?Chapter 1692:
Violette turned it over in her mind and decided the exnation fit perfectly.
“That must be it! I couldn’t understand why he was acting so strangely, inviting some unknown woman to a charity event. I even thought he might be interested in her — but now it’s obvious he was setting her up! He must still care about me. This is his way of getting back at her for my sake!” Delight washed over Violette, her face lighting up with an unrestrained, euphoric grin.
“You’repletely right! Alban’s heart belongs to you alone,” Irene chimed in, her smile stiff and manufactured. No one noticed the sharp flicker of resentment in her eyes — a bitterness so intense it nearly consumed her.
“Let’s just sit back and enjoy the show tomorrow night,” Violette said with augh, clearly pleased.
“Of course,” Irene agreed, nodding along. For her, this meant another chance to attend an event at Violette’s side — and this time, she was determined to find an opening to get closer to either Alban or Bain.
Outside the shopping mall, Christina walked slowly with the little girl, their pace unhurried and calm. When they reached a quiet area with hardly anyone around, she spotted a stone bench nearby and abruptly copsed onto it, as though she had fainted from exhaustion.
The child was startled by the sudden fall, but she only tightened her hold on Christina’s hand and stood beside her in silence, eyes wide and unblinking. After a long pause, the weight of the situation seemed to sink in. She nudged Christina — first gently, then frantically as fear took hold — until she suddenly broke down in tears. She didn’t know how to call for help; she could only cry, shaking Christina desperately while clinging to her hand.
Christina’s chest ached at the sound of the girl’s sobs, but she couldn’t reveal herself yet. She needed to lure the hunter hiding nearby into exposing themselves. Someone had been following them ever since they left the mall, and she couldn’t tell whether the true target was her or the child — but that answer woulde once the pursuer acted. Whoever it was, they were moving with extreme caution, keeping their distance even now.
A predator required patience, but Christina’s resolve was beginning to waver. The little girl was crying so hard she struggled to breathe.
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Just as Christina was about to abandon the act, hurried footsteps sounded nearby.
“Adide!”
A woman’s voice cut through the air — soft and musical, yet trembling with urgency. The little girl’s crying stopped at once.
Christina eased one eyelid open, barely a fraction. She saw bewilderment bloom across the child’s features. Adide’s tiny fingers ckened around Christina’s hand, only to mp down again a heartbeatter.
“Adide!”
A slender silhouette rushed into view and gathered the little girl into a frantic embrace.
“I’m Mommy! I’m here. Mommy’s here!” the woman sobbed, clutching Adide tightly.
Atst, the little girl’s hand slipped entirely from Christina’s grasp — yet the child looked utterly lost, unable to reconcile the idea of having two mothers. Her vacant gaze drifted from the woman holding her back to Christina on the bench, her head tilting with pure, untainted confusion.
Gillian’s eyes shifted to the striking woman copsed against the stone seat — the stranger her daughter had seemingly chosen in her ce.
Gillian had given birth to Adide outside of marriage and raised her alone in the slums for five years. Recently, however, she had fallen gravely ill and, unable to afford treatment, had epted her fate. Days ago, she had brought Adide — who suffered developmental dys from a brain injury — out onto the street and suggested they y hide-and-seek. Adide was supposed to count to ten and then search for her, and Gillian had told her that if she found her and hugged her tightly, they would stay together forever.
Gillian had never imagined that instead of looking for her, Adide would cling to aplete stranger — and a beautiful, elegant one at that.
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