Chapter 121: I Can, But You Can’t
lissa said she wanted to go fly a kite in the afternoon.
Rachel Royce said, "It’s too hot today, so we won’t go fly a kite."
lissa thought for a mont, then said, "We can fly kites in the big yard on the mountain. It’s not hot there. Dad and I go stay there all the ti."
lissa was probably talking about Tristan Sterling’s villa on the mountain.
Rachel Royce glanced at the man.
Tristan Sterling said to lissa, "We’ll go after lunch and a little rest."
"Okay."
After lunch.
The nanny packed up the things lissa wanted to bring.
The driver brought the car around.
lissa hopped around like a happy little bunny.
A child’s worries co and go so quickly.
The three of them got in the car.
Not long after getting in the car, lissa fell asleep again. Tristan Sterling covered her with a small blanket.
Once lissa had quieted down, the car fell into silence.
Tristan Sterling and Rachel Royce still weren’t speaking to each other. As Rachel Royce watched her daughter’s peaceful, sleeping face, an indescribable sadness welled up in her heart.
Just then, Tristan Sterling’s phone vibrated. He answered the call.
From the sound of his voice, Rachel Royce could tell it was Claire Ainsworth on the line, probably wanting to see him.
"I’m busy today. Next ti."
"Are you out with lissa?"
Tristan Sterling grunted in affirmation.
Claire Ainsworth bit her lip and hung up.
Rachel Royce tilted her head to look out the window. Listening to the man’s gentle voice, she found it utterly ironic.
She then heard the man’s low, displeased voice. "What are you smiling at?"
Rachel Royce looked back at him. "Are you sure you want to know?"
"I don’t," Tristan Sterling replied.
lissa was still sleeping, and Rachel Royce didn’t want to argue with him.
「anwhile.」
After her call with Tristan Sterling ended, Claire Ainsworth threw herself into the arms of a beautiful woman beside her and started crying.
Jane Sullivan hugged her daughter, patting her shoulder with eyes full of heartache. She looked at Suzanne Sullivan, who was sitting opposite them, and asked, "What on earth does Tristan Sterling an by this?"
Jane Sullivan had just arrived in Kingsland today. Claire Ainsworth wanted to have dinner with him tonight and had wanted to go find him just now.
But Tristan Sterling’s world currently revolved around lissa Sterling, and he showed no intention of marrying Claire. Yet, she desperately wanted to marry him now.
Suzanne Sullivan said, "Tristan isn’t alone now. He has to consider lissa, and lissa is still young."
Jane Sullivan said, "lissa Sterling is already five years old; she should be old enough to understand. Is he going to keep Claire waiting for an answer forever because of his daughter?"
Suzanne Sullivan said helplessly, "Only Tristan himself knows what he’s truly thinking."
Jane Sullivan’s expression soured. She patted her daughter’s shoulder and said, "Claire, you go upstairs first. I need to talk with your brother."
Claire Ainsworth choked back a sob and went upstairs.
After Claire Ainsworth went upstairs, Jane Sullivan asked her son, "Suzanne, be honest with ."
Suzanne Sullivan said, "lissa can’t accept Claire being with her father right now."
Jane Sullivan’s face darkened. "Her mother abandoned her. Claire has been good enough to lissa Sterling, so why can’t she accept it?"
"Who can really understand a child’s mind? But Mom..." Suzanne Sullivan’s expression turned serious. "You want Claire to marry Tristan Sterling. Is it really just for her happiness?"
Jane Sullivan looked at her son. "Suzanne, what do you an by that?"
Suzanne Sullivan warned, "Tristan Sterling isn’t soone who can be easily won over. There are so things, Mom, that you shouldn’t get too involved in."
How could Jane Sullivan not understand what her son ant?
In the current internal struggle within MK, her selfish desire was to side with her husband and Aaron Ainsworth. Aaron Ainsworth was already nineteen, and she wanted to pave the way for her son.
But when it ca to the son standing before her now, she had long lost control over him.
"Suzanne, even if you’re unhappy with your Uncle Ainsworth, Aaron has still called you ’big brother’ for so many years."
Suzanne Sullivan stood up, his voice turning cold. "I only have a sister, not a brother."
"Suzanne Sullivan!"
Suzanne Sullivan said, "I have things to do at the company, so I’ll be leaving."
He strode out of the living room.
Watching Suzanne Sullivan’s retreating figure, Jane Sullivan’s expression was exceptionally grim.
「Three o’clock in the afternoon.」
The car slowly pulled to a stop in the parking lot of Hillside Manor.
Once they drove up the mountain, the weather was not as hot and sunny as it was below; it was exceptionally cool and pleasant.
The mont lissa got out of the car, she wanted to go fly her kite.
For the rest of the afternoon, Rachel Royce and Tristan Sterling played with lissa in the yard.
lissa wanted her dad to fly the kite for her.
Tristan Sterling got the kite in the air, and lissa cheered happily, "Aunt Evelynn, look! The little bunny is flying so high!"
Rachel Royce looked up at the kite soaring in the sky, then looked down at her smiling daughter, and she smiled too.
lissa ran over to take the kite from her dad’s hands. "Dad, I want to fly it too."
Tristan Sterling bent down and handed the reel to lissa, but his hands stayed over hers, holding it together with her.
Rachel Royce stood where she was, quietly watching the heartwarming scene between the father and daughter. The man’s gaze, when he looked at lissa, was always filled with patience and affection.
It was a warmth she could only watch from a distance.
After lissa had a firm grip, Tristan Sterling straightened up, and as he raised his eyes, his gaze t Rachel Royce’s.
The mont their eyes t, Rachel Royce quickly reacted, breaking his gaze.
"Aunt Evelynn, co over here and fly it with us!" lissa called out.
Rachel Royce walked over, a smile touching her lips as she looked at her daughter.
Throughout the afternoon, Rachel Royce and Tristan Sterling accompanied lissa in flying the kite and kicking a ball. There was little conversation between them, not even eye contact. At most, there were accidental touches, from which they would quickly pull back. They did their best to maintain a harmonious front for lissa.
The weather on the mountain was fickle.
The perfectly fine weather suddenly changed as dark clouds gathered in the sky, threatening rain.
Sure enough, less than twenty minutes later, it began to pour, the rain coming down particularly hard.
lissa was already a bit tired from playing.
Rachel Royce took her to take a bath and change her clothes.
During this ti, Rachel Royce received a call from Thomas Sterling. She handed lissa over to a maid and went to take the call.
"Rachel, are you not ho yet?"
Rachel Royce looked at the rain growing heavier outside the floor-to-ceiling windows. She figured Tristan Sterling didn’t plan on taking lissa back ho.
’Given the circumstances, lissa definitely won’t let leave either.’
"Yeah, not yet."
Thomas Sterling didn’t ask any more questions. They chatted for a few more monts before hanging up.
Rachel Royce put down her phone.
As she turned around, she saw the man, who had appeared behind her at so point.
Rachel Royce jumped, saying with displeasure, "What are you doing standing behind ?"
Tristan Sterling said coolly, "What are you so jumpy about? Do you have a guilty conscience?"
Hearing his self-righteous tone, Rachel Royce’s anger flared. "Tristan Sterling, what right do you have to ask that? Who’s the one with the guilty conscience here?"
Tristan Sterling strode toward her. Rachel Royce stared at him, backing away. As his presence closed in, she found herself pinned against the floor-to-ceiling window.
The man planted one hand on the glass by her ear, his dark eyes fixed deeply on Rachel Royce. In a low, dangerous voice, he said, "There are so things I can do, but you can’t."
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