Inside the office, Suzie was busy sharing funny stories about the kids with Eleanor, but her mind was entirely focused on what was happening outside the door. Her intuition screamed that Hayden had deliberately kept the box from her because it contained something awful.
Her phone buzzed. It was a text from Hayden: *Got an urgent situation at the office and had to run. Drop Mom off at home later, okay?*
Eleanor, who was watching a video on the phone, glanced up and saw the message. She let out a soft sigh. "Your brother has always been like this. An absolute workaholic."
Suzie smiled faintly. "Yeah. Then again, I think I'm a bit of a workaholic myself."
They chatted and laughed until they had watched every single video on the Sugar Buddies page. Only then did Eleanor set the phone down, her gaze turning deeply earnest.
"Suzie, I've raised children of my own. Even with a house full of staff, motherhood requires so much of you. And you... your financial situation couldn't have been easy back then. Especially with three little ones. My heart breaks thinking about everything you had to endure."
She sighed heavily, her eyes sweeping the room. "Seeing this studio, and knowing how you worked at Hayden's company... he used to tell me how relentlessly driven you were. I know you're fiercely independent. But you said you and Jamie divorced over irreconcilable differences. I can't help but feel there must be some massive misunderstanding between you two. Why else would you hide the children from him? From what I've seen recently, Jamie is even more exceptional than the media portrays. Maybe his personality is a little intense, but... have you really never considered giving him another chance?"
Hearing her mother's genuine concern filled Suzie's heart with a bittersweet warmth. She hadn't told Eleanor the full, ugly truth, so she could only offer fragments of her past to explain her stance.


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update pls...