Single Mom's Sweet Husband by Charlotte

"She wants you to be happy." Freddie looked at Shane with a solemn expression and continued, "Perhaps I don't understand your world. But I'm sure that you, as a twelve-year-old, have the same wishes as my eight-year-old self. I don't wish for you to live a meaningless life. Do you really want to live a life where everyone is constantly afraid of you?"

"That's none of your business." Shane frowned.

He did not care what anyone had to say about his life choices. He was a stubborn man, and decided that no one had the right to judge him, let alone an eight-year-old child who knew nothing about life. "Then what about Sheryl? Does it not involve her as well? I know that when she was growing up, all she ever wanted was a father."

"Did you learn to spout such nonsense from Nathan?"

"No, I'm aware that his thoughts on the matter are similar to yours." Freddie lowered his head and continued, "But I don't want to become whatever he's planning for me. I want to sing and play the guitar. Eventually, I want to perform on stage. I have endured this long for this greater dream of mine. But you on the other hand, I know you don't have a dream anymore."

"Reality will hit you when you least expect it."

"You've been brought down by reality, haven't you?"

"Money is more important. It can buy you anything."

"But it can't buy my happiness."

The conversation ended badly. Freddie did not know what point he was trying to get across before, but he felt angry and regretful after the encounter. He sulked the entire way back to the villa.

He didn't really want to concern himself over Shane's well-being, but when he saw how worried Sheryl looked, he couldn't help himself. If he had a daughter in the future who felt the same way about him, he would definitely feel upset.

Freddie returned to his room looking rather glum. He stared at his computer on the table in a daze.

"What's wrong?" Nathan asked as he gently ruffled his hair. "What're you looking at?"

"Dad, why is Shane so odd?"

"He wouldn't be Shane if he wasn't."

"His life before sounds really unhappy. But when he was playing the piano just now, I saw a spark of life in his eyes. It's all gone now."

This made Nathan realise that Shane must have already regained his memories but was keeping it a secret from everyone. He had no idea why Shane told Freddie though.

"Why do I get the feeling that you' re more concerned about him than he is?" Nathan mumbled.

he's my future father-in-law," Freddie

'future', right?" Nathan

had

had no right to concern himself with Shane's dilemma. Freddie rubbed his forehead in frustration and

looked quite cute

"Knock! Knock! Knock!"

about to speak, someone knocked on their

got up to open

a fruit tray to him. "This is for the children. Also,

She doesn't particularly like spending time with my son," said Nathan as he took the fruit tray from her.

go look for her somewhere else. If you need

you for

nodded her

idea

his mobile phone and called Sheryl. Soon

Are you with Olive right now? Your mother

she wanted to go play on the swings in the garden this afternoon," she answered in

"What happened after that?"

that... I don't

else would

was

phone with her, they could not track her whereabouts on the GPS. They had already checked all the places Olive usually frequented, but to no avail. As such, burning with anxiety, Avery rushed to the local police station and requested to look at the surveillance footage around the area. However, there was no evidence suggesting that Olive had left

to be taken away without them noticing. "Don't worry, she might still be in the neighborhood. Maybe we can look for her again." Charlotte gently patted Avery's shoulder and continued, "We must've

hide from so many people? If this really is her doing, I've got to give it to her, she's talented.

that. It's hard to

with worry. Even though he had not interacted with Olive for long, he was very emotionally invested in

was going to break down, she hurriedly gave Irena a call. Fortunately,

enough, Irena arrived at the villa and walked up to Avery's side. She gently held Avery's hand and said, "Avery, don't worry. Olive is a very independent child, remember? Even if she's

that she accidentally slipped and fell into a hole somewhere. She might be crying out for help right now, and we're nowhere close to

from Olive that she likes to frequent places with water. There's a bunch of hills behind the villa, right? I remember there's a

his head and continued, "There are

know a secret passage that will get us there. I will lead