radiothebook Chapter 279 - 277: Youth Is Their Advantage
Chapter 279 - 277: Youth Is Their Advantage
"!"
Mia’s pupils trembled slightly, and her heart skipped a beat.
’I almost forgot...’
She opened her mouth, trying to explain.
But Silas Grant didn’t give her the chance to speak.
The pad of his thumb lingered on her lower lip, stroking it back and forth. The pressure was neither light nor heavy, making it impossible to tell if it was a caress or an attempt to wipe away someone else’s trace.
As always, he hid his emotions perfectly.
It made Mia a little flustered.
After a long moment, he lowered his hand.
The "death by a thousand cuts" was finally over.
Mia silently breathed a sigh of relief. After a pause, she took the initiative to speak. "I’ve met with members of the Sinclair family recently."
’Come to think of it, I’ve never mentioned the Sinclair family to Silas before.’
But with his capabilities, he must have known for a while.
Things that happened in Portia rarely escaped his notice.
In fact, it wasn’t just Portia; the same went for Jynsia.
It was impossible for anything concerning her to get past him.
"I heard."
’Just as I thought.’
Mia blinked, tilting her head up to look at him. "But you never called me or asked about it."
Then again, she hadn’t contacted him either.
Everything that had happened that night at the Hughes family’s home was too terrifying. She’d felt as if she had narrowly escaped death.
After that, the two of them lost contact.
"I thought about contacting you, but you didn’t take your phone with you. And later, there were indeed a lot of things to deal with."
’If he really wanted to contact me, a single phone call wouldn’t have been an obstacle.’
’In the end, there were just too many trivial matters between them that needed to be dealt with urgently.’
Besides, he knew many people were around her during this time.
Kian Keller and Yates Donovan had left Jynsia one after the other.
Then there was her little fiancé and her fiancé’s younger brother.
He had watched the surveillance footage from that night. The images were unexpected.
He wasn’t very familiar with the two Sinclair brothers. His prior impression of them was partly because of their surname, Sinclair. Another reason was that one of them had been Mia’s high school classmate—her deskmate, even.
He could tell the brothers apart, so he was quite surprised to see that the first person to show up was Ian Sinclair.
All this time, he’d considered Hayes Hughes or Kian Keller to be the troublesome ones.
As a result, he had overlooked the two potential threats from the Sinclair family.
It wasn’t that he hadn’t paid attention to Mia during her high school years.
Otherwise, there wouldn’t be so many photos of her in the hidden room inside his office.
’She got a new deskmate, a boy.’
’She’s having tutoring sessions with the class president from the next class over.’
He knew everything, far more than Mia ever thought.
At first, he hadn’t planned to interfere. They were just two kids and posed no threat. That was why Mia and Ian Sinclair were deskmates for a long time.
Later, they were separated.
It was because he had attended a parent-teacher conference for Mia. The teacher had hinted that Mia might be in a puppy love relationship.
And so, their seats were changed.
The fact that Mia, burdened with schoolwork at the time, was chauffeured to and from school and returned home on time every day—that was his doing as well.
He hired excellent tutors to help her catch up during the holidays.
Perhaps there really was nothing between them, or maybe she was too focused on the upcoming college entrance exams to care about anything else. After that, her contact with the Sinclair brothers gradually decreased.
The kids seemed young and arrogant, no match for him.
But on second thought, youth itself was an asset. It was their greatest advantage.
Older men were always dull. A young woman like Mia might rely on him at first, but with time, there was no telling what might happen.
Passion always fades.
In contrast, people of the same age have a wealth of common topics and hobbies that allow them to grow closer at any time.
What’s more, they had known each other since they were young.
In terms of time, he held no advantage either.
Now, one of the Sinclairs even held the title of Mia’s fiancé.
Yates Donovan had been in that position before, but not many people knew about it back then.
But this time, the news of her engagement to one of the Sinclairs was common knowledge, at least within Jynsia’s elite circles, not to mention everywhere else.
When Yates Donovan and Mia’s engagement was called off, no one paid any attention.
But it was different with Felix Sinclair and Mia. Even if they announced their engagement was off in the future, they could never completely cut ties. They would be bound together forever.
When it came to having a legitimate claim, Felix Sinclair’s was far more justified than his, her nominal older brother.
Silas Grant never thought he would one day find himself jealous of two kids he had never once considered a threat.
Silas Grant said in a low voice, "Regarding the Sinclair family, I’ve thought about it. You probably don’t want to know my thoughts, and I can’t give you an objective opinion."
Hearing this, Mia froze for a moment.
"I’ve had someone compile a file for you; it’ll be sent to your email tomorrow. If you need anything else, just let me know."
Mia nodded lightly.
They fell silent for a moment. Sitting primly on his lap, at such a close distance, she couldn’t help but start studying his face.
After her gaze fell on the faint marks under his eyes, she glanced at the time and said, "Brother, do you want something to eat? I’ll have someone bring it up."
"I ate on the plane."
"Then... you should get some rest?"
’It feels like he hasn’t had a proper night’s sleep in a long time.’
He looked exhausted no matter how she looked at him.
Seeing him like this, she couldn’t bring herself to be petty or dramatic.
He was already so tired.
"I’ll go run a bath for you."
Silas Grant’s expression softened. "Okay."
She hopped off his lap and trotted toward the bathroom.
As the faucet ran, Mia pulled out her phone and sent a message to Yates Donovan.
[Where the hell are you?!]
A moment later, Yates replied: [On my way back. What’s wrong?]
[?] Mia was confused.
Yates: [You didn’t see Silas Grant?]
Mia sent back another question mark.
[You two saw each other?]
Yates: [I ran into him downstairs, but don’t worry, I hid quickly. He didn’t see me.]
[...]
Yates: [I saw him arrive, and he was definitely looking for you, so I slipped away.]
Mia frowned.
She should have been relieved. She had been worried that Yates would come back later and they would run into each other.
Knowing Silas’s temper, he would definitely get jealous.
So it was better for them not to meet.
But Yates was being a little too... "considerate."
Recalling what the System had said, she sat on the edge of the bathtub, sighing repeatedly as she held her phone.
「Meanwhile.」
Seeing that she hadn’t replied again, Yates Donovan put down his phone and focused on driving.
The snowy roads were slippery, forcing him to slow down. He had only just left the resort.
In truth, it wasn’t really about being considerate.
He had a very good mentality about it.
’If I’m going to call myself the main partner, I need to act with the grace of one.’
Besides, the "siblings" hadn’t seen each other in a long time. They needed a good chat.
The incident at the Hughes family’s home had given Mia quite a scare.
More than anyone else, she needed Silas Grant right now.
’Anyway, Mia is right here in Jynsia. We can see each other whenever we want, so tonight doesn’t make a difference.’
It was different for Silas Grant. He had to squeeze out time from his busy schedule to come see her.
He wouldn’t go so far as to feel sorry for Silas Grant—he wasn’t crazy.
The one his heart ached for was Mia.