Ch. 446..450

Chapter 446

That night, Isabel had a fever again.

She did not see Sylvia after waking up, so she refused to eat or drink, and she did not take the fever medicine either. Thus, her fever came back.

Sebastian was worried and immediately called Odell again.

Before long, Odell strode in from the outside.

Upstairs, in Sylvia's bedroom.

On the large bed.

Isabel hugged Liam's arm tightly, her cheeks puffed out in anger.

Odell said in a low voice, "Come down for dinner."

She shouted, "I want Mommy!"

He said patiently, "Mommy is still outside and can't come back now."

"Then tell her to come back!"

"She didn't bring her phone, so I can't call her."

Isabel puffed up her face again as her eyes reddened. "I want Mommy. I want to eat with Mommy."

Her childish voice was tinged with a sob. It sounded heartbreaking.

The atmosphere in the room suddenly became low and depressing.

To the side, Aunt Tonya's eyes reddened, and Sebastian could not help but lower his head.

Odell knitted his brows tightly.

After a moment, he took a large step forward and reached out to carry her from the bed.

Isabel instantly struggled, not wanting him to hold her.

Odell reigned her in and glanced at Liam. "You come down too."

Liam got off the bed and quietly followed behind them.

The father and two children soon came to the living room.

Just like in the morning, Odell carried Isabel in his lap to feed her.

Isabel pursed her lips firmly, her emotions more resistant than in the morning.

Odell was silent for a moment before saying, "If you don't eat, I'll send you back and you'll never see your mother again."

Isabel instantly glared at him.

Odell met her glare without changing his expression.

The girl could not defeat him, so she soon deflated and burst out into tears.

Odell simply watched as she cried.

When she was tired after crying, he scooped up a spoonful of oatmeal and brought it to her mouth.

Isabel opened her mouth in grievance and sobbed as she ate.

Odell fed her patiently.

It took almost half an hour before the small bowl of oatmeal was fed into her stomach.

After feeding her the medicine again, he carried her back to Sylvia's room.

He waited until Isabel closed her eyes and went to sleep before going out.

When he went out, a small figure followed him.

He turned around and looked at Liam.

Liam tilted his head and looked at Odell seriously. "Dad, did something happen to Mommy?"

Odell said, "No."

"Then why isn't she coming back?" Liam stared at him sharply with his large eyes. "I saw Aunt Tonya hiding in the corner crying today too."

Odell was silent for a few seconds and replied, "I had a fight with her a few days ago. She left because she was angry."

Liam frowned.

At that moment, Isabel's small figure suddenly scurried out from behind the door.

She was not sleeping and overheard their conversation.

She rushed up to Odell and pounded her little fists on him. "You baddie! So Mommy left because you made her angry! Hurry up and coax her back! Let her come back!"

She was still wearing her pajamas.

However, perhaps because she was sick, her fleshy face seemed to appear slimmer, and her tummy was not as bulging.

Odell's eyes flickered as he reached out to hold her in his arms.

Isabel cried while hitting him.

Odell let her hit him and carried her into the room again.

He placed her on the bed.

However, she tried to turn over and jump off.

He sat on the bed and held herby his side, saying, "If you don't go to sleep, I'll take you back right now."

Isabel harrumphed at him.

Odell looked at her calmly.

She quickly rolled over and turned her back to him angrily.

Chapter 447

Liam saw this and also climbed onto the bed to go to Isabel's other side.

Isabel immediately hugged him and said in a choked voice, "Liam, I want Mommy."

Liam stroked her little head and hugged her back, saying, " Mommy will come back."

"But Mommy left because Baddie made her angry. She didn't even take her phone."

"She'll come back when her anger goes away."

"Really?"

"She'll definitely come back for us."

"You're right. We're her precious babies."

****

As they chatted, Isabel's voice grew smaller and smaller.

Liam also closed his eyes and fell asleep.

The room quieted down.

Odell looked at their small figures hugging each other, and suddenly felt his vision blur for a few moments.

Three days later.

In the area where Cloudy Heart Lake was connected to the river.

A group of people who had just finished a round of salvaging sat around, eating boxed lunches together.

While eating, they could not help but chat.

"Ugh, it's been almost six days. Why can't we find anyone?"

"She was either washed away to some corner, or she was rescued by someone else."

"No way. We've already searched the vicinity during the night of the accident, and we've checked all the surrounding areas as well. There's no trace of anyone who saved someone from the lake."

"The wind was very strong that night, and I heard that Mrs.

Carter's leg is crippled. It would be hard to save herself even if she was a capable swimmer. She must be gone by now."

"Yeah. I just wonder where her body washed up."

ii ii

The wind blew from upstream, blowing their conversation clearly into an MPV parked not far away.

The car was dimly lit.

A man sat alone in the back. His expression was not visible in the dark.

However, the car was filled with a suffocating and depressing atmosphere.

In the driver's seat, Cliff sat ramrod straight. He did not even dare to look in the rearview mirror, let alone turn around.

An unknown amount of time passed.

Just as Cliff was about to suffocate from the tension, a phone suddenly rang.

It was Odell's phone.

He brought the phone to his ear.

The carriage was quiet, and Cliff vaguely heard the voice of the old butler.

He did not know what the butler said, but Odell suddenly said, " We're going back."

Cliff quickly responded and drove the car.

In the Carter residence.

Isabel was annoyed after not seeing Sylvia for several days, so she walked around and accidentally stumbled into the room where Madam Carter was resting.

The door was always locked on Odell's orders.

However, Isabel stared at this room in curiosity.

She even suspected that the baddie locked her mommy up in this room.

Thus, she found Liam, and the siblings came up with a plan. They threw something at the door.

Violet, who was keeping watch inside, heard the commotion and opened the door to see what was going on.

Isabel and Liam took advantage of the situation to scamper inside the room, where they saw Madam Carter laying on the bed.

"Great-grandma?"

The two little ones froze at the same time.

Violet was startled and quickly said to them, "Young Master and Young Miss, Madam Carter needs to rest. You two go out first, okay?"

Liam went straight to the bedside.

Isabel also followed and climbed onto the bed.

Violet did not know what to do and quickly ran out to find Sebastian.

The two little ones had already climbed to Madam Carter's side.

"Great-grandma."

"Great-grandma, wake up."

They called out to Madam Carter.

However, the old lady still had her eyes closed, sleeping peacefully.

Chapter 448Isabel asked suspiciously, "Is Great-grandma sleeping?"

Liam said, "It doesn't look like it."

"Then why is she closing her eyes and ignoring us?"

Liam looked at the door.

Isabel also looked over.

There, Aunt Tonya and Sebastian walked in, looking at them with a complicated gaze.

Isabel could not understand their expressions and cocked her head in confusion.

Liam asked directly, "Is Great-grandma sick?"

Aunt Tonya lowered her head.

Sebastian sighed and said, "Yes."

"What kind of sickness is it?"

Sebastian thought for a moment and said, "I don't know the technical term. I just know that people with this sickness have to sleep for a long time to recover."

Isabel tilted her head again. "What kind of sickness makes a person sleep for a long time?"

She still could not understand, but Liam suddenly said, "Great grandma became a vegetable."

Isabel’s little face changed.

She knew about vegetative people. She saw many people on TV who became vegetables and never woke up.

She immediately looked at Sebastian. "How did Great-grandma become a vegetable?"

Sebastian pursed his lips.

He could not tell them that Madam Carter's condition had something to do with their mother.

The atmosphere in the room became depressing.

Isabel’s lips trembled as she started to cry.

She felt upset when she thought that their Great-grandma who doted on them the most would never wake up again, and she felt even worse when she thought that her mother would never come back.

She wailed. "Great-grandma became a vegetable, and Mommy left because she was angry at Baddie. Liam and I are going to be unwanted orphans..."

Her voice was hoarse from crying and sounded heartbreaking to hear.

Sebastian, Aunt Tonya, and Violet's expression fell at her words. They knew that the children still had Odell as their father and were not orphans, but they did not know how to coax the children.

That was because their mother would probably never come back.

Behind them stood Odell, who had just rushed back.

His tall figure stood straight, and his handsome face was as if shrouded in a layer of frost, cold and stiff.

Meanwhile, in a high-end hospital hundreds of miles from Westchester City.

In the quiet single ward, Sylvia, who had been unconscious for several days on the hospital bed, opened her eyes.

Her mind was still a bit chaotic, and her vision was a little blurry.

She faintly heard someone cry, "The patient is awake!"

She froze.

'Didn't I fall into the lake?

'I'm not dead?'

Soon, a familiar face appeared in her sight.

Sylvia blinked and saw the person clearly.

"Thomas?"

The young man stood beside her bed, the corners of his lips curled into a faint smile. "It's me."

Sylvia asked, "I'm not dead?"

"Yes, you're still alive."

She immediately tried to sit up.

However, a stabbing sensation came from her left calf, and she hissed in pain before lying back down.

Thomas said, "Your leg is still injured, so don't move about."

Sylvia nodded.

She felt it.

Her calf hurt, but it also told her that she was alive!

After a while, she regained her composure and asked, "Did you save me again?"

A few years ago, after she fell for Tara's scheme and was awarded sixty slaps by Odell and forced to leave Westchester City, it was because she met Thomas that Aunt Tonya and her got through the crisis of poverty. He was also the one who introduced her to Simon, and with Simon's help, Sunflower finally made her mark in the world.

Chapter 449

Thomas replied, "My friends and I were waiting for the fireworks show near the place you fell, so we saved you."

Sylvia showed an expression of gratitude. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

His voice was faint, and his cool face did not look emotional.

Sylvia knew his temper. Although she was very grateful inside, she did not thank him again.

Suddenly, his brown eyes stared at her and asked, "Why did you jump into the lake?"

Jump into the lake?

Sylvia smiled coldly. "Do I look like I’d do something like that?"

He asked in confusion, "Then how did you fall into the water?"

Her gaze turned cold. "I was pushed down by Tara."

"Tara? Are you talking about Odell's girlfriend?"

"Yeah."

"I remember that he also divorced you because of her a few years ago."

"That's right."

Sylvia could not help but recall the many things that happened, such as Tara's repeated schemes, and how Odell always defended her.

However, that was not important. What was important was that Sylvia was not dead.

'I'll return to them everything that they did to me!

'Especially you, Tara Avery.

'If I don't pay you back a little, it'll be a waste of your sinister calculations.'

Sylvia took a breath and propped herself on the bed.

She looked around. "Which hospital is this?"

Thomas replied, "Coastrock Hospital."

Sylvia was stunned. "Coastrock? We're at Coastrock City now?"

He looked at her and said, "I thought you jumped into the lake because you were suffering too much in Westchester City, so I took the liberty of bringing you here to recuperate."

Coastrock City was a famous coastal city with good scenery and weather. Not only was it a pleasant city to live in, but the water also was clear and the soil was fertile. For a long time, it had been a place where sick people came to heal, especially those who have illnesses of the heart and mind.

Sylvia knew that.

Still, she was a little surprised.

She did not expect Thomas to bring her here from hundreds of miles away to save her.

She said with a smile, "Thomas, thank you, really."

Thomas replied, "You're my sister-in-law. You don't have to thank me."

Sylvia frowned. "You don't have to think of me as your sister-in- law. Just think of me as your older sister."

"As far as I know, Odell and you seem to have remarried again."

She said coldly, "We're not suitable for each other. I'll divorce him when we get back."

Thomas hesitated and added, "I'm one year older than you."

Sylvia choked. "Then you can just call me by name."

He also smiled faintly. "Sure."

Then he asked, "Since you didn't commit suicide, are you going back to Westchester City?"

Sylvia thought about it and asked, "Did you tell Odell that I'm in Coastrock City?"

"No. I brought you here after rescuing you. I thought you committed suicide because you didn't want to see them, so I didn't tell anyone."

"Good." Sylvia exhaled and looked at her left calf which was encased in plaster again. "Please help me keep my whereabouts a secret for now. I want to wait a bit before I go back."

'Wait for my injury to heal, wait for my plan to be ready, wait until the time is ripe.'

Thomas looked at her cold and pale face. "Okay."

Sylvia suddenly wrinkled her brows again.

He asked, "What's wrong? Does your wound hurt?"

"I'm fine."

She just could not help but think about Isabel and Liam.

The little ones must be very anxious after not seeing her for so long.

However, Aunt Tonya and Sebastian were watching over them. Although that damned man Odell hated her, he was still good to the children and surely would not treat them harshly.

Sylvia gritted her teeth and endured her longing for them.

Chapter 450

A month later.

In the Carter residence in Westchester City.

It was very quiet inside and outside the mansion, so quiet that the air itself seemed to grow heavy.

That was because there was still no news of Sylvia.

Isabel kicked up a fuss for many days and seemed to have lost her strength recently. She was listless every day, either following Liam at his heels or going to Madam Carter to speak ill of Odell.

Liam was quiet and did not cry or make a fuss. Every day, he coaxed Isabel to eat and sleep, or fiddled with the Rubik's cube Sylvia made for him.

That night.

Isabel missed her mother so much that she could not sleep after dinner, and she wandered into Madam Carter's room.

Violet was used to her coming, so she quietly stood by the side and let Isabel climb onto the bed to lie beside Madam Carter and speak ill of Odell.

"Great-grandma, Baddie forced me to eat carrots this morning and even used Mommy to threaten me. Hmph. Mommy left because she's angry at him, but he doesn't know how to coax her back. All he does is threaten me. Great-grandma, wake up quickly and cut off your ties with him. Kick him out of the house and call Mommy back..."

Her childish voice sounded very serious.

Violet listened and did not know whether to laugh or cry.

Before long, there was a sudden knock at the door.

Violet got up and opened the door. When she saw the visitor, she was shocked before greeting politely, "Ms. Avery, are you here to see Madam Carter?"

Tara returned her greeting with a kind tone. "Yes, how’s Grandma doing lately?"

"The Madam is still the same as before."

Tara hummed and walked in.

At this time, Isabel got up and stood by the bed.

She wrinkled her little eyebrows and shouted at Tara, "Ugly woman, you're not welcome here. Get out!"

Tara's expression twisted, but she quickly put on a gentle look and said with a smile, "Isabel, don't misunderstand. I'm here to visit Grandma."

"Great-grandma doesn't welcome you either!"

Tara secretly cursed at the child in her heart but continued to say, " Calm down. I don't mean any harm."

"Hmph, you don't have to act here. Baddie causing my mommy to leave in anger must be because of you!"

"You misunderstood, Isabel. I don't know why your mother left." As she said this, she cursed the motherless child in her heart again.

If not for the fact that Odell instructed her not to mention that

Sylvia had fallen into the water and disappeared, she would have told this damned child that her mother was dead and let her cry her eyes out.

Isabel did not believe her and turned her head to call Violet. "Ms. Violet, tell her to get out! Neither Great-grandma nor I want to see her!"

Violet looked at Tara and was just about to politely ask her to go back, but a tall figure appeared in front of the door.

The man wore a black shirt. He had just returned from outside. There was a cold aura surrounding him.

Violet's eyes flickered, and she quickly shut her mouth.

Tara immediately looked at him with a hurt expression. "Odell, I just wanted to come see and talk to Grandma."

Odell looked at Isabel, who was standing by the bed.

Isabel had her hands on her hips as she raised her chubby face to look at him. "Baddie, tell that ugly woman to go away, or I'll sever our father-daughter relationship!"

Odell frowned and said in a low voice, "Come down."

"Tell her to leave, or I won't come down!"

Odell's expression instantly turned cold.

Isabel was frightened by his face and shrank away, but she still stood by the bed and did not move.

At that moment, Tara said anxiously, "Okay, Isabel. It's my fault. Don't get upset with your father because of me. Come down quickly. Be careful not to fall."

Isabel shouted at her, "If you know it's your fault, then why aren't you leaving?"

Tara's face instantly stiffened.

Then, she looked at Odell with reddened eyes.

Odell frowned at her. "You go back first."