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Novel Catalog
Chapter 51
The following day was the weekend, and the kids didn’t have to go to kindergarten. Roxanne had planned to take Archie and Benny to the research institute with her. She had just finished packing everything and was about to head out when the doorbell rang.
Expecting it to be Madilyn, Roxanne stood up and walked over to answer the door. But when she saw who was standing on the other side, her brows furrowed in confusion.
“Essie? What are you doing here?” Roxanne asked, her voice a mix of surprise and concern.
She instinctively scanned the area, half-expecting Lucian to be waiting somewhere nearby. But to her shock, there was no sign of him. It was just Estella, standing there alone.
Roxanne’s eyes softened as she crouched down to Estella’s level. “Estella, how did you get here? Did your daddy send you?”
Lucian’s attitude toward her at the kindergarten yesterday made her doubtful. There was no way Lucian would allow Estella to visit her after what had happened. So, what was going on?
Estella, wearing a white dress and carrying the small backpack she had taken to kindergarten the previous day, reached into her bag and pulled out a notebook. She quickly scribbled something on the pages.
I came here myself.
Roxanne blinked in disbelief. “Yourself? How did you find your way here?” she asked, trying to make sense of the situation.
Estella wrote again, her handwriting swift and confident. I took a cab here.
Roxanne was still trying to wrap her head around what Estella had just said. She glanced around, half-expecting someone to appear, but no one did. The little girl had really taken a cab by herself… all the way to her house. The realization made Roxanne’s heart race with a mix of shock and worry.
Lucian’s daughter had come here alone. This was giving her a headache.
She forced herself to suppress the anxiety building in her chest and asked in a gentle tone, “Is there a reason you came all the way here?”
Estella raised the notebook again, her eyes wide with innocent excitement. I wanted to be friends with Archie and Benny. I came to play with them. Is that okay?
Roxanne was taken aback for a moment. Just for that reason? The thought of a little girl, so determined and independent, taking a cab alone—it was both adorable and terrifying.
Yesterday, the teacher did mention that Estella liked to follow the boys around, Roxanne thought. But I never imagined she’d go this far to play with them.
The fact that Estella couldn’t speak only added to Roxanne’s worry. What if something had happened to her on the way here? She didn’t dare imagine it.
Just then, the sound of the boys’ voices interrupted her thoughts.
“Mommy?” Archie and Benny had been waiting inside for a while and noticed Roxanne hadn’t returned. Curious, they stepped out to see what was taking so long.
When they saw Estella standing at the door, they froze for a moment, just like Roxanne had. “What… are you doing here?” they asked in unison, confusion clear in their eyes.
Before Estella could respond, Roxanne quickly explained, “Essie just wanted to play with you guys.”
Archie, his gaze flitting around as though searching for someone, finally looked back at Roxanne. “How did she get here?”
Roxanne sighed, still incredulous. “She took a cab here alone.”
She couldn’t believe the words coming out of her own mouth. The situation was so strange, she almost didn’t know how to process it.
To her surprise, the boys didn’t seem all that shocked. They exchanged glances, and Benny, always the more curious of the two, raised an eyebrow and asked, “You came here yourself? Did you run away from home again?”
Roxanne’s heart sank as Benny’s words hit a little too close to home. She remembered when they first met Estella, and how she had run away from home back then, too. Had she really done it again?
Estella, however, didn’t find her behavior strange at all. In fact, she nodded earnestly in agreement.
The boys exchanged a silent look, their eyes wide with confusion.
Why does Daddy’s daughter keep running away from home? And more importantly, why does she always end up at our house?
Meanwhile, at the Farwell Group headquarters, Lucian sat at his desk, engrossed in work when his private phone suddenly rang.
His brow furrowed at the urgency in the butler’s voice. “Mr. Farwell, Ms. Estella is missing again.”
