Chapter 194
Hooked into Jared's eyes. He hesitated for a split second, almost inching, before finally meeting my gave. Those
ayes, always do petania and my memory, few seemed shadowed by a touch of melancholy
“Why?“Lasked, my old shyness nowhere to be found. Everything I'd been through lately had pretty much
apertout any sense of embarreement.
Jared locked surprised that I'd pressed him. He frore for a second, and then replied, “When you're not home, the
place just feels so empty
“Oh, so you got used to havingaround, he? Now you can't live without it raised an eyebrow, grind
“No, that's not it” red shook his head, but couldn't really put it into words. He let out a low sigh and said, “Come
hfor dinner tonight. Yvonne
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wants to see you.”
“Let's not do that,” | said, staring down at the floor, my tone flat. “We're going to be loving separateves soon
anyway. She has you and the Holcomb family to look after her. I'm not worried”
“Victoria, how can you be so heartless?” Jared snapped, his temper flaring. He just couldn't take it when it came
to Yvonne
I locked at him coolly. “I've been even tougher on myself, and | still made it through, didn’t | The world doesn’t
stop for anyone. Yvonne will grow up. She doesn’t really need me. To her, I'm just a high-end nanny. What's the
point?”
“That's not true. You're her mother, Jared argued, almost desperate.
“Yeah, I'm her mother. If she ever needs my help in the future, I'll be there.” With that, | pushed open the door
and left, leaving Jared standing there, his face stiff and unreadable.
Back in my office, a pang of sadness hit me. Sometimes I'd think, if never had a child, no one would ever have
the power to hurt me. But now Yvonne was in my life, and there was no undoing it
As parents, we tried every trick to smooth things out for our kids, even trying to map out their entire future. But
we forgot that once they were born, they were free. Hovering too much wasn’t always for the best.
When it cto Yvonne, I'd decided to let go. No matter what kind of person she grew up to be, | wouldn't
interfere
As night fell, my parents showed up in Hachester and calledback to the villa. When | walked in, Jared was
sitting on the couch with Yvonne in his arms. My parents were chatting with Sally, and Quinn was there too
She looked atlike | was skind of ungrateful brat and gavethe biggest eye roll ever.
| stood by the door, feeling like a criminal on trial. A chill ran down my spine. But | quickly pulled myself together
and went over to greet everyone.
My mom shota silent look of judgment. My dad let out a heavy sigh. Sally’s face was anything but friendly.
Jared kept his eyes down, lost in his own thoughts
Quinn liked running her mouth. When everyone else stayed quiet, she jumped right in.
*Victoria, what's up with you? You vanished for so long and finally decided to show your face. Since when are you
busier than Jared? It's almost impossible to see you these days,” she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm,
My expression darkened.
Jared looked over at Quinn and said, “Don’t stir things up.”
Quinn crossed her arms and hutted, “If you two really get divorced, there'll be tons of women dying to marry into
the Holcomb family, You better think it through
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