The Kiss that Sparked it All (Ellinor and Theo) novel Chapter 2784

Madeline couldn't help but scoff. "That's ridiculous. If what that witch said was true — if he really had the power to stir up the real estate market — then how could they live such a hard-knock life before?"

It was only after they were brought to the Tanners that they could finally break from their plight.

Just the thought of the past made Madeline's face darken with a scowl.

If she could, she'd sever all ties with those memories. She didn't care if people called her ungrateful. Let them walk a mile in her shoes, then they'd understand. But no, Madeline was done with that life, done with the shadows that had once engulfed her every day.

She would never allow Imogen to disrupt their new life, the life they had painstakingly built. They could only move upwards, never glancing back.

"Where to start?" Madeline pondered. If Imogen wasn't going to tell her the truth, then she'd find her own way to that man.

...

The next morning, Regina left the house early. She had made plans with Ablett a couple of days earlier to take a group of kids from the local orphanage out for a day of fun. She was volunteering.

On the way there, Daphne repeatedly warned her about safety, emphasizing that under no circumstances were they to lose any of the kids.

"Oh, come on!" Regina replied with a grin, "Please calm down! It's not like I'm the only staff there. We'll bring every single one of those kids back to the orphanage safe and sound!"

Even though Regina had volunteered at the orphanage several times before, Daphne never failed to repeat her cautionary spiel.