Kane held her hand tightly without a second thought. Railer hesitated for a mont, then grabbed her other hand again, too.
"We weren’t laughing at Mommy," Kane said seriously.
Railer gave a small nod in agreent.
"Then tell , what were you all laughing at?" she asked, shaking their hands off again and watching as Stephanie took Kane’s.
"Daddy laughed, so I laughed too. I’ve never seen him laugh like that before," Railer said seriously.
Chantelle scrunched her nose. "That man was born with a paralyzed face."
"That’s not true. Daddy always smiles when he sees Mommy," Railer said. "We can see it in his eyes. And his face. And his mouth." He pointed to each spot as he talked.
Chantelle knelt in front of Railer. "It doesn’t matter if Mommy and Daddy are together or not. I’ll always be your Mommy, and I’ll never leave you. Your dad won’t leave you either."
Railer’s eyes filled with tears. "But all the other kids’ Mommies and Daddies are together."
Kane saw Railer signaling to him and spoke up. "All my friends at school have a Mommy and Daddy. They all live together."
Chantelle looked at her kids. They were both staring at her, waiting for her to say sothing.
She suddenly wondered if she had only been thinking about herself. Did she ever really think about how her kids felt?
They were just five years old. What kid that age wouldn’t want both parents around? And her three children were sharper than most kids their age.
"I’ll think about it. Can you give a little ti?" she asked gently.
Kane looked confused, but Railer gave a small nod.
Stephanie wrapped her arms around Chantelle. "I don’t care what Mommy decides. I love you no matter what. I just want you to be happy."
She used to hope they’d get back together, especially after being won over by Daniel’s charm. But deep down, all she really wanted was for her mom to be happy.
The girl could see the pain in her mother’s eyes. What was the use of making up if her mom was still going to be unhappy?
She would rather go back to having no dad than see her mom cry every day.
"Thank you, Steph." Chantelle knew boys didn’t understand emotions the way girls did. Kane and Railer really wanted her to get along with Daniel. To them, everything would be perfect again if their parents got back together.
But Stephanie was different. She’d grown up around dramatic scripts and picked up on things the boys didn’t. She could tell her mom wasn’t ready to forgive their dad. She knew pretending just for the kids would only make things worse.
Her daughter was thinking of her, not just herself. That touched her deeply.
"Mommy, co see my stealth cloak. It’s getting too small. I can’t fit into it anymore." Kane wasn’t as emotional as the others.
Once the serious stuff was over, he was already pulling Chantelle toward the research site.
It worked out, since she needed to head there to change anyway. So, she let him lead the way.
After changing her clothes, Chantelle hit the switch to open the door, but it wouldn’t move.
"Kane, check the security system. Why won’t the doors open?" she asked, turning to him.
Kane didn’t look into her eyes as he typed quickly on the computer. Then he closed it and said, "Soone hacked our security system, Mommy."
"What? What’s going on?" Her heart pounded hard. She was afraid Trenton might show up at the villa for revenge.
"Don’t worry, Mommy. Kane’s checking," Railer said as he poked Kane’s cheek and gave him a warning look.
Kane took a deep breath and started hitting the keyboard continuously. It was his first ti lying to his mom.
Would she be mad if she found out?
Chantelle tried calling Calvin, but no one picked up.
Did sothing happen to him?
She also tried calling the Carcosa security team. They said Calvin was still tracking Trenton and was likely on the road.
"You don’t need to worry, Ms. Bently. We’re watching Trenton carefully. He’s nowhere near your location right now."
Chantelle let out a breath of relief and turned around. The three kids were staring at her. She thought they were scared and quickly moved toward them to comfort them just as Kane shut his laptop.
His eyes kept shifting. He looked like he was hiding sothing.
"When will the security system be unlocked, Kane?"
She looked straight into her son’s eyes as she asked.
Kane lowered his head. "In a while. It’ll be fine in a while."
"Then why not fix it now?" she said, walking over and motioning for him to turn the device back on.
Kane glanced at Railer, who kept his lips tightly shut and said nothing.
"You kids are growing up fast. Already learning how to lie to Mommy, huh?" she said impatiently.
The mont she saw Kane wasn’t telling the truth, she realized that Daniel must’ve gone after Trenton and was keeping her here on purpose.
That explained why he had been so willing to drop her off.
"Don’t be mad, Mommy. We can leave when Daddy cos back," Stephanie said, holding Chantelle’s hand.
Frustrated, Chantelle grabbed the laptop from Kane and typed in a long string of codes. But no matter what she did, she couldn’t break through the control system.
The door wouldn’t open without the switch.
Her chest tightened as the sound echoed in her mory. There had been dull thumps in the background of the call with the bodyguard. They were so faint that she hadn’t noticed them at first.
Looking back, it sounded too much like gunshots.
If Daniel had found Trenton, his life could have been at risk. She had to get out. Daniel needed her.
"Open the door, Kane. Your daddy’s in danger without ."
Kane looked conflicted. "Daddy said you’re not allowed to leave, Mommy."
She pulled all three kids closer to her and said, "Listen to . Your father’s in trouble. If I go, I might be able to help him. But if I stay... you might lose your daddy forever."
Kane hesitated. His fingers hovered over the keyboard, already starting to move on their own.
Railer reached out and stopped him. "You have to believe in Daddy, Mommy."
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