After dinner, Mia Grant and Simon Adler got into the elevator together. They were neighbors, so they were heading the sa way.
Inside the elevator, Simon glanced at the security cara overhead and silently swallowed the words on the tip of his tongue.
Sensing he had sothing to say, Mia purposefully left her door unlocked.
Ten minutes later, Simon pushed the door open and ca in.
His timing was perfect. Mia had just finished making milk tea.
"My brother’s business?"
She assud Silas and he had talked about sothing else that afternoon.
"No." Simon sat down on the sofa, fiddling with his phone. "On the way back, I got a call from Carla Sinclair."
Hearing this, Mia lifted her gaze to him for a mont before calmly sipping her milk tea.
Simon pulled up the chat interface on his phone and showed it to her. "An invitation to Carla Sinclair’s birthday party."
"And?"
"On the phone, she ntioned she hoped I would bring you with ."
Mia glanced at the date. "Christmas? Tomorrow?"
"Yes." Sothing occurred to Mia, and she felt that wasn’t right. "Why do I rember her file saying her birthday was in the sumr?"
’Did I rember wrong?’
Simon didn’t know. He wasn’t close with Carla and didn’t care about her birthday.
"So, should I decline?"
Before she could answer, Simon added, "Lee told you two t this afternoon."
"Yes. We ran into each other."
"She was awfully generous to you. Don’t you find that odd?"
’Looks like Lee told him everything.’
Mia didn’t answer.
Across from her, Simon’s gaze lingered on her face. After a long mont, he said, "You really do look alike."
The girl lifted her eyes and shot him a cold glance.
"I’m not saying you look like her, it’s..." Simon began to explain instinctively, but halfway through, he realized he was being overly sensitive.
It was as if it had beco a conditioned response.
The mont she raised her eyes or furrowed her brow, he felt a subconscious urge to apologize.
For so reason, he rembered sothing she had said before.
’You will beco my dog.’
His eyelid twitched violently. Simon suddenly felt a headache coming on, thinking that this couldn’t go on.
"You look alike. That’s a fact."
"Is that so?" Mia suddenly smiled. "I think you look a bit like my brother, too. Can you try smiling a little? My brother loves to smile. Oh, wait, no. When you smile, you don’t look like him anymore."
...
"That’s not what I ant."
"Then what did you an?"
Simon explained, "I was just wondering if there might be a blood relationship between you two. In any case, I ant no harm. It’s definitely not what you’re thinking."
"Really? Or are you just changing your tune because I compared you to my brother and hit a sore spot?"
"No."
She just kept smiling.
Simon took a deep breath. "It’s really not. What will it take for you to believe ?"
The instant those words left his mouth, Simon felt his dignity being trampled, as if he were being tad. Yet, he also felt a willing, almost pleasurable, acceptance of it.
Mia rested her chin in her hands and watched him, seemingly very satisfied with his reaction.
Having achieved her goal, she relented. "Forget it. I won’t hold it against you. For the birthday party tomorrow, I need you to take . But not openly, you understand?"
"Like last ti? As your attendant?"
Mia nodded.
She didn’t plan to make a grand, open appearance.
Simon didn’t know what she was planning, but he shared his thoughts with her. "She’s probably looking for you to confirm your relationship again."
"Carla is a straightforward and stubborn person. Once she’s set on sothing, she won’t change her mind. She’s got her sights on you now, and she won’t give up until she gets a result."
"Aren’t you curious? What if you two really... are related?"
"And then what?" Mia asked. "If we are, then what?"
"Do you think that would be a good thing for ?"
Simon analyzed the situation objectively. "Carla isn’t favored, but she’s the eldest daughter, so she still holds so sway in the family. If you’re also Ms. York’s daughter, then even if the Sinclair Family is a lion’s den, with Carla there, you’ll have an ace up your sleeve."
"So, I suggest that if it’s true, you should acknowledge your relationship with her sooner rather than later. With her around, you’ll be safer in Portia."
Mia fell into deep thought.
Simon’s aning was clear. Given her current situation, acknowledging Carla would give her a long-term, stable backer.
’Hmm.’
’He did have a point.’
’It’s better to place your hopes in family than in strangers.’
’But that’s only if this family mber is actually reliable.’
From her past experience, the bonds of kinship, which seed stronger than love or friendship, were actually just as fragile.
Therefore, she needed to test Carla and find out where her bottom line was.
She needed a safe, secure, and absolutely unshakable fallback plan.
When Silas Grant returned, Mia was already asleep.
He pushed the door open, ca in, and sat down on the edge of her bed, studying her features by the faint moonlight.
She had t Carla today; he had received the news almost imdiately.
Her words from last night were still fresh in his mind—her naive belief that he would be interested in Carla the sa way he was interested in her.
The first few things she’d said were tolerable.
But when he heard that line, his fists had unconsciously clenched.
’It was ti she was taught a proper lesson.’
The last ti they parted, she had been sweetly nestled in his arms, calling him "brother" again and again.
But at this reunion, the little fox had let her tail show. She was like a rebellious child who had just hit her defiant phase, posturing and lingering in a forbidden zone.
She’d been told it was wrong, patiently admonished for a long ti.
But she wouldn’t listen to a single word. In the end, she would just lift her chin smugly, put her hands on her hips, and huff, ’I don’t need you to tell what to do.’
’Unrepentant.’
’Even when she was crying so hard she could barely speak, her bottom red, she would still stubbornly insist she had done nothing wrong.’
’Every part of her was soft, with the sole exception of that mouth of hers.’
This morning, worried about being discovered, he had left in a hurry. He had only quickly applied so ointnt for her and didn’t know if it had worked.
A stray lock of hair on her cheek was tucked behind her ear. Mia’s fingertips twitched, but she continued to feign sleep.
’That presence... it’s definitely Silas.’
’He’s not going to continue settling the score with tonight, is he?’
’He’ll probably just sit for a bit and then go back.’
She waited and waited. After what felt like an eternity, the figure by the bed finally moved.
The depression in the mattress rose back to its original shape.
The person had stood up.
Mia thought he had left, but then she suddenly heard the sound of a drawer being pulled open.
The man rummaged around and took out a tube of ointnt that had just been opened that morning.
The room quickly fell silent again. Mia could only hear muffled footsteps.
Then, the corner of the blanket behind her was lifted.
Because her bottom still hurt a little, she could only lie on her side.
’I have zero sense of security with him suddenly behind !’
In the moonlight, the girl’s nightdress had ridden up to the top of her thighs. Her pale, slender legs were tangled tightly in the blanket.
Silas averted his gaze, calmly took out the ointnt, and then lifted her nightdress. He grasped the edge of the garnt underneath and gently pulled it down.
"Wait!"
Mia shot upright, clutching her bottom as she scrambled to get away.
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