Filed to story: The Return Novel by Josh Williams PDF Free>>
Five years later, Natalie stood in the first-class lounge at Heathrow Airport, staring at the two tickets in her hands, unable to focus. She had been in England for five years, and in all that time, she hadn’t made even one phone call to her family. Her father treated her like she was dead and as if he couldn’t care less about it.
If it wasn’t for Sheryl and Nick’s engagement, he might not even have remembered she existed. Her heart had no attachment to the place she had been separated from for years. All her feelings had been erased on the day she was thrown out. She didn’t want to go back and see the people who had hurt her, but she couldn’t stand listening to her father’s threats on the phone. If she did not do what he said, he would not let her grandmother live peacefully; he could even hurt her.
Her grandmother was the closest person in the world to her. She had wanted to bring her to England to spend the rest of her life there, but she couldn’t sway the old lady from her desire to be in the country where her husband and daughter had lived. Natalie had no choice but to leave her where she was. If it wasn’t for her grandmother, she probably wouldn’t go back for the rest of her life, but she couldn’t afford to lose her to her father’s anger.
“Mommy, Mommy.” Lost in her thoughts, she suddenly heard a lovely, gentle voice beside her. She looked down and saw a four-year-old boy lightly tugging at the corner of her jumper. He told her in a serious tone, “Stop daydreaming. The plane is about to take off.” Only then did she recover her wits. The anger in her eyes gradually softened as she smiled and picked up the child. “Alright then, let’s go to the gate.”
At the same time, on the other side of the first-class lounge, a tall man in a suit with two burly bodyguards standing behind him strode towards the gate with a cold expression. Natalie had bought first-class tickets. In the past few years, she had suffered a lot from feeling rootless in a foreign country, and she had developed many issues. She had bad insomnia and headaches, and she was afraid of loud noises.
The moment she got on the plane, she covered her eyes with a blanket to try to fall asleep, but first, she told Liam to be good and not run around. Liam was her most precious treasure. He was very well behaved. He sat on his seat as he was told and played with the toy she had bought him, occasionally stealing glances at her.
Natalie put her head against the window. He soon noticed that she did not look well. “Mommy.” He leaned across and looked at her. Seeing that she was frowning, he asked worriedly, “Are you not feeling well?” Natalie coughed twice due to an itch in her throat. With a hint of weakness in her voice, she answered, “I’m fine …” She looked at the child and forced a smile. “I’m just a little thirsty.”
Without waiting for her to say anything, Liam jumped out of his seat and hurried off excitedly to get her some water. She didn’t know who he took after. He was only four years old, but he was as sensible as a small adult, and he could even take care of her. Liam came running back with a glass of water. As he reached their seats, he bumped into a man who had just stepped into the plane. The glass in his hand wobbled, and the water spilled from it, wetting the man’s shoes and the legs of his pants.
Bryce lowered his head and looked at the water stains on his clothes. He frowned in displeasure. “What are you doing? Don’t you know to watch where you’re going?”
“I’m sorry.” Liam held the cup and apologized repeatedly. But when he raised his head and looked at the man, he was immediately stunned, “I …” Liam had once finally mustered the courage to ask his mother about his father. Natalie was taken aback and stood speechless for a moment before she randomly showed the young boy a picture of a handsome man and told him that this was him.
Looking at Bryce, Liam instantly somehow recalled the same picture and realized that the two men resembled each other to almost a fault! Bryce was a well-built man, who possessed a muscular demeanor and suave gait. His pose and grace made the young boy quiver. The more he looked at Bryce, the more he felt that the man in front of him fit his image of his father from the picture.
He stood quiet for two seconds before hurling himself at Bryce’s long leg and then shouted, “Daddy!”
The two bodyguards behind Bryce were completely taken aback by the scene unfolding in front of them. They had been with Bryce for a long time, but this was the first time they’d seen someone act so affectionately with him, let alone someone so young.
Bryce’s expression instantly turned ugly. He reached out his hand to push away the little arms that were wrapped around him and said coldly, “Don’t randomly call people your father. I’m not your father.” He had known many women who had claimed to be pregnant with his child, but this was the first time he had ever seen such a clever and affectionate ‘son’.
Liam stared at his face and answered with certainty, “You are my daddy. Why did you abandon me and Mommy?” The more he spoke, the more wronged he felt. He pouted his small mouth and put on a pitiful expression.
When the passengers beside them heard this, they immediately looked over in curiosity. Natalie couldn’t sleep through the commotion. She opened her eyes and looked in the direction of the noise, only to find her son standing in the middle of the aisle, holding onto the leg of an unfamiliar man.
“Sorry, sorry.” She quickly got up. Embarrassed, she reached out to take the child’s hand. “He must have made a mistake. Liam, let go of him.” Her son had always been sensible and listened to her over anyone else, but today she didn’t know what was going on. No matter how much she tried to persuade him, Liam continued to hold onto the leg of that strange man’s pants. He bit his lips in frustration and refused to let go.
Bryce was a cold person, but when he looked at the child’s pitiful expression, he felt a bit moved. He frowned and said to Natalie, “Why did you become a mother? If you couldn’t give him a complete family, it would have been better not to have him at all.”