Over five years, Sadie had become part of the picture, and she wasn't willing to give up on Holden. Now, Ariana felt like she was being seen negatively, judged unfairly, and misunderstood. Why did things have to turn out like this?

Holden's heart ached as he watched Ariana cry, and he asked gently, “What's wrong? Did Sadie do something else to upset you?"

Ariana shook her head and kept crying. Once calmed down, she wiped her eyes and said, "It's nothing, just upset over my broken phone."

Holden wasn't convinced by her explanation but chose not to press further. Nodding, he said, “Alright, how about I get you a new phone? The one with all the latest features."

Seeing Holden play along, Ariana managed to smile through her tears.

Noticing her smile, Holden felt relieved. He handed her a tissue and teased, “Go on, laugh. You've got a bubble of snot from laughing.”

“No way!" Ariana protested, quickly covering her nose with the tissue.

Holden chuckled softly and playfully pinched her cheek. “Gotcha.”

He then tenderly wiped a tear from her cheek.

Pretending to be angry, Ariana covered her nose but couldn't help laughing.

Just then, Devin approached with a simply dressed middle-aged woman—

Adele's babysitter.

Devin said to Holden, “Sir, I need to discuss something important. Could we talk in the room next door?"

Holden nodded, then turned to Ariana, saying, "Come with us."

Ariana hesitated but eventually nodded and accompanied them to the room nearby.

Once inside, Devin said, "This is Adele's babysitter. I've arranged her for the job."

He then shared his observations from his last visit when he picked up Adele, concluding, “I had suspicions that Miss Pierre might be mistreating Adele, so I kept a watchful eye. When Miss Pierre was looking for a new nanny, I ensured we had someone on our side."

He nodded to the nanny, who took out her phone and displayed several pictures.

They all looked at the pictures with furrowed brows.

The photos didn't explicitly depict abuse, but they did show moments of Sadie's impatience and neglect.