My Coldhearted Husband’s Regret

Louis made his way over to where Sabrina was sitting. "Sa," he said casually.

Sabrina glanced up briefly from her puzzle. "You're here?"

Taking a seat beside her, Louis began helping with the puzzle while making conversation. "Just got back from the movies with my mom. Funny thing—I saw your mom there too."

Sabrina's hands froze mid-movement. She looked up sharply, her full attention now on Louis. "My mom? At the movies? Where exactly?"

"At the cinema complex downtown," Louis replied, continuing to sort puzzle pieces.

Sabrina's lips tightened into a thin line. "That's completely impossible. My mom is swamped with work right now. She doesn't even have a minute to breathe, let alone watch movies. You definitely saw someone who just looks like her."

Louis's expression darkened, clearly offended by her dismissal. "I know what your mom looks like, Sa. That was definitely her."

"You're making this up," Sabrina insisted, her voice rising slightly. She refused to entertain the possibility.

Just yesterday evening and again this morning, she had called her mother repeatedly, only to be sent to voicemail each time. Her mother had claimed to be too busy even for a quick chat. The idea that she would have time for something as leisurely as a movie seemed preposterous.

"I'm not lying," Louis protested, his indignation growing. Feeling the need to prove himself, he elaborated further, "And she wasn't by herself. There was this kid with her—about your height, really adorable!"

Until this moment, Sabrina had merely been annoyed at what she perceived as Louis's mistake. But at the mention of another child, something inside her snapped. She scooped up a handful of puzzle pieces, jumped to her feet, and hurled them directly at Louis. "That's impossible! I dare you to say that again!"

Louis was stunned. He had simply been sharing what he'd seen—a normal, innocent observation. He couldn't understand why Sabrina was reacting with such hostility.

Being no pushover himself, Louis quickly gathered his own ammunition of puzzle pieces and flung them back at Sabrina. "I'm not making anything up!"

"You—" Sabrina began, her face flushing with anger.

"What in the world is going on here?" a voice interrupted.

Their heated exchange had grown loud enough to attract attention from the adults in the living room. Seraphine rushed over to investigate the commotion.

Louis's eyes welled with tears of frustration. "I was just telling her that—"

"Hmph!" Sabrina cut him off with an angry sound.

Her eyes had grown red-rimmed, and her lower lip trembled with emotion. Not waiting for Louis to finish explaining, she spun around and bolted toward the living room.

"Dad!" she cried out desperately.

Cullen, seeing his daughter in distress, had no choice but to catch her as she launched herself into his arms. After offering a quick apology to the guests for the interruption, he carried Sabrina away from the gathering. Once they were out of earshot, he gently asked, "What's the matter, sweetheart? What happened?"

Sabrina opened her mouth to repeat Louis's claim, but the words caught in her throat. The mental image of her mother spending time with another child—someone apparently cuter than her—caused tears to spill down her cheeks.

Meanwhile, Seraphine and Aila had extracted the full story from Louis in the other room.

Seraphine turned to Aila. "Did you happen to notice if Veronica was at the cinema today?"

Aila shook her head apologetically. "I wasn't really paying attention to the other moviegoers. I can't say for certain if Louis is right or not."

Seraphine considered this for a moment before addressing Louis. "I believe that you think you saw your cousin's mom. It's entirely possible that you did see someone.

"But," she added carefully, "it's also possible that you saw a woman who resembles Aunt Veronica—not actually her."

The previous day, after Watson had returned home, he'd noticed that while Cullen had brought Sabrina to visit Cook at the hospital, Veronica had been absent. Curious about this, he had inquired about her whereabouts.

Because Sabrina had been within earshot, Cullen had simply explained that Veronica was too busy with work commitments to join them.

Apart from Cook, no one in the Dennis family was aware that Cullen and Veronica were in the process of getting divorced.

Throughout their marriage, the family had witnessed Veronica's apparent devotion to Cullen. So when Cullen attributed her absence to being busy, everyone naturally assumed something urgent had arisen with the Murray family, preventing her from returning home.

Now, upon hearing Louis's account, both Seraphine and Aila suspected he must have been mistaken.

To their knowledge, there weren't any young children in the Murray family close to Sabrina's age. And if Veronica truly had free time available, it seemed illogical that she would choose to spend it watching a movie rather than visiting family.

The scenario simply didn't make sense.