Lillian opened her mouth to speak, but as she looked at Conrad, she felt a suffocating sensation.
“Alright, I won’t ask.” He noticed the subtle shift in her demeanor and silently swallowed his words. “You should rest. I won’t disturb you.”
Lillian watched him but didn’t say anything.
Her lack of response to his question made him feel the weight of his emotions. It wasn’t until he left the room that he gripped the stair railing tightly. The urge to push her against the wall and demand answers, the longing he had felt day and night, the desperate desire-it all had to be buried deep inside him.
He returned to his study, found the medication in the drawer, and poured double the usual amount, trying to suppress the emotions swirling within him.
But where was he supposed to go?
Back to his room, he couldn’t sleep.
Back to her room, she couldn’t sleep either.
How had they both ended up like this?
Ada, holding a small dog, came into the room. Conrad absentmindedly ruffled its fur as he opened his computer and continued looking through the files Ford had sent him about Barbara.
She had seemingly burst onto the scene overnight as a niche film director.
Originally, her films didn’t do well at the box office, but a popular influencer from F country promoted the movie online, which led to more and more people supporting it. From then on, her fame grew uncontrollably until Barbara was in the public eye.
There was no trace of her to be found online or in real life.
If she had been with Ethan all these years, it would explain why Conrad couldn’t find her-Ethan must have had a hand in it.
Conrad squinted, flipping through the information again and again. Finally, unable to resist, he grabbed the car keys and headed to Ethan’s house.
Getting Ethan’s number was simple enough; they had business dealings after all.
However, when he arrived, it was late, and he had to wait a while before Ethan finally answered the phone.
“Who is this?”
“Conrad.”
There was a brief silence on the other end before Ethan frowned and asked, “Mr. Conrad, calling me at this hour-does this mean Lillian is coming back?”
Conrad gritted his teeth. “She’s with me, and she’s fine. Besides, she’s mine to begin with. To use your words, she’s not coming back.”
“Mr. Conrad, if you keep being this domineering, I’m not sure Lillian will still like it. At least, I don’t. If there’s nothing else, I’m going to sleep.” Ethan started to hang up the phone.
“I’m downstairs.”
Ethan paused in silence for a moment. “Mr. Conrad, perhaps you’re aware of normal people’s sleep schedules?”
“What, are you too old to move? Should I come up and get you? I don’t want to disturb your child, so you can come down yourself.”
Ethan had encountered all kinds of people in the business world over the years, but it was the first time someone had so arrogantly disturbed him.
He took a deep breath. Having heard about Conrad’s reputation for a long time, he figured it might be better to leave his glasses off in case things got physical.
He glanced at Quincy, who was sleeping soundly, before opening the door and heading downstairs.
By the time he reached the bottom, Conrad had already gotten out of the car and was leaning against the hood.
Truth be told, if he didn’t know Conrad, just based on his looks and build, Ethan would think he was a model worth investing in.
But unfortunately, he was a troublesome opponent.
Ethan pushed open the door.
“It seems the property management in this neighborhood doesn’t provide basic security.”
“Why, do you think switching to a different management company will stop me?”
Ethan had only just begun to truly understand Conrad. The arrogance and overbearing attitude that were ingrained in him matched the impression Ethan had before he arrived. The person he had seen at the party was clearly not the real Conrad; that was just a special state he exhibited when facing Lillian.
“Mr. Conrad, staying out late and not being at home with your daughter, coming to find me-I’m guessing you didn’t come to ask how to make Lillian happy, did you?”
Conrad looked Ethan up and down. He really was just like Frank-carrying a certain annoying aura about him. But this guy was even more irritating than Frank.
“When did you meet Lillian? How did you two get to know each other? How many years have you been together?”
Ethan smiled faintly. “Mr. Conrad, what kind of answer do you want to hear? Are you hoping I’ll tell you how we’ve supported each other over the years, living together and taking care of a child? If you want to put it that way, it seems I’ve been with Lillian longer than you have.”
Conrad knew some of his words would sting, but he hadn’t expected them to hurt this much.
He had already quit smoking, and his fingers curled slightly as he fought the urge to strike Ethan.
“Anyway, that’s her past. I had already considered the possibility.”
Ethan raised an eyebrow. “Mr. Conrad, you seem to have more self-control than I thought.”
“If you don’t speak, I’ll just find out on my own.” Conrad turned to leave.
“What’s this? You can’t even handle a little conversation and you’re going to give up?” Ethan’s voice rang out from behind.
Conrad turned around, his hands slipping into his pockets.
“Five years ago, I met her in a remote mountain village.”
With just those words, Conrad froze, his body stiffening in place. “A remote mountain village?”
“That’s right. I was working on a rural development project, running around the mountains for two or three months, helping with the supply chain. It wasn’t profitable at all, but at the time, I was going through a divorce and had a very young child to take care of. I was exhausted every day.”
Conrad didn’t interrupt him as he continued his story.
“I discovered her while driving down a village road that was still under repair. Ahead was a cliff, and the road was extremely dangerous. You hardly ever saw anyone there. When I found her lying by the side of the road, I thought she was a woman who had been trafficked.”
“Just to be safe, I took her to a clinic I was familiar with in the village. I asked the locals about her, but no one had seen her before. I was worried that people involved in trafficking might come after her.”
“She was very beautiful, young, but so frail-she didn’t look like someone from a mountain village at all. Her skin was too smooth to be from a highland or tropical region. I thought I’d never see her wake up, but she woke up very bravely. The problem was, she wouldn’t say anything when I asked her questions.”
“She also hated men’s touch and was very wary of me.”
“I had to leave. I asked her if she was coming with me. At first, she refused, but when she saw me video-chatting with Quincy, watching him drink milk in his cradle, she broke down in tears. I told her that was my child.”
“She grabbed the phone and wouldn’t let go. The doctor at the clinic told me she had just given birth and was very weak. If she wanted to fully recover, she needed to go to a bigger hospital in the city for a thorough check-up.”
“Finally, she agreed to come with me. I asked her what her name was, who she wanted to find, and what her plans were. She wouldn’t tell me anything. It wasn’t until we got back to City N, when she insisted on going to a place called Hillside Villa, that I learned her name was Lillian.”
Because back then, her information was all over City N.