Sign the Papers Mr. Langford novel Chapter 281

Leo stood on the staircase, his face growing even paler.

Wren halted her steps.

Lawrence noticed him too.

He turned to Eleanor, his voice finally dipping into a dangerous low. "Mother."

Eleanor finally realized the boy was there.

But she didn't feel she was in the wrong, assuming Wren had deliberately brought the child out to listen.

"Did I say something wrong?" Eleanor said coldly. "Kids these days have no respect for their elders. Willow is family, she wasn't trying to hurt him."

Leo tightened his grip on Wren's hand.

Wren didn't argue with Eleanor. She simply crouched down and asked the boy, "Leo, do you want to head back to your room?"

Leo shook his head.

It was a subtle movement, but very clear.

Wren was a little surprised.

The boy lowered his head and whispered, "I want to speak."

The living room fell silent.

Lawrence stared at him.

Leo leaned a little closer to Wren, his voice tiny but struggling to be clear.

"I don't like that name tag."

Eleanor's expression darkened. "Leo, Grandma isn't saying you're wrong, Grandma is just saying—"

"I don't like it."

The child cut her off.

It was probably the first time he had ever interrupted Eleanor like that.

As soon as he said it, his eyes immediately turned red, as if frightened by his own courage.

Wren held his hand, not finishing the sentence for him.

Leo sniffled. "I wrote my mom's name. Willow didn't ask me, she just stuck hers on."

Eleanor was left speechless.

She wanted to say the child was too young, that Willow meant well, that Wren was raising him poorly.

But Leo was too specific.

He wrote it.

Nobody asked.

They just stuck it on.

All the adults' convoluted excuses suddenly looked incredibly ugly in the face of that simple sentence.

Lawrence walked over to the boy and crouched down.

He rarely crouched to speak to Leo like this, and his movements were a bit stiff.

"Were you scared today?"

Leo looked at him, not answering immediately.

Eleanor didn't speak again, but her expression remained sour. Leo sat next to Wren, barely eating. Wren didn't force him; she just had a maid warm up a small bowl of soup and sat with him as he slowly drank it.

Lawrence tried to speak several times, but couldn't find the right words.

In the past, whenever a scene like this happened at the dining table, Wren would smooth things over.

She would say Leo was tired today, she would tell Eleanor not to be upset, she would give Lawrence an out.

Today, she offered nothing.

For the first time, Lawrence realized that silence could also be a form of rejection.

After dinner, Wren took Leo upstairs.

Before bed, the boy seemed a little better than he had at noon, but he still clung tightly to his name tag.

The tag was already crumpled.

Wren asked him, "Do you want Mom to put it away for you?"

Leo shook his head.

"I want to put it under my pillow."

"Okay."

After he lay down, he suddenly asked, "Mom, was I bad today for making Willow look silly?"

Wren sat on the edge of the bed and pulled his covers up.

"You didn't speak up just to make her look silly."

Leo blinked at her.