Chapter 295



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Nora was a person who minded her own business. She rarely took the initiative to care about others, unless they were people very close to her.

Maureen was no more than her sister-in-law, and the two of them had just met, so she was very reluctant to pry into other people’s private affairs.

Therefore, she merely paused for a moment before starting to walk toward her room.

She had only taken a couple of steps when she suddenly heard voices coming from Mia’s room. He frowned. She hadn’t intended to go, but it suddenly occurred to her that she had brought Pete with her today instead of Cherry.

Cherry would never allow anyone to bully her, so Nora didn’t mind her business.

Pete, however, was sensitive by nature. After learning about his childhood experiences, he had contacted and consulted with several reputable psychologists abroad, so he knew that Pete’s condition was due to the psychological trauma he had suffered from being abandoned at birth.

Therefore, she had to pay more attention to him.

That was also why she and Justin had switched children to care for them.

Cherry liked her father and was talkative, so she had left her with Justin instead. Her son, however… He had almost died because she hadn’t gone after him for Cherry’s sake when they were born. Nora was constantly wracked with guilt.

Therefore, she stopped and walked toward Mia’s room at the end.

Maureen probably heard the voices too, so she followed her there as well. As soon as the two entered, they heard Mia say quietly, “Madame Florence, Papa was the one who said Cherry could sleep with me.”

Florence, who had a sullen look on her face, said, “You can’t do that Miss Mia. How sad your Great Uncle Ian would be if you did that.”

A puzzled Mia asked, “What’s wrong with Great Uncle Ian?”.

Florence replied, “Your Great Uncle Ian is the one who hates Nora Smith the most, yet you are very close friends with his daughter. Her condition is going to be made worse by this.”

She looked at Pete after she spoke, and her expression turned cold. There was none of the courtesy and respect he showed Mia when he said, “Miss Cherry, you are not allowed to sleep with Miss Mia. This place is meant for the Smith children. If you do, you will spoil the family hierarchy.”

Pete: “?”

It wasn’t a question of hierarchy, it was the fact that he was a boy. Boys shouldn’t sleep with girls. What if the girl got pregnant?

Should he let Mia give birth to the child and then have the three of them go to kindergarten together hand in hand?

With that, Pete finally found an excuse. He looked at Mia and said, “I won’t sleep here then.”

He turned to leave after speaking.

Mia, however, held his hand. “No! I was the one who asked you to sleep here, Cherry. If you leave, everyone will give you dirty looks.”

Mia had been brought up by her mother from a very young age, so she was very sensitive despite her young age.

Pete was touched when he heard what she said.

Mia really had his best interests at heart.

As he thought, Florence said, “You have to listen to me Miss Mia. If you make Miss Cherry stay, your father will be angry too.”

“No, he won’t!” said Mia in her tender young voice, “Daddy agrees!”.

Almost immediately after she spoke, they heard a sound coming from downstairs – Joel was back.

He had worked overtime today, which made him come home a little late. However, he immediately went upstairs to see if Mia had gone to bed. If she hadn’t, he would still be in time to bid her goodnight.

As soon as he got upstairs, he met the eyes of Mia, Florence and Pete.

He frowned. “What’s wrong?”

Florence was about to speak when Mia rushed into Joel’s arms. She said a little angrily, “Dad, Madame Florence won’t let Cherry sleep with me! Tell her if you agree or not.”

Joel nodded. “Yes, I have agreed.”

Mia got excited. She climbed off him, held Pete’s hand and prepared to go into her room.

Joel’s gaze settled on Pete.

Ever since he realized that Justin had a pair of boy-girl twins, his powers of observation had become very keen. All in all, there was still a big difference between girls and boys.

He could tell at a glance that the person Mia was dragging into the room was Pete.

Seeing that Joel had agreed, Florence couldn’t help but frown. She said, “Sir, it’s Miss Smith’s daughter! You…”

Before she could finish, Joel stepped forward a couple of paces and stopped Mia and Pete. After shooting a few glances at Pete, he finally looked at Mia and said, “Mia, let’s not ask Cherry to keep you company tonight, OK? She’ll probably miss her mom too.”

Mia was taken aback. She gave Pete a puzzled look and asked, “Is that right, Cherry?”

Pete nodded immediately. “Yes…yes!”

Mia hung her head in disappointment. “So, when do you get to sleep with me?”

That would be when she switched places with Cherry again, of course.

After Pete silently answered her question inwardly, Joel said, “She’ll get you when she wants you. Let’s go to bed now, shall we?”.

Mia nodded. As Joel led her into the bedroom, he also said, “Send Cherry back, Madame Florence.”

“Yes, sir.”

Madame Florence, however, had misunderstood and felt that she now understood what Joel was thinking.

As expected, with regard to Nora, the old gentleman didn’t care. Otherwise, Joel would not have treated his daughter so badly.

Indeed, he had driven her away.

Madame Florence sneered, “Please know your place in the future Miss Cherry. Even if your mother marries into the Hunts in the future, you won’t be a real Hunt either. Don’t compare yourself to the Master of the Hunts, do you understand?”.

Pete: “…”

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes and moved forward without saying anything.

As Nora and Maureen approached, they arrived just in time to hear Florence say that. Maureen immediately looked at Nora, intending to comfort her, only to find that she didn’t seem to care at all….

Maureen coughed and said, “Florence is a crazy Uncle Ian fan. Her real master is Uncle Ian in this house, so I’m sure she has something against you. She’s very loyal to her master and has worked for the Smiths for many years, so sometimes we can’t say anything about her behavior…”

The subtext: ‘It’s best not to offend the old maid’.

“…Oh,” Nora said.

Pete quickened his steps when he saw her. He took her hand and looked at Florence, who was still in the distance. The woman raised her head and snorted arrogantly, but nevertheless nodded to Maureen and her in respect. Then she walked away.

Only when she was gone did Nora glance at Maureen. When she noticed the concern in her eyes, and saw that they had become red and puffy from crying, she thought of how she had continued to sigh just a moment ago. He tried to restrain himself, but after a brief hesitation, he made up his mind to ask, “What happened to you, did you get into some trouble?”

Hearing his question, Maureen let out another big sigh.

Suddenly he asked, “Do you know any really good hackers?”

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