Lucian gathered his thoughts and followed Archie into the mansion. As soon as he entered, he spotted Estella sitting on the carpet, her full attention on the Lego bricks before her. A little boy sat beside her, looking just like the one who had opened the door.

Twins, huh?

With a darkened gaze, Lucian looked away from the boys and scanned the living room. Roxanne was nowhere to be found.

"Your daddy's here," Archie called to Estella coldly, his friendly demeanor gone.

Estella stopped playing and glanced at Lucian, who stood nearby. But she quickly looked away and began writing in her notebook. Lucian and the boys stared at her.

Archie and Benny had been reluctant to see her leave, but now that her father had arrived, there was no reason to let her stay. Lucian's brow furrowed. He knew what the little girl was about to write.

Soon, Estella held up her notebook: "I don't want to go home yet."

As he expected.

The crease between Lucian's brows deepened. His voice, laced with displeasure, followed: "Estella Farwell, you left home without a word. Don't you think you ought to explain yourself? This is the second time you've run away this month. Why?"

Estella met his gaze stubbornly, then looked down to scribble: "I like Ms. Jarvis. I like Archie and Benny. I want to be friends with them!"

A look of mockery flashed in Lucian's eyes. "You like them, but have you asked if they like you? You disrupted their lives by showing up like this. Don't you know how rude that is?"

Estella pursed her lips and turned to the boys. She knew she'd bothered them, but she couldn't help it. She liked them so much, and her father wouldn't let her play with them. "We've even exchanged gifts, and they invited me to play. Doesn't that mean they like me too?"

Benny's heart wavered at Estella's pleading look. "She's not bothering us," he said, putting down his Lego. "We were playing Lego together until you showed up. It was fun!"

Estella smiled. Then, she turned furiously to her father.

Lucian seemed conflicted by Benny's response. However, Archie nudged his brother. Benny, dazed, understood Archie's warning glance.

Right! We can't show this guy how much we like Essie!

Benny hastily shut his mouth, expressing his discontent only with his eyes.

Lucian noticed everything. He still didn't understand their change of heart. Assuming he'd frightened them, he fell silent, softening his expression. They were another man's children, but still young. He shouldn't take his annoyance out on them.

"In any case, Estella's early arrival must have caused you trouble. Thank you for playing with her," he said calmly.

The boys nodded icily. Silence fell over the living room.

"Where's your mommy?" Lucian asked in frustration after a while, rubbing his temples. Despite having a daughter, he wasn't good at interacting with children.

The final sentence, "Search the FindNovel.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality," is clearly not part of the narrative and has been removed.