The Heart Left Behind (Cole and Yvonne) novel Chapter 53

Xavier froze, his bravado crumbling the moment my tone shifted. He sniffled, his lip quivering as he tried to form a response.

"I-I…" he was stammering, but I wasn't about to let him off the hook so easily.

"Who told you I'm unfair?" He was only a child. He would only talk about such things if someone fed him the idea.

"Was it your Mom or Jared?" I pressed closely to watch his reaction.

"You're not allowed to talk about Jared!" he snapped, his little fists clenching.

Jared? For someone he supposedly admired so much, where was Jared now? Why wasn't his favorite adult taking him on a fun trip?

"If your precious Jared cared so much, why isn't he here with you?" I said, unable to stop myself from pushing his buttons. Xavier's cheeks flushed red, and I couldn't help but smirk.

The next moment, his face crumpled, and he burst into tears.

"Cole, don't scare him," Lorraine interjected gently, stepping in to defuse the tension. Though I could tell she didn't have much patience for Xavier's antics, she still sympathized with him.

"He's just a kid," she added.

"A kid? Jonas is the same age and twice as mature. Xavier can't keep using that as an excuse to act out."

Xavier sniffled, wiping his face with the back of his hand as he glared at me.

Perhaps Yvonne and Jared didn't care about how Xavier behaved. But what about others? Outsiders wouldn't have the patience to deal with him

If Xavier kept up with this attitude, he was bound to face some hard lessons in the future.

I rubbed my temples, feeling a headache coming on. This kid was even harder to manage than I expected.

Jared probably couldn't handle him either. After all, he wasn't the biological father. Just thinking about how brazen and defiant Xavier acted around Jared gave me anxiety.

Right now, Jared was only being nice to Xavier because he needed to stay on Yvonne's good side. But what happened if he didn't need to anymore? How miserable would Xavier's life become?

After all, Jared wasn't Xavier's real dad.

I flicked Xavier on the forehead and gave him a warning smile. "If you act up like this again, I definitely won't go easy on you. Got it?"