“No,” Hayden responded calmly.
“Really?” Avery checked with her son repeatedly.
“No,” Hayden repeated without a trace of emotion on his face.
Avery could only call the quits. If they did not take it and she continued to ask them about it, the children
might think that she did not trust them.
Hayden took Layla’s hand and led her back to their bedroom to store their school bags.
Once they were inside the room, Layla whispered, “Hayden, why are we lying? We shouldn’t lie to Mom.”
Layla had only managed to keep it a secret because Avery was not aware; but now that she was asking
her about it, Layla did not dare lie.
“Elliot must be going nuts now that he realizes the box is gone,” said Hayden coldly. “If we return it now,
he will just blame us for taking it. We are not returning it. Let him worry.”
“Oh... Okay!” agreed Layla. Between their dirtbag dad and her brother, she would definitely side with her
brother.
He had originally kept the box under his bed, but they had moved it. They buried it under a tree in the
yard two days ago. They had done it as Hayden had discovered the contents of the box, a piece of
paper. Once he realized how important the box was, he knew that it could not be left carelessly under the
bed, so, they moved it.
It was a good thing that they did, or the box would have been discovered.
“But what happens if Elliot worries so much that he dies?” Layla was still concerned. “He is still our dad!”
“Don‘t worry, bad people don‘t die that easily.”
With that, Layla finally relaxed.
After dinner, Avery sent Elliot a message that read, (I asked the kids, and they said they didn’t take the
box.)
She had thought that he was resting, but he replied immediately and said, (Got it.)
She sent a reply that asked, (You still haven‘t gone to sleep?).
When Elliot received the message, he did not reply, because he did not know how to. It had been thirty-
six hours since he had last closed his eyes, and he could feel his mental defenses
weakening
In the midst of despair, he thought to himself, “So what if someone goes public with the content of the
box? I will lose money, and friends will leave me… as for a lover… I no longer have one. I have earned
more than enough money for this lifetime, so I don‘t have anything to worry about even if I can‘t earn any
more from now on. As for friends, I don’t care if they go away. At least Shea won’t leave me.”
Prepared for the worst outcome, Elliot slowly began to relax and drifted off to sleep.
Avery kept waiting for his reply, but three days had gone by, and she had gotten nothing in return.
The next time she heard about him was when she was talking on the phone with Tammy.
“Do you know that Elliot has been admitted to the hospital? Not sure what happened, but he refuses to
eat! I‘ve never imagined that someone as composed as he is would refuse to eat!” Tammy exclaimed.
Avery stood abruptly at the news.
It was no wonder she had been feeling uneasy these past three days. She had not thought the box to be
that important to him.
“I shouldn‘t have believed him when he said that nothing was going to happen even if he doesn‘t find it. If
that was true, he wouldn‘t have stayed up all night looking for it,” she thought.
“How is he doing now?” Avery headed for the door anxiously but stopped at the last minute.
“He is getting an IV infusion in the hospital!” Tammy said. “Jun just came back from the hospital, saying
that Zoe has been looking after him. Avery, do you want to go see him?”
Indeed, Avery wanted to visit, but with Zoe already there taking care of him, she decided against it. Even
if she did go to the hospital, Zoe would not allow her into the room.
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