Joey stood there silently, his back stiff. He kept silent for a long moment. "Did Mr. Bateman send you here?"

Janice knew that he would misunderstand her. She said, "He has never asked me to come. On the contrary, he is still protecting you. He hasn’t even blamed you for taking advantage of the child. I don’t know why he protects you again and again, but your actions are too disappointing."

Joey lowered his head in silence.

Janice felt powerless. In the end, she said calmly, "Anna needs a stable life and normal parents. If you really love her, please think about it carefully. This is my contact information. If you decide, you can call me."

As she spoke, she took out a business card and handed it over.

"Also, you don’t have to take Anna away in such a hurry. Although the hospital here is not as good as that of Tomaville, it can still handle Anna’s illness. If you are worried, I can assure you here that I will not come to the hospital without your permission."

After that, she put the business card on the crook of his arm and turned to leave.

Joey stood there, staring at her departing figure, his eyes darkening.

"Uncle." Only did Anna call him softly that he came to his senses.

"She is gone." Anna blinked her big bright eyes.

Joey said with a frown, "Anna, we won’t be leaving the hospital for now. Let’s wait for you to get better, then we’ll leave, okay?"

Anna didn’t speak but stared at him blankly.

"I promise you that I’ll let Mom see you."

"Okay." Seeing that Anna had nodded in agreement, Joey finally relaxed.

That night, Joey called Sophie, but no one answered.

He then sent a message to her. "Sophie, can you come to the hospital in the county? Anna is sick and wants to see you."

But there was no reply for a long time. Joey put away his phone in disappointment. Later, Rob entered the ward with a fruit basket. "Joey, how is the kid?"

Rob put down the fruit basket and glanced at Anna, who was sleeping soundly on the bed.

Joey nodded. Facing Rob, he felt somewhat awkward.

"Thank you for what you did this time."

Rob frowned. "Do we still need to thank each other?"

He handed him a cigarette.

Joey looked at Anna and reached out to take it. "Let’s go outside."

He walked out of the door.

Rob followed behind him.

At the flowerbed outside the hospital, the two sat down.

Joey picked up Rob’s lighter and lit the cigarette up.

He didn’t usually smoke, but he had been in a bad mood recently, so he took it when Rob handed it to him.

He smoked, exhaled a mouthful of white smoke, and spoke in a low voice, "It’s Mr. Bateman who asks you to monitor me."

Rob frowned. "Don’t blame Mr. Bateman. You forced him to do this."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Joey, do you really know Ms. Valen?"

Rob had wanted to ask this question a long time ago.

Joey did not even think. "Of course I know her."

"Then do you know what she did to Mr. Bateman after she returned?" When Joey heard this, he hesitated and looked over.

...

From his expression, Rob knew that he knew nothing, so he sneered.

He then recounted what Sophie had done. Snuffing out the cigarette in the trash can, he continued, "I won’t say her other small tricks, but what she shouldn’t do is trying to scheme against Mr. Bateman. Do you know that Mr. Bateman almost lost his life because of her?"

Joey stared at him with shock in his eyes.

Rob continued, "Mr. Bateman hasn’t recover his memories yet. Joey, I know you like Ms. Valen, but you can’t be so unreasonable. Have you forgotten how Mr. Bateman treated you in the past?"

"I don’t."

"You don’t? But what are you doing now? You just stand by as Sophie slanders him, yet you’re still helping her cover it up."

"Sophie is not as bad as you described," Joey retorted.

Rob stared at him and didn’t know what to say for a while.

Joey gradually calmed down. "I’m very grateful for your help, but please don’t wrong Sophie."

"Even now, are you still going to protect her?" Rob found it hard to believe.

Joey frowned in pain, but he insisted, "No matter what you say, I believe that Sophie is kind."

Rob found it laughable and thought that Joey was too stubborn to communicate. He resentfully said, "Joey, wake up. If she is really as kind as you say, has she ever appeared or called to see her own child in the hospital?"

In the face of his question, Joey couldn’t answer for a while.

Rob said, "Then I’ll answer for you. No. She can even ignore her child. Do you really believe that she’s kind?"

"It’s not like that. Sophie loves Anna. She’s just... just..."

"Just what?" Rob asked.

Joey’s heart was in chaos. He wanted to defend her, but suddenly couldn’t find any reason. Finally, he gritted his teeth and said, "She just has no choice."

"Have no choice? Do you believe that?" Rob sneered, "Do you really think that Mr. Bateman would restrict her freedom? No, if she wants to come, she would have come long ago. Why would she have waited until now? Also, even if she is trapped, would it be hard to make a video call? Technology is so advanced now. She has countless ways to fulfill her responsibility as a mother. But has she done all she can?"

Rob was disappointed at Joey’s attitude.

When Joey heard that, he felt quite uncomfortable.

"No matter what you say, I believe her."

He covered his head, not wanting to continue listening.

Rob felt that he was casting pearls before swine. He was very speechless.

Finally, Rob said, "Well, in this case, you can spend the rest of your life with your kind Sophie."

Rob left.

Joey sat there and smoked crazily, allowing the smoke to swirl in front of his eyes, staring blankly for a long time.

Rob’s words kept replaying in his mind.

"You just stand by as Sophie slanders Mr. Bateman, yet you’re still helping her cover it up."

<No, Sophie loves Mr. Bateman so much. She won’t hurt him. There must be some misunderstanding.>

"If she wants to come, she would have come long ago. Why would she have waited until now?"

<No, Sophie is just trapped and could not come out. She doesn’t mean to not come to see Anna.>

...

"Now that technology is so advanced, she has countless ways to fulfill her responsibility as a mother. But has she done all she can?"

He suddenly couldn’t find a reason.

However, he was still unwilling to believe it.

So, he turned on his cell phone and clicked on the video call with trembling hands.

A crisp sound rang out in an instant, but no one answered.

He didn’t give up and called again. After repeating calling for several times, he finally gave up.

When Joey returned to the ward, Anna had already woken up and was crying, "I want my uncle."

Joey’s heart tightened when he heard the cry and he quickly rushed in.

"Anna, I am here."

Anna threw herself into his arms and wiped her tears.

"Uncle, where have you been? I’m scared."

Anna sobbed so hard that she couldn’t breathe.

Joey comforted her for a while to calm her down.

"When will Mom come? I miss Mom." Anna sobbed.

Joey’s heart ached, and he didn’t want to lie to her.

He held Anna tightly in his arms and clicked into the chat interface again. Besides the messages he had sent before, the screen was full of signs that indicated that his video calls failed.

"Why couldn’t she even make a video call?" Joey thought with a sharp pain in his heart.

He closed his eyes in pain. After a long time, he slowly opened his eyes.

There was still a hint of fierceness in his eyes.

In the hotel, after Janice returned, she laid on the sofa in a daze. She wanted to persuade Joey, but she failed in the end.

"Could they only break with each other?" Thinking of this, she felt very sad.

At this moment, her phone suddenly rang. She picked it up lazily and glanced at it.

When she saw the caller ID, she quickly sat up.

"Hey." Christopher’s voice came through.

Janice was briefly stunned before she responded, "Hey."

He asked, "Where are you?"

After a brief pause, Janice replied, "A hotel."

"Stay here and don’t go anywhere before I get there."

After that, he hung up the phone.

Hearing the beep sound, Janice stared blankly for a while and then realized, "He has arrived?"

<No, I could not give up just like that. I have to make another attempt before he arrives.>

When she thought of this, she hurriedly walked towards the door. However, as soon as she opened it, she was stopped by Rob, who was standing outside.

"Mr. Bateman is on his way here. He wants me to tell you that you can’t go anywhere before he arrives."

"But I’m hungry and want to eat something." Janice frowned.

Rob said, "What do you want to eat? I’ll get someone to send it over."

Janice reluctantly said, "Forget it, I won’t go out."

She closed the door resentfully and returned to her room.

"It seems that I have no chance."

She was incredibly depressed when she thought of this.

Soon, the door opened and Yvonne returned with a large durian in her hand.

Janice glanced at it from afar but immediately felt nauseous.

"Yvonne, are you going to eat it here?"

Yvonne frowned. "Of course not. Why would I eat something so smelly?" "Then why did you buy it?" Janice asked in confusion.

Yvonne’s face was mysterious as she replied, "I have my own uses for it."