So Vernon gently patted the back of Chloe's hand, gave her an assuring smile, and said in a low voice, "She will be fine, trust me. Our Little Wolf is a strong little lady."

Chloe still didn't understand why Vernon would approve it so easily, but his assuring smile surely calmed her heart a little. 

Since she couldn't back down now, she finally agreed to bring Mackie to her cousins, "We can go in an hour, okay?"

"Whoo! Thanks, Mommy!"

Mackie rejoiced as she finally didn't have to spend the whole day alone in her room anymore. She didn't have too many toys for the boys, but she had books, so she already planned to bring some of her books for the boys today. 

Vernon chuckled when he saw Mackie's excitement. Mackie was truly a happy virus that every family needed. She turned the somber mood into a fun one as if she hadn't faced a difficult day today.

'My little wolf…' Vernon thought. 'I will protect you.'

**

Vernon went out somewhere after lunch, and Chloe didn't dare to ask, knowing it must've involved cleaning up Maria's mess.

Instead, she helped her daughter pack some of her books into her bag so that she could bring them to her cousins. 

Mackie checked at her Mommy, who didn't look too happy, "Mommy, why are you sad?"

"Ah, it's nothing, dear," Chloe tried to force a smile. Of course, she couldn't simply say that she didn't want Mackie to go and meet her cousins because she was worried. 

"Do you not want me to go?" Mackie asked innocently. "If you don't want me to go, then I can wait until I can meet my cousins."

"…" Chloe sighed. "I still want you to go, Mackie. I'm just worried the boys might say something that will make you cry."

Mackie connected the dot instantly. Since her experience today, she realized that Daddy must've been so mean since he allowed that old woman to hurt them.

"Mommy, may I ask something?"

"Yes."

"Did Daddy do something to Gran?" 

Chloe's heart jumped when that question came out of the blue. She looked at her daughter, who stared at her with her doe eyes.

She didn't know how Mackie connected the dots, especially when Chloe hadn't told her daughter about Vincent before. 

"W—Why would you say that, dear? Gran died because of her age. People usually pass away when they are too old…"

"Um, okay then…." Mackie lowered her head. She wasn't satisfied with the answer because her little heart felt something was amiss. But it seemed that Mommy simply didn't want to talk about it.

"How did you get that idea anyway?" Chloe asked. "Did your Uncle tell you something?"

Mackie shook her head, "It's because of that scary old woman, Mommy. She is Daddy's assistant, right?" Mackie mentioned Maria. "She was also in the school during Autumn Festival. She was sitting on the bench in front of the Principal's office when you got beaten by Daddy that day."

"So I thought, Daddy must've done something to Gran too, since that old lady is also in the hospital with us."

Chloe was astonished by her daughter's intellect. 

She knew that Mackie was very smart, but she didn't expect one small misstep on her part would cause a chain reaction in Mackie's brain, making it easier for the little girl to connect the dots even without any kind of hints. 

"It's okay if you don't want to talk about it, Mommy," Mackie assured. "You don't need to tell me anything until you are ready. I know you have your own reason to hide it from me."

"Oh dear…" Chloe hugged her daughter and patted the back of her head gently. She knew that she couldn't hide things forever from her daughter. But she tried her hardest to keep her innocence because Chloe didn't want Mackie to have a bad childhood. She didn't want Mackie to have the same experience as Chloe growing up. "I'm so sorry, dear. I really don't know what to say to you. But trust me, I did everything because I love you, and I promise you will know about the whole truth once you're old enough, okay?"

Naturally, Mackie knew that her Mommy loved her so much. Though she always questioned why Mommy hid so many things from her.

Mackie always wondered why Mommy always cried when she was alone or why she was so thin and frail when they lived in the mansion.

Mommy always said it was natural for Mommy to be thin and frail. It was also natural for her to puke in the bathroom and cry alone.

But once they lived with Uncle, she realized that Mommy was lying.

Mommy wasn't supposed to be frail and thin, and she wasn't supposed to cry every day because she was always happy and healthy with Uncle, but not with Daddy.

Mommy always told her that Daddy wasn't around because he was busy with work. But Uncle Vernon was also very busy with work but still had time to play with her. He even had time to take Mackie to the restaurant, and watch movies.

He even had time to watch Spongebob Squarepants together on the weekend, so Daddy had no reason not to be around. 

Mackie began to pick up weird things happening around her Mommy and Daddy after that, such as how Daddy beat Mommy up in the Principal's office, yet Mommy still tried to defend Daddy.

And the most recent was the presence of that old woman, Maria. Mackie knew that she was Daddy's Assistant and that the old woman always looked down on them when they lived in the mansion with Daddy. 

ραпdα- n૦νe|`c,0m Lastly, she was never hugged by Mommy and Daddy together in one big, warm hug. But Uncle and Mommy hugged her together and even kissed her cheeks, which she liked a lot!

'Uncle is definitely better than Daddy in every way,' Mackie thought. 'Maybe we should live with Uncle forever if that makes Mommy happy. I don't want to live with Daddy if it only makes Mommy sad...'