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"I thought I had perfectly sheltered her this whole time," Chloe said. Her eyes started getting teary as she lamented over the fact that her daughter might have matured way too early.

"It's my fault," she murmured. "I failed to protect her and her innocence…."

"What— no!" Diamond grabbed her best friend's arm and shook her several times to pull her out of her self-blame. "It's not your fault! It's because your daughter is an observant kid. She is smart and will naturally understand what is happening no matter how hard you try to hide everything!"

Chloe darted her eyes at Diamond, and Diamond was stunned when she saw tears that streamed from the corner of Chloe's eyes down to her cheek.

Diamond didn't expect this news to have a huge impact on Chloe, and now she regretted everything she said just now.

She shouldn't have told Chloe about Mackie who matured too early.

"Diamond, you don't understand…." Chloe murmured. "Mackie is the sole reason why I let myself endure Vincent and all of his degeneracy. She is also the reason I threw myself to beg for a job to Vernon. I want her to have a good life."

"I don't want her childhood to be ruined, and I surely don't want her to know about all this," Chloe's body was visibly shaken, and her tears streamed freely. "What should I do now? What's the point of all this when my daughter's innocence and childhood have been ruined?"

Diamond's eyes started getting teary as well. Her heart started hurting seeing her best friend crying over spilled milk, "I—I'm sorry," Diamond muttered. "I shouldn't have told you."

Chloe didn't want to blame Diamond for telling the truth. But Chloe wasn't ready to accept the truth.

That everything was in vain.

All of her effort to preserve Mackie's innocence was in vain, and she could do nothing about it now.

"I… I need time alone," Chloe said. She tried to gently push Diamond away from her. "I'm sorry, Diamond."

Diamond felt lost. She wanted to apologize for ruining Chloe's rose-colored glasses. But since it had happened, she could do nothing except retreat.

Diamond stood and stepped back, "I'm sorry, Chloe. I really don't know it'll hurt you this bad…."

…

Chloe said nothing. She lowered her head and cried in silence.

Diamond knew she could do nothing right now, so she simply excused herself and left the penthouse.

**

Diamond drove her car absentmindedly. She kept thinking about what she had said today.

She believed that Chloe had to know that she couldn't and shouldn't lie to her daughter. There was no point in lying to Mackie. That little girl was smart and had matured way too early anyway. Lying to her would only give her trust issues.

'Maybe I was too harsh…' Diamond blamed herself. 'Mackenzie is truly Chloe's life. She did her best to protect her innocence even though it failed in the end….'

Diamond was thinking about how to help Chloe accept this new fact easier. Because she surely didn't want Chloe to keep lamenting over this.

She kept thinking and thinking until she found only one way out, and that was… by telling this to her boss.

"I doubt his ability to reason with a woman who is =going through emotional turmoil, but the only one that can go through Chloe's self-blame is Vernon…." Diamond decided to turn around and go to the office instead of home. "Please, Boss, pull her out of her self-blame, or this will be really hard."

**

Vernon was busy reading new documents when his office door was suddenly slammed open.

He lifted his head and frowned.

"Diamond? Didn't I tell you that you don't need to go to work today?" Vernon asked. "Is there something wrong?"

Diamond's chest rose up and down as she walked towards her boss. Vernon didn't notice anything wrong with her until she stood up close and realized that Diamond's eyes were red, as if she had just cried a river.

"What's wrong?" Vernon asked out of concern. After all, Diamond was always a strong, capable woman who never showed her weakness. So this was the first time Vernon ever saw her crying.

"Boss— no, Vernon," Diamond called his name to signify the personal matter between them. "I fucked up."

"Fucked up? What kind? I can help if it's something about money."

"No, it's not about money, it's about… my best friend, Chloe" Diamond's voice shook when she mentioned her best friend's name.

Vernon turned serious instantly. He dropped all his work and focused everything on Diamond, "What did you do to her?"

"I—I told her about what Mackenzie said to me," Diamond confessed. "Mackie told me that she already knows about Chloe's condition with Vincent, how the anorexia, fainting, and the tears weren't normal, because her Mommy never showed any of that after they left the mansion."

"Mackie told me that she is alright if you— Uncle Vernon— replaces Vincent, her Daddy. Because her Daddy failed to make her Mommy happy," Diamond reported. "You see, Mackie is very observant, and she already knows about most of the things happening around her at such a young age. So there is no use of hiding and lying because it'll only hurt the little girl in the end."

"So I told Chloe about it, I said it bluntly, and she… she didn't take it well," Diamond clenched her fist, trying to calm down because she got emotional whenever she saw Chloe's tears.

She was burdened with an absurd amount of guilt in her heart that she was about to cry again. Diamond stared at Vernon and pleaded— something that she had never done before;

"Vernon, I know I fucked up. But I don't want Chloe to keep deluding herself, trying to keep lying to her daughter. It will only hurt them both and ruin the mother-daughter relationships in the future!"

"So please, please have a serious— but calm conversation with Chloe about this. She needs to know that she can't keep doing this to her daughter!"