Chapter 4

Ethan Hunt's POV

On the first day after the divorce, I heard Stella had moved out of the Hunt mansion and into a small apartment she'd bought before our marriage.

She left decisively, taking none of the designer clothes or jewelry I'd bought her.

At the Hunt mansion, no one felt anything was wrong at first.

I thought she was just throwing a tantrum and would obediently return within three days. Lucas and Emma were even happy, thinking they'd finally gotten rid of the "bad mom" who was always controlling them.

That same afternoon, Sophia Warren moved into my house under the pretense of "taking care of the children."

"Ethan, these living room curtains are too dark. They're depressing. Can we change them to cream?" Sophia leaned against me, speaking delicately.

"Sure, whatever you want." I affectionately tapped her nose.

And so, the blackout curtains Stella had personally selected to protect my sensitive sleep were thrown in the trash. The roses she'd planted in the garden were uprooted and replaced with Sophia's favorite bellflowers. Every trace of her in this house was being rapidly erased.

Lucas and Emma became Sophia's little shadows.

"Sophia, I don't want to do homework. I want to play games!" I watched Lucas tug on Sophia's sleeve, acting cute.

"Of course! Kids should be happy. You can do your homework tomorrow." Sophia gently patted his head, then immediately added ten thousand dollars to his game account.

Emma refused to eat dinner, demanding fried chicken and fries. Sophia immediately had the servants buy some and even joined her in drinking ice-cold soda.

"Sophia is the best! We never want Mom to come back!" The two children ate the greasy food, laughing happily.

Watching this scene, I felt very pleased. This was the family atmosphere I wanted, relaxed and happy, without Stella's suffocating rules and boring routine.

But what I didn't expect was that a week later, the Hunt household became chaotic.

My stomach condition flared up. I was used to drinking the yogurt she made for me every morning. Now when the servants made it, it was either too thick or too thin. I took one sip and spat it out. When I came home from business dinners at night, without that perfectly-temperatured hangover soup, my headaches kept me up all night.

Lucas got called in by his teacher for not turning in homework for a week straight and getting into a fight with a classmate.

Emma developed acute gastroenteritis from eating fried chicken and drinking cold beverages every day.

When the teacher called, I was in the middle of an international conference call.

"I'm very sorry, teacher. I'll have someone from home handle it right away. I have some urgent matters here, but I'll notify the family shortly." I hastily placated the teacher and hung up.

The butler also called to inform me of the children's situations. The house was in chaos. When I got home, Emma was crying miserably in bed while Lucas was throwing things in a tantrum nearby.

"Where's Sophia?" I asked, suppressing my stomach pain.

"Miss Warren... went to get a beauty treatment." The butler answered nervously.

Looking at the mess everywhere, Stella's image suddenly flashed through my mind. When she was here, this house was always clean and tidy, the children were always well-behaved and healthy, and my stomach never hurt like this.

I couldn't help but take out my phone and dial Stella's number.

"Hello?" Her cool voice came through.

"Emma's sick, and Lucas got in trouble at school." My tone carried a trace of barely perceptible apology. "Haven't you caused enough trouble? If you're done, get back here and take care of your children!"

She laughed softly on the other end, her voice cold as ice. "Mr. Hunt, we're already divorced. They're your children now, and Sophia Warren's children. They have nothing to do with me. Don't call to harass me again."

With that, she hung up without hesitation.