جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 140

That same night, back in the quiet sanctuary of her bedroom, Bianca found herself utterly unable to fall asleep. She felt an overwhelming, heavy sense of profound loneliness creeping over her, even though her beloved children were sleeping soundly right down the hall. A deep, aching solitude washed completely over her soul. She lay awake in the dark, thinking deeply about her life as a whole, about everything she had miraculously survived and pushed through. She thought back to her distant childhood, her turbulent adolescence, and vividly recalled the exact day she had first laid eyes on Eric, wondering how drastically her entire existence had permanently shifted off its axis ever since. She thought about her distant parents, bitterly remembering the fact that they hadn't bothered to communicate with her even once since the day she left home. And even though she didn't genuinely miss their toxic presence, it still physically hurt her to know deep down that she simply wasn't important

That afternoon, when Bianca stepped out the glass doors of her office building at the end of her shift, she suddenly stopped dead in her tracks. Standing right in her path was Mrs. Harrington, Eric's formidable mother. The absolute last thing she wanted in the entire world was to cross paths with this woman again. The last time they had interacted face-to-face, things had ended disastrously; there had been a confrontation completely full of raw tension, cold hostility, and harsh reproaches. Seeing her waiting there could possibly mean nothing good, but Bianca forced an awkward smile onto her face and tried her absolute best to stay calm, even though Jackeline's intimidating presence made her deeply uncomfortable. "Mrs. Harrington..." she greeted tentatively, her voice barely rising above a whisper. Jackeline marched right up to her without wasting a single second on pleasantries or beating around the bush, and stated bluntly: "I need to talk to you. That's all there is to it."

When Jackeline finally received Bianca's exact apartment address via a quick text message, she immediately got into her luxury car and drove directly to the location. She soon found a residential building that, while certainly not excessively luxurious or ostentatious like her own neighborhood, looked remarkably nice, clean, and cozy. Standing right in front of the apartment door, she was suddenly overcome by a completely unexpected wave of intense nervousness. She actually found herself regretting her past actions: pointing her finger self-righteously at Bianca, trying to aggressively impose her will, and foolishly attempting to dictate the children's lives when she deep down knew damn well it wasn't her place to do so.She took one deep, calming breath, raised her hand, and knocked firmly on the door a couple of times before stepping back to wait. When Bianca finally pulled the door open, she greeted her with a stiff, forced formality that made the emotional gap between them feel ev

Once she found herself entirely alone in her quiet apartment, Bianca couldn't help but find Santiago's unexpected visit deeply surreal. Seeing him again after such a long time had genuinely made her feel good on a personal level, but at the exact same time, she felt heavily obligated to be as overly kind and polite as possible so she wouldn't end up hurting his feelings.She grabbed her mobile phone from the table and immediately dialed Lorena's number for a long-distance call."Hello, Bianca, how is everything going over there? I was just about to sit down and eat lunch. Tell me what's happened," Lorena encouraged her cheerfully in her usual bubbly, upbeat voice."Lorena, I honestly don't think you should have given Santiago my private home address," Bianca said, a sharp hint of suppressed anger bleeding through her voice. "He just showed up unannounced at my apartment a moment ago. You already know very well that nothing is ever going to happen romantically between us, so why on ear

After the minor playground incident, Eric decided to treat his kids to a sprawling fast-food restaurant nearby. Honestly, he wasn't personally a fan of that kind of greasy, processed food at all, but the children had practically begged and insisted quite a bit on it, so he gladly relented for them.Henry and Olivia sat side-by-side at the laminate table with bright, smiling faces while Eric patiently stood in line to order their meals. He watched them fondly from a distance, feeling a sudden, warm pang of deep pride swelling in his chest. They had grown so much right before his eyes, and the crushing realization that he had missed out on the vast majority of their early lives always hovered darkly in the back of his mind.When he finally returned to the table carrying the heavy loaded food trays, little Olivia looked up at him with her enormous, captivating honey-colored eyes."Dad, am I really going to be totally okay?" she asked again with absolute earnestness, pointing a small fing