The Billionaire Ex-Wife and the Beggar He Became novel Chapter 403

Winona immediately wrapped her arms around Yves's neck, resting her head in the crook of his shoulder and refusing to look at Julian.

With her eyes half-closed, she said, "Mr. Nicholson, even if I were about to smash my head into a steel wall, even if it killed me, would you please not touch me?"

"I don't understand how, in a city of thirty million people, we could be so unlucky as to run into you. Shouldn't you be at your family's estate with your fiancée and daughter on New Year's Day? What are you doing here?"

Julian could see she was clenching her teeth, trying to suppress her disgust for him.

She burrowed into Yves's embrace, her neat bob slightly disheveled. Her small head pressed against his neck, her eyelids drooping. She looked like a weary, fragile woman seeking protection from her man.

With a jolt, Julian realized that her weariness and revulsion were a physical reaction to him.

The woman who once loved him more than life itself now despised him so much that her body reacted involuntarily.

Even though Julian didn't love Winona and was about to marry Felicity Shepherd, he still felt a sharp sting of defeat, especially seeing how possessively Yves had snatched her away, and how readily Winona relied on him.

For a fleeting moment, Julian wanted to shout, "Winona is my wife! The mother of my child! Get your hands off her!"

But it was just a thought.

Even in his anger, the ever-composed man knew he no longer had the right to say such things.

However, someone else said it for him.

"Mr. Prescott, can you please let my mommy go and give her back to me? My mommy and daddy had me, and we're a family. If you let my mommy go, I'll give you all my allowance money. I'll give you my snacks and my toys, and my Barbie dolls too. Okay?"

Five-year-old Tiana Nicholson looked up at Yves with hopeful eyes.

Yves was stunned.

He wouldn't flinch at a life-or-death battle with Julian; in fact, he was confident he would win. But a little girl who barely came up to his waist, offering him her allowance, snacks, toys, and Barbie dolls?

"Three years ago, your father started choosing a new mother for you, and you accepted her. You love your new mother very much, and she loves you. Your father is happy with the arrangement. That is your perfect little family. In your eyes, I became an outsider three years ago," Winona explained in a calm, even tone.

Tears streamed down Tiana's face.

"Tiana," Winona's voice grew hoarse. "In life, once you make certain decisions, you can never go back. For example, if someone hurt their best friend so badly they could never be friends again, and then later they got lonely and wanted their friend back… could the friend just magically reappear?"

"No…" Tiana whispered.

"Exactly. So, you have to take responsibility for your choices, whether the outcome is good or bad. Do you understand?"

Tiana nodded fiercely, large tears flying from her eyes.

"Tell me," Winona asked, voicing her own suspicion, "shouldn't you, your father, and your new mother be at the family estate today? Why did you suddenly decide to come here?"