172 Chapter 172

'No, I don't want that. I—I've had enough of his abuse. I just want to be free with my daughter. Why is that so difficult to earn?'

'ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ Novel(B) in.ᴄᴏᴍ ᴛᴏ ᴇxᴘᴇʀɪᴇɴᴄᴇ ꜰᴀsᴛᴇʀ ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ sᴘᴇᴇᴅ.',

Chloe shuddered out of fear when she imagined all the abuse that she would experience if she was forced to return home. She knew very well that Vincent was angry, and the abuse would 100% turn physical until she breathed no more.

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Chloe stared at her daughter who still lowered her head. She gently caressed Mackie's hair, "Dear, I will see what I can do, okay? I hope I can… uh… text him, and ask if he is not busy, so he can call you."

"Daddy is very busy, and he is dealing with his problem right now. So we shouldn't disturb him, and if he refuses… you have to be okay with it, understand?"

"… yes, Mommy…" Mackie nodded weakly. She already knew the outcome because Daddy refused to meet them, which made her really sad.

But she still had hope coming from Uncle Vernon. She raised her head and stared at her Mommy, "Mommy, I also told Uncle Vernon that he should talk with Daddy."

Chloe's eyes widened, she felt her soul leave her body for a second before recovering and asked, "W—What do you mean by that, dear?"

"Umm… I told Uncle that Daddy has a problem, and won't let us stay inside our home or meet him. So I ask him if he can meet Daddy and ask him when we can return home," Mackie said innocently. "I just want to meet Daddy…"

Chloe's legs trembled, she sat on the floor because she couldn't even crouch anymore. She stared at her daughter at a loss.

Mackie realized the change in her Mommy, so she asked, "Mommy, did Mackie do something wrong? I'm just asking Uncle to talk to Daddy…"

"N—Not at all, dear. It's fine, Mommy is just tired after doing so many chores," Chloe replied with a forced smile. "Hopefully, Uncle Vernon will come home with good news, okay?"

"Un! Okay!"

Mackie was relieved that her Mommy didn't scold her, "Mommy, since you're tired, Mackie will help you do chores!"

Mackie tried to hold the vacuum cleaner handle and started sucking the dust and crumbs on the carpet.

Chloe stared at her daughter with pitiful eyes, she felt so guilty for hiding how much of a bastard her father was.

But she had her reason that she couldn't tell her.

She sighed out of woe, 'How do I tell Vernon about this? I don't want him to know too much about my marital problems…'

'I also need to tell him to shut up and play along, I don't want him to have a bad influence on Mackie…'

**

Chloe continued cleaning with her daughter until it was time for dinner. She cooked a warm, filling meal for dinner before telling Mackie to finish her homework and go to sleep.

Chloe sat alone in the living room again, waiting for Vernon to come home. She was in her pajamas, and also not touching her phone, afraid that she couldn't hold the urge to open the gallery and scroll through the old photos until she cried again.

She was watching the TV, but she stared at it blankly as her mind flew off somewhere.

She was still worried about Vernon's reaction once she confronted her about Mackie and her relationship with Vincent.

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"I still need to talk to him. Even if I'm scared," Chloe murmured. "I don't want him to say something wrong that would probably hurt Mackie."

…

Vernon checked his watch as he pushed the penthouse main door open, 'Still 9.30.'

He lifted his head and saw his sister-in-law sitting in the same spot as yesterday. But her expression looked a lot more serious, and… dare he say, quite courageous. Because she kept her straight face as she stared at Vernon.

Usually, Chloe would lower her head out of fear when she saw him, and he knew why she became so serious right now.

Vernon smirked. He walked in and closed the door behind him. He swaggered towards his sister-in-law and threw his briefcase to the sofa.

He stood in front of Chloe with a menacing look and asked, "Do you have anything to say?"

Chloe looked up to stare at the giant and took a deep breath, "Vernon, about what Mackie said…"

"Hm? About what?" Vernon baited her to talk. He wanted her to tell the full story, but he doubted that his sister-in-law would actually spill everything.

So he urged her to talk, even if it was just a sentence about her secrets.

Chloe gritted her teeth, she really couldn't say it out loud because she felt that Vernon didn't have to know.

But since Mackie had accidentally told Chloe's lie towards Vernon, then she couldn't hide any more.

"Vernon, I lied to Mackie about the reason why we left the mansion," Chloe confessed. "I… I told her that Vincent was having a difficult time, and dealing with a difficult problem. So, Mackie and I have to leave the mansion until he clears his problem…"

"And that girl believes you? That's stupid," Vernon commented. "Even the little me wouldn't be that gullible."

'You are that gullible though, I tricked you often when you were a kid,' Chloe replied in her heart as she didn't dare enough to say it out loud in front of him.

Chloe lowered her head. She fiddled with her fingers as she felt so uncomfortable telling something so private about her life to someone else.

Even though she hadn't told her mother about this, and she also filtered a lot of stuff when she talked with Diamond, despite their closeness, Diamond was still Vernon's secretary, so Chloe didn't want Diamond to know literally everything about her life.

"Mackie believes it because Vincent was often absent. He rarely came home since a year ago, and even if he did, he just stayed for a night or simply picked Mackie up so they could go to the mall and have fun before dropping her back to the mansion…"