Chapter 407 407

"Look up, Mackenzie…"

Mackie looked up when her Daddy called her, and what she saw was her Daddy's dark eyes, full of repressed rage.

He was like a monster ready to swallow her whole.

"What did you see now, Princess?" Vincent asked. He tried to smile but realized that his smile might've terrified his daughter.

That, and he didn't have the urge to smile because he was still pissed off that he had lost his chance to finally punch Chloe in the face.

"Daddy looks so scary…."

"That's because Daddy had a little argument with Mommy," Vincent replied. But Mackenzie didn't buy it.

She had been fighting against bullies for a while now and knew that her Mommy and Daddy weren't just 'having an argument.'

"Daddy…" Mackie murmured. "Why are you beating Mommy again? She is hurt…."

"Ahaha, I'm not beating her without a reason. Your Mommy did a really bad thing by not being obedient to me, that's why I have to punish her a bit," Vincent said. He glanced down at Chloe, "Besides, your Mommy said it's fine, right, Chloe?"

"Really?" Mackenzie shifted her gaze at Mommy, who was still trying to recover. "Mommy, are you really alright?"

…

Vincent clenched his fist silently as Chloe didn't even want to comply and tried to nod, at least, so Mackenzie would still see him in a good light.

He was already angry at Chloe for daring to fight back, and now she also refused to play pretend? Vincent was seriously thinking about beating her in front of her daughter just to make an example.

But he didn't and tried to explain to her daughter more;

"Your Mommy is not feeling well too, just like Daddy. This is why you shouldn't try to argue with Daddy, it will do you no good," Vincent said.

"Really? But Mommy and Uncle fight often, and Uncle never hurt Mommy!" Mackenzie retorted, innocently spilling that Mommy lived with an 'Uncle.'

Vincent smirked maliciously as he realized he could just get the information about this man from his daughter.

'It seems Chloe is trying to replace my spot by telling Mackenzie to call that bastard as Uncle. It won't be long until she called her Daddy, huh?' Vincent thought.

Chloe might refuse to say it because she tried to stupidly protect this man's identity.

But Mackenzie was too young to understand a secret.

It might hurt his pride, but getting her daughter spilling the secret wasn't as bad as desperately torturing the bodyguards.

He would just count it as her daughter taking his side— the Gray side. The side she should be staying on right now because she would be his successor in the future.

"Ohh, so you live with an Uncle now?" Vincent asked.

"Yes! Uncle is so kind— well, he is very mean sometimes, but he is very kind to Mommy!"

"Mind telling Daddy who is this Uncle's name?"

"Un! His name is Uncle—Urp!"

Chloe gathered her strength as her adrenaline kicked in. She lifted her hand and grasped her daughter's mouth, covering it with her palm and stopping her from spilling Vernon's name because if she did, everything Chloe had done so far would be in vain.

She kicked her heels out to free her movement and got up. She quickly grabbed her daughter.

She gave Vincent a quick look before dashing out of the Principal's office, taking the chance as she realized that Vincent was stunned by her sudden strength.

Chloe rushed past the wretched Mrs. Andrew and Secretary Maria and ran through the corridor with Mackie in her arm.

Luckily, the corridor was mostly empty because everyone gathered in the auditorium to watch the kids' stage play, so nobody would see her like this.

She rushed to her car and took out the key from her jeans pocket. She shoved her daughter into the car first before she drove the car out of the parking lot, not caring about anything as her survival instinct kicked in.

And the only thing she wanted to do right now got the hell away from the school.

"Mommy…" Mackie stared at her pitiful Mommy. She saw Mommy's whole body shaking, and her hand looked red and swollen.

Her Mommy didn't respond. She kept her silence while driving through the road. So Mackie kept her silence as well.

She looked down and fiddled with her fingers, wondering what had just happened.

It wasn't the first time she saw her Mommy and Daddy fight. But this was definitely the first time she saw that kind of mess, and how her Daddy looked so vicious he didn't even smile at Mackie.

"Where are we going, Mommy?" Mackie asked after a while.

Chloe bit her lower lip. She was thinking about going back to the apartment. But at the same time, she worried that Vernon might try to search for her right now.

Since her phone was completely broken after she smashed it and then used it twice as a projectile to stop Vincent in his track, Chloe now had no way to call Vernon.

So she had to go to Vernon's office, "We're going to Uncle Vernon's office."

"Um… okay…" Mackenzie nodded. She noticed her Mommy's voice was coarse, like sandpaper, as if she had screamed a lot. It "Mommy, why did Daddy beat you? Why was he so angry at you?"

…

"We can talk about this later, okay? Mommy…" Chloe was still shaken by her fight with Vincent. Had it not for her daughter, who suddenly interrupted, she might have died. "We need to go somewhere safe first."

"Okay…" Mackie looked out the window as she was trying not to pry even further. She was curious and also anxious about her Mommy's well-being.

She gained a new perspective after living with Uncle Vernon for a while, and that was…

Not every argument between adults ended with the man beating the woman.

Every time there was an argument between Mommy and Daddy, Mommy would be locked up in the room with Daddy and returned with so many bruises.

But when Mommy argued with Uncle, Uncle never hit her, not even once.

He locked Mommy inside his room a few times and bullied her with a big police stick though, but Mommy always came out with blush and looked really shy, instead of tears and sorrow in her eyes when she was with Daddy.

So that sparked a question in her innocent mind.

'I wonder if Mommy was truly happy living with Daddy before….'