Julian Sterling's Ability to Turn Black into White

Claire lifted her eyes to meet his. "What's that supposed to mean?"

She wasn't throwing a tantrum. Wasn't she even allowed to go hide by herself and be upset?

It was precisely because she couldn't blame Julian that she wanted to process these feelings on her own. But Julian kept chasing after her now. Did she have to admit that she really had pushed Megan Sterling into the water before he would let her go?

"Are you angry?"

"I'm not angry." Claire said it very seriously.

She wasn't angry. She just felt a little wronged.

Seeing how upset Claire looked, Julian felt as though he'd been pricked by a needle. He stepped forward and pulled Claire into his arms, saying softly, "It's not that I don't believe you didn't push Megan into the water. I just wanted to get to the bottom of this. The two of you probably wouldn't have gotten into a conflict for no reason."

Claire let out a cold laugh. "What if I said it really was for no reason? Would you believe me?"

How was she supposed to know Megan Sterling would suddenly do something like that? Maybe even Julian couldn't have imagined it, much less the people who already didn't like her. That was how things had reached the point where no one believed her.

"I believe you. You're my wife, the woman I'm going to spend the rest of my life with. Of course I believe you."

Claire's heart stirred when she heard that.

Maybe all the hurt she'd just felt had only been waiting for this one sentence from him. Now that he had said it, she felt a little better inside and felt that he did trust her.

The tension she'd been holding finally eased.

"But you didn't believe me just now. You thought I was the one who pushed Megan Sterling into the water."

Julian finally understood where Claire's emotions were coming from. He hurriedly coaxed her in a low voice, "I was just too shocked. How can you accuse me like that? Do we not even have that little bit of trust between us?"

Claire was a little speechless. Fine, she'd just take it as him being too shocked.

"But you still wanted to drag me back there to apologize."

"I just wanted you to go back and handle things properly, so your relationship with Grandpa wouldn't get even more strained. I didn't expect you to insist on leaving no matter what, so all I could do was leave with you."

"..." Claire was at a loss for words. So in the end, this was all her fault?

She realized Julian really was astonishingly good at turning black into white. She had no choice but to admire it.

All of a sudden, Julian scooped Claire up, startling her into quickly wrapping her arms around his neck. "Hey, what are you doing? Where are you taking me?"

"Back at the Sterling family home, if you'd gone back, maybe you still could've explained things to Grandpa. But now that chance is gone. In case the truth comes out later, we need to make up for lost time."

Claire remembered what they needed to make up for lost time doing.

Last time, Ruby Sterling had lied that she was already pregnant so that she and Julian would stay together. But her stomach was still completely empty, and maybe one day the lie would be exposed.

Julian tossed her onto the bed. Claire quickly braced a hand against his chest. "Wait, I still have something to ask you."

Julian looked down at her from above, his gaze fixed on her gently as he said in a low voice, "Mm, what do you want to ask?"

"Where did Ethan Sterling go?" When Megan Sterling had made a move against her, she had mentioned Ethan Sterling. Only then did Claire realize that what had happened between her and Ethan felt like something from a previous lifetime.

Hearing that Claire was still thinking about Ethan Sterling even now, Julian's face darkened a little. He said displeased, "Your husband is right in front of you, and you're asking about another man? Aren't you afraid I'll be unhappy?"

Claire could tell from Julian's expression that he had misunderstood.

She sighed helplessly, then lifted her head and kissed him on the cheek to soothe him. "You know that whatever happened between me and him is already in the past. I'm asking because Megan Sterling pushing me into the water seemed to have something to do with Ethan Sterling, so I wanted to ask you about it."

Claire's way of soothing him left Julian much more satisfied.

But when Ethan Sterling was brought up, Julian thought of what Ethan had done before, and his eyes narrowed slightly. "I've already sent him where he belongs."

There were some things Julian didn't want Claire involved in. The methods he used against Ethan Sterling could be said to show absolutely no mercy. Claire had no need to set foot in those cold, dark sides of him.

Claire fell silent.

It looked like everything Megan Sterling had said was true. Something really had happened to Ethan Sterling.