Alicia went mad, screaming and cursing wildly. She even tried to spit at Willow.

    Someone rushed in, stuffing a dirty rag into her mouth. She could only re at Willow with her dim eyes filled with resentment.

    All she could do was make muffled whimpering sounds.

    Willow calmly dusted her cor, her voice still gentle. “Draw her blood and check for AZ.”

    That man nodded in agreement. “Good idea. Her private life’s been aplete mess anyway.”

    Willow gave Alicia one final look. “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure you stay alive. You’ll stay here until you die of old age.”

    After saying that, Willow turned and left, ignoring the whimpering and cursing behind her.

    Outside, the sunset was zing, painting the world in scorching light.

    Willow looked at the sunset and felt like she could see Grace’s kind smile as she cooked in the Kitchen. She could even hear her gentle voice singing old lubies…

    But unfortunately, because of Alicia, all of that was gone!

    After finishing her business, Willow returned to the Chapman residence and began moving out with Gabrie.

    Naturally, the two children were thrilled.

    Willow wanted to take care of Landon personally, so she remodeled one of the children’s bedrooms. Thankfully, the 800 square feet room was spacious enough to fit two beds.

    There was still enough space for a small study, where Willow could read and draw with the kids. Of course, the matter of IVF had also been set in motion.

    Later that night, after the children had fallen asleep, Willow pushed open the study door. The room was quiet.

    Julian sat behind the desk, flipping through the documents. These past years, he’d been raising Landon alone, so he would handle his workte at night.

    Over the years, he had lost a lot of weight, but his charm remained. a

    Hearing the door open, he looked up at her and asked gently, “Are Landon and Gabrie asleep?”

    Willow nodded slightly.

    Julian could tell that she had something to say, so he capped his pen with one hand, then tugged at the corner of his suit jacket with the other.

    He sat down on the sofa and motioned for her to join him. Seeing the gentle look on her face, his voice unconsciously softened.

    “I’ll have the maid make two cups of coffee. Let’s talk while we drink. Didn’t you love Mendhling coffee?”

    Willow declined. “I’m prepping for pregnancy, so bI /bshouldn’t drink coffee. And Julian, we’re having this child for Landon. Once the child is born, we’ll still go our separate ways.”

    Julian’s smile remained gentle. “I know. To you, I’m just a fertility tool.”

    Willow yelled, “Julian!”

    The night was quiet, and Julian’s eyes grew solemn. After a moment of careful consideration, he spoke softly, “Willow, how about we try naturally?

    “IVY is hard on your body. I won’t take advantage of you. If you agree, we’ll treat it like a task, nothing more. I won’t do anything that makes you ufortable.”

    Willow rejected him and replied, “I’ll get a trigger shot next morning.”

    Julian’s eyes darkened. He didn’t bring it up again. He didn’t want Willow to think he was a lecher who only thought about such things.

    Even though, truthfully, he did think of it every night.

    All he said was that he’d apany her to the hospital the next day.

    The next morning, Willow helped the children get dressed.

    Landon had a jacket he particrly liked and insisted on wearing it to kindergarten.

    Willow doted on him, so she went to the master bedroom to get it for him. She made a mental note

    to move Landon’s wardrobe into the children’s room for convenience in the future.

    At 7:00 am, Julian would’ve already been up by now!

    Willow didn’t think much of it and pushed open the bedroom door. Inside, it was pitch ck.

    The ckout curtains blocked out all the morning light. Even though it was daytime, the inside of the room still felt like midnight. There was also a musky scent mixed with the unique male scent…