Chapter 15
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Nancy shot to her feet, but Lottie quickly grabbed her arm. “Don’t go over there.”
“You think I’m that reckless?”
Nancy snapped a few photos without missing a beat, then tugged Lottie up with her. “I get that you’ve got your own plans, but this place is filthy. Let’s go somewhere else.”
Lottie was the classic lightweight-couldn’t hold her liquor, but insisted on drinking anyway.
Two rounds later, she didn’t wake up until the afternoon the next day. Her head was pounding, her eyes were puffy, and her whole body felt sluggish.
So when she saw the massive deposit in her mobile banking app, she blinked in disbelief.
2 million dollars.
She rubbed her eyes. When she saw the sender was Esther, the memories from last night slowly came back into focus.
She actually sent it.
Clearly, Esther was still terrified of Erma.
But considering how close she and Nigel were last night, the money probably didn’t come from her pocket.
Most likely, Nigel paid it. Joint marital assets.
Which meant-half of it belonged to Lottie.
Feeling no guilt whatsoever, she grabbed her phone and headed downstairs, pouring herself a glass of warm honey
water.
Corinne saw her pale complexion and gently asked, “Ma’am, would you like something to eat? I just finished some herbal stew. Or I could make you a light bowl of chicken soup if your stomach’s upset.”
Throughout the year, Lottie always gave Corinne detailed herbal recipes tailored to the seasons and the health condi- tions of both her and Nigel.
Right now, though, her stomach was still in knots. “Just the soup.”
As she spoke, she casually glanced around the house and asked with a mild tone, “Nigel and Esther didn’t come home last night?”
“Seems like it.”
Corinne didn’t think much of it and headed back to the kitchen. Knowing Lottie liked her sweets, she added a bit of
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Chapter 15
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extra sugar to the soup.
Right then, little Rolland came running through the living room. He planted his hands on his hips, puffed up his cheeks, and shouted, “Nigel was with my mom last night! You won’t be my aunt much longer! You’re a bad person- you don’t deserve Nigel!”
As he finished, he jabbed his chubby little finger at her like he was issuing a royal decree.
“Yeah.”
Lottie nodded thoughtfully, then gently pushed his finger aside. “And do you know what that makes you, if your mom marries Nigel?”
“What?”
“A tag-along.”
She leaned down, gently cupping his cheek with a soft smile. “Let me explain-‘tag-along’ means extra baggage. And once your mom and Nigel have a baby of their own, no one’s going to care about you anymore.
“Excited? My little tag-along?”
“Waaaah-!”
Rolland burst into full-blown sobs, tears spilling down his face as he grabbed his tablet and frantically tried to video call Esther.
No answer.
He glared at Lottie between hiccupping sobs, kept calling, stubborn as ever. “Waaaah! That’s not true! They’re not go- ing to have another baby!”
Like he had something to prove.
He kept calling, over and over-but no one picked up.
Lottie took a sip of her honey water and smiled. “See? I told you-they already don’t care about you.”
And honestly, she wasn’t even lying.
After what she saw last night, there was a decent chance Esther was already carrying that little sibling of his.
“Noooo! Waaah-!”
The boy wiped at his tears with his sleeve, but the crying only got louder.
Lottie carried her honey water to the dining table and sat down.
Just then, her phone lit up with a message from Nancy-she’d forwarded an entertainment headline.
Corinne came out with the soup just as the crying hit a new level. She frowned. “What happened to that little rascal? Crying like the sky’s falling…”
Lottie turned her phone screen toward her with a calm expression. “Probably saw the entertainment news and found out his mom’s officially a homewrecker. Can’t be casy.”
