The office building was empty during the lunch break, and there were only four people present. Emma Rosy asked this question, but her eyes had already fallen on the panicked employee with her head hanging down, and her tone was low and repressed, as if it was the last calm before a violent storm.
Emma Rosy walked up to the employee in two steps, her sharp gaze searched her face several times, and if it wasn’t for the psychological shadow it would have caused Hope, she would have returned the slap.
“You hit my daughter?”
The employee was really scared at this point and subconsciously tried to take Emma Rosy’s hand to plead for mercy, but after touching her cold line of sight, her heart inexplicably palpitated and she froze in place, shivering and apologizing: “I’m sorry Miss Richard, I didn’t mean to. I was in a hurry to go out and she… no, no, your daughter just happened to bump into me, and I wasn’t in a good mood for a few days in a row working overtime, so …”
The employee’s incoherent explanation may sound excusable, but to Emma Rosy, it was all an excuse.
“Wright Group never skimps on overtime, and every road in the office building isn’t just for you. You say Hope bumped into you, but all I see are fingerprints on my daughter’s face!”
She wanted to settle the matter calmly, but Emma Rosy could not calm down, her voice was getting higher and higher, her face was grim to the extreme, and she was about to continue her scolding when her cuffs were suddenly tugged carefully.
Turning her head, Hope was biting her lip and looking at her, slightly timidly and softly reassuring: “Mom, don’t be angry.”
In fact, she had already discovered that, compared to Keira, Hope’s attitude was more similar to hers, and both tended to be kind to people, or unwilling to argue with them.
But her previous experience had taught her that excessive tolerance would only be met with contempt and aggression.
After holding Hope’s hand and taking a deep breath, Emma Rosy looked across the table at the fearful but expectant employee and said in a cold voice, “People like you really don’t deserve to waste my time and my daughter’s. Pack your things and get out of the Wright Group!”
The employee was unwilling to give up her rare job opportunity, so she begged Emma Rosy in tears to give her another chance, and then tried to apologize to Hope.
Seeing her approach Hope, Emma Rosy became furious and sternly warned, “You won’t leave? Well, call the police and charge her with intentional assault!”
The secretary immediately took out her cell phone, and Hope hurriedly blocked it.
“Mom I’m already fine, don’t call the police, okay?” After saying that, she turned her head to look at the clerk: “Please leave as soon as possible, don’t make my mother angry again.”
Hope understands that her mother cares about her, but she doesn’t want to let the small things get in the way of the big things.
She was so understanding that Emma Rosy had nothing to say to her, but caressed her red face over and over again, with tears faintly in her eyes.
The employee is fired, Hope is taken back to Emma Rosy’s office, and the matter is finally settled, while Keira is still missing.
On one floor of the office building, there is a rustling in the warehouse room, as if a mouse is scurrying around, cautiously and childishly.
“It’s been so long, why haven’t you found me yet?”
Keira leaned against a pile of cardboard boxes with her legs in her arms, mumbling to herself in boredom.
When she was counting down in the corridor, she opened her eyes quietly to peek in case Hope was cheating, and when she found out that Hope had gone into the bathroom, she slipped away first. She was too nervous to do something “bad”, so she ran into the elevator and pressed the button on her tiptoes, and she didn’t know how many floors she had come to.
Goooooo!
It’s time to eat, her stomach once again complained loudly, she reached out and rubbed it, and finally decided to show herself.
“I ran out on my own, I don’t think she won, she didn’t … eh?” With great effort, she raised her arm to pull the door handle, but the door did not pull down as easily as she had come in and opened smoothly.
She scratched the top of her head in bewilderment and started a second round of attempts, but even though she hung her whole body on it, she still couldn’t shake it a bit.
“Why won’t you let me open the door? Where are you, sister? Mom … mom I’m hungry, I want to eat …” bawled, but unfortunately the warehouse area, where few people usually pass, was even colder during lunch break.
In the silent corridor, only the sound of the little girl’s cries hovering.
Office.
Towel holding ice cubes, gentle massage against the cheek, Emma Rosy occasionally asked: “This does not hurt, right?”
Hope shook her head: “It’s okay mom, I’ll do it myself.”
“How dare you try to be brave, look how red you are?” Emma Rosy glared at her unhappily, but more than that, she blamed herself: “I used to think you were stable and let you do everything on your own, but if it weren’t for the company today, I wouldn’t even know you were being bullied.”
Then she sighed, “I blame myself for what happened to Daniel Lewis last time, I should have seen that you were too soft and didn’t know how to protect yourself.”
“I will pay attention in the future, don’t worry, mom.” There was a moment of silence, and then Keira came to mind: “I’ve lost my sister, let’s go and find her first.”
Emma Rosy removed the towel and saw that the redness seemed to have faded a bit, nodded and said, “Someone has been sent to check the surveillance, there will be news soon.”
“Mom … sister … don’t you want me anymore?”
At the end of the empty corridor, Keira sat on her knees behind the door of a store room, panic and fear combined, after a long time crying, her body also began to lack oxygen, she had the breath to beat her chest, do not understand why she was so hard.
Her head was dizzy, her eyelids were heavy, the light gray door panel was shrouded in a hazy glow, but the sun seemed to be setting and everything around her was darkening.
She opened her mouth wide, as if her throat was choked, and made intermittent kitten-like cries for help.
Bang – bang –
A regular loud bang sounded outside, the door panel trembled with it, the little one who was about to fall asleep was jolted awake, perhaps resting for a moment to recover some strength, she got up from the ground and continued to tap on the door and scream.
“Mommy! Mommy help me!”
“Keira ?” A door away, a familiar deep voice with reassuring power: “Don’t be afraid, stand away …”
Another hurried footstep sounded outside, but she heard the man’s voice.
“Dad?!”
The door had been opened when she shouted excitedly, and Alex Brown rushed in first, picking up Keira in his arms, and the secretary who had fetched the keys stood behind, seemingly terrified, and was rubbing her chest and breathing deeply.
Alex Brown has already asked about what happened, and is relieved to learn that Keira was careless and not deliberately framed, but still looks uncomfortable.
When he saw Emma Rosy and Hope, who arrived later, his face became even more gloomy.
“Why are you here?”
Emma Rosy was shocked by the scene in front of her, and immediately reached out to hug Keira when she saw her dirty face, but Alex Brown turned around and avoided her.
The secretary hurriedly explained.
“It’s like this Miss. Richard, just now when I called to inform you, I happened to meet Mr. Brown, he …”
Not waiting for the secretary to finish, Alex Brown could not help but question: “The child was locked up inside for so long, where are you? Send the secretary to check the surveillance, you can wait in peace?
Emma Rosy was a little angry at being accused for no reason, but Keira was more important at the moment, so she ignored it and asked him to return Keira to her.
“To give you the baby and then have you carelessly lose it?” Angered by her indifferent attitude, Alex Brown blurted out, “You don’t deserve to be a mother when you put your child in danger!”
Emma Rosy’s hand froze in mid-air for a moment before she looked up at Alex Brown mechanically.
She knew that she had been in prison, that she was not careful and patient, that she was sometimes short-tempered, that she had given birth to Keira and was unable to give her daughter a home, and that she was not worthy of being a mother.
Anyone under the sun could accuse her of this, but only one person was not qualified.
As she tried to hold back her tears, Hope couldn’t stand it. She stepped forward to argue for her.
“I’m the one who lost Keira, and Uncle should be angry at me, not at Mom! Mom she has had a hard time …”
Hope suddenly choked up, sniffled, and looked up at Alex Brown: “Uncle disappeared for two years, mom worked while taking care of our sisters, and there were times when Keira was sick and hospitalized, and mom stayed in the hospital without sleep. At that time, where were you, who accused her of being unworthy of being a mother, and where were you, as Keira’s father?
Alex Brown is the one person in the world who has no right to accuse Emma Rosy.
Hope’s words finally snapped Alex Brown out of his rage, and his anger and censure were a joke compared to his own absence from Keira’s entire upbringing, when he scolded Emma Rosy for not being attentive enough.
Emma Rosy wraps her arms around Hope and shakes her head desperately to make her stop talking.
At this point, Keira’s body had slowly recovered, and sensing the unusual atmosphere, she lifted her head from Alex Brown’ shoulder and persuaded him in a milky voice: “Daddy, I’ll never run away again, don’t scold mommy and sister, okay?”
Alex Brown gently stroked the top of Keira’s head, and a sourness rose in his throat. It was only at this moment that he understood that Keira missed him and clung to him only because of her affection, and what Keira cared most was actually the person who was with her.
He blamed himself and made a decision at the same time.
“In the future, let keira live in my place.”
Emma Rosy, who was heartbroken and crying a second ago, suddenly stared at him with wide eyes and asked incredulously, “Say it again, what are you doing?”
“Keira is in shock today, I’ll take her home first, and I’ll make an appointment for you to go through the procedure some other time.”
Alex Brown threw down his words and turned to leave, Emma Rosy immediately chased after him, opened her arms in front of him, the expression on her face was more anger or fear, she broke down and shouted: “Give me back my daughter! Keira was born and raised in the Wright Family, and she’s still sick, in case …”
“I’m Keira’s real father, so I’ll take care of her, or at least be more dedicated than you.” Alex Brown eyes seemingly swept over Hope, and then looked indifferently into the distance: “Ivy Smith also loves Keira, and must treat her as her own child.”
Emma Rosy is still shaking her head, still about to refuse, when Keira suddenly interjects.
“Do I want to go to Daddy’s house? Yes, yes!” She clapped her hands and cheered, and smilingly begged Emma Rosy: “Let me go, please, mommy.”
Keira didn’t know what custody meant, she just knew she missed her dad, so she happily agreed to go and stay with him, not realizing that she might not be able to go back to her old life.
After Keira’s departure, the Wright Family was a soulless shell of itself, with everyone feeling negative.
The most painful person, naturally, is Emma Rosy.
Although Master Wright, Joe Wright, Hope, and even the family’s maids were all smiling and comforting her, the pain in her heart could not be alleviated in the slightest.
She didn’t know how Keira was doing, and she couldn’t call every hour to check on her. Alex Brown wanted to fight for custody, and he certainly wouldn’t give her much access to Keira.
Raising a child is much more difficult than one might think, not to mention the fact that Keira is seriously ill and more vulnerable than a normal child.
Knock, knock, knock…
Hope knocks on the door and enters, tray of food in her hand, her eyes lingering on the desk for a moment, not finding a space to put anything.
She was about to turn around and go to the coffee table when Emma Rosy finally looked up, hastily stacking the papers together, then got up to pick up the tray.
“Why did you bring up the food?”
Knowing that Emma Rosy was in a bad mood, and fearing that she would blame the kitchen staff, Hope immediately explained, “I had something to say to mom, so I stopped by to bring the food. You can eat while the food is still hot.”
Emma Rosy stared at the steaming delicacy, but had no appetite.
She picked up her chopsticks and put them down again, sighed despondently, and then looked at Hope: “What do you want to see mom about?”
When she didn’t listen to her, Hope’s eyes flashed and her heart became even sadder. Only after a long time did she hold back a choked sob and say in a pretend relaxed voice: “Mom, I’m already fourteen and will soon be an adult. You and my uncle have given me a lot of pocket money in the past two years, and there is also the New Year’s Day money, I have saved it all, to pay for tuition, rent, utilities, and the usual groceries are enough …”
“Wait.” She raised her hand to stop Hope from going on and asked with a bewildered look on her face, “Mom’s brain has been a bit scrambled lately, I don’t seem to understand what you mean, what about rent and utilities, do you want to buy a house?”
Hope sniffed but shook her head, took a deep breath and said bluntly, “I want to leave the Wright Family.”
She was already an adopted child of the Wright Family, and could certainly live here without causing any trouble, but now Emma Rosy was fighting with Alex Brown for custody of Keira, and Alex Brown’ most favorable reason was that Emma Rosy did not have enough energy to take care of Keira because of her existence.
When Alex Brown said to Emma Rosy that day, “I’ll at least be more focused than you,” he looked her in the face and, although he didn’t say so explicitly, she understood.
“Mom, two years ago I said that no matter what happens, you and Keira and all of the Wright Family will always be my family, and that will never change. So …” Hope bit her lower lip and forced out a smile: “Let me go, and you take care of Keira, who would prefer to stay with the Wright Family, even though Uncle Alex is her real father. ”
After all this talk, she was actually saying goodbye?
Emma Rosy looked at her in shock, a few seconds later: “Hope Smith, are you going to let me die?!”
The younger daughter was going to be taken away from her by her ex-husband, which was already anxious enough, and now even the older daughter was leaving, despite understanding Hope’s intentions, she couldn’t suppress her anger.
“You and Keira are both my daughters, when did you get this idea, tell mom.”
Hope’s head hung low, her mouth stiff and refusing to talk. Emma Rosy paced back and forth in the middle of the study, finally searching her confused mind for clues.
“Alex Brown!” she exclaimed, before turning to question Hope, “Is it because of what he said that you’re thinking more?”
“I … didn’t …”
Hope had never told a lie in front of Emma Rosy before, so her denial was unconvincing.
Emma Rosy saw through it at a glance and walked around her, looking as if she had no place to vent her anger: “You, how can I say good things about you? He’s an irresponsible person who talks nonsense, can it be taken seriously? If I let you go, I really don’t deserve to be a mother!”
Emma Rosy was worried about Keira, but she hadn’t lost her mind, or she would have gone to the Brown Family and grabbed her. After she had parted from the company that day, she had thought about it carefully and realized that Alex Brown’ words had not hurt her at all, but had been a complete slap in her own face.
There is a difference between close and distant, so that at the critical moment to make a choice, when facing the real family, which one will not give up.
Hope is also Emma Rosy’s own daughter, so she wants Keira and can’t lose Hope at the same time.
Having realized her place in her mother’s heart, Hope was touched and blamed herself, jumping into her arms and sobbing: “I’m sorry, I’ll never say that again, don’t be angry with me …”
Emma Rosy gently stroked Hope’s back, understanding that she thought she was living a careful life because she was a foster parent, and fearing that she would be more concerned in the future, she continued: “Keira hasn’t spent time with her father for a long time, so letting her stay with the Brown Family for a while is actually to fulfill her wish. Furthermore, the bone marrow match has been unsuccessful, Alex Brown has a strong network of connections in the foreign medical community, so perhaps he can take this opportunity to help Keira find the right bone marrow and operate as soon as possible.”