Chapter 233

Chapter 233

Ella had just hung up the phone when she saw Joshua walking toward her.

She put away her phone and went to meet him, asking, "Did you see enough this time? Do you feel better now?"

If she didn't bring him here to see for himself, he would overthink things. Now that he'd come, he probably felt uncomfortable too. But some things he had to experience firsthand, otherwise the more he suspected, the bigger the rift between them would grow.

Joshua's expression was indeed terrible.

He stared at Ella and answered irrelevantly, "When did you take wedding photos with Michael?"

Ella froze for a moment.

Wedding photos?

She felt a bit guilty and avoided Joshua's gaze. "Those were photoshopped."

"I can tell the difference between photoshopped and real photos. Ella, when we were still married, did you live with Michael?"

This was something he couldn't tolerate.

He didn't care that she'd known Michael since childhood, that they were close, or even that she'd been married to Zachary.

But during their marriage, if Ella had been entangled with Michael and even taken those kinds of photos, he couldn't accept it.

It felt like a complete betrayal.

Ella straightened her back again, raised her head to meet Joshua's gaze, and admitted, "Yes, before I divorced you, I did live here with Michael for a while. Don't you remember this?"

Joshua frowned, not immediately understanding.

Ella continued, "After my accident, Michael saved me and brought me here. I finally managed to escape and went home, only to find you and Scarlett in bed together. Later, when I left with Dorian, Michael's people caught me and brought me back."

"Joshua, you came to find me yourself, and you called the police. I heard you even used your connections to make him leave the country. Have you forgotten all of this?"

She hadn't forgotten any of it.

As for the wedding photos, Michael had forced her to take them. Could she have resisted?

Aurora's whereabouts were unknown, and Michael kept threatening her with his words.

To avoid provoking him into doing something even worse, she could only cooperate temporarily.

Joshua suddenly understood.

There was indeed such an incident. It was just that so many years had passed, and with his serious injury, he had indeed forgotten about it.

He immediately looked guilty. "I'm sorry, I don't remember many things from before."

Ella smiled faintly. "It's okay. After all, you were injured too. It's normal for your memory to be affected."

She walked past him toward the house.

Joshua watched her back, and hearing her words, he felt a bit hurt.

"My memory got worse because of that injury."

"I know."

"Then why did you agree to take those kinds of photos with him?"

Hearing this accusation, Ella was genuinely unhappy.

She stopped, turned around, and her expression darkened.

"I'm telling you one last time, and I hope you won't ask again. If I hadn't cooperated with him then, he would have forced himself on me. I only agreed to take photos to keep him calm, that's all."

She thought Joshua was being unreasonable. Did she still question him about all those things with Scarlett in the past? That was long over.

But now he kept dwelling on her past. Ella didn't like this version of Joshua—it made her feel like she was constantly being suspected.

"I'm sorry, I didn't consider things from your perspective. It's my fault." Joshua clearly sensed Ella's anger and immediately apologized.

Ella didn't respond and turned to go into the house to call Aurora and Dorian.

Joshua didn't follow her in. Everything in that house made him feel particularly irritated, as if the air itself had solidified, making him feel oppressed.

Soon, Ella came out with Aurora and Dorian.

As they were leaving, the old man who looked after the house came over again, reluctantly saying to Ella, "Ms. Garcia, are you leaving? Won't you stay? This is Mr. Johnson's property for you."

"Ms. Garcia, are you and Mr. Johnson no longer together?"

"Ms. Garcia, please stay. If Mr. Johnson comes back and sees you here, he'll be so happy."

Ella patiently told the old man, "I'm sorry, but Mr. Johnson and I have nothing to do with each other anymore. He probably won't come back. You just live here peacefully."

She didn't linger any longer and left with Aurora and Dorian.

Joshua followed beside them.

Aurora looked up at Ella with bright, sparkling eyes. "Mommy, is this house yours? It's so pretty. Can you leave it to me later? I want to live here like a princess."

Ella looked at Aurora helplessly. "No, it's not mine. It belongs to someone else."

Aurora didn't care and smiled innocently. "But Uncle Michael gave it to you. Mommy, you're amazing. Uncle Michael, Uncle Zachary, and Daddy—they're all tall, handsome, and rich, and they all like you. Mommy, you're so great. When I grow up, I want to be like you."

Hearing this, Joshua's expression immediately darkened. Ella noticed his displeasure and quickly corrected Aurora. "Aurora, don't talk nonsense."

Aurora pouted, feeling wronged.

"I'm not talking nonsense. Uncle Michael and Uncle Zachary really do like you, and Daddy likes you too. You must be really special for them all to like you. I want to be special like you too. Is that wrong?"

Dorian sighed. "Aurora, she has her reasons for saying that."

"That's not right." Joshua picked Aurora up directly, letting her sit in his arms, and said with a stern face:

"Your mom knows them because life was difficult, and they were friends who came to help her."

"But your mom only sees them as friends. The person she truly loves is only me. Understand?"

Dorian chimed in, "What he means is, you won't have the same experiences as Mom, so you won't meet that many men."

Joshua didn't expect Dorian to understand his meaning and suddenly smiled.

"Dorian's right, that's exactly what I mean."

Aurora stopped talking and rested her head on Joshua's shoulder, her little face clearly falling.

But in two more days, she would have to leave. Away from Daddy, Mommy, and her brother, her life probably wouldn't go smoothly either.

She suddenly felt reluctant to leave them. Her little hands circled Joshua's neck, and she nuzzled against his face, saying sadly, "Daddy, I love you and Mommy, and brother, I love you too."

Ella came over and helped tidy Aurora's hair that had been messed up by the wind, touching her little face.

"We love you too."

The family of four chatted as they walked down the mountain. The descent was much easier, and they quickly arrived home.

After getting home, Ella planned to cook, but Joshua told her to go spend time with the children while he cooked.

Ella didn't argue with him and took the children for another walk around the village, telling them interesting stories from her childhood. Aurora and Dorian listened attentively.

For the next two days, the family of four had a wonderful time. The mountain air was fresh, the scenery beautiful, and the food all natural. This self-sufficient lifestyle made everyone feel relaxed and happy.

But early one morning, while everyone was asleep, Aurora quietly got up, put on her shoes, and sneaked out alone.

She hadn't gone far when Ella, feeling uncomfortable from her pregnancy, rolled over and didn't feel Aurora beside her. She immediately opened her eyes. Seeing the empty space next to her, she was frightened and quickly pushed Joshua.

"Joshua, where's Aurora?"

Joshua sat up and found Aurora really wasn't there. Thinking she'd gone to the bathroom alone, he hurried out of bed to look.

As soon as he stepped outside, he saw the driver leading a sulking Aurora back and reporting, "Mr. Thomas, Aurora was heading somewhere by herself. I saw her on the road and brought her back."

Joshua saw that Aurora was even wearing her jacket and carrying a backpack. He immediately grabbed her. "Aurora, where were you going so late?"

Aurora kept her head down, like she'd done something wrong, and said nothing.

Ella had also come out. Seeing Aurora dressed like this, she clearly wasn't just going to the bathroom. She also demanded, "Aurora, what were you doing going out alone?"

Did she know this was the countryside, that it was pitch dark outside and very dangerous? Aurora had actually tried to leave while they were all asleep. Ella's heart jumped to her throat.

Aurora still didn't speak.

Joshua suddenly remembered he'd given both Aurora and Dorian watches with tracking functions, and their necklaces also had built-in recording and tracking devices. He immediately went back to the room to get his phone, opened the monitoring system, and quickly checked the records.

Soon, he found a suspicious recording from a few days ago.

After listening to Aurora's conversation with two strange men, Joshua broke out in a cold sweat. He handed the phone to Ella, then looked at Aurora standing in front of him with her head down, pulled her over, and said seriously, "Aurora, were you going to find Michael? Why? If you just left like that, do you know how worried and sad Mommy and Daddy would be?"

Aurora hadn't expected Joshua to guess it. Realizing her behavior was indeed wrong, she pouted, looking wronged.

Joshua was afraid of making her cry, so he quickly pulled her into his arms and coaxed gently, "Aurora, tell Daddy properly, why do you want to find Michael? Don't you love Daddy the most? Don't you know that doing this makes Daddy very sad?"

At this point, Ella had also finished listening to the recording. Her expression immediately darkened, and she was about to give Aurora a good talking-to.

But then Aurora spoke. "I know I'm shorter and smaller than my brother because I'm not healthy and need a medicine. That medicine is with Uncle Michael."

"Mommy kept wanting to find Uncle Michael before to get medicine for me. I don't want Mommy and Daddy to fight because of me, so I wanted to go get the medicine from him myself."

Seeing Daddy's sad expression, Aurora quickly explained, "Daddy, the person I love most is still you. I wasn't abandoning you."

Hearing the child's words, Ella forcibly suppressed the anger she was about to unleash.

So the child understood everything. She just didn't want Mommy and Daddy to worry about her, so she wanted to leave on her own. This silly child—she was only seven years old. How could she go abroad alone with strangers?

Ella's heart was filled with mixed emotions. She quickly hugged Aurora.

"Silly child, Mommy and Daddy will naturally find a way to solve your illness. How could we let you go find that person? Don't ever do this again, okay?"