Madeline Crawford and Jeremy Whitman
Chapter 2023

Madeline vaguely heard Lillian's name, so she quickly turned and walked downstairs.

Fabian seemed to hear Madeline's footsteps coming downstairs and he deliberately walked towards the door, avoiding Madeline. Noticing Fabian's move, Madeline hurried to catch up, but when she walked up to Fabian, he had just hung up the phone.

"Fabian, who were you on the call with? Is it related to Lily? Where have you taken Lily?"

Madeline's face was full of worry as she questioned, "Fabian, tell me!"

Fabian chuckled nonchalantly in the face of Madeline's anxious questioning.

"Eveline, don't waste time and energy. I won't tell you where Lillian is."

Fabian's answer was extraordinarily cold and inhumane.

Madeline knew that he was acting like this because of prejudice against herself and Jeremy.

Madeline simultaneously felt helpless and very regretful.

"Fabian, when we first met, you were a positive, unruly, and energetic boy who strived to improve yourself. I'd thought we would always be good friends, but I didn't expect us to be reduced to this kind of relationship."

Madeline sighed involuntarily.

"Fabian, Lily is still just a child. She doesn't understand anything. She is sick and needs the care and solicitude of her mom and dad. If you returned my daughter to me, Jeremy and I would accept however you want to deal with us."

Fabian, unmoved as he listened to Madeline, then turned to meet Madeline's gaze.

"I know she's ill, so I've asked a doctor to treat her. She's better off recuperating with me than going back with you. I also took photos of those examination reports for you to see, didn't I?"

"I know that you've been very good to Lily, but at the end of the day, she's still my daughter."

Madeline emphasized this and hoped that Fabian could understand how she felt as Lillian's mother.

Fabian, however, did not want to understand, and instead, he just chuckled.

"You must be very disappointed not being able to see the person you're the closest to, aren't you?"

Suddenly, there was a touch of loneliness in Fabian's eyes, and this loneliness was coupled with a tinge of unwillingness and hatred.

"You can't see your daughter now, but you at least know that she's fine. Besides, you can still make video calls with her every day. But what about me?"

Fabian curled the corners of his lips into a self-deprecating smile and looked up at the sky outside the window.

"I don't have any family in this world."

His eyes became more and more lonely. It was a kind of genuine loneliness.

Madeline could fully understand how Fabian was feeling.

That was because there was a time when she thought that she was an orphan and that she no longer had any family in this world for a long time.

She could fully understand the feelings of helplessness and devastation.

"Eveline, you should go back. You came in vain anyway. I won't let you see Lillian."

When Madeline heard this, she slipped out of her reverie.

She looked at Fabian's decisive gaze and asked calmly.

"How long do you intend to keep Lily?"

"I've never thought about this." Fabian smiled and turned around. "My brother's final words to me was to ask me to be a proper man. So, I won't keep thinking about how to deal with you and Jeremy, but I must let you experience the feeling of losing a loved one."

It seemed that Fabian would never allow Madeline and Fabian to see Lillian again.

Madeline felt that it would be useless to keep contending with Fabian. As such, she said nothing and turned around to leave.

After making sure that Madeline had left, Fabian quickly took out his phone to call back the number from just now. 6

When the call went through, he asked quickly.