Chapter 145 - 143: The Birth Control Pill
"Hiss..."
The sensation felt incredibly real.
He gripped her chin, forcing her head up.
He frowned as he met her dazed gaze. His thumb moved from her cheek to press against her lips.
"Spit it out."
She smiled up at him like a contented cat.
His breathing was ragged. His thumb grazed her teeth. "Be good. Open your mouth."
"..."
All morning, images from the dream assaulted Simon Adler’s mind.
Even Silas Grant noticed how distracted he was.
During the meeting, Silas Grant spoke up.
Simon Adler didn’t hear him. It took a prompt from Simon for him to turn his head.
Silas Grant frowned. "This is the fourth time you’ve zoned out."
As he spoke, the man flicked his wrist, his cuff sliding up slightly to reveal a seven-figure watch. "Do I need to remind you that the meeting only started ten minutes ago?"
"..."
Simon Adler brought his gaze back. "My apologies."
"That’s the fourth time you’ve apologized," Silas Grant said, glancing at him coldly. "I hope it’s the last."
For the rest of the meeting, Simon Adler forced himself to focus and didn’t let his mind wander again.
When the meeting ended, the others began to file out.
Silas Grant looked at him, his gaze and tone no longer as cold and severe as they had been. "Didn’t sleep well last night?"
’After all, Simon Adler was currently his only friend who posed no threat and was still somewhat tolerable. Showing a bit of concern was necessary.’
Simon Adler had a composed nature, and he’d acted perfectly natural when others had asked.
But when Silas Grant asked, for some reason, his heart began to pound... He took a moment to analyze the feeling.
He finally realized what it was. ’A guilty conscience.’
’Didn’t get enough rest?’
’Doesn’t seem like it.’
’In fact, it was the opposite. He’d slept great.’
"A little," Simon Adler admitted, deciding to go along with the excuse for fear of further questions.
Silas Grant looked at him with a hint of surprise. After a moment, he chuckled. "So even you have trouble sleeping sometimes. Need me to give you some time off?"
"No need." Simon Adler didn’t want to discuss it further, so he stood up. "I have a business lunch to get to. I’ll head out first."
Silas Grant watched him go. The moment the conference room door clicked shut, the last trace of a smile vanished from his face.
"Looked like he was fleeing in a panic, didn’t it?"
Eric considered for a moment. "Maybe he really didn’t sleep well?"
Silas Grant shot him a sidelong glance. "Everyone in the company knows his routine is ironclad."
"He slept soundly even when one of his relatives passed away. Have you ever seen him like this before?"
"That’s true." Eric found it odd as well.
"Go find out where he was last night."
Silas Grant’s intuition was usually spot-on. As soon as he suspected something was amiss, he would have it investigated immediately.
At the time, however, Silas simply assumed Simon Adler was hiding something related to work.
After all, they were in a sensitive phase right now. If the old man could get to him once, he could get to him again.
***
Mia Grant was the one who’d really had a sleepless night.
It wasn’t exactly insomnia, but she’d gotten less than an hour of deep sleep all night.
Since she wasn’t at her own place, she didn’t feel right about sleeping in. She set an alarm and got up early to wash up.
After she messaged the two Sinclair brothers, she prepared to head back to school.
But as she reached the elevator, the doors opened, and a middle-aged woman she didn’t recognize stepped out.
The woman smiled warmly at her. "You must be Miss Grant? I’m the housekeeper for the Sinclair family. Mrs. Sinclair asked me to bring breakfast. Why don’t you come on up and have a bite before you go?"
"Oh, you don’t have to go to the trouble." Mia Grant waved her hands in refusal.
"Mrs. Sinclair got up early just to make this porridge, and it’s especially for you."
"..."
’Talk about special treatment.’
Mia Grant braced herself and followed the woman upstairs.
When the door opened, she saw Felix Sinclair already seated in the dining room.
The place setting in front of him was neat and untouched.
As if he had been waiting for her.
The housekeeper led her in. "Have a seat, have a seat."
The housekeeper served them porridge and chatted idly. "This savory porridge is for Felix, and this sweet porridge is for you, Miss Grant. I hope you like it."
"I’m fine with anything, really. And please, just call me Mia."
"Of course~" the housekeeper agreed with a smile.
Mia then realized that the breakfast dishes on the table seemed to be individual servings.
"Is it just the two of us eating?"
Mia glanced cautiously at Felix across the table.
Felix knew exactly who she was asking about.
"He doesn’t eat breakfast."
"Oh, I see."
The housekeeper, catching on, also explained, "Don’t you worry about Ian, you two go ahead and eat. He likes to sleep in and usually skips breakfast."
"Okay."
With the housekeeper present, Mia didn’t say another word for the rest of the meal.
Felix was never very talkative to begin with.
As a result, the only sound in the dining room was the soft clinking of bowls and utensils.
When they finally finished eating, Mia stood up. Felix stood up as well. "I’m heading back too. Let’s go together."
"Alright." A perfect chance to catch a ride with him.
Once they were in the car, it was just the two of them in their own enclosed world.
Clutching her seatbelt, Mia belatedly recalled fragments of the previous night and began to feel a pang of guilt.
"Um, did the housekeeper tell you everything? Your mom came over last night, and... she had me stay in Ian’s room."
"Yeah." Felix had heard.
His hangover was vicious, leaving his memories of the previous night in tatters. He could only recall fragments. He remembered sitting up in bed and suddenly seeing Ian sprawled out on the other side.
Ian was a restless sleeper, sprawled out and taking up more than half the bed.
By the time he’d washed up and gone out to the living room, the housekeeper was already there.
"Mrs. Sinclair asked me to bring breakfast."
The amount of food on the table looked like more than enough for one person.
But he knew Ian didn’t eat breakfast.
Then the housekeeper mentioned that Mia Grant hadn’t left last night.
That explained why Ian had been sleeping in his room.
He didn’t remember his mother visiting.
His memory of last night seemed to stop at the doorway.
He remembered a jumble of voices by the door, a boy’s and a girl’s, all mixed together.
He strained to parse the memory, to separate their voices.
He then tried to reconstruct the scene from that "audio clip."
In the darkness, he could vaguely make out the boy’s back.
He couldn’t see the girl.
The boy was tall and easily blocked her delicate frame from view.
The only thing visible was a hand resting on the boy’s shoulder.
Her skin was so fair it seemed to glow in the darkness, almost jarringly so.
It was impossible to miss.
’What were they doing?’
’He didn’t know.’
’At least, the him from last night hadn’t known.’
’But now...’
’He could roughly piece together what had happened.’
Felix’s grip tightened on the steering wheel as he struggled to control his breathing.
Abruptly, he pulled the car over.
Mia froze, the questions she was about to ask dying on her lips.
"Wait here." He unbuckled his seatbelt and got out.
He returned a few minutes later.
He handed her a bag.
Mia took it, her expression baffled.
"What’s this?"
She opened the bag and pulled out a small box.
She didn’t understand the medical terms on the box; she’d never seen anything like it before.
Her palpable curiosity prompted the "teacher" beside her to deign to explain: "A remedial measure."
"The morning-after pill, in short."