Chapter 432 432

Thus, they spent almost two hours watching Home Alone again. Mackie was happy that she could watch Home Alone on the big screen with Mommy, while Vernon was happy that he could watch over Chloe and Mackie for two hours straight.

When the film ended, Vernon was about to offer if she wanted to watch another movie, but Chloe quickly signaled him by tapping her wrist, telling him not to offer another movie or else they'd stay in this cinema for the whole night.

Vernon chuckled. He patted Mackie's hair and said, "Happy with your reward?"

"Um! Thank you so much, Uncle!" Mackie hugged her Uncle's neck again, but she hugged him for a long time.

"Mackie, let go of Uncle, we need to go home," Chloe said.

Mackie shook her head and buried her face in her Uncle's chest, "I want to be carried by Uncle."

Chloe gave Vernon a sorry look, and Vernon laughed in response, "Sure, why not?"

Vernon carried Mackie in his arms without trouble, and they left the cinema. It was almost midnight when they entered the car, and Mackie yawned from time to time in Vernon's arms.

Vernon carefully put Mackie in the backseat, allowing the little girl to rest before he started the engine.

He glanced at Chloe, "I think this is the first time you ever drive with me, right?"

"Yeah, this is the first time...."

"Do you want to go somewhere else?" Vernon offered. "We've been spending our night celebrating for Mackie, I think we can go somewhere you want before we return home to spoil ourselves a little."

Chloe went silent for a while. She looked over her shoulder and checked Mackie, who had fallen asleep in the backseat.

She knew she should just call this a day and return to the apartment, so Mackie could sleep well.

But the mood was perfect, and it was unfortunate to end the night so early.

She wanted to spend more time with Vernon, even if they had no clear direction for the night.

"Why don't we just drive around?" Chloe requested.

​ "Drive around? You sure you don't want to buy anything?"

"Nope, I'm content with what I have right now," Chloe stared straight at the road and muttered, "Well, maybe a snack. I'd love to eat taco while exploring New York."

Vernon smiled wide when Chloe requested a snack. The more she asked for food, the happier he got. Because that meant Chloe started to take the initiative to eat, she didn't need to be forced anymore.

Thus, Vernon drove through the city and stopped at the nearby taco restaurant and ordered a few boxes of tacos in different fillings.

He returned to the car and gave it to Chloe.

"I only need one taco," Chloe muttered while checking the plastic bag.

"You forgot to tell me what filling you want, so I just have them make one for each filling," Vernon said, though it was just his trick so Chloe would eat a lot.

Chloe picked a random taco and started snacking while Vernon drove through the busy street of New York. Even at midnight, the street was still quite bustling.

The fluorescent lights from the rows of tall buildings on each side of the road truly gave the image of a city that never sleeps.

Vernon drove without direction. He just wanted to extend his time with Chloe even if she hadn't said a thing for an hour.

She was just staring straight, sometimes glancing at the window to check a shop sign or the ads on the billboard.

Even though she grew up in New York City, she acted like a tourist.

"You know, this is the first time I experienced a night in New York..." Chloe mumbled while munching her taco.

"Really? But you grew up here. Don't you ever sneak out with... that guy when you were young?"

Chloe chuckled when Vernon called his Big brother 'that guy.'

Thus, she also referred to Vincent as 'that guy.'

"Well, I dated that guy when I was in high school, and it was an elite one. I need to study hard to keep my scholarship. That guy never asked me on a night date or whatsoever, because he was busy getting tutored."

"When I was in university, I took a part time job. I have to juggle my life between part time and university. I never asked that guy's money because I was in love with him, not his money," Chloe had a bitter smile as she kept telling the story. "I should've known the red flag when he insisted on paying my student debt, even though I said I can just get a job like normal people."

"He insisted on me to marry him as soon as possible, and also told me to never find a job. He also told me to cut off all of my old friends since he said I didn't need any of them."

"He's a controlling man, and I was so blindly in love. So I said yes to his proposal, ditched all of my friends, and stopped finding a job because I thought I'd be a housewife anyway. But it was all just a ploy to make a prisoner in his new mansion."

Vernon listened to Chloe's story attentively. He had rage steadily growing in his heart, wanting to lash out as he realized how depressing it was for Chloe to live as a prisoner, abused until she lost all her bright personality, all that just to fulfill his Big brother's sick fetish.

Vernon knew he needed no more reason to hate his Big brother. He had enough hatred that he already wanted to end that bastard's life.

But every time Chloe spilled Vincent's sin bit by bit, his rage and hatred grew until he wanted a fate worse than death for that bastard.

Vernon clenched the steering wheel until his fingers were white but soon took a deep breath to relax, 'Calm down, Vernon. The mood is really good right now, don't ruin it just because you can't control your anger.'

Vernon tried to calm his raging heart so he wouldn't scare Chloe, but there was a question that continuously bugged his mind, and he couldn't rest until he got an answer.

"Do you still love him?"