“I can look after Luna. I think you should ride in the other car…“
This time, however, Joshua did not reply. Lucas’ offer was met with deathly silence.
Despite her eyes being closed, Luna could still feel Joshua’s gaze on her. She could help but feel a little
flustered at being stared at like this.
With her eyes still closed, she tried to convince herself not to believe what Joshua had said.
How could Joshua be worried about her? If he was genuinely concerned, he would not have sent her
into the mental asylum in the first place…
Luna’s head grew heavier and heavier as she thought of this until she finally fell into a deep slumber.
While she was asleep, she could still vaguely feel someone picking up her injured left hand.
Joshua stared at Luna’s broken little finger with a penetrating yet somehow complicated stare.
To some people, a broken little finger would not affect their daily lives much, but Luna was a designer.
Joshua had witnessed countless times how Luna had used her little finger to hold her paper down while
she sketched, and she would sometimes use her little finger to paint.
However…she could no longer use it anymore.
She lost a finger because of him.
She lost a finger simply because he did not believe in her.
Joshua closed his eyes, still clutching Luna’s hand. That 11 p.m., the van pulled up in front of Orchard
Manor.
Luna, too, jerked awake from her sleep, feeling a little more refreshed than before. Therefore, she
insisted on walking into Orchard Manor by herself so that the children would not have to see how awful
she looked.
To her surprise, however, when she finally staggered into the house with the help of one of the servants,
Nigel and Nellie were nowhere to be found.
The entire house was empty. Even Granny Lynch was gone.
Nellie’s easel was not on the sofa, and Nigel’s keyboard and mouse were missing from their usual spot
on the coffee table.
A bad feeling arose in Luna’s heart.
She immediately flung the servant’s hand away and strode upstairs.
Nigel and Nellie’s room was empty. Not only was there no trace of the children, but even their beds and
closets were tidied up as though someone had cleaned up after them.
Luna was struck with a sudden realization.
Was she too late? Had Nigel and Nellie already been sent to this ‘youth education center’ that Joshua
had talked about?
By the time Joshua finally stormed upstairs, Luna was gazing at the empty room with a vacant stare.
She turned to look at Joshua, and a drop of tear trickled down from the corner of her eye, glimmering
underneath the light.
She stared at Joshua and did not know whether to cry or laugh. “I came home too late, didn’t I?“
He had already sent the children off without even consulting her.
He simply wanted to trick her into returning to Banyan City.
Just because she had returned did not mean Joshua would change his mind about sending the children
off to the education center.
Joshua could not help but feel his heart ache when he met Luna’s furious and resentful gaze. He knew
that she was probably thinking the same as the children, that he was nothing but a bad person, but in
reality…
Everything he did was to protect them.
Joshua lowered his voice and said, his voice cracking, “I didn’t send them off to the place you’re thinking
about. Can you believe me just this once, Luna? Just once.“
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