CHAPTER 269

Chapter 269

An hour later, Isabella and Adrian came back from work.

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The kindergarten that Damian and Ronald attended offered after–school care. If parents could not pick up their children immediately, the kindergarten would provide additional supervision for an extra hour or two until the parents finish work and could take their children home.

Because Carly was in that mansion these days, she felt that it would be better to take Ronald home and care for him rather than leave him at the kindergarten.

After that incident happened, Connor forced her to quit her job and forbade her from working outside. With no other options, she eventually taught herself to paint online. She was now a freelance illustrator, taking orders and painting from home without needing to go out and socialize with clients, yet still earning enough to support her family. Most importantly, she could also take care of her child while working.

Currently living at Isabella and Adrian’s place, Carly also consciously helped them take care of Damian. She told them taking the kids home and caring for them personally would be better than leaving them at the kindergarten.

After thinking about it, Adrian and Isabella agreed to cancel the after–school care. Every day after school, Damian and Ronald would be sent home by school bus as soon as possible.

It was late, and it was time for dinner. Everyone sat down and ate together.

When dinner was over, Carly finally summoned the courage and said, “Adrian, if I want to divorce Connor, can I file for it now?”

Isabella was surprised because she didn’t expect Carly to bring up the topic of divorce so quickly and proactively.

In the past, Isabella had advised Carly that if she really could not continue with Connor, it would be better to get a divorce. However, every time Isabella tried to persuade her, she never listened. ‘Has Carly figured it out completely?‘ Isabella wondered. She was in a good mood, feeling happy for Carly.

“Anytime,” Adrian answered.

Carly was stunned for a while, then she came to her senses and nodded hurriedly. “Okay.”

Adrian looked at her. He was silent for a moment and then said, “Carly, I just heard that

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Connor came to pester you outside the residential area today?”

Isabella’s expression changed when she heard that. She said anxiously, “What did you say? Connor was here?”

Adrian looked at Isabella and hurriedly comforted her, “It’s okay. The guards didn’t let him in.”

Then Adrian looked at Carly and said, “Carly, I’ll find two bodyguards for you tomorrow. It will be safer if you go out with them.”

‘Bodyguards?‘ Carly shook her head quickly upon hearing that. She said, “No, I don’t need bodyguards. It will cost too much money.”

Carly knew wealthy families often hired bodyguards, but she felt she didn’t need one. She wanted to save the money she earned to buy a house. She and Ronald could not live with Isabella and Adrian forever. They needed their own place, their own home. Once her divorce from Connor was finalized and everything settled down, they would move out. She was currently quite short on money.

Adrian laughed. “Carly, you don’t need to pay for it. They are all bodyguards of the Carter family. They get paid regularly but don’t have much to do. I’ll just temporarily assign them here to protect you for a few days. Once you divorce Connor and he stops bothering you and Ronald, they will leave.”

Actually, hiring bodyguards would cost money, but Adrian understood Carly’s concerns, so he deliberately said it wouldn’t cost extra. Only this way would Carly possibly agree to let him arrange bodyguards for her.

Isabella also suddenly recalled the situation from the previous visits to the Carter family. The Carter family had indeed hired many bodyguards, especially around Becky and her two children, with several bodyguards present.

Adrian looked at the still hesitant Isabella and Carly, and said, “When Becky got divorced before, the Edwards family was also restless. Our family hired some bodyguards to ensure the safety of Becky and the two children.”

At the mention of Becky, Carly and Isabella also recalled the news they had seen before. Becky’s life experience had been quite rough, but now her life was getting better and better. Witnessing that, they sincerely felt happy for her.

“Will transferring them over not delay things on the Carter family’s side?” Carly asked with some hesitation.

Isabella hurriedly said, “Carly, it’s okay. It won’t affect them. You should take care of

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yourself first. After you get through this period and get divorced, everything will get

better.”

Carly was still somewhat conflicted. After hesitating for a while, she finally nodded and agreed solemnly, “Alright. Thank you all.” She then thought for a moment and added, “Adrian, what is their current salary? How about I hire them myself and cover their wages for this period?”

“Carly!” Isabella put down her chopsticks, looked at Carly, and said seriously, “I’ve already told you not to worry about the money. Why are you being so polite with us?” Isabella then turned to look at Damian and said, “You help us take care of Damian every day, and you haven’t asked us for any money. If you keep being so polite with us, I’m gonna be mad, okay?”

Adrian also smiled and said, “Yeah, Carly, don’t be so polite with us. If you keep being so polite, I would think that you treat me as an outsider.”

Carly was stunned upon hearing that, and then she came back to her senses. She quickly shook her head and said, “No, it’s not that, I…” Only then did she realize that the Carter family was indeed different from others.

“Alright, since you’ve all been so kind to me, I’ll accept it all. If you ever need my help in the future, just let me know. As long as I can help, I definitely will,” she hurriedly said.

Adrian smiled and agreed, “Okay.”

At this moment, Adrian never imagined, nor could he have imagined, that many years later, the Carter family would really encounter major trouble. They would be schemed against by competitors and nearly be accused of plagiarism at the most important world competition, leading to a ruined reputation and bankruptcy.

At the most critical moment, it was Carly, who had become a top–tier artist, who worked tirelessly to urgently design a stunning new set of designs for the Carter family. It replaced the plagiarized designs inserted by the competitors‘ spies within the Carter family and amazed the world, resolving their crisis, and preserving the family’s reputation accumulated over the years. The designs helped them win the international competition, elevated the Carter family to a higher status, and opened up broader overseas markets.

The things that would happen in the future are unknown to them now. At this moment, after reaching an agreement, they began discussing the matter of filing for divorce.

In the past few months, Carly had collected a lot of information about Connor’s domestic violence. That included videos of Connor hitting her and videos of him taking his frustration out on Ronald due to his bad mood. Keeping those pieces of

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evidence not only facilitated the divorce but also helped her in the divorce proceedings to secure custody of the children.

When it comes to the issue of child custody, Carly was most grateful that after resigning from her job, she didn’t remain idle at home. Although it was tough at first when she started learning to paint, she eventually became capable of taking orders and earning money, which provided her with a source of income. Having money was crucial for securing child custody. Otherwise, the court might not grant her cu