Chapter 450: His Support

"..." Anne frowned when she saw this. ’Is telling a child "your mommy doesn’t want you anymore" really something you should say?’

She had only ever seen wicked stepmothers on TV. Now, seeing the look on Mia Shaw’s face and how she was interacting with the child, even Anne felt a sense of suffocation.

She called out, "Mia Shaw."

Hearing her name, Mia Shaw looked up at Anne Sutton and said with a loaded tone, "Well, if it isn’t Dr. Sutton!"

Anne walked over and glanced at Leo. The little boy’s eyes were still red-rimmed.

The last time she’d seen Leo, he’d been a clever, lively little boy. But now, standing before Mia Shaw, he seemed like a completely different person. His face was filled with a caution that was unbefitting of his age.

Anne asked, "What are you doing here?"

Mia Shaw sighed. "Isn’t Charles Prescott busy? Leo got sick, so I had to bring him in for a check-up. It’s such a pain! As if I don’t have my own job to go to."

"What’s wrong with him?"

"He’s been coughing constantly. I don’t know what the problem is, so I brought him in."

"What were you just saying to him?" Anne looked up at Mia Shaw. "Telling him his mother doesn’t want him anymore? How can you say something like that to a child? Besides, his mother hasn’t abandoned him!"

Hearing this, Mia Shaw retorted, "Dr. Sutton, aren’t you overstepping a bit? He’s just a child. If he misbehaves, am I not allowed to say a few words to discipline him?"

"Disciplining a child is one thing, but speaking to him like that will cause him emotional harm," Anne said. "He may not be your child, but you still shouldn’t treat him this way."

"What did I do to him?" Mia Shaw sneered. "Ms. Sutton, you talk as if you’re so high and mighty! If you’re so magnanimous, then why did you make such a scene with Charles Prescott over this child back then?"

Anne looked at Mia Shaw and said, "Whatever happened between Charles Prescott and me is in the past. It’s no excuse for you to be abusing this child now."

"Abusing him?" Mia Shaw did not like the sound of that. She rolled her eyes at Anne. "What are you talking about, Ms. Sutton? How am I abusing him? Leo, am I abusing you?"

She looked at Leo.

The last time Sylvia Warren had come to visit, Charles Prescott had reprimanded Mia Shaw.

But afterward, Mia Shaw had punished Leo anyway.

She believed that Leo daring to tattle to Sylvia Warren just meant she hadn’t disciplined him properly yet.

The problem was all Leo’s fault.

Hearing Mia Shaw’s question, Leo didn’t dare hesitate for a second. He quickly shook his head. Mia turned back to Anne. "See? If I was abusing him, would he be this obedient? Don’t be ridiculous."

Anne looked at Mia Shaw’s smug expression, then back at Leo. She had met Leo more than once before. Back then, he’d been spoiled rotten by Mrs. Prescott, and his personality had even been a little grating.

But now...

He had been "trained" by Mia Shaw into someone completely subdued.

The sight made Anne feel deeply unsettled.

...

Soon, Mia Shaw led Leo away.

She was holding his hand.

She paid no mind to whether the boy could keep up, practically dragging him along.

"What are you looking at?" Chloe Chase asked, walking over to where Anne was standing.

Anne looked at Chloe Chase and said, "Mrs. Chase."

Chloe Chase said, "I saw you spacing out. Is all your work finished?"

"No," Anne said. "I just saw something."

"What was it?"

Anne replied, "Nothing I should be concerned with."

’After all, her relationship with Charles Prescott was terrible. If his son was suffering, that was his own problem.’

’But watching it happen just made her agitated. She really wanted to meddle.’

She hated this feeling.

For the rest of the day, Anne tried her best to focus on her work.

But that evening, after she returned home, she was still thinking about it.

Nathan Fawcett came in and found her sitting at her desk, lost in thought. "What’s on your mind?" he asked.

Anne said, "Nothing."

"Don’t give me that," Nathan said. "I can tell just by looking at you that something’s bothering you."

"Is it that obvious?" Anne asked, looking at him.

Nathan said, "As obvious as can be!"

He sat down and looked intently at Anne. "Go on, tell me what’s wrong. After you’re done, we’ll go out for dinner."

Anne said, "Let’s just go eat. Where are we going?"

She stood up.

"Let’s go to your mom’s. We haven’t been in a while. We can go see them."

Anne stood up.

She walked to the doorway, but he grabbed her hand and pulled her back, taking the opportunity to close the study door. He looked at Anne and said softly, "You’re really not going to tell me?"

Anne said, "It’s nothing."

"If you don’t tell me, I’m not letting go. I’ll just hold you like this."

He made Anne laugh. "Are you crazy? Why would you just stand here holding me?"

Hearing her, Nathan’s lips curved into a smile. "Then hurry up and tell me."

Anne said, "It’s just... today at the hospital, I saw Charles Prescott’s son, Leo, with Mia Shaw."

"That’s it?"

"You’ve seen Charles Prescott’s son before," Anne said. "What did you think of him?"

"I didn’t really pay attention."

"He was pretty rambunctious, very outgoing, wasn’t he?"

Nathan said, "I suppose so."

Anne said with a sigh of resignation, "I saw Mia Shaw with him today, and he was like a different person. Completely unlike how he was before. He looked so pitiful. I think Mia Shaw is abusing him. I even heard her tell him that his mother doesn’t want him anymore. I felt like I should get involved, but then I thought that Charles Prescott’s problems have nothing to do with me, and it’s put me in a terrible mood."

Nathan looked at her. "So that’s why you’ve been moping around?"

Anne lowered her head. "Yes. Sometimes I just hate this part of my personality, how I always feel the need to get involved in everything."

Nathan said, "Isn’t that perfectly normal? It just proves Ms. Sutton is a person with a strong sense of responsibility."

"..." Anne looked at him and said, "So, you think I should get involved?"

"Of course you should," Nathan said. "Leo is still so young, about Ian’s age. Just imagine, if one day our child was going through something like that, completely helpless, wouldn’t it be a wonderful thing if someone was willing to reach out and help him?"

"..." Hearing Nathan’s words, Anne looked at the man before her. ’He’s usually so aloof,’ she thought. ’If it were him, he probably wouldn’t bother with something like this.’

But here he was, encouraging her.

Anne looked at him and said, "Nathan."

Hearing her, Nathan asked, "What is it?"

"Thank you." Anne reached out and took his hand. "Thank you for helping me work through this."

Nathan reached out and gave her a hug. "You only live once. If you want to do something, then do it. Just follow your heart. The world might not be a good place, but Anne, you can choose to be a good person."