Chapter 40

“Your dad’s gonna freak out, you know. Come on, let’s head back!” she pleaded with all the patience of a saint.

And to make matters worse, she never had kids, yet now even the doorman thought she had a three–year–old son! How on earth was she supposed to live this down?

“I’m not going.” Nate pouted stubbornly.

Without another word, he dragged a little stool over to Natalie and sat down. “Nate’s hungry.”

It was well past six, Natalie herself was famished, let alone the kid. She sighed, resigning herself to the situation, and told Nate firmly, “We’ll have dinner, but then you have to go home. No funny business.”

Reaching for her phone, she was about to order some takeout.

But then she glanced at the little boy with his pitiful puppy dog eyes, putting her phone away after thinking twice. She stood up, walked over to the fridge, and rummaged for some veggies and spaghetti.

She could make do with a quick bite from some delivery service, but the kid needed a proper meal.

After washing the veggies, she turned back to the living room and was stunned to find Nate had managed to turn on the TV, finding his way to the cartoon channel, and was now seriously engrossed in an animation.

Was her house haunted? Her TV had parental controls. How did he crack them?

She paused for a few seconds, then shook her head with a self–deprecating smile. Maybe she’d forgotten to lock it.

She whipped up a quick spaghetti with tomatoes. As the water in the pot began to boil for the pasta, she pulled out her phone again.

She didn’t have the Howard family’s contact information, but she remembered ‘Brian’s old number.

phone back in the day, with only his number saved. For a long time, he was the only one

hesitating for a couple of minutes,

held the phone to her ear.

later, a deep and familiar

said, “It’s me, Natalie. Your son’s with me.” After she quickly

a few seconds before replying, “He can

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Chapter 40

the

“But…”

now.” And

in disbelief, Natalie wondered if he was being too casual. Didn’t he worry she might kidnap his

almost boiled over. Natalie scrambled to turn off the gas and sighed as she served up

at her, pointing at someone on

a live entertainment broadcast, with a woman clutching Brian’s arm, apparently at some film festival’s red carpet

lied. He really

him adjust a wireless earbud in his left ear. He must have been at the event when he

the glamorous woman by his side, then nonchalantly said to

little legs, exclaiming, “Smells

less–than–picture–perfect scrambled eggs and raised an eyebrow. This kid must be

to serve him. As he took his

once more, turning to look at

Chapter 40

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