Chapter 187 Cleo Was Already Trying to Be an "Adult"

Nova stayed quiet and deeply moved herself. Mark had been lying from the start, deceiving both her and Cleo. "Cleo, I was duped just like you. Look at me, nothing's changed, right?" Nova said. "But they still want to take me away, and I might never see you again," Cleo complained, her lips pouting. Nova gazed at her, her eyes full of compassion for the little girl whose fate echoed her own, and she couldn't resist stroking her cheek gently. "Cleo, nobody can force you to do anything you don't want to." "So, I don't have to go if I don't want to?" "Yeah, you don't have to." Cleo felt a bit relieved but still held onto Nova. "Auntie, why doesn't my mom come to see me?" Nova felt a lump in her throat, uncertain how to reveal to Cleo that Ava was gone forever. They had kept everything from Cleo to spare her feelings, but Mark and Evelyn's arrival today had brought many secrets to light, leaving Cleo struggling to cope. Cleo wasn't ready to accept that her mother had gone to heave