However, just as she was reveling in her success, Adele, who was enjoying a mouthful of cake, suddenly blubbered and spat it out. Her mouth was smeared with cream and crumbs, and she burst into tears, crying.

"Not eating, too full!"

Adele suddenly became frantic, sobbing and insisting that she didn't want to eat, which caused Sadie to freeze. She felt a surge of panic rising inside her chest as her mind raced on what could be wrong.

"Goddamn it, I should have known not to feed her so much. But this bastard wouldn't say that unless I fed her cakes!" Sadie muttered to herself, gritting her teeth in frustration. She had come up with the idea of using food to coax Adele into speaking those few words she instructed her to say to Holden.

Worried that Holden might notice that something was off with Adele, Sadie reacted quickly the moment the child dissolved into sobs and raised her voice to drown out the crying. She held little Adele in her arms, wiping the cake and tears off her face, and said, “Alright, alright, you don't have to eat anymore. Mommy's here. Adele, be good."

As she spoke softly, she cuddled Adele in her arms and hushed her sniffles, occasionally stealing anxious glances at Holden, fearing that he might form doubts about this situation.

Holden watched Sadie cradle Adele, and his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

He could sense something was amiss from the way they were both behaving. He turned over what Adele had just said in his mind, fathoming what she could have meant.

Suddenly, he became aware that Adele was crying and calling him. He snapped out of his thoughts. He quickly took Adele to his arms and comforted her cries. Then, he turned to Sadie and said, "I'll take her upstairs to wash up.”

Sadie didn't dare to object.

With Adele snuggled in his arms, sniffling occasionally, Holden carried her upstairs to clean her up. While washing, he squatted down and asked gently, “Adele, how much cake did you eat just now?"

Adele kept her head down and remained silent, twiddling her tiny fingers. Holden tried again softly and gently.

“Before Daddy came home, did Mommy give you a lot to eat? Is that why you didn't want to eat?"

Adele was still clammed up, her expression passive as she played with the buttons on her shirt as if she had blocked out the world.

Holden continued to try and persuade her to speak as gently as he could, but Adele remained unresponsive.

Eventually, after trying all the ways he could think of, Holden sighed in resignation and decided to stop. He gently wiped Adele's face, washed his hands, and was about to help her dry hers when Adele suddenly mumbled, “Love Mommy, or Daddy will go."

Though the sentences appeared somewhat disjointed and Adele's voice barely reached Holden's ears, it caused Holden's heart to skip a beat, prompting him to kneel before her and inquire, “Adele, what did you just say? Can you repeat it for Daddy?"

At this moment, Adele fell silent once more. Despite Holden's persistent inquiries, she refused to speak, merely extending her arms and insisting, “Down, down."

Reluctantly, Holden understood that “down” implied a trip to the study. He carried her downstairs.

Upon entering the study, Adele wriggled free from Holden's embrace and toddled to the desk to retrieve his phone. Her wide, expectant eyes glistened with anticipation, fixed unblinkingly on Holden.