told him Lola had been crying ever since she got back from school and wouldn’t say why no matter how much they asked.
Brandon had always doted on his daughter. Seeing her cry until her eyes were swollen, he immediately wanted to find whoever had upset her and make them pay.
Lola said it was Matilda who had embarrassed her in front of her classmates, hugging another girl and acting like she wanted to be that girl’s mom.
Brandon was furious. He drove straight to Maple Heights.
This time, he didn’t say he was looking for Matilda. He only told the security guards he was a network engineer from Crossen Technology, there to check the nighttime stability of the smart systems.
Ten minutes later, he was at Matilda’s door.
Matilda was on a video call with a vice president from Grivoria. Hearing the doorbell ring nonstop, she figured it was the buffet restaurant delivering pomegranates.
She quickly apologized to the vice president of Micronel Tech, asked him to wait, and went to open the door.
The moment she saw Brandon, she immediately tried to shut it.
But Brandon was faster. He shoved the door open with his hand and forced his way in.
“Get out!” Matilda snapped.
Already angry, Brandon’s tone was sharp. “Playing cards with those lowlifes from Foghide Alley-you’ve got guts.”
Matilda had no idea who those men were that night, nor did she care to find out.
They hadn’t meant her any harm. The only real scum was Brandon, who deserved to be hacked to pieces.
“Are you done? Get out!” Matilda shouted.
Grinding his teeth, Brandon held back his temper and asked, “You went to see Lola, huh? And instead of hugging her, you hugged another girl, humiliating her on purpose.”
“Her custody’s with you, and she doesn’t even want to acknowledge me. What right do you have to come here and question me?” Matilda shot back.
“Because you made her cry for three hours-her eyes are swollen,” Brandon growled.
“Then you should be at home putting cold compresses on her, not barging in here making trouble,” Matilda sneered, her head held high.
That defiant spirit was what Brandon used to love most about her. But now it only made him want to break her down and rebuild her into someone else.
Just then, the phone by the door rang, breaking the tension. “Ms. Warren, I asked your neighbor to drop off the pomegranates you wanted.”
Brandon froze. Back when Matilda had been pregnant with Lola, she had craved pomegranates like crazy.
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Chapter 26
55 vouchers
He used to have Tully peel one for her every day, even joking that they didn’t need to rack their brains for their daughter’s name-they could just call her Pomegranate.
The memory softened his anger. He straightened up and said in a soft tone, “Move out of this place. For Lola’s sake, I’ll let you come back to Rose Villa.”
Matilda didn’t buy it. “That place disgusts me. Get out and stop messing with my life.”
The veins on Brandon’s temples throbbed. “What life? What do you even have?”
“A sweet one,” Matilda shot back. “I’ve fallen in love with my upstairs neighbor-love at first sight. In twenty-two days, when the divorce is finalized, I’ll propose to him right on the spot.”
A sharp “clatter” sounded-something had dropped to the floor. But it wasn’t from inside. It came from outside the door. Which meant someone else was there.
Matilda slowly turned. She saw Allen standing there, pomegranate seeds scattered across the floor from his hands.
He stared at her, frozen in disbelief. After a moment of stunned silence, his calm eyes shifted toward the furious Brandon.
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