"What?!" Chloe raised her voice, but toned it down.

"Goodness!" Judith said, taken aback. "Why are you so surprised? Vincent also apologized to Mackie because he was too busy at work," Judith added. "You have such a good husband, you know?"

Chloe's eyes widened out of reflex. She never expected Vincent to pick Mackenzie up from her Mom's house. It was such a shock because she thought Vincent was already ignorant about Mackenzie's existence at this point. The booze and fucking he had done all this time messed up his brain, but for him to act like cares….

She didn't know what caused Vincent to suddenly act like this, bringing Mackenzie to the mall for her birthday, and she got worried.

Judith noticed the long silence and asked, "Chloe, what's wrong?"

"Ah… it's nothing, Mom," Chloe replied with a lie. "I was just having trouble on the road. I'll call you again later, bye."

Beep.

Chloe ended her call with her Mom. She didn't like having to hide things, but what choice did she have? She clenched her phone for a second, unable to contain her anger. Bad thoughts started swirling in her head, as she was scared that Vincent might do something to her daughter to vent his anger.

She hated to call that bastard right after she left, but she had no choice.

She dialed Vincent's number, and only after one beep Vincent already picked it up.

—

"Yes?" Vincent asked as if there was nothing wrong between them just a few hours ago.

"Where's my daughter?" Chloe asked with a sharp tone, unable to hide her panic and anger."You mean our daughter, Mackie?" Vincent looked to his left and grinned, "She is still choosing whatever toys she wants for her birthday. We're in a toy store."

"Give the phone to her, NOW!"

"Sure," Vincent gave the phone to Mackenzie and told her about it.

"Hi, Mommy!" Mackie sounded so jolly because her dad didn't forget about her birthday. "Where are you now, Mom? I thought you'd pick me up at Granny's home."

"Ah, M—Mackie, are you good there?"

"Yup! I'm with Daddy! Why aren't you here? I want to celebrate with Mommy and Daddy together!"

"Ah— Uh… Mom has a little trouble on the road. You should have fun with your dad first, buy anything you want there," Chloe tried to act as if nothing was wrong. So, Mackenzie wouldn't notice any difference.

Mackenzie might be seven-year-old, but she was smart and often asked too many questions that Chloe couldn't answer.

"Dear, would you mind giving the phone back to dad?"

"Okay!"

Mackenzie returned the phone to her dad, Vincent, and then resumed picking a new toy she wanted.

"So, what else do you need?" Vincent asked, his light tone infuriated Chloe. This man seriously had no conscience. Even after she mustered up her courage to sign that divorce paper and reveal her angry voice, Vincent acted as if nothing bad ever happened.They were just the two souls entangled in a cold relationship. It had been like that for the past 7 years, after all.

"What the hell do you want, Vincent?" Chloe asked, full of suspicion.

"What do you mean? I missed Mackie's birthday because I was busy. Of course, I have to keep my promise to her," Vincent replied. "What? Just because you left, that you can cut me out of my daughter's life? I'm not stupid, Chloe. If we get a divorce, I bet you'll do anything to prevent me from seeing Mackie, unless I send child support money. It'll happen sooner than you think. You should remember that you need me if you want the best for yourself and Mackie. Otherwise, you're nothing."

Chloe closed her eyes as she tried to curb her anger over Vincent's degrading words, but this was Vincent's normal way of speaking, though. He was always condescending and underestimated everyone in his life.

Yet, Chloe stupidly put up with it for a long time.

"Vincent, just tell me which mall you're at right now. I will take Mackie with me-" Chloe said.

"To where? A shabby motel where it's dirty and god knows who's crawling around there? Yeah sure, good luck leaving the luxury place we had." Vincent said.

"Any place is better than to live with you," Chloe retorted. "Just tell me where you are. I will bring Mackie!"

"Well, if you insist…." Vincent grinned as he leaned on the wall. Seriously, he didn't know what got into him right now. He was still disgusted with Chloe, obviously. He couldn't even look at her face the way he did when they were dating, but a part of himself still refused to sign that divorce paper.

"If you want to meet with your daughter, either return home or you can meet her at my Mom's Birthday party tomorrow. I'll be there with Mackie."

"You!"

"Not like I wanted it, but my mother invited you, right? After all, you're her good daughter-in-law," Vincent said, and his tone got even more condescending. "Oh, how wrong she is."

Chloe bit her lower lip. Vincent put her in such a difficult situation.

Obviously, she couldn't return to the house because it would be difficult to explain to her daughter the whole problem. Mackenzie might even beg her to stay. She didn't know what Vincent would do in the home.

So, the only choice she got was at Irina's— Vincent's Mom, birthday party tomorrow. She could bring Mackie somewhere before telling her slowly that they would live separately from her dad.

"So, where do you want to meet Mackie? Home, or my Mom's birthday party" Vincent asked. "It's either one of those places or you don't see her at all."