The Day Our Promise Breaks

Chapter 629

Charles's breath stopped short.

He leaned in, every muscle tense, eyes glued to Charlie's little face, afraid to miss even the tiniest shift in her expression. His knuckles turned white as he gripped the edge of his chair.

Charlie met Evelyn's gentle gaze for only a moment.

Her eyes were clear, calm-just the mild curiosity a child might show a stranger in passing. Not a flicker of recognition, not a hint of warmth.

Then, without a second thought, she looked away, tipping her small face up to Luna with a puzzled frown. "Mommy, is there something over there? Aurora didn't see anything."

Her innocent, questioning voice hit Charles like a bucket of ice water. All his fragile hope, fierce and desperate, was instantly drowned and left cold and dead.

Charlie looked at Evelyn the exact same way she looked at Charles.

Utterly, heartbreakingly unfamiliar.

She'd erased every bit of Evelyn from her heart.

Even with her birth mother standing right in front of her, not a single ripple stirred in Charlie's eyes.

deliberately toward Evelyn, coaxing, "Aurora, look again. That lady in the beige dress... are you sure you don't know

was like lighting a

her away flashed across

question made the sensitive little girl realize right away-this was just another "bad person" trying to pull her away

rose up, drowning out every

vanished, replaced by raw rejection and

jumped up, knocking over her cake plate with

Smash!

buttercream and crumbs splattering across the

the room, drawing Evelyn's attention dike a stone thrown into still water. She

to block Evelyn's view,

swept

saw that little f that haunted

one etched deep in her soul,

Time seemed to stop.

rushed to her head,

The world faded

There she was-her Charlie.

thought was lost