"What did you say?" Lionel''s brow furrowed, his expression incredulous.


    Lily flinched at his sharp tone, clutching Cora''s hand tightly. "When I got here, the frame was already empty. I wondered why there was an empty frame on the table, but my mom told me not to ask questions, so I didn''t.”


    Cora, now understanding the situation, pointed at the frame. "I saw it was empty the first day I came to work here. I just figured it was some kind of rich-person entricity. You''ve been living here for weeks and you didn''t notice, so why are you yelling at us now?"


    To throw a tantrum over a worthless photo frame was just baffling to her. He hadn''t noticed for all this time, so what was the big deal now?


    "Sir, it''s not just that one. The missus got rid of all of them." Lily pointed to a row of empty frames on a nearby shelf. "They''ve been like that for days. I assumed you had noticed but didn''t care, so I never mentioned it."


    She couldn''t believe that Lionel had been in and out of this room countless times over the past few weeks and had never noticed. Anyone would have seen that the photos were gone. The only exnation was that he never looked at them, never cared. Otherwise, how could he miss something so obvious?


    Lionel''s gaze shifted to the other empty frames. He waspletely stunned.


    How... how had this happened? Why had he never noticed?


    Lily, seeing that Cora was about to speak again, quickly pulled her out of the room before she could say something she''d regret.


    "Mom, why did you drag me out here?" Corained, shaking off her mother''s hand. "It''s his fault for not noticing. Why is he yelling at us?"


    days ago


    "Do you want to get fired? Can''t you just keep your mouth shut for once?" Lily hissed, looking at her daughter with exasperation. "This is a good thing! They''re already fighting, and now he finds out she threw out their wedding photos, twenty days He''s only going to be angrier. And you go and antagonize him? Do you want him to feel guilty, to think he''s wronged Hannah, and for them to call off the divorce?"


    Lily grit her teeth. "How did I raise such a brainless child? And who are you to talk to him like that? He''s the master, you''re the servant. He can have you thrown out on a whin! The memory of having to beg for their jobs was still fresh in her mind. "For the next few days, you will behave. This is our chance. If you mess up again and the missus finds


    out, we''ll both be fired and sent back to take care of your drunk of a father!"


    At the mention of her father, a look of disgust shed across Cora''s face.


    Inside the room, Lionel leaned against a dresser, his eyes fixed on the empty frame. A bitterugh escaped his lips.


    Twenty days He''d been back for


    over twenty days, and he hadn''t noticed that their wedding photo was missing from such arge frame. He looked at the other


    frames, remembering how Hannah had dragged him to take all those pictures.