Regretting The Wife He Threw Away

He sighed. "As long as you're here with me, Daddy won't be sad."

Little Mario stared at Stewart, deep in thought.

All at once, an idea struck him. He turned to Little Nina and announced, "When Daddy's sad, he cries too-but only at night, after everyone's asleep. He sneaks out tears when he thinks nobody can see-mph!"

Stewart quickly covered his son's mouth, looking both helpless and amused. "Alright, that's enough. It's late. No more talking-lie down, both of you. Daddy will read you a bedtime story."

The kids obediently snuggled under their blankets.

Stewart switched off the overhead light, leaving only the soft glow of the bedside lamp.

He picked up the storybook, his deep voice resonating in the quiet room-

"Once upon a time, there was a little field mouse. She was the fastest digger in her whole family..."

Briony emerged from the shower to find several missed video calls on her phone.

She checked the timestamps-right at nine o'clock.

It was already half-past nine now.

She'd spent a while drying her hair after her shower, so time had gotten away from her.

By now, the children were surely asleep.

then

the kids upstairs to bed

letting

continued, "Although, Mr. Wentworth didn't seem in

"What

seemed off," Marlene whispered. "Now that the kids are asleep, he's out in the backyard by himself. I checked the security camera-he's crouched by the fish pond, feeding the koi. At

with a sigh. "Go stop him before he

"Will do!"

hung up

the pond, Stewart was crouched low, mechanically tossing

one look and thought, If I hadn't come out, these

Wentworth, that's enough. Please, no

out of his daze. He realized a third of the fish food tin

awkwardly. "Sorry. I

"Ms. Kensington adores those koi. If anything happened to them,

hit Stewart. "I'm sorry. I'll be

half teasing, half warning. "Mr. Delaney said these koi were blessed by a priest at a very famous old abbey. They're supposed to bring good fortune, and there's only this

appeared between Stewart's

well

heavy sense of helplessness settled over him; he pressed his lips together, unsure