Love Unspoken

Quinn stayed with the kids all night, and Alexander holed up in his study.

Next morning, Sprout woke up and found Quinn next to him. He started flailing his arms and legs, waking her up.

"Why are you up so early?" Quinn asked, rubbing her eyes as she saw Sprout tugging at her.

Sprout grinned, showing off his incomplete set of teeth, drool dripping down his chin.

Soon, Briar came in to call her for breakfast.

Quinn finally got up and took Sprout to the bathroom to wash up. Brandy had woken up even earlier. When Quinn carried Sprout downstairs, Brandy was sitting in the living room with Alexander, who was reading a fairy tale book. Alexander's deep, magnetic voice made the story sound pretty convincing.

"The squirrel said seriously, 'It's very deep! Yesterday, one of my friends fell into this river and drowned!""

"The little horse quickly stopped and didn't know what to do. He sighed and said, 'I better go home and ask Mom!""

"The little horse went back to ask his mom, so his mom took him to the river, kicked him into the water, and scolded, 'Are you an idiot? Why don't you try it yourself and find out?""

"It turned out the water was neither as shallow as the old cow said nor as deep as the squirrel claimed. Seeing the little horse bravely try, the squirrel jumped in too, but it drowned." Brandy tilted her head, looking confused.

Quinn smirked. 'What nonsense is Alexander talking about?' she thought.

Brandy asked, "Daddy, why did the squirrel jump in too?"

Alexander closed the storybook and nodded. "Good question. Why did the squirrel jump in? You'd have to ask the squirrel."

Brandy tilted her head, half-understanding, and thought for a long time but still couldn't figure it out.

She turned and saw Quinn had arrived, then ran over to her and asked, "Mommy, why did the squirrel jump in?"

Quinn glanced at Alexander. "Because someone was talking nonsense."

She turned to look at Alexander, who rubbed his nose and pretended to read the book.

Brandy nodded seriously, her expression innocent and earnest, clearly taking Alexander's story to heart.

Quinn walked up to him. "How many stories have you told her behind my back?"

Alexander pondered. "I don't remember."

Quinn was momentarily at a loss for words. "She's so young. Can't you tell her something normal?"

"Like what?" Alexander asked.

Quinn was taken aback. His question stumped her, and she couldn't think of any normal stories for a moment.

Alexander chuckled. "Alright, let's eat."

Quinn stayed quiet for a bit, then looked down at Brandy. "Don't listen to his stories anymore."

Brandy nodded but asked again, "So, Mommy, why did the squirrel jump in?"

"Let's eat," Quinn said, dodging the question.

At the dining table, Quinn glanced at Alexander across from her and suddenly asked, "Now that you're back, you won't leave again, right?" Alexander paused. "Not necessarily."

Quinn's face fell a bit. "Can you find out where Calvin is?"

Alexander put down his chopsticks and reached out his hand. "Give me your phone."

Without thinking, Quinn handed it over.novelbin

He fiddled with it for a bit and then gave it back.

Quinn was puzzled. "What did you do?"

"Check the IP of the number from yesterday," Alexander replied.

Quinn's face lit up, but then she said, "We need to find it quickly. If Calvin leaves that place, it'll be like looking for a needle in a haystack again." Alexander nodded. "Yeah."

Both of them avoided talking about last night, and Quinn tried not to think about it. The priority now was to ensure Calvin's safety.

The ones who destroyed the Mellon family were the Kennedys. But the Kennedy family was no longer around, thanks to Alexander. He didn't belong to the Kennedy family.

As for the Lynch family, they had only stood by and weren't the direct culprits of the Mellon family's demise. Alexander didn't grow up with the Lynch family, so he wasn't considered a true member of it.

There was no point in digging into these matters any further. Plus, it wasn't just the two of them now; there were four of them.

She and Alexander had gone through a lot because of their elders' grudges. They didn't want Sprout and Brandy to go through the same.

Quinn sighed and decided to leave it to fate.

Alexander quickly located the IP address. It was abroad but not far away. The place was somewhat like Municity but was situated on the sea, outside any country's jurisdiction.

Because it was just an island, resources and supplies were scarce, and no country wanted to risk annexing it. After all, it was in the ocean, and claiming the island would have meant asserting maritime territory, which neighboring countries would have definitely opposed.

Thus, it became an isolated independent city on the sea, not even considered a country, known as No Return Island.

The place was pretty chaotic. Most of the residents had shady backgrounds, but a lot of wealthy folks had fled there and settled down, so the island developed fairly well.

Calvin learned about this island from Abigail. The city had only been around for a little over a decade. The rich folks had become the upper class and set up a complete legal system, living carefree lives.

Calvin couldn't help but think of Alexander's plan. This was the kind of setup they initially had in mind.

He spent the whole day with Abigail exploring the city. The prices here were insane. Even Abigail couldn't help but complain. A cup of instant noodles that cost five bucks back home sold for fifty bucks here. The cheapest thing was seafood; other fruits and veggies were sold at sky-high prices. Potatoes and carrots cost thirty bucks a pound.

Calvin said, "With prices this high, doesn't anyone oppose them?"

Abigail replied, "Oppose what? Prices are high because costs are high. Didn't you see? This place is surrounded by the sea. To get to the nearest land, you have to go through customs, and transportation is a pain. Since this island isn't officially recognized, you can't get flight or shipping routes approved, whether by air or sea. Except for seafood, most things are imported. Even if people resist, another wave of people will come, and the prices will still be the same, maybe even higher." Calvin rubbed his chin. "Makes sense."

He then realized that last night, they almost ate Abigail into poverty.

In this place, money ruled. Whoever had the most money was in charge, plain and simple.

Abigail turned to him and asked, "How long do you plan to stay here?"

Calvin looked at the distant horizon, his expression melancholic. "I don't know."

The core issue was that he was penniless and stranded. He was in a worse situation than a refugee; his only option was to beg.

Abigail said, "You can apply for a new identity here without any documents, just a million dollars."

Calvin smirked. "Impressive."

Abigail laughed. "That's why there are so many rich people here. But generally, there's no need for it unless you're an international fugitive. Using your original identity is fine."

Calvin waved his hand. He couldn't even come up with a hundred bucks, let alone a million.

Abigail said, "I can stay here for at most half a month. If he doesn't come back, I'll leave."

She could see that Calvin was a bit broke now and didn't know what had happened, so she gave him a heads-up.

It wasn't that she didn't want to stay longer, but the money she had could only last for half a month at most. If she didn't leave, she'd be starving like Calvin.

Now that they were here, her money might not even last half a month. If Calvin ate like he did yesterday, he'd bankrupt her in seven days.

After thinking for a while, Abigail said, "We need to save money now. Let's eat seafood as much as possible since it's cheap."

Calvin wasn't picky about food, so he nodded. "I'm fine with that."

Abigail took him to the market. The environment here was really nice. The market was orderly, with everything categorized, looking clean and tidy. The cost of garbage disposal there was high, so the management of the environment was very strict. Littering could result in fines.

Now there was another problem. Abigail held a king crab and asked them, "Do you know how to cook this?"

"No," Calvin and Cruz answered in unison.

In the end, they bought some easy-to-cook seafood, like shrimp, crab, and salmon that could be eaten with dipping sauce after boiling.

It was fine at first. But after three days of eating it, Calvin felt like he was going to throw up just thinking about it.

Feeling somewhat guilty, Abigail took them to a restaurant for a big meal.

Worried about Calvin, Quinn begged Alexander for a long time before he agreed to bring her to find Calvin.

They arrived on the fifth day. Quinn got off the boat, looked around, and exclaimed, "The scenery here is nice, perfect for a vacation." Alexander walked beside her and said, "No one dares to vacation here."

"Aren't we?" Quinn asked.

"If you think so, then sure," Alexander replied.

Quinn didn't want to argue with him. "Where's Calvin?"

"Not sure, but he's on this island. We'll have to look for him slowly," Alexander said.

The IP location only gave a rough range, so they had to search within that range. If Calvin left that area, it would be even harder to find him. Quinn could only hope Calvin hadn't gone too far; otherwise, she didn't know how long it would take to find him.

They searched around the location but found nothing, so they decided to find a place to stay and continue searching.

She tried calling Calvin, but his phone was off.

She sighed. Since it was still early, after finding a place to stay, she dragged Alexander out for a walk, hoping they might run into Calvin.