Lucian felt so sorry for the boys when he heard that. The place where Archie and Benny had traveled to alone was their current residence.
He recalled an incident where the boys had nearly been beaten up by some older children when they came looking for Estella. That made him resent Sonya even more.
They are only so young! Even if Mom doesn’t want to acknowledge them as her grandchildren, they’re still Essie’s best friends. How could she be so cruel as to dump them at the amusement park? Thank God nothing untoward happened, but what if it did? How would I face Roxanne? Lucian shuddered at that thought.
“We’re clever boys, and we met a very kind taxi driver. He didn’t want to accept our money for the ride.” Knowing that Lucian was enraged, Archie attempted to assure him in a cute voice. Lucian knew well that his sons were trying to defend his mother. He pulled them into his arms.
“I’m sorry for not taking good care of you. Grandma was too much! If she takes you out again, call me immediately, and I’ll see to it.”
The boys quieted down and bobbed their heads obediently as Lucian comforted them with his
warm embrace.
He patted their backs and praised, “Both of you did very well today for protecting yourselves and not revealing this matter to Mommy. This is now a secret among us. Don’t tell Mommy, okay? Mommy’s very tired these days.”
The boys smiled gleefully upon hearing those nice words. “We know what to do, and we won’t worry Mommy about this.”
Lucian inclined his head and released them from his arms. “Go play with your sister now. I need to head out for a bit.”
His words brought a frown to the boys’ faces. They grabbed his sleeve and reminded him, “Daddy, don’t be mad at Grandma. You promised us just now!”
Lucian did not expect the kids to be so sensitive. “Oh, I’m not going to Grandma’s. There’s something at the office that I need to deal with.”
As an experienced businessman, coming up with an excuse to pacify the little ones was a piece of cake for him. Archie and Benny scrutinized him for a bit before releasing their grips on his arm. “Okay, then…”
Lucian flashed them a smile and walked toward the living room. Right then, Roxanne had just finished her phone call with Jonathan and returned to keep Estella company. She was surprised to see him getting ready to head out. “What happened? Where are you going at this hour?”
Lucian replied, “I need to take care of some matters. I’ll be right back real soon.” Then he swiftly strode toward the gate and out of the mansion before she had a chance to ask more questions.
Roxanne observed his hasty moves and felt something did not add up. Shortly after, Archie and Benny walked in, and she shifted her focus to them. “How did your outing go this afternoon? Did Grandma give you a hard time?”
Finally, Roxanne could put forth those questions to the boys in Lucian’s absence. “Nope. We had a ton of fun today!” the boys exclaimed. Having been able to share the incident with Lucian and get it completely off their chests earlier, they no longer feel upset. about it.
Then Roxanne tried to verify the information with Estella. Estella had been crying the entire afternoon. She did not have an enjoyable time at all.
However, she went along with it and nodded her head cooperatively before squirming into her mother’s arms. Roxanne knitted her brows together and looked at them skeptically.
