Chapter 91: Chapter 91: Twisting Black and White

Regan Sterling thought long and hard after he left. He had seen the elevator with Miss Lowell and the Summers Family stop on the 36th floor. That floor was nothing but three-bedroom luxury presidential suites, and he’d heard that one night cost half a million!

’Half a million! That’s more than my salary for several years!’

The thought that his own mother now had so much money kept Regan Sterling tossing and turning all night, unable to sleep.

He thought, ’If Mom could just accept me again, I could move into a presidential suite too. I wouldn’t have to be cooped up in the staff dorms with my coworkers anymore.’

’Even though Mom and I had a falling out years ago,’ Regan Sterling thought, ’and even if she won’t accept me, how could she refuse to accept her own grandson?’

’Everyone says grandparents dote on their grandkids. Once my precious son starts crying and begging, the old lady is sure to have a change of heart.’

’As long as my son, Theo Sterling, can get into that presidential suite on the 36th floor, I can use him as an excuse to move in with my wife and father!’

’Three generations of our family, all living happily ever after. I wouldn’t have to work so hard to support everyone anymore.’

Ever since his mother had left home with the money, Regan Sterling had been left to take care of his father by himself. He had suffered a great deal during that time, and every time he recalled those days, he seethed with resentment at his mother’s cruelty.

’But now, things are looking up. I’ve found Mom, which means my easy life is about to begin.’

His mind made up, Regan Sterling secretly went home to fetch his son, Theo Sterling.

Taking advantage of a moment when no one was looking, he stuffed Theo into a food waste bin from the buffet restaurant he managed and smuggled him into the hotel.

At home, Regan Sterling had coached his son at length, telling him to rush his grandmother the moment he saw her, latch onto her leg, and cry and beg her to take him in. If she refused to let him move into the presidential suite, he was to hold on for dear life and not let go.

Theo Sterling took his father’s words to heart. He waited in the hotel corridor until the door to 36-02 opened. As soon as he was sure his grandmother was inside, he shot up and lunged.

But he never expected Melody Summers to be so fast. Before Theo could even grab hold of anyone, the door was slammed shut in his face!

Seeing that the people in 36-02 refused to open the door, Regan Sterling grew furious. He kicked his son and snapped, "You little brat, start crying! Cry until your grandmother comes out! If she doesn’t open this door today, don’t even think about coming home!"

At his father’s command, Theo Sterling immediately started wailing in the hallway.

His father had told him yesterday: if Grandma accepted him, he’d get to live in a fancy room, play video games, watch TV, enjoy the air conditioning, and even eat fried chicken and drink juice!

Theo’s mind was now filled with visions of video games, television, fried chicken, and juice. He was determined to make that old hag inside open the door, no matter what!

With this in mind, Theo cried even louder, howling incessantly, "Grandma, open the door! Grandma! Grandma, I’m so hungry! I’m starving!"

A child’s voice has a piercing quality, and even the excellent soundproofing of The Nimbus Hotel couldn’t block out Theo Sterling’s hellish screeching.

Melody Summers was instantly overwhelmed by the racket; Theo’s screaming was giving her a splitting headache.

Even Albus, the white cat, took the opportunity when no one was looking to slip back into the space. Theo was just too loud. ’Compared to the little brat outside,’ it thought, ’even the squealing piglets in the space aren’t this noisy.’

Seeing that Miss Lowell still wasn’t opening the door, Regan Sterling yelled again, his voice filled with urgency, "Mom, Theo’s about to cry himself unconscious! Can you really stand by and listen to him suffer like this? He hasn’t eaten all day! Are you really going to let your own grandson starve to death out here?"

When there was still no response from 36-02, Regan Sterling gritted his teeth and threatened loudly, "Mom, you’d better think this through! If you disown me and your grandson now, there’ll be no one to perform your funeral rites when you die!"

"What is all this racket! What are you people doing, causing a scene out here? I’ve already called security!" a guest from the adjacent suite snapped, flinging open their door in irritation. Theo’s wails had been so loud that they’d woken everyone up.

The moment Theo Sterling saw someone emerge, he stopped wailing and clammed up, cowering like a frightened quail. He was afraid if he kept screaming, he might get hit.

Regan Sterling, however, didn’t back down. Seeing an audience, he shouted even louder, "Everyone, come and listen! You be the judge! The woman in Room 02, Florence Lowell, abandoned her husband and son years ago! She took all our family’s money and ran off, leaving me to care for my paralyzed father all alone. Now she’s here, living it up in a luxury hotel, not only refusing to acknowledge her own grandson but also completely ignoring whether her son and husband live or die!"

His shouting attracted the attention of other guests, who opened their doors one after another to see what the commotion was about.

"No way, can a woman like that really exist? How could she be so heartless?"

"I know, right? Abandoning her husband and son is bad enough, but she took all their money too? With a paralyzed man at home? She might as well have left them for dead."

"How despicable! She’s a modern-day Jezebel!"

"And she won’t even acknowledge her own grandson? That poor little boy."

"He is, isn’t he? The poor thing looks like he’s cried himself sick."

"Sigh. Her own son and grandson are suffering right outside her door, and she’s living comfortably in a presidential suite. What a viper."

"..."

With so many people on his side, Regan Sterling’s confidence swelled. He puffed out his chest, held his head high, and yelled at the door to 36-02, "Mom! Even though you abandoned me and my bedridden father all those years ago, Dad and I are forgiving people! We don’t hold a grudge!"

"All these years, Dad and I have been waiting for you to come home! Your grandson is always asking about you! As long as you treat Dad right from now on, our family can still have a good life together."

After speaking, Regan Sterling shot a look at his son, Theo.

Catching his father’s signal, Theo immediately resumed his wailing. "Grandma! Grandma, please open the door! My classmates used to make fun of me because I don’t have a grandma! Please open up so we can be a family again! I want to show my classmates that I have a grandma too!"

Regan Sterling chimed in, "Mom! Mom, open the door! Are you really going to persist in your mistake?"

Theo cried, "Grandma! I’m so, so hungry! I haven’t eaten in forever! You took all our money, so we have nothing to eat! Please, just open the door and give me some food! I’m going to starve to death!"

But no matter how much the father and son duo yelled, the door to 36-02 remained shut.

Just then, the hotel security guards arrived.

The head guard walked up to Regan Sterling and said with a frown, "Sir, we’ve received complaints that you’re disturbing our guests. You don’t appear to be staying at the hotel. Please leave immediately."

Regan Sterling knew that after causing such a scene, his job was as good as gone. That made him even more determined not to leave. He had to get into this suite today, no matter what. Otherwise, he would have lost his job for nothing and gained nothing in return.

He yelled at the guards, "My own mother lives in there! This is a family matter! Even the police have no right to interfere, so what gives you the right?"

Seeing that reasoning with him was pointless, the guards grabbed Regan Sterling and his son and began to drag them away.

Theo immediately threw himself on the floor, rolling around and screaming, "AHH! Let go of me! Don’t touch me! I’m a minor! You can’t do this to me! AHH! I’m dying!"

Theo screamed and thrashed, kicking wildly at the guards trying to grab him. But these guards were experienced professionals; they had dealt with plenty of troublemaking hooligans at the hotel. Seeing the boy throwing a tantrum on the floor, two guards simply dove on top of him, pinned his arms behind his back, and started dragging him away.

But the onlookers, seeing this, started to step forward and block the guards’ path. "Wait, don’t be so rough," one pleaded. "Let’s figure out what’s really going on. Let the person in 36-02 come out and explain. This father and son are in a pitiful state. How can their own mother just hide from them?"

"That’s right! And they said the woman in 36-02 ran off with all their money. If that’s true, your hotel can’t just shelter a person like that."

"Didn’t you hear him? This is a family matter. You can’t just handle it like this."

With the guests blocking their way and all talking at once, the guards were at a loss. These were all hotel guests; they couldn’t afford to offend any of them.

Just as they reached a standoff, the door to 36-02 opened.

Miss Lowell walked out, her face grim.

"Mom, you’re finally willing to see me!" Regan Sterling said, overjoyed. He then yelled to his son, "Theo, quick! Call her Grandma! Ask Grandma to let you stay in the luxury suite!"

Theo Sterling squinted his beady eyes and shouted at Miss Lowell, "Grandma, how about you let us all move in? If you let me, Dad, and Grandpa move in, then I won’t hate you anymore. I promise I’ll be a good grandson, and I’ll even perform your funeral rites for you when you die."

Miss Lowell ignored them completely. Facing the prying eyes of the crowd, she looked directly at Regan Sterling and spoke.

"Years ago, your father ran off with his mistress, taking every last cent the family had. Your grandparents were paralyzed and bedridden. I was the one who served them day in and day out, bringing them food and water, cleaning up their filth. I took care of them all by myself until the day they died, and your father never once showed his face."

"You were just a baby in diapers. I went to my classes during the day and washed other people’s laundry at night, scrimping and saving every penny just so I could put you through school."

"When you finally got into college, I thought my struggles were finally over. But what did you do? You brought your paralyzed father back home and expected me to take care of him."

"When I refused, you brought the media to the university where I taught. You told them I had abandoned my husband and son. You reported me to the administration and had me fired."

"So you tell me! In all these years, how have I wronged you or your father? And how, exactly, have you treated me?!"

Staring back into the fury in Miss Lowell’s eyes, Regan Sterling said in disbelief, "Why do you always bring up my grandparents? Taking care of your parents-in-law is a wife’s duty! What’s there to even talk about? Is it really worth mentioning over and over again?"

"So what if my dad left you for another woman back then? Are you completely blameless? Why couldn’t you keep his heart? Besides, he’s come back to the family now. Can’t you be the bigger person and just forgive him? Can’t we all just live as a happy family? Do you really have to hold on to this grudge?"

Hearing this, Miss Lowell closed her eyes and sighed, saying nothing.

She didn’t understand how her son had turned out this way. ’I’ve failed,’ she thought.

When Miss Lowell remained silent, Regan Sterling yelled, "Mom, have you ever stopped to think? That’s my father! My own flesh and blood! Can’t you let go of your hatred and forgive him, for my sake and for your grandson’s?"

In Regan Sterling’s eyes, a father was a father, period. The paternal bond was etched into his very bones, as absolute as the relationship between a ruler and his subject. He worshipped his father from the bottom of his heart, even though the man hadn’t raised him for a single day.

Miss Lowell could only say calmly, "He is your father. You take good care of him, then. I have done more than enough for the Sterling family. My conscience is clear. Don’t come looking for me ever again."

Regan Sterling grew enraged. "Even if he left with another woman, he was still the head of this family! He’s your husband! You can’t tolerate your own husband, you abandoned your son, you ignore your grandson—and you call yourself a university professor? Have you forgotten that a husband is his wife’s guide?"

"Well, well, look what we have here. A dinosaur from a bygone era." A woman’s mocking voice drifted over. Miss Dunn appeared from around the corner of the staircase, supporting the elder Miss Dunn. They were always early risers and had just returned from breakfast, walking right into the middle of a farce.