Jack leaned back in his seat, covered in a thin blanket.
He looked thin and exhausted, with deep wrinkles on his neck, sunken eyes devoid of light, and his face unevenly covered in age spots.
A person like him, who should have been surrounded by children and grandchildren, enjoying the bliss of family, appeared strangely lonely and desolate.
Freya didn’t sympathize with him because all of this was his own doing.
No one else to blame.
“I know that you sought me out because you want me to convince Elijah. You’re getting older and need your loved ones by your side, right?”
“Now that you know what’s on my mind, will you help me?” Jack admitted that he was getting old and wished to have family by his side.
Freya’s voice was cold, lacking warmth. “Don’t you have Thorne by your side?”
“Are you still blaming me?” Jack sounded weak and powerless.
His voice sounded hollow and aged.
“The past is in the past, and I won’t dwell on it,” she looked at Jack, “When you agreed to my father’s request and let me marry Elijah, you had ulterior motives. You wanted me to influence him, make him let go of his hatred. You thought you were doing what was best for him…”
“Isn’t that the case?” Even now, Jack still believed that his decision back then was indeed for Elijah’s own good.
Impatiently, before Freya finished speaking, he retorted.
“No,” Freya affirmed, “You weren’t doing what was best for him. You were showing favoritism, selfishly protecting the family that made mistakes. If you truly had his best interests at heart, you would have sent someone to prison to atone for the death of Elijah’s parents. Instead of using manipulation to try and change him, you were wrong from the beginning. You may be unwilling to let go of your son and grandson, but what about Arwen Silverton? When you were protecting that family, did you ever truly consider Elijah? From start to finish, you sacrificed only Elijah. If you had let someone take responsibility and atone, Elijah wouldn’t be this cold towards you now.
You wanted to preserve the well-being of your other son’s family. At the expense of everything for Elijah. You are truly selfish!”
Freya calmed her emotions, “And what you did after only further chilled his heart. How can you expect him to forgive you?”
“I’m selfish?” Jack didn’t agree with Freya’s statement, “I handed over everything from the Silverton family to him…”
“Can money buy the love of parents? He lost his parents when he was ten. How many happy moments does he remember? In what kind of environment did he grow up, Grandfather, don’t you know?” Freya grew more and more agitated, “He has also been targeted, more than once. Do you know who harmed him? Have you punished the people who hurt him? No, you pushed him into the spotlight.”
Jack frowned, “How did I push him into the spotlight?”
“By giving him everything from the Silverton family, didn’t that invite more resentment? If you genuinely loved and protected him, you wouldn’t have done it this way. You claim it’s for his own good, but I really can’t see how you’ve been good to him.”
For a moment, Jack was speechless.
He couldn’t come up with a single word of rebuttal.
He had never thought about it from Freya’s perspective before.
He believed that by giving Elijah the most valuable assets of the family, he was being good to him. But hearing Freya’s words, it seemed there was something amiss.
“Grandfather, let Thorne be by your side.” After saying that, she opened the car door and got out.
Freya walked away without hesitation.
Deck got into the car, “Sir…”
Jack waved his hand, “Let me think, I need to think…”
Right now, he wanted to be alone.
Deck fell silent and instructed the driver to return to the hospital.
…
Freya didn’t immediately go back.
Instead, she sat alone by the flower pond, calm and composed.
After some time, just as she was about to leave, a person approached her with great anger.