Chapter 239: Chapter 237: Mia Grant’s Doom Is Imminent

On the way back, Simon Adler did all the talking while Mia Grant listened quietly.

Well, she was supposedly listening, but it wasn’t long before her gaze drifted to the receding scenery outside the window and she zoned out.

Simon asked what she thought, but after waiting a long time for a response, he turned his head to look at her.

The window reflected the girl’s profile. Her eyes were vacant, unfocused. Her expression betrayed no emotion, making her look like a soulless doll.

"Are you even listening to me?"

"You can say what you need to say," Mia replied, evading the question.

"..."

"She genuinely wants to acknowledge you as her sister. I’ve given her the item, so we should have the results by tomorrow."

"Mm." Mia already knew all this. She pulled her gaze away from the window, looked at him, and answered his previous question.

"I haven’t decided what to do about the Sinclair Family yet."

"From what I can tell, based on Carla Sinclair’s father’s public image these past few years, I don’t think I’ll be treated particularly well if I go back."

"So you’ll only acknowledge your relationship with Carla?"

Mia still didn’t give a direct answer. Instead, she said, "I need a sanctuary."

"Based on what she told me, she’s going to find Silas Grant."

At the mention of Silas Grant, Mia seemed to snap out of a daze. She turned her head. "What time is it? Is my brother still at the office?"

"Hasn’t he messaged you?"

Mia pulled out her phone and checked. "Nope."

"He’s probably still at a business dinner." Simon scrolled through his group chat messages, his tone now certain. "Yep. It’s not over yet."

"He has this many business dinners every day?"

Simon put his phone away and began to earnestly detail Silas’s daily schedule for her.

"He wakes up at seven in the morning, works out for half an hour, and has breakfast for half an hour. Leaves at eight-thirty, gets to the office at nine."

"On average, he has about eleven meetings a day, big and small. During his lunch break, he meets with executives. After work, he has business engagements that don’t end until after eleven at night. By the time he gets home, it’s already midnight."

"He has countless partners in Portia, the mainland, and overseas. The Hughes Group’s subsidiaries are involved in a wide range of industries, and with it being the end of the year... even without this business with the Old Master, he wouldn’t be much less busy."

’I see.’ When she read the original novel, the author had only written about Silas Grant’s identity without going into detail about his work.

After listening to Simon, she realized Silas’s job was much, much harder than she had imagined.

She had always thought a family heir like Silas would have plenty of free time.

Simon was also marveling at how Silas was like a robot.

"When I first met him, I didn’t actually like him. I mean, who wants to live their whole life in someone else’s shadow?"

No one wants to be used by their elders as a foil for comparison.

Simon was no exception.

"I also thought he was really pretentious, that he probably did certain things just for show, for outsiders or the Old Master to see."

"Only later did I realize he lives the exact same way every single day. It’s like his days have several times more hours than anyone else’s."

"In the time it takes someone else to do one thing, he can break it down and get eight things done."

"Never mind the Old Master intentionally grooming him. A person like him was destined to be a ruler from the day he was born."

"If Hayes Hughes wanted to compete, he wouldn’t necessarily be able to win against him."

"It’s a good thing Hayes isn’t the type to fight for power; his heart’s not in it. Otherwise..." Simon glanced at her. "The so-called Mr. Hughes would have been on a tombstone long ago."

GULP.

Mia swallowed hard. "He wouldn’t. He’s his own brother. My brother... wouldn’t go that far."

"You’re playing the family card with a man who is currently trying to kill his own maternal grandfather, cut off his father’s company’s funding, and holds the Grant Corporation’s accounts, which he can use to destroy his parents at any moment?"

’...’ ’Fair point.’

Mia rubbed her nose sheepishly.

Seeing her reaction, Simon averted his gaze. "So, what are your thoughts? Seeing him turn against his family and friends for you, are you happy about it?"

Mia’s fingertips paused, and she frowned at him.

Sensing the coldness in her gaze, Simon looked at the display screen opposite them, using the dark screen to look at his own reflection. "I don’t mean any harm. I’m just curious."

"Happy? Not necessarily. After all, if it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t have received the Old Master’s ’special attention’ in the first place."

She spat out the last two words.

"Of course, I was moved. I never thought he’d turn on his parents, too."

"But I don’t need to be eternally grateful to him for it."

"I really don’t like the way you’re asking this."

Hearing this, Simon turned his head.

The girl was sitting bolt upright, her gaze sharp. Despite her slender, fragile frame, she exuded a powerful, undeniable aura.

’Just as you’d expect from someone raised by Silas Grant.’

"The way you’re asking makes it sound like I’m the main culprit behind all of this."

"Why is it that whenever there’s a problem, people always like to pin the blame on us women?"

"I thought you wouldn’t be so cold-blooded toward Silas. Turns out everyone is equal in your eyes."

"Who do you actually love?"

"What is love?" Mia retorted. "The ride-or-die kind?"

"Well, not like you, anyway. No one splits their love among so many people at once."

"Oh." Mia looked as if she’d had an epiphany. "You’re quite the romantic purist, then."

Simon: "..."

"The world is so big. Why must I devote myself to this one place, or this one person?"

"If they love me, they can come with me. Why do I have to be the one to stay?"

"Why am I the one who has to make the choice? Why am I the one who has to give up my life? Why can’t it be them?"

"Is trapping someone for their entire life what you call love?"

"..."

Simon fell silent.

"To me, they are an indispensable part of my life."

"And while they’ve caused some of my pain, I also admit they’ve saved me from dire straits a thousand times over."

"I’m not a saint. How could I not be moved?"

’And because of that, how can I possibly rank them?’

"But if the love you’re talking about is really what I just described, then I admit, I don’t love enough."

"To be honest, I’ve never really thought about this question of love. It’s not that I find it childish... It’s that I know if I think about it too deeply, I’ll end up completely stuck."

"So, I just don’t think about it. I don’t want to make things hard for myself."

"You’re not me. You don’t know what I’ve been through. So, you have no right to criticize me."

"I know." 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Mia scoffed. "You don’t know jack shit."

"The Grant Family, right?"

But Mia just laughed. "If it were only the Grant Family, that would’ve been a blessing."

"You haven’t lived it, so shut up."

"It’s not just you."

"In this world, I am the only one who gets to blame me."

When the car stopped, Mia got out, ignored Simon, and headed upstairs with her bag.

As soon as she entered the foyer, the atmosphere was inexplicably oppressive. Usually, a servant would be on night duty in the living room at this hour.

But today, it seemed... they had all been replaced by tall, unfamiliar men.

Judging by their builds, they were all bodyguards.

A moment later, someone blocked her path and gestured. "Miss Grant, the Old Master is waiting for you upstairs."

Mia froze.

Simon, who had just walked in, happened to overhear this. "I’ll go with you. It’s a good chance to see the Old Master."

"My apologies, Mr. Adler. Only Miss Grant is permitted."

"..."

In an instant, Mia’s hand was on the gun in her bag.

She was suddenly overcome with the feeling that her time was up.