Cristelle was so surprised when she saw her sister. She tried to contain herself, but she still couldn’t stop crying.
Candace was so surprised as she stretched her arms.
Mommy didn’t hug her first. She went to hug Selena directly.
Candace and Cody could only hug Cristelle’s legs.
“So, you’ve been here all this time,” Claire wiped her face with the back of her hand, her voice thick with excitement.
“How… How did you get here, Claire? I thought I would never be able to see you again.”
Claire turned to look at Linford, “He brought me back.”
Cristelle’s eyes flew in Linford’s direction, feeling both grateful and ashamed.
She shouldn’t have held any doubts about this man.
Candace stretched her arms at Cristelle, “Mom! Mom!”
Cristelle bent down and carried the little girl in her arms, “Did you lose weight, baby?”
Candace rested her head on Cristelle’s shoulder. She looked like she was about to cry, “Mommy, I missed you so much.”
“Aww baby, I missed you and your brother too,” Cristelle crouched down and pulled Cody in as well.
“You guys talk. I’m leaving for a while,” Linford knew Cristelle wanted to spend some time alone with Claire and their babies. So he chose to leave.
“Cristelle, what happened to you and Linford?” Claire asked immediately after Linford walked out.
Cristelle held the babies in her arms, oblivious to how to explain everything to her sister, “It’s complicated, actually…”
Complicated?
The look in Cristelle’s eyes surely seemed to be complicated. Claire wanted to ask more, but she looked at the babies, falling silent again.
Candace had been clinging to Cristelle since they finally saw each other again. Cody just sat there, kicking his leg as he scrolled down his phone. But he had been paying attention to their conversation all the time.
But Cristelle and Claire seemed to avoid having any private conversation since they were around. “How have you been all these years?” Cristelle suddenly shifted the topic.
Claire softly smiled, “I’ve got used to the way I’ve been living all these years. You really don’t need to worry about me. I just hope you can take care of yourself and the babies.”
Cristelle knew things must be so much more difficult than Claire let on. Her eyes went red.
“Mommy, don’t cry,” Candace tried to wipe the tears from her eyes. Cristelle instantly stopped crying.
“Enough about me. We need to take care of your situation first. What do the Bradley and White family are planning now? I also want to know Linford Bradley’s plan. Did he want to…” Claire looked at the babies and choked back her words.
Cristelle shook her head, “I don’t know what he wants to do.”
The sisters chatted a bit longer until Linford decided to send the babies back.
When they got in the car, Linford looked ahead with his hands on the steering wheel, “Don’t mention to anyone that you’ve seen Mommy today.”
Cody nodded. He had never been garrulous.
Candace barely understood why but she would follow whatever Cody was gonna do. Finally, she asked Linford, “Dad, can we come here to see Mommy again tomorrow?”
Linford refused it immediately, “No, sweetie. Both of you need to go to school tomorrow. I’ll take you here again next time.”
“Oh…” Candace dropped her gaze disappointedly.
***
Meanwhile, in the White House living room.
“Miss, we just found out that Cristelle Friesley is hiding in Mr. Bradley’s mansion, we’ve followed him today.”
Linford’s mansion? So he had found her?
“I get it. You guys can leave,” Lana clenched her teeth, coldly saying and suppressing her anger.
CLASH!
The sound of porcelain crashing against the floor carried through the closed doors after the bodyguards left.
Lana’s fists clenched.
That whore!
****
Three days later, when Jack went to school to pick the babies up, the old assistant couldn’t find the twins anywhere in the school.
He and Linford had been picking the babies up from school alternatively.
Jack went to Mrs. Weston’s office, “Mrs. Weston, did you see Candace and Cody?”
Mrs. Weston was sorting out files on her desk, “They’ve gone back, I guess. Why?”
“They’ve left? Who picked them up?”
Jack sounded surprised. “Linford, I suppose?” Mrs. Weston glanced slightly at him.
“Really?” Jack took a long breath, confused, “I was so scared. Guess I should go. Thank you for your time, Ma’am.”
Mrs. Weston nodded.
Pop was pretty disappointed as Jack came back empty-handed, “Their Dad picked them up again?”
Jack shrugged, “Linford was earlier than me.”
Jack went to school quite early today. He meant to ask Linford to come to Franco’s place with the babies for dinner. He didn’t expect Linford to leave so soon.
It seemed like Linford was determined to curb Franco from seeing the babies.
“Tomorrow is Saturday. Should I go to his mansion to see if the babies want to come over?” Jack stood behind the old man, asking.
Pop shook his head devastatingly. “I don’t think so. Linford was always unyielding.”
They thus stopped continuing this topic.
However, before Pop was gonna sleep, a call suddenly came in. It was from Lily.
Why did she decide to call this late? Jack was confused.
“Hello? What can help you?”
“Are Candace and Cody with sir Franco right now?”
Jack’s heart sank horribly, “No! They aren’t here. I thought their Dad picked them up today. They haven’t gone home yet?”
Lily sounded pretty anxious, “Linford said he gave the babies to Alfred halfway because he got some business to handle. But Alfred wouldn’t even pick up the phone after we’ve called him.”
“What!?” Jack went nervous, “How long has it been? Did Linford go to find them?”
Lily answered, “He’s been away for one hour now. I haven’t got any replies from him yet.”
“Calm down first, Lily. The babies will be alright,” Jack tried to comfort the old woman, but he was also quite panicked himself.
It was getting late. Jack didn’t want to share this news with Franco. The old man hadn’t had much sleep lately. On the other hand, Jack didn’t want to make it worse.
Thinking for a couple of seconds, Jack decided to find the babies by himself. But he needed to wait until Franco fell asleep.