Ch. 511..515
Chapter 511 He grimaced.
Even after a long and uncomfortable silence, he still did not elicit a response.
He was trying to avoid the topic of divorce altogether.
Sylvia pressed the issue. “Odell, have you read the divorce settlement agreement I sent you earlier?”
The unnatural silence continued to ring in her ears.
She turned her head to look at Odell, only to see him staring blankly ahead, the color on his face was drained completely. He held the steering wheel firmly with both hands and was doing his best to ignore her.
Sylvia frowned. “Odell, say something.”
He scowled. “We’ll talk about it when we get back.”
His voice had become rather scratchy.
There was a tint of exhaustion in his voice.
Perhaps he was yet to get over what Tara did to him in the past, and how she made a fool out of him.
He was still driving amid all this. Sylvia was beginning to get concerned that he would mistake the accelerator for the brake pad in his emotionally unstable state.
“Alright,” she answered contently and looked out the car window. She kept quiet after that.
The rest of the car ride went without conversation.
Soon, the car parked outside Odell’s house.
Sylvia unbuckled her seat belt and stepped out of the car. The first thing she thought of was Isabel and Liam.
Odell looked at her strutting inside the house with such a sense of urgency and grimaced at the sight. He stepped out of the car as well after that.
Sylvia went straight to the children’s room.
They were sound asleep in bed.
Sylvia took off her shoes and approached them.
Isabel seemed to have smelled her mother’s scent even in her sleeping state. She drowsily snuggled under Sylvia’s arms and wrapped her chubby arms under Sylvia’s waist.
Liam simply rolled over and snuggled up to her.
Sylvia smiled at the sight of their adorable sleeping positions. She closed her eyes and fell
prone 11
asleep quickly.
After a while, a jarring “creak” intruded the silence of the room. The door was carefully opened from the outside, and a tall man stepped in. He went to the bed and bent over, quietly observing Sylvia. Meanwhile, his arms involuntarily edged closer and caressed Sylvia’s fair white cheeks. As he stroked her cheeks gently, the look in his eyes gradually softened.
The next morning, at dawn.
Sylvia was still asleep when she suddenly felt a weight pressing on top of her. She slowly opened her eyes to see Isabel crawling on top of her, cuddling her as a kitten would to its mother cat.
Liam, who was sleeping on the other side, was awake as well. He remained clinging to Sylvia just as he did last night.
When they noticed that Sylvia was awake, they stared at her expectantly with their pearl-like eyes.
Sylvia smiled and patted their heads. “Isabel, Liam, time to get out of bed.” Isabel pouted and protested playfully, “But Mommy, I want to sleep with you a little longer.” Liam did not utter a word. He only fixed the same quaint look at Sylvia. Sylvia was just as reluctant to part with them, so she stayed with them for a while longer. It was only when Aunt Tonya appeared to call them downstairs for breakfast that Sylvia finally woke them up. Breakfast was ready for them. Odell was nowhere to be seen. He must have left already. Sylvia frowned.
She was going to discuss the details of the divorce with him after the children went to school.
It would appear that she would have to wait until after he came home.
She had breakfast with the two children along with Aunt Tonya. Then she took them to the kindergarten herself.
Upon reaching the gate of the kindergarten, Sylvia gave them a quick kiss on their cheeks. She watched them enter the kindergarten hand in hand before turning and heading back to her car.
She drove to Lush Heaven without making any stop along the way. After she picked up the luggage that she had packed last night, she drove to a small residential district near the kindergarten.
Chapter 512
Sylvia had already bought a house here. After she divorced Odell, she planned to move here with Aunt Tonya and the children.
Although it was slightly cut off from the central district, it was very close to the kindergarten. The environment was rather ideal and this proved to be a good place to settle down.
After arriving, she carried her luggage into the house. In addition to her luggage, she had also ordered some furniture along with household essentials online, all of them which had arrived the same morning. After she was done putting away her luggage, the couriers arrived and pressed the doorbell. Sylvia began her busy day. Little did she know, the same black sports car from previously had tailed her while she was on the way here. The black sports car was now parked underneath the shade of trees right opposite the gates of her house. The man in the car lowered the car window and spied on Sylvia running around back and forth in the house.
It took the better half of the day before Sylvia finally got the house in working shape. By this point, Isabel and Liam were already finished with kindergarten. Sylvia had no time to clean up so she immediately locked the doors and drove straight to Odell’s. As soon as she parked her car outside the gates of Odell’s house, Liam and Isabel bolted out of the door.
Isabel ran up to her first and wrapped herself around her legs and began prattling, “Mommy, where have you been? What took you so long?”
Liam fixed a quiet stare at her.
There was a tint of anxiety in their eyes. It was as if they were afraid that their mother was going to vanish and never come back at any given moment. Sylvia felt a sinking feeling in her chest when she noticed this. She knelt and took them in her arms.
She murmured, “Mommy was just busy with some work and didn’t notice the time.”
Isabel pouted. “Okay, but don’t be so late next time.”
Liam added, “Mommy, you can call us next time.” Sylvia smiled. “Alright, I’ll make sure to do that.”
After that, she led them into the house.
Dinner was ready, but Odell was nowhere to be seen.
Sylvia frowned.
This morning, she texted him after she sent Liam and Isabel to kindergarten. She asked him if he had read the divorce settlement agreement and whether there were any clauses that he wanted to amend. She was still waiting for a reply.
Was he busy?
When the butler appeared, Sylvia greeted him with a polite smile and asked, “Sebastian, do you know where Odell went?”
Sebastian answered, “Master Carter went out early this morning and hasn’t come back yet. He must be held up by something at work.” “All right.” Sylvía had nothing to add. She took Isabel and Liam to sit down at the table.
After dinner, she took them back to the bedroom.
The children were feeling particularly energetic today and it took them until past 10 p.m. before they finally fell asleep. They latched tightly onto Sylvia, one around her waist and another around her arm. There was no way she could wring herself free so she lay silently in between them. She did not feel even the slightest bit of sleepiness. The room was quiet. After quite some time, she began hearing familiar
footsteps coming from outside. She instantly became alert and carefully lifted Isabel and Liam’s hands off her, got out of bed, and went outside.
She opened the door just in time to see Odell stepping into his room which was only right next to the children’s.
“Odell,” she called out to him. Odell stopped and turned to look at her.
There was a subtle look in his calm, thoughtful eyes that seemed to question her, asking,” What do you need?”
Sylvia closed the door behind her and walked up to him. “Did you read the divorce settlement agreement I sent you yesterday?”
His eyes gleamed for a moment and he seemed to brush off the topic. “I’ve been busy these two days. I haven’t had time to go through them.” “Then go through them now.” “I’m a little tired. I’ll take a shower first,” he said as he opened the door. Sylvia quickly rushed in front of him and cut off his path into the room.
She glared at him adamantly. “It’s just three pages. It won’t take long at all. You can take a
shower after you go through them.” He grimaced and answered with a stoic expression, “I left my phone in the car.”
Chapter 513
Sylvia became speechless.
She knew better than to search for his phone. With a disdainful glare, she told him, “I’ll get my phone and show you. Wait here.”
“Hm.”
Sylvia quickly went back to her room where the children were still sleeping soundly. Her phone was on the bedside table.
After getting the phone, she ran out on her tiptoe, only to see a quiet and empty corridor. She frowned. She then walked to the next room and pounded on the door several times.” Odell, are you in there?”
Nothing but a buzzing silence.
She knocked several times, but still, there was no answer.
She pondered for a moment, then she proceeded to call him.
The moment the call was connected, she could vividly hear a phone’s ringtone coming from inside the room.
It only rang twice before the automated message interrupted and informed, “The number you have dialed is currently unavailable”. The ringtone she heard coming from inside the room was cut off simultaneously. He was inside and intentionally avoiding her! Sylvia frowned.
All she did was ask for a divorce. In the divorce settlement agreement, she had only asked for the custody of the children, and not a word was brought up concerning money or property. Why was he acting as if she had demanded his very life?
Sylvia became more and more irritable the more she thought about it.
She scoffed and turned back to the children’s room. She walked straight to the balcony.
There was only a small separation between the balcony in this room and Odell’s. It was very easy to cross to the other side.
She stuffed her phone in her pocket and lifted herself on the railing. Then, she climbed over.
She effortlessly reached the railing of the balcony of Odell’s room.
With a firm push, she threw her weight across the railings and landed with her feet planted firmly on the ground.
The lighting was very dim.
He did not turn on the light.
Sylvia went into the bedroom and called out, “Odell.”
Within a second, she caught a glimpse of a large shadow charging toward her. Before she could react, she found herself pinned against the wall. She could feel the figure’s erratic breathing beating against her face. In an instant, her lips were sealed.
Ugh. She ruthlessly shoved him out of the way. Odell immediately caught her hands and held them tightly in front of her. She could not pull herself away.
She was furious and widened her jaws. Then she snapped them shut on his hands.
He only let go of her hands after her mouth was already filled with the metallic taste of blood.
Still, he held on to her tightly in his arms.
He rested his chin on the top of her head and growled in a low voice, “Must we get a divorce?”
His voice was very low and deep like a rumbling drum. There was what seemed to be a hint of desperation in his voice, which was a sharp contrast to his usual arrogant demeanor. Sylvia felt a swell of irritation rising in her chest and said without thinking, “Why not divorce me so you can officially marry Tara?”
He struck back. “I’ve cut off all ties with her. I’m sure you heard about it last night as well.”
Sylvia did hear about that.
With that said, a large part of why he did that was because he found out that Tara had lied to him. Furthermore, he must have figured out that Tara had something to do with what happened to Madam Carter.
One way or another, he certainly did not cut off relations with Tara for Sylvia’s sake.
What was Tara to him? Who was she, if not the single highlight of his youth, his one and only muse?
Even if they had severed all relations, he still made sure to entrust the house in Lake Victoria Villa, a property priced near at least a hundred million to Tara.
The truth was that he cared deeply for Tara.
Sylvia had only one thing on her mind and that was to be divorced and be done with all of this. She retorted, “And? What does this have to do with our divorce?”
Chapter 514
Odell turned and stared at her with a fiery intensity in his eyes as he said in a deep voice, “I promise you that I won’t get myself involved with her in the future. All I want is to live out the rest of my days with you, Isabel, and Liam. I want to watch them grow together as a family.”
Sylvia narrowed her eyes.
She remembered when she was pregnant, he was living in the house in Lake Victoria Villa with Tara. She remembered how she spent countless nights without sleep, thinking about what she could do to persuade him to change his mind. She recalled the moment she got the news that she was pregnant with twins, and the first thing she did was to go to him and share the good news with him. For all of that, what she got was essentially a half-year imprisonment, filled with repulsive looks cast at her all the time, not to forget the sixty slaps she received.
When they remarried, she had a mind to live harmoniously with him. That was until he chose the words of Tara over her again! Now when she had decided to get divorced and put an end to all these bickerings between them, he was resorting to telling her that he would cut off relations with Tara, and that he only wanted to be with her?
Was this his idea of a joke?
Sylvia held back her laughter and said in a strained voice, “Odell, that’s nice and all, but don’t forget that Tara almost killed me.”
Odell muttered almost guiltily, “I know.”
He believed what Sylvia told him about Tara pushing her down the lake.
She was surprised to see him taking her side for once and jumped at the opportunity. “In that case, I want you to report her to the authorities. I don’t need her to redeem her sins with her life. I only want to see her own up to the crimes she had committed. I want to see her charged for attempted murder and as long as she gets the punishment she deserves, I won’t divorce you.” After that, a looming silence descended on the room.
Odell frowned.
Sylvia sneered. “What’s wrong? Can’t you do that?”
He answered solemnly, “I won’t be so lenient with her if she ever tries to hurt you again.”
Sylvia’s face became twisted and she hissed with contempt. “I’m not talking about the future. I’m talking about now.”
He grimaced.
She immediately shoved him away and demanded. “Odell, if you’re still not over her, just sign these divorce papers and get it over with!”
“She saved me in the past. I can’t have her convicted in court.”
Sylvia frowned irritably. “Then just sign these papers.”
He remained silent.
She would have punched him right there, but something suddenly occurred to her and she switched her tone. “Odell, you may not know this, but I already have irrefutable evidence of what Tara tried to do to me. If you won’t bring her to court, I’ll do it myself.” Odell’s eyes quivered. “What are you trying to say?” “I’ll let her off the hook if you sign these divorce papers.” Sylvia challenged in a ruthless voice. “And if you don’t, I’m taking her to court.” There was no chance that Sylvia would simply forgive Tara. The only
challenge she faced was the lack of evidence, otherwise, she would have had Tara convicted long ago. She gave this one final ultimatum with an air of determination.
Odell grimaced. Under the dim shade of light, a subtle glimpse of a smile greeted his lips. He thought about what happened on the day of the engagement ceremony. If Sylvia truly had obtained evidence of Tara’s crime, Tara would have been thrown into prison by now.
He remained silent for a few seconds, then said, “You’re serious about having found evidence of her crimes?”
“Of course,” Sylvia answered confidently. Odell smirked. “Then let me think about it.”
“How long do you need to think about it?” “Three days.”
“Okay.” She decided that she could handle waiting for another three days. Then she asked again, “Do you want me to send you another copy of the divorce settlement agreement?”
“No need.”
“Alright.”
Sylvia turned and headed toward the balcony.
Odell remarked, “There’s a door over there.” She turned and walked toward the door. She was not paying attention to where Odell stood and accidentally bumped into him as she turned around.
She jumped and drew herself away from him like a spring bouncing off a surface. She strutted to the door in the blink of an eye, grabbed the door handle, and tugged at it before vanishing from the room.
Thud.
The door was closed.
The bedroom suddenly fell silent.
Odell knelt on the ground and leaned his weight against the wall. Then he took out a pack of cigarettes.
Chapter 515
Sylvia slept with the children until the sun came up. After they washed up and made themselves ready for the day, they went to the living room and saw Odell sitting on the couch.
He was wearing a black shirt that complemented his statue-like figure, still looking as handsome as always. She darted a glance at him and looked away.
She took Isabel and Liam to the dining table.
After they seated themselves, Odell joined them and sat on the opposite end of the table. He flashed a quick smile and greeted them, “Morning.”
She ignored him.
Breakfast was served.
Unlike the usual healthy breakfast prepared for them every day, the breakfast today was a wide array of snacks and bites you can find sold by vendors on the streets. These were all Sylvia’s favorites.
Sylvia was slightly taken aback. Then she pretended to not notice anything peculiar about it, proceeding to eat as if nothing worthwhile had happened.
That was when a hand suddenly extended toward her plate and put a piece of steaming bread on her plate.
Odell said to her in a low and pleasant tone, “This is the popular butter bread with crab filling. Go ahead and give it a try.”
Sylvia frowned and kept quiet. She did not so much as touch the bread handed to her.
Beside them, Isabel and Liam could sense that something was off. They turned up and looked at the adults.
Isabel was quick to ask, “Hey big baddie, did you make Mommy angry again?”
Odell frowned.
Before he could say anything, Sylvia suddenly interjected, “Your father didn’t make me angry. Now hurry up and eat and stop guessing.”
Isabel jerked her lips to the side. Was it just her, or was the atmosphere rather weird?
This time, it was Liam who asked, “Mommy, Daddy, did you two fight again?”
Sylvia answered with a flash of a smile, “We didn’t.”
Liam looked at Odell Odell glanced at Sylvia and repeated, “No.”
.-
The children turned their attention back to their breakfast.
They knew nothing about what went on between their parents and Tara, and the last thing Sylvia would do was to let them know about it. The rest of their breakfast session went without a word.
The children were the first to finish eating.
Sylvia put down her utensils after they finished and went outside with them.
As soon as the soles of her feet touched the ground, Odell walked behind her and said to her,” I’ll take them to kindergarten with you.”
She was floored by this offer.
Isabel and Liam heard it too and turned their heads to him in unison.
Sylvia was just about to politely turn down this offer when Isabel suddenly asked, “Baddie, why are you suddenly sending us to kindergarten?” Odell smiled at her nondescriptly. “I just happened to have time today.” Isabel suddenly thought of Candice Bell, one of the students in kindergarten. Recently, Candice’s father had been taking her to school and many children at the kindergarten began commenting on how handsome her father was. Isabel was particularly vexed about this because Candice’s father was not good-looking to begin with. She had been telling everyone that Candice’s father was nowhere near as handsome as her father, to which Candice responded by accusing her of being jealous. Long story short, they fought and were yet to make up
Since the baddie was going to take her to kindergarten today, she would prove to them how handsome her baddie father was!
Something gleamed in her eyes as she quickly said, “Sure, since you want to send us to kindergarten so much.”
Odell smirked.
Sylvia smirked as well.
The car ride was quiet the entire way there. After almost half an hour, the car parked outside the gates of the kindergarten.
Sylvia was seated in the back with the children, squeezed in between them.
Isabel sat on her right. Sylvia needed to wait for Isabel to exit the car before she could get out.
She was waiting for Isabel to open the door.
However, the queer little girl was acting strangely today. She opened the door but did not step out of the car at all. When Odell stepped out of the car and went to her side, she extended her chubby hands toward him.