My Possessive CEO: Trembling in His Arms-Chapter 175: This Isn’t His Home

On the dining table, there were eight dishes, both meat and vegetarian, both hot and cold, and a large bowl of dried scallop and mushroom chicken soup.

Luckily, the portions weren’t too large. Otherwise, just Renee and Shay alone wouldn’t finish them in three days.

Shay lifted her glass of red wine and cheerfully said, "Happy New Year, Renee."

Renee also raised her glass, smiling slightly, "Happy New Year."

Shay took a big gulp, satisfied, "This is really good."

Renee chuckled and sipped gently.

Of course, it was good. These were top-notch red wines, made from Italian old vine grapes, undergoing numerous processes, and all in all, they were expensive high-end wines.

With a glass of wine down, both Renee and Shay felt a bit dizzy.

Shay’s cheeks were flushed, and she let out a wine burp.

She quickly covered her mouth with her hand, then released it, giggling playfully.

Renee laughed, "Drink less. This wine has a strong aftereffect."

Shay laughed and promised, "Okay, I won’t drink anymore. Let’s drink together tomorrow night." But then her brows furrowed, "Oh no, maybe we can’t drink together tomorrow."

Renee teased her smilingly, "Why? Are you leaving tomorrow?"

"Of course not." Shay raised her voice, "Where could I go? I definitely won’t leave."

Renee smiled, "Then why do you say we can’t drink together tomorrow?"

Shay asked, "Will Mr. Yates be back tomorrow?"

Renee paused, then smiled and shook her head, "I don’t know." Then she added, "Maybe not, tomorrow is New Year’s Day, he should be at home."

Shay quickly asked, "Then isn’t this place considered his home?"

Renee: "..."

Shay regretted asking right away, and apologized immediately, "I’m sorry, Renee, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, I was just trying to say..."

Renee interrupted her with a smile, "You didn’t do anything to apologize for, so why apologize?"

Shay lowered her head, and said weakly, "I shouldn’t have asked such a stupid question."

Renee: "Strictly speaking, this is just his residence, indeed not his home."

Shay raised her head, "Renee, you might not know, every time you and Mr. Yates argue, I get really scared."

Renee laughed, "Are you afraid he’ll get mad and take it out on you?"

Shay quickly shook her head, "No, I’m not afraid of Mr. Yates losing his temper with me. I’m afraid of you two breaking up."

Renee was surprised, "Huh? Why?"

Shay: "The longer you stay here, the longer I can work here. If you and Mr. Yates break up, I lose my value, and I won’t be able to keep this job."

With that, Shay lowered her head.

"As the saying goes, it’s easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but hard to go from extravagance to frugality. Once I leave here, it’ll be hard to find another job as easy and well-paid as this. The main thing is, I’ll never find a better employer than you."

Hearing this, Renee felt a pang in her heart, and she reached out to pat Shay’s hand, "If that day really comes, I’ll talk to him and have him keep you here until you’re old, okay?"

But Shay shook her head firmly, "No, if you leave, I’ll leave too. I only want to take care of you, not a new hostess. And besides, the new hostess may not even want to keep me."

Renee felt even more heartache but forced herself to smile.

"Don’t overthink it, it’s New Year’s Eve, we should be happy."

Shay nodded vigorously, "Okay."

After dinner, the two of them sat on the large sofa in the living room watching the Spring Festival Gala.

But in fact, neither of them watched, both were looking down at their phones, with the TV playing alone, just serving as background noise.

After replying to messages, Renee opened her social media feed and scrolled down aimlessly.

Tonight’s social media posts were almost all about New Year’s Eve dinners and lively family reunions.

Stepmother Whitney Lowell not only showed off the New Year’s Eve dinner but also specially posted about their new home.

Under the lights, a gleaming marble round table was laid with a wealth of dishes, bacon, sausages, braised fish, seaweed rib soup, stewed beef, small crispy meat, bamboo shoots and duck, etc.

Renee deliberately counted the bowls and chopsticks—there were eight pairs of chopsticks and eight bowls.

Grandpa, Grandma, Dad, stepmother Whitney Lowell, her brother Wilder Winslow, making five in total.

Yet, there were eight pairs of chopsticks and eight bowls.

It seemed that Whitney’s parents and her brother also came over for the celebration.

Whitney’s brother is about twenty-five or six and hasn’t married yet.

Renee felt as if a stone was pressing on her chest, making her short of breath.

Not wanting to feel bad, she quickly scrolled down, but suddenly froze.

She saw a post from Lilia Sutton—"Mom, may you be happy in heaven."

And Lilia’s mom, who is also Renee’s mom, they are half-sisters, born of the same mother but different fathers.

Lilia is three years younger than Renee, sixteen this year, and currently in high school.

Renee paused for a moment, then with trembling hands, sent Lilia a message.

[Did mom pass away?]

After a while, Lilia Sutton replied to her.

[Okay.]

Renee asked: [When did it happen?]

Lilia: [The night before last.]

Renee: [Was it an illness, or something else?]

Lilia: [Car accident.]

Renee didn’t ask any more questions.

What difference would it make if she did? She couldn’t go back anyway.

Besides, according to her hometown’s customs, if someone dies near the end of the year, they must be buried before New Year’s Eve, which means her mom was probably cremated yesterday.

But no one had said a word to her about it until now.

And why would anyone tell her?

Her dad hadn’t been in touch with her mom’s side for a long time.

And her mom had married three times already. Lilia’s father was her mom’s second husband, and they divorced when Lilia was ten. She then married her third husband, and even their third child was already five years old.

As for Renee, the child born out of wedlock, she had long been forgotten.

So even now that she passed away, Renee, the eldest daughter, wasn’t informed.

She was an outsider everywhere. To her mom, she was a mistake of youth, and to her dad, she was superfluous.

Even now, with Jack Yates, it was the same.

"Shana." Renee put down her phone and smiled at Shay, "Does the house have any skyrockets or sparklers? Let’s go to the yard and set off some fireworks."

Shay quickly stood up: "Wait a moment."

Under the spiral staircase, there was a storage room for miscellaneous items.

Shay opened the storage room door and pulled out a cardboard box.

A box full of sparklers, pop-pops for kids, and small skyrockets.

Shay chuckled: "I bought these online, just to set off for the New Year."

Outside, the snow was still falling, but lightly, with lazy flakes drifting down as if controlled by someone, seemingly adding a touch of wintry charm to this New Year’s Eve.

Renee held a sparkler in one hand, standing in the snowy garden, her arms stretched out, shaking the sparkler igniting with fire.

In the firelight, her little face was even paler than the snow, with a smile.

But that smile held no warmth, like the cold night.

As the sparkler was about to burn out, Renee smiled and said, "My mom passed away the day before yesterday."

Shay, seeing the sparkler in her hand about to burn out, was just about to light a new one for her. As the lighter ignited, she heard that sentence, her hand shook, and the flame singed her fingers.

"What did you say?" Shay, stung by the burn, retracted her hand and asked uncertainly, "You said your mom passed away?"

Renee nodded gently and replied softly, "Yeah, my mom passed away. I just found out, and I only learned through a post on social media."

Shay was silent, not knowing what to say for a moment.

The sparkler finally burned out, leaving only the acrid smell of sulfur.

Renee sniffled: "I found out she passed away when I saw my sister’s post."

Shay: "Then... then why didn’t anyone tell you?"

Renee smiled self-deprecatingly: "Maybe they forgot about me, or maybe they think I’m not important."

Shay dropped the lighter and sparklers, stepped forward, and hugged her.

Renee pushed Shay away: "It’s okay, it’s just a slight discomfort that I can’t quite describe. Honestly, I haven’t seen her much. I saw her a few times in elementary school, twice in middle school, and after her third marriage, I saw her very rarely."

Shay: "I don’t know how to comfort you either because my family’s a mess too. Everyone at home is either crazy or foolish, the only normal ones are me and my dad. Guess how my dad treats me?"

Renee: "Did he hit you? Yell at you?"

Shay gave a bitter smile: "Being hit or yelled at was the least of it. Back in middle school, my dad once barged in while I was taking a shower, saying he wanted to help me wash."

Renee: "..."

Shay gave a pained smile: "He forcibly violated me a few times, and finally, I couldn’t take it anymore and ran away."

Renee: "Didn’t you report it..."

The question sounded foolish as she said it. A minor girl, barely a teen, how could she report it? To whom?

Renee grasped Shay’s shoulders, looking at her with firm eyes: "Don’t go back! Never go back there again!"

Shay nodded heavily: "Yeah, I won’t go back."

Renee hugged Shay, wrapping an arm around her shoulders: "Let’s go inside, it’s cold out here, let’s go inside and watch some TV."

As soon as they stepped into the foyer, Renee’s phone, left on the sofa, began to ring.

She rushed into the living room and picked it up, seeing it was a local unfamiliar number.

"Hello." She hesitated for a moment before answering the call.

The voice of Caleb Yates came through the line: "Happy New Year."