The Billionaire Ex-Wife and the Beggar He Became novel Chapter 382

*That bitch? Were they talking about my mother?* Tiana thought.

Tiana didn't dare look up. She just kept kneading Felicity's legs with all her might, forcing back the tears that threatened to fall. She couldn't let them see her cry. For the first time, the five-year-old girl tasted the bitterness of swallowing her own tears. It was a hard thing to swallow.

"Here, child. Come massage my legs," Henrietta said, sitting down next to Felicity and gesturing for Tiana to come over.

Tiana turned, a forced, innocent smile on her face. "Okay, Grandma."

What strength could a small child possibly have? For Henrietta, it was just a game. But for Tiana, the effort made her feel like her wrists were about to break.

Noticing Tiana's fatigue, Henrietta smiled. "Such an obedient girl. You keep listening to your new mother like this. If you're a good girl and know your place, you'll get your treats, okay?"

Tiana nodded. "I get it, Grandma."

"Go on up and play now," Henrietta said.

"Okay, Grandma." Tiana scrambled to her feet and fled to her room on the second floor.

No one saw how hard she cried once she was alone.

Her father wasn't back yet, and she was too scared to call him, terrified someone in the house might overhear. So she hid in her room, waiting, every minute feeling like an eternity.

Downstairs, Felicity complained to Henrietta, "Mom, we're in the Nicholson home. You need to be more careful, especially with Tiana. You can't…"

"I just find that woman, Winona, so disgusting that it rubs off on her child! She looks just like her mother! Don't you find it repulsive? Are you telling me you can actually love that girl as if she were your own?"

"Julian," Felicity murmured, looking up at him with a blissful expression, "do you love this feeling, our family of four all together?"

A family of four.

Tiana knew Felicity was carrying twins. The family of four she spoke of didn't include her.

So what was she?

"Of course I do," Julian said, pulling Felicity closer. "Holding you is like holding our entire family of four. In this moment, all my exhaustion just melts away."

From her lonely post on the landing, tears streamed silently down Tiana's face.