"It's okay, Mommy. Daddy took me to play in the mall! But I'm tired now. Can we go home, Mommy?"
Chloe's face paled instantly.
She looked at her daughter, and her words were stuck in her throat.
She hesitated for a moment since Mackenzie was too young to know about the problem that forced them to leave their beautiful home.
"S—Sweetheart, what do you think about a little vacation?"
"Vacation?" Mackenzie tilted her head as she got confused. "Mommy, Mackie has school tomorrow. Mackie can't go!"
"Ah, this is just a short vacation, like a picnic! We'll live somewhere else for a while, but not too far from your school!" Chloe tried to keep up with the smile, just enough to fool her daughter.
"Oh, that sounds fun! Daddy will go picnic with us too?"
"Ah, your Dad is busy as always…." Chloe glanced at the baggage beside her daughter and pulled it towards her side. "That's why he brought your bag! Because I already told him that we will go to a picnic for a while!"
"Aw…" Mackie pouted. "Daddy never plays with us…."
"Well, he is busy working for you," Chloe said, though she was absolutely disgusted whenever she talked about Vincent. "Let's go now."
Mackenzie nodded, and they left the party through the backdoor. Chloe ordered an uber, and they hopped in.
They arrived in front of the motel, and Chloe carried the baggage while they entered the motel lobby.
Chloe gave a thin smile to the receptionist and headed straight to her room.
Mackenzie was looking around. She didn't understand why her Mommy would bring her to an old place like this. There were many dirt, dust, and creepy people that Mackie wasn't used to.
"Mommy, why is this hotel so scary?" Mackie asked as she hastened her small steps to hog on Mommy's hand.
"Ah, well, we're not going to the usual hotel vacation, remember?" Chloe said. She unlocked her room and entered with Mackenzie.
Mackenzie looked around the shabby motel room, "Mommy, this room is so small…."
"It's fine. It's comfortable for two of us, right?" Chloe tried to ignore her daughter's various questions that choked her, and she opened Mackie's baggage.
She sighed in relief because at least Vincent had put all the necessary school uniforms and clothes for Mackie, including all her school books.
Though, she also noticed that Vincent didn't pack any of the toys and luxurious clothes that he bought for Mackie;
'Maybe he wants to force me to return, in case Mackie wants the toys and all her expensive stuff back.'
'Fine, if that's how he wants to play this. I will try to find a good job, enough to provide for us both.'
Mackie climbed the bed and sat on it. She was a little disappointed because the bed wasn't comfortable, but her attention was shifted to her Mommy.
"Mommy is getting skinnier again…" Mackenzie commented.
"Ah, ahahaha… it's fine, Mackie."
"Mommy should eat. Mommy throws up a lot!" Mackie said. She might be young, but she witnessed her mother going in and out of the toilet almost every day because she would throw up all her food.
Mackie didn't understand why would her Mommy do that, but whenever Daddy was home, Mommy's gagging up schedule would double.
"We will eat after this, okay?" Chloe said.
"Um!"
**
This was the first time her Mommy had ever brought her to a shabby place like this. But she didn't mind, as long as Mommy was always with her. Though she already missed her Daddy, she could live for a while without her Daddy's presence because she was used to his absence.
Chloe changed her dress to a regular shirt and jeans, and they walked to the nearest 7-Eleven and bought two sandwiches.
Chloe and Mackie sat at the table inside the store. Chloe kept glancing at her daughter, afraid that her daughter wouldn't like the store-bought sandwiches. Since Chloe always cooked for her family, especially for Mackenize. Even when they were eating out in a restaurant, they always went to an expensive one.
"Do you like it?" Chloe asked.
"Umm… Mommy's food is better!" Mackie said. But she still ate the sandwich. She saw her Mommy only eating half of the sandwich. "Mommy, eat more!"
Chloe shook her head and pushed the sandwich to Mackie, "You eat it. Mommy is not hungry anymore.'
Mackenzie puffed her cheeks. Her Mommy always did this whenever they were eating anything, but she always ate everything because Mommy would vomit again if she ate more than that.
Chloe bought a few necessities before returning to their motel. She locked the door and told her daughter, "Do you have homework, Mackie?"
Mackenzie nodded.
"Then I will check your homework after you're done."
"Okay!" Mackenzie took out her book from her bag and sat on the carpet, doing her homework.
Chloe's smile faded a little when she saw her daughter. She couldn't stay like this. She refused to let her daughter live a difficult life because of her choice.
'I need to get a job in less than three days,' Chloe thought. She opened her phone and started checking the job application on the internet. She had already sent a few of her online curriculum vitae to some companies. She was willing to work on anything, even as a cleaning service. Because all she could care about right now was money and her daughter's wellbeing.
She also searched for a few places that accepted a walk-in-interview. She was a little hesitant about a walk-in interview, knowing those usually expected youngsters than a woman in her thirties like her.
But she would try anything, anything for her daughter!
"Thirty-five years old?" the HR interviewer frowned when she read Choe's curriculum vitae. She looked at Chloe sitting on the chair in front of her and then at the document in her hand.
"Wow, I have to admit that you look younger than your age, but…" the interviewer put the paper down and sighed, "I can't hire you."
"Ah, don't worry, I can work in anything here—"
"No, there is only one opening here, to be the receptionist, and the age limit is twenty-seven years old. You're way past that," the HR interviewer said. She put the document on the table and pushed it to Chloe. "I suggest you search somewhere else for work. Maybe to a daycare? I mean, they would certainly accept a thirty-five years old woman with little job competence."
Chloe sighed. She thanked the interviewer and left the office.
Chloe drank from a water bottle that she refilled from the nearest water fountain and checked her phone.
"It's been three days," she said. She started to lose hope as she had been job hunting around to no avail. Of course, they could take her even though she had no competence for some low-paying jobs.
But there was always a better candidate, younger, more beautiful, more vigorous, and a university graduate.
"I don't have much savings as well…" Chloe mumbled. Of course, she got a text from Vincent this morning;
— Bastard Vincent —
Giving up now?
I know that you'll return anyway. A little dumb bitch like you think you can get a job outside? Come on, how can you be so naive?
Return to me with Mackie. As long as you beg, I will forgive you.
—
"In your dream, asshat!" Chloe cursed as she texted back. She saw that it was already evening and she had to pick up Mackie from her school.
…
Chloe waited in front of the gate for Mackenzie to return. She thought that Mackie would greet her with a smile on her face, but Chloe could see the sulking from far away.
Mackie sulked as she walked out of the gate, and she sulked even more, when she saw her Mommy.
"Oh, dear, what's wrong?" Chloe asked as she caressed Mackie's head.
"Mommy, I pushed Jaden today."
"Jaden? Your friend? Why?"
"He said that her Mommy kissed Daddy…." Mackie reported. "It's not true, right? Why would Daddy kiss Jackson's Mommy? I don't understand…."
…
Chloe could only stay silent because that was true. Jada Jackson was one of Chloe's acquaintances. She met her during a teacher-parent meeting in school about a year ago.
She attended that event with Vincent back then, and his eyes were always on Jada Jackson. So it wasn't surprising when Jada called Chloe about a year ago and said Vincent and her had a fling, apparently.
Jada said she wanted to inform Chloe because Vincent said that his wife was used to seeing him cheating, so it didn't matter. Of course this news hurt her so much when she heard it for the first time, but she grew nonchalant overtime.
Jada Jackson was just one of Vincent's flings anyway, she didn't matter.
No woman mattered for him.
"Mommy? It's not true, right?"
"A-Ah, of course, it's not true, dear," Chloe held Mackie's hand, and they walked to the Uber that Chloe had ordered. They drove back to the motel.
Mackie was still pondering, "But Jaden said that he saw it with his own eyes. He said that Daddy kissed his Mommy last night in their living room!" Mackie said as she followed her Mommy inside.
Chloe finally turned around and crouched in front of Mackie, "Maybe Jaden is just playing pranks on you. Don't think about it too much, okay? Your Daddy is busy, as always."
…
"Okay, Mommy…"
Chloe had to admit that she didn't feel much knowing that Vincent was sleeping with Jada Jackson last night. Knowing how much of a bastard he was.
When you got used to something, you saw it as something trivial;
'Heh, I would be more surprised if Vincent suddenly decides to be a good husband and father. That'd be more shocking than him sticking his dick everywhere."
…
"Mommy, when will we leave this place?" Mackie asked as they were watching TV together.
"Hm? Why do you ask? Do you not like it here?" Chloe returned the question, and she glanced at Mackie, who was still sulking.
"No, I don't like it. So many scary people in here…" Mackie replied. "Can we return home instead? I don't want this picnic anymore…."
"We can't return home, Mack. Daddy is uh… leaving to another country this morning. He told us to go on a picnic..."
"Then, can we go to a picnic somewhere else?"
"… That would need to wait, okay?"
Mackenzie sulked again after realizing that she would be stuck here for a while. She stopped watching the TV and pulled the blanket instead, ending the conversation immediately without any answer.
Chloe sighed. She knew that she was already at her wit's end. She didn't have enough money to stay in this motel for more than a week. She couldn't return to her mother because her little sister and her family were already living in her mother's house right now.
Besides, if her mother knew about this whole thing, she would be calling Vincent and be the one who begged Vincent to take her daughter back to the house.
…
Chloe slid into the drawer beside her bed and picked up the business card handed to her by Vernon on Dorothea Gray's birthday.
"That man…" Chloe started imagining the face of that man again. Of course, she could see his face on the internet. Vernon Phoenix Gray was infamous for dating various actresses.
But seeing his face in real life, she realized that Vernon was a lot more… charismatic. He had short black hair and jet black eyes. He was clean-shaven, so Chloe could see all of his facial features.
His facial features reminded her of one actor, Henry Cavill.
His eyes were deep, and he had this… somewhat dangerous aura, even if he tried to be nice in front of her.
"That dangerous aura…." Chloe looked up, staring at the ceiling as she tried to process what would she do next. "Maybe because he is Vincent's brother, it's the same dangerous aura I sense with Vincent."
…
"Maybe they're the same bastards. They're brothers, after all. But I have to take any job that I can land. But, I think Vernon and Vincent aren't close, even before Vernon left for a long time. Vincent told me once that Vernon never likes to talk with him.""
Chloe turned her head to the left, staring at Mackenzie, who was already sleeping.
"But I need to take the chance."
Chloe decided to put Vernon's office number on her phone. She planned to call his office tomorrow morning.
Thank you for reading everyone!
Sorry I skipped update becaue I got injured and have to recover for a week.
But I've returned!
Please send powerstone to support this novel, thank you so much! <3
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