Maia held her daughter close, planting a gentle kiss on her soft, rosy cheek, her eyes full of affection. "Be good, baby. Mommy will play with Fleur."

Watching this warm scene, Noah felt a mix of emotions - envy, longing, and sadness all at once.

Luca deliberately turned his head away, unwilling to look.

A flicker of displeasure crossed Blake’s stern, handsome face. Noticing the disappointment on his sons' faces, his gaze toward Maia turned sharp and piercing.

After breakfast, Blake and Yoel went out to check on the road conditions.

Since it was clear they would be leaving today, Maia didn't dwell on keeping the boys around for longer.

Though they had been apart for years and the boys held no attachment to her, they were still her children.

But…

As she gazed out the window at the brewing storm, Maia frowned. A heavy sense of foreboding weighed on her heart.

She was making coffee when Noah, clutching his beloved toy car, cautiously peeked into the living room. Slowly, step by step, he made his way toward Fleur.

Inside the baby playpen, Fleur waved her chubby little hands.

"Bubba."

Hearing her call out, Maia turned around, and Noah froze in place.

Meeting her gaze, he awkwardly lowered his head, fidgeting nervously. "Daddy bought me this new toy car. I... want to give it to Fleur."

Seeing that she didn't stop him, Noah carefully handed the toy car to Fleur.

"Here, for you."

Fleur stood up, waddling to the edge of the playpen, happily reaching for Noah’s hand, wanting him to come in and play with her.

Just then, Luca shouted, "Noah, don’t give it to her!"

...

Blake returned to the sound of Luca wailing.

His sculpted face darkened with an icy chill, his lips pressed into a thin, cold line as he strode over to his crying son.

Meanwhile, Fleur clutched the toy car in her arms, nestling obediently in her mother’s embrace. She looked at the crying boy with confusion, wondering why this brother was so sad.

Seeing his younger brother crying so hard, Noah tried to comfort him, only to be shoved away by Luca, sending him tumbling to the floor.

"I don’t want you as my brother anymore! Go play with that bad woman’s daughter!"

Blake scooped Noah up and turned to glare at Luca, his voice stern. "Luca! She’s your mother. Apologize, now! And say sorry to your brother too!"

Luca sobbed loudly. "No! She doesn’t love me! I don’t want her as my mother! Daddy, I want Aunty Jelynn! Let’s go find her, okay? Noah likes that bad woman’s daughter, so he’s a traitor!"

Blake’s expression turned even darker. Just as he was about to reprimand his son further, Maia’s voice rang out.

"Blake, he's right. I don’t deserve to be his mother.

"It's day now. You should leave."

Her meaning was clear. She was kicking them out.

Outside, the storm had worsened, rain hammering down even harder than the night before.

Forget driving, even standing by the door, they could barely see anything beyond the downpour.

Blake hadn't expected her to be so heartless. His aura turned ice-cold in an instant.

As the heir of the prestigious Quillan family, he had been born into wealth and privilege.

A prodigy, a business legend - those were the titles the world gave him. To this day, he had never known what failure felt like.

Except for his marriage to Maia.

Five years, and it had ended just like that.

His gaze was as frigid as a winter storm. "Maia Diaz, they are your sons, children you carried for ten months. And you’re heartless enough to send them out into this storm?"

His voice was laced with impatience as he tugged at his collar in frustration.

"Their fevers just broke, and they're only six. Why are you taking a child’s words so seriously?"

Noah spoke up hesitantly, "Daddy, I gave my toy car to Fleur. Luca thought I gave his away, and that’s why he got upset."

Blake had always indulged his children’s requests for toys. Knowing that Luca had caused such a fuss over a misunderstanding, his gaze grew colder.

"Luca, your brother has the right to decide who he shares his toys with. Crying and throwing a tantrum won’t change that."

Fleur, snug in her mother’s arms, didn’t understand most of the conversation. But the words "toy car" caught her attention.

She slid out of Maia’s embrace, toddling over to Luca while clutching the toy car.

"Bubba, play." She held it out to him, thinking that this would stop his tears.

But Luca turned away, his tears falling even harder, like the rain dribbling down the window panes.

Whenever Fleur cried, her mother would always hug her and give her kisses.

A bright idea struck her. She put the toy car on the floor, then tottered over and hugged Luca, her little hands patting his back gently.

Luca had never been comforted by a younger child before. Embarrassed, he shrank back into his father’s arms, mumbling, "But… I’m not your brother."

That bad woman didn’t even acknowledge him as her son.

Fleur looked up at Blake, puzzled, not understanding what Luca meant.

She turned and grabbed her candy jar, eagerly toddling back to her mother.

"Mama, candy!"

Maia patted her daughter’s head and handed her a piece candy. She was about to pick her up when Fleur toddled over to Noah.

"Bubba!"

This was Fleur’s favorite candy. Her mother only let her have one piece a day.

To her, it was the yummiest thing in the world.

Seeing her daughter so willingly share it, Maia was stunned.

Fleur had never warmed up to other children this quickly before.

Noticing Luca stealing glances at her, Fleur assumed he wanted one too. Without hesitation, she held out the piece of candy to him.

Luca smacked the candy away with a snort. "I don’t eat candy from bad women!"

Blake’s brow furrowed, displeased with his son’s rudeness. "Luca! That was very impolite. When someone gives you something, what do you say?"

Luca hesitated, his gaze darting between Fleur and Maia, whose expression was unreadable. Finally, he mumbled, "Thank you..."

Fleur, ever the cheerful one, giggled and picked up her candy jar, shoving it into Noah’s arms.

"Bubba!"

This new brother was great. He played cars with her!

Noah was caught off guard, hugging the jar full of sweets in shock.

Fleur tugged at his sleeve, pointing at Maia. "Mama!"

Noah glanced at Maia, shy and hesitant, unable to bring himself to say it.

Fleur grew anxious. Whenever she called Mama, she got candy; how could her brother not do the same?

She grabbed Noah’s hand and dragged him over to Maia, pointing at the candy, then at her mother. She repeated, "Mama!"

Noah’s face turned red. After much hesitation, he finally whispered, "Mama."

Tears welled up in Maia’s eyes. She tilted her head back, blinking rapidly to keep them from falling, nodding gently in response.

Fleur beamed.

She didn’t understand those complicated emotions, she only knew that candy made people happy.

Luca eyed his brother’s jar of candy, feeling a little jealous. He peeked at Maia. If he called her mama, would he get a whole jar too?

Noah opened the jar, pulled out a lollipop, and handed it to Fleur. Then, he took another and held it out to his brother.

Blake ruffled his son’s hair. "Noah, they were given to you. You should keep them."

In the Quillan family, siblings were never forced to give up what was theirs. Everything was always distributed equally.

Fleur had already nestled back into her mother’s arms while Blake continued urging Luca to apologize.

Finally, Luca mumbled, "Sorry… I shouldn’t have said bad things about you."

He wanted to call her mommy, but the word stuck in his throat.

Stealing a glance at her, he secretly hoped she would hug him like before.

But she never did.

Her eyes remained fixed on Fleur.

Luca’s heart sank with disappointment.