223 Chapter 223

—

To: Diamond

I think you should go for a bright— but soft color, like baby pink or lilac. You're tall and have a great body. You should be awesome in any dress, really.

—

Diamond got the text from Chloe, and she was over the moon. She knew it was stupid to be THIS happy thinking about another person's wedding.

But she was serious about supporting her homegirl. Even since the first time they met, Diamond already knew that she and Chloe would be a bestie.

Just the air around Chloe gave off a simple woman who didn't really have anything insidious in her mind. Diamond had an amazing intuition to read someone's personality.

"Okay, I have to ensure that bullhead Vernon can finally work himself up to obtain Chloe's heart. He needs to work hard," Diamond murmured as she made an oath for her best friend's wellbeing.

**

Chloe finished preparing a separate dinner for Vernon. She checked the food on the dining table and nodded assuringly, "Okay, he should like this dinner."

"Mommy, let's eat! I'm so hungryyy!" Chloe heard her daughter's voice downstairs. "I won't eat without you, Mommy!"

"Ah, yes, I'll be done in a minute, dear!" Chloe replied.

Chloe was about to go downstairs and have dinner with her daughter, but she halted after realizing that she had forgotten about something.

Chloe fished something out of her pocket and sighed in relief, "Phew, good thing I remember this. I don't know how to give it to him if not now…."

Chloe put two packs of condoms on the dining table, right beside the plate, and she wrote a small note for Vernon.

"Okay, all set," Chloe nodded, and she finally went downstairs to join her daughter for dinner.

She wasn't in the mood to eat anything, honestly. Because she ate way too much with Vernon for lunch. Thus, she only ate fruits while watching her daughter eat happily.

Mackie stared at her Mommy while munching her dinner. She swallowed the food and called her Mommy;

"Mommy…"

"Yes, dear?"

"Why don't we eat with Uncle Vernon? Why do we have to eat here?" Mackie asked. She had already gotten used to eating with her Big bad Uncle upstairs, so the sudden change irked her.

"Ah— Uncle Vernon is too busy with work, so he can be a little irritable. It's better to avoid him for now, okay?"

"Un, okay…"

There were many things in Mackie's head. Mostly she wanted to ask why Daddy hadn't called yet.

But she was already quite happy with the fairy letter and wanted to get more from her Daddy later.

After all, Daddy was her superhero! Despite rarely coming home, he always noticed all the good things Mackie did at home, or at school, by writing many fairy letters for her. Thus, Mackie fully believed that her Daddy was just busy with work— and the 'problem' that Mommy mentioned was just a work problem…

"Mommy, do you think Daddy will take us home? I miss him…."

"Dear, Daddy has a problem that he needs to solve first. Just don't disturb him for now, okay?"

"But… he doesn't forget about us, right?" Mackie asked again, unable to contain her insecurity. "Daddy… won't forget about Mackie, right, Mommy?"

Chloe's hand that was holding a fork trembled instantly. She bit her lower lip, trying not to speak the truth to her daughter.

She wanted her daughter to know that her father was a cheating bastard who abused her mother so severely that she couldn't even raise her head whenever Vincent was around.

She also wanted to tell her daughter that she was the one who wrote those fairy letters. She was the one who noticed all of Mackie's achievements and good deeds.

As time passed, her daughter became desensitized to her presence and praise. Chloe could praise Mackie to the moon and back, and she would only say thank you and hug her Mommy tightly as always.

But once Mackie got anything from her Daddy, she would explode in joy and show how happy she was for the rest of the day, no matter how small the gifts were.

"H—He gave you a fairy letter as well, so he knows about what you're doing at school, don't worry," Chloe said.

Mackie was pacified when her Mommy said not to worry because the sentence, 'don't worry,' was Mommy's favorite thing to say.

No matter what happened at their mansion, Mommy would always say that she was okay and not to worry about anything because she was a strong woman. Mackie was inspired to be a strong woman like Mommy!

"Okay then, I believe in you, Mommy," Mackie said as she fully believed her Mommy's words. After all, Mackie was taught that her Mommy would never lie to her.

Mackie finished her food and jumped off the chair, "I'm going to do homework, Mommy! You should eat too, okay?"

'',

Chloe smiled at her daughter, who had slowly grown to be a strong, yet sensible girl. But she felt the sense of guilt in her heart start eating her inside out.

She knew that lying about Vincent was wrong from the very start. But she didn't want to ruin the image of a father figure in Mackie's mind.

She wanted her daughter to have a normal childhood and father figure, even if that meant she had to lie.

But now, the lie seemed to have caught up with her because her heart started to feel an excruciating pain whenever she lied to Mackie.

She watched her daughter's back as her little feet ran on the corridor and entered her room.

Mackie closed the door, leaving Chloe alone in the dining room. She stopped eating after she knew her daughter wasn't looking and cleaned the dinner instead.

She tried to busy herself with chores, but she couldn't help but think about her daughter and all the lies stacked against her odds.

"It's my fault," Chloe murmured. "I shouldn't have lied since the beginning…."

"But what can I do to make it right? And what would happen if I told Mackie about the truth?"