"Alright, I’ll go pick up the kids now, don’t work too hard."
Charlotte gave Justin Battleson another kiss on the corner of his mouth for comfort.
"Be careful on the road."
Justin nodded and instructed, "I might be back late today."
After talking for a while longer and realizing time was pressing, Justin let go of Charlotte reluctantly.
Once Charlotte had left the office, Justin took a deep breath and sat back down at his desk. He pinched the bridge of his nose and continued with the tasks at hand.
It was then that his phone began to ring.
Looking at the number on the screen, Justin’s brows furrowed tightly.
Charlotte hadn’t expected there to be some congestion on the road; she glanced anxiously at her watch, tapping her fingertips irritably on the steering wheel.
Eventually, the road cleared, and Charlotte hurriedly made her way to the nursery.
At the same time, in front of the nursery, six little friends who had finished school stood side by side. Grace Thompson stood on her tiptoes, then peered into the crowd for her mommy, but to no avail as she was too short to see anything.
"Why hasn’t Mommy come today?" Hank Thompson asked puzzledly.
When Charlotte came to pick them up before, she had never been late like today.
"Mommy has been really busy with work recently, so she might be a bit late," Chad Thompson said.
"We’re too young to go home by ourselves, otherwise, it wouldn’t be such a hassle for Mommy," Jack Thompson sighed.
After the other children at the nursery had left, the teacher turned to see the six little ones still standing at the door and hurried over.
"Haven’t your parents come to pick you up?" Official source is novelꜰire.net
Grace shook her head and replied, "Mommy will be here soon."
"Then you guys wait here at the nursery. The teacher will prepare some toys and snacks for you." The teacher began to bring the six children back into the nursery.
"Wait, wait a minute."
Suddenly a voice came from outside. Grace turned around excitedly, thinking it was Charlotte, but instead, she saw several people standing not too far away.
And these were none other than Ethan Allen and his family, who had caused a ruckus at Charlotte’s company that morning.
The teacher looked at Ethan with some confusion but stepped forward to stand in front of the children.
Ethan coughed and quickly explained, "Teacher, don’t get me wrong, I’m not a bad person; I’m Allen... I’m Charlotte’s father, and these children’s maternal grandfather."
"You’re Miss Thompson’s father?" The teacher’s eyes were somewhat surprised.
"Yes, teacher, I have no reason to lie to you," Ethan said with a smile, "Today, my daughter had many things to attend to at her company and couldn’t get away, so she asked me to take the kids back to the Allen family."
The thing Charlotte cared about most now was these kids. If he could control the children, he wouldn’t worry about Charlotte not giving him money, would he?
In fact, Ethan didn’t want to use these children to blackmail Charlotte, but her current actions had completely backed him into a corner, leaving him no other choice.
"Kids, do you recognize me? I’m your maternal grandfather," Ethan stooped down and showed a kindly smile to the children, the wrinkles at the corner of his eyes bunching together. His smile made him appear even older.
The children looked at each other, and no one spoke.
Seeing this, Ethan became anxious and urged, "Let’s go, your grandfather will take you home."