When they arrived at the research site, Kane bolted the moment the car came to a stop.
Chantelle clenched her fists in anger. She knew Kane relied on Daniel to shield him and was trying to escape her punishment. Thɪs chapter is updatᴇd by ɴovelfire.net
In the past, when Kane did something wrong, he might run away and beg for mercy, but when it came time for punishment, he wouldn’t act cowardly. He would kneel on the ground and ask for forgiveness.
This time was different. Daniel’s laughter must have made Kane think the matter wasn’t serious and that he wouldn’t be punished.
With that thought, Chantelle shot Daniel a sharp glare as he tossed the car keys to the bodyguard.
Daniel rubbed his nose in confusion. Why were both Chantelle and Railer looking at him so unhappily?
"Don’t be angry. I’ll teach Kane a lesson to vent your anger."
"What do you mean by venting my anger? Do you even know how to educate your son?" Chantelle was utterly annoyed after hearing Daniel’s statement.
"Daddy, Mommy, I was wrong! You can punish me! I dragged Rai with me. It has nothing to do with him!" Kane knelt in front of Chantelle and Daniel, with his upper body being exposed. On his back, he had stacked firewood, and on each piece of firewood, there was a rose.
His ridiculous appearance stunned Chantelle, but she still kept a stern face.
When Railer tried to kneel beside him, she quickly stopped him. "Let him kneel alone."
"Mommy, I made a mistake too." Railer insisted, believing he should kneel as well. He felt Chantelle was treating him differently if she didn’t make him kneel.
Before Chantelle could respond, Stephanie suddenly intervened to inspect the firewood on Kane’s back. She glanced at Philip, Russell, and Alexander, who had come out to watch, then asked, "Uncle Russell, are these the roses you planted in the backyard?"
Russell was completely stunned. Those colorful roses were a new variety he had been cultivating, and it had taken him nearly two years to grow just a few of them.
"Wow, they smell amazing! Each petal has a different scent!" Stephanie picked one of the roses from the firewood on Kane’s back and handed it to Chantelle, as if she had found something fascinating.
Chantelle took a sniff, and the scent was indeed unusual. "Kane! I won’t let you off today!"
Seeing Chantelle’s anger and Russell walking toward him with a heartbroken look, Kane gritted his teeth, stood up, and bolted inside.
"I was wrong! I didn’t know they were Uncle Russell’s roses! I thought you liked flowers, and they looked beautiful, so I picked them for you! Uncle Russell, what do you want? I’ll pay you back, okay?"
Kane ran around the living room, begging for mercy.
Russell glared at him in frustration. "You’ve destroyed two years of my hard work. How are you going to pay for that?"
"Ah! Daddy! Help!" Kane yelled as he turned and dashed toward Daniel. He slipped right through Daniel’s legs and hid behind him.
His movement was quick and natural because he had done it many times before.
Chantelle chased after Kane, but was too late to stop. She ended up bumping straight into Daniel’s arms.
"Be careful." Daniel caught Chantelle in his arms. She tried to break free, but his grip was too strong.
"Is this how you act as a father? You just pamper him when he does something wrong?" Chantelle glared at him as she was unable to hold back her anger.
Daniel turned to grab Kane, but Kane darted away before he could catch him.
"You can discipline him however you want. I’m on your side. I’ll get him right now." Seeing Chantelle panting in frustration, Daniel quickly tried to calm her down.
Kane kept causing trouble around the villa, and in the chaos, Daniel accidentally pulled his wound from using too much force.
More than an hour later, Daniel finally caught Kane. Kane kept begging for mercy while everyone completely forgot about Railer outside.
Railer stood outside the brightly lit villa, watching Chantelle, Daniel, Stephanie, Philip, and the others gathered around Kane, discussing how to punish him. No one seemed to remember that he hadn’t gone inside. He suddenly felt a little sad.
Even though Mommy wasn’t with me before, at least Daddy only cared about me. But now that I have a bigger family... why does it feel like no one cares about me anymore?
Railer didn’t want to go inside and watch the commotion, so he silently walked to the backyard to clean up the mess Kane had made.
Kane had yanked out the roses in such a hurry that some of the seedlings had been uprooted and tossed aside. If Railer replanted them carefully, they might still survive.
"Railer, what are you doing here?" a woman suddenly squatted beside him and asked.
Railer looked up at her. He slightly remembered her. She was the woman who had helped him a few times when Kate used to bully him.
So he lowered his guard and answered, "I’m planting flowers."
"Kane pulled out all these flowers. Why are you planting them back?" The woman had an oval face, and when she smiled, two small dimples appeared, making her look warm and kind.
"I’m planting them back so Kane won’t be punished too harshly," Railer said while his hands were still busy with the soil.
He had never planted flowers before, so he accidentally pinched off one of the stalks.
"Railer, let me handle it. Look, you broke the stem. If Mr. Jones sees this later, he’ll think you did it." The woman took the small shovel from him and began planting the flowers skillfully.
Railer looked at her in confusion and asked, "What do you mean? Uncle Russell knows Kane pulled out the flowers. He won’t blame me."
"They might not say it, but that doesn’t mean they don’t blame you. Ever since Kane and Steph came back, you’ve been dragged into their messes every time. Mrs. Wilson’s people never scold you, but it’s not because they’re kind. They just keep their complaints to themselves."
"Why didn’t they say it out loud?" Railer asked softly. He already had an idea about the answer, but he still wanted to hear what the woman would say.
The woman smiled softly. She sighed and said, "You’re so pure and kind that you can’t see their true faces. No matter what kind of trouble Kane causes, if he asks for something, they’ll never turn him down. They’ll even laugh and joke about it afterward. But when you get into trouble with Kane and Steph, they tell you to stay away from them. They even warn you not to get involved with those things."