The Day I Stopped Waiting Was the Day He Started Begging novel Chapter 45

York was always the most dazzling presence in any crowd. Dressed in a khaki shirt with his suit jacket draped casually over one arm, he leaned against a pillar, arms crossed, showing not a hint of impatience on his striking face.

Madeline immediately spotted Felicity walking toward him, beaming brightly, a book clutched to her chest.

Without a second of hesitation, she turned to leave. But just as she slipped her phone back into her purse, her expression completely shifted.

Evie's cartoon charm was missing.

She had made it with her own hands.

It must have fallen off when she bumped into those girls earlier.

Without a second thought, Madeline pushed her way toward the book signing area.

The section was packed shoulder-to-shoulder, a suffocating sea of shuffling feet. Madeline apologized profusely as she scoured the ground, nearly tripping multiple times.

Grumbles began to ripple through the irritated crowd.

"If you want an autograph, get in line! Stop pushing!"

"Seriously."

...

Madeline kept her head down, beads of sweat breaking out on her forehead, the suffocating ache in her chest growing stronger by the second.

Finally, she spotted the little pink figure a few feet away.

Her eyes lit up. Just as she stepped forward to pick it up, a pair of sharp high heels stepped right onto it, twisting ruthlessly into the floor.

"Don't—"

Madeline snapped her head up and locked eyes with Felicity.

Then came the sickening crunch of the cartoon charm shattering into pieces.

All the despair and frustration from a week of Evie's illness and dead-end consultations erupted at that exact moment.

Madeline strode forward, grabbing Felicity's wrist with a razor-sharp glare.

"Felicity, you did that on purpose."

"Maddy, what are you doing here? I'm so sorry, I didn't see the little charm. I had no idea it was yours. Someone shoved me, and I just... I didn't know you still had such childish tastes. How much was it? I can buy you a new one."

She refused to let Evie suffer the same injustices she had.

Even though Seraphina didn't say it outright, every little detail proved that Felicity was raised in the Yates family, while Madeline was the outsider. It was always a losing battle against Felicity.

Madeline got into her car, slumped over the steering wheel, and unlocked her phone to stroke her daughter's photo on the screen.

Maybe she had been wrong to let her guard down when York returned.

Family ties weren't maintained purely by blood—she had known that brutal truth since she was a child.

After what just happened, she suddenly felt overwhelmingly exhausted. The whole thing was entirely pointless.

The guessing games were flirtatious when they were deeply in love, but without real feelings, it was just a toxic drain.

Trying to decipher someone's thoughts took up entirely too much time and energy.

She could raise Evie perfectly well on her own. She could shoulder everything her daughter needed.

Why did she ever think she had to give Evie a "complete" family?