I Forgot I Ever Loved You (Zoe and Hayden) novel Chapter 13

By the time Zoe arrived in a frantic rush, the tiny girl was crying her eyes out in the warmly lit security office.

"Mommy, I thought you didn't want me anymore."

The sweet little girl threw herself into Zoe's arms the moment she saw her. The second Zoe hugged her back, her heart melted completely.

"I'm so sorry, baby. It's Mommy's fault. Mommy forgot."

Forgetting she had a daughter—she really deserved the worst.

But the person who truly deserved the worst was Hayden.

He had fired Valerie, and rumors were flying around the office that the boss was finally valuing his secretary, all because Director Yates had reprimanded her during a meeting and gotten sacked for it.

She'd be a fool to believe that. Almost immediately, Valerie's workload had been dumped onto her desk. She had been so buried in paperwork all afternoon that she hadn't even had a second to look up.

Firing Valerie had just made her life utterly miserable.

It was a double-edged sword. So much for "valuing" her.

She had been working herself into a stupor, missing countless calls from the preschool teacher to pick up her kid. And, of course, she hadn't even remembered she had a kid in the first place.

Everyone kept saying she had amnesia, so she might as well embrace it.

It wasn't until she finally took a bathroom break and received a call from Hayden's assistant, Colin, asking if she had forgotten something, that she realized picking up her kid from preschool was part of her daily routine.

To make up for it, Zoe took Lily out for burgers and fries, and then stopped by an amusement park. Lily was absolutely thrilled, throwing her arms around Zoe's neck and planting kisses on her cheek.

"Mommy is the best mommy in the whole world! I love you so much. But why did we get to eat fried chicken and go to the park? And the ice cream... it was so sweet and yummy!"

Zoe was eating a popsicle of her own as they walked. She remembered how much Hunter had spoiled her when they were dating. Even though she was twenty, if she wanted cotton candy, he bought it for her. He'd ride the roller coasters with her and take her to animated movies.

He even dressed up in costumes with her, scaring people on Halloween. Those had been truly happy times.

"Have you never had fried chicken or ice cream before, Lily?"

Seeing Zoe and Lily, Mrs. Gable lowered her voice, trembling slightly, her form of address instinctively shifting.

"Mr. Thorne has been waiting at home for hours. Didn't you get his call?"

In the past, the master of the house had never involved himself in Zoe and Lily's affairs, and he certainly never returned home before midnight.

Today, his car had pulled into the driveway before nine o'clock, only to find Zoe and Lily nowhere in sight.

She had been scared out of her wits. Finally seeing these two troublemakers, Mrs. Gable practically collapsed in relief.

"Oh? No, I didn't. I took Lily to the amusement park and wasn't checking my phone."

She led Lily inside. On the living room sofa sat Hayden, dressed in black slacks and a black dress shirt. His suit jacket was tossed carelessly aside, and his collar was loosened, revealing a tantalizing glimpse of his chest.

His overly handsome face looked exceptionally dark. The moment Lily walked in and saw him, the smile vanished from her face, and even her voice dropped to a whisper.