Chapter 194: It Doesn’t Affect My Love for Her

Chapter 194: Chapter 194: It Doesn’t Affect My Love for Her

After all, if he had accepted the guaranteed admission spot and told his mother and Evelyn Grant, they would have been thrilled. A good, sensible kid like Alex Grant should want to make his family happy.

Unless—

Unless there was a factor more important than their happiness.

Otherwise, it just didn’t add up.

Ryan Sterling was in his study handling some lingering company issues when his phone began to ring. He wasn’t even finished with his work.

He didn’t even have to look; he knew who was calling.

Ryan Sterling was busy and ignored the first call. When it rang again nearly ten minutes later, he finally picked it up.

"Brother."

"You have the nerve to call me your brother?! I was sponsoring a school. What right do you have to butt in? Ryan Sterling, do you just have to oppose me on everything?!"

Julian Sterling had been stunned when he received the notice from the school that his sponsorship had been rejected.

But it didn’t take long for him to figure out the reason.

Who else could it be besides his own brother?

"Am I really the one working against you, or are you the one with ulterior motives?"

"..."

"Brother, Evelyn Grant might not know about your little scheme, but you think I don’t?" Ryan Sterling scoffed. "I told you. Don’t get any funny ideas about her!"

Julian Sterling gritted his teeth in fury.

But against his younger brother, he was completely powerless.

Ryan Sterling had tripled the sponsorship amount in one fell swoop. It was a sum his own company couldn’t possibly support at the moment.

On top of that, he had already promised Mr. Jacobs a sum of money. Now, his company was stretched to its absolute limit.

"It’s over between you two! You’ve seen it yourself—Evelyn Grant doesn’t love you in the slightest! So why do you have to keep meddling?!"

"Whether she loves me or not doesn’t change the fact that I love her."

"..."

"I just want to protect Evelyn Grant from getting hurt. Is that a problem?" Ryan Sterling chuckled darkly. "Brother, you can’t blame anyone but yourself. You’re the one who didn’t cherish her back then! I already stepped aside and let you have her. But you lost her all on your own. Who can you blame for that?"

With that, Ryan Sterling moved to end the call.

Julian suddenly shouted from the other end, "No matter what, I’m still better than you! At least Evelyn Grant genuinely loved me! Unlike you! She was carrying your child, yet she still schemed to send you abroad just so she could secretly get rid of it! Ryan, you didn’t win, so don’t you stand there and talk to me like some kind of victor!"

’Win?’

’Victory?’

Ryan Sterling had never thought of it that way.

The moment he learned that Evelyn Grant had the abortion, he knew he had lost. And it was a crushing defeat.

Now, hearing his child mentioned again, a pain so sharp shot through Ryan Sterling’s heart that his face went pale.

The child... that was his deepest source of pain.

"Brother, don’t force my hand."

"..."

"I wouldn’t mind bankrupting your company completely. You know I have the resources to do it."

The call disconnected. Ryan Sterling pressed a hand tightly to his chest.

He felt like he was suffocating, unable to draw a normal breath.

"Why...? You promised me. You promised you would keep the baby..."

Ryan Sterling admitted to himself that he had been selfish back at The Sterling Estate. Instead of telling Evelyn Grant he had the evidence she needed, he had slept with her, and she had gotten pregnant.

But... he had truly wanted that child.

He had desperately wanted Evelyn Grant to be his.

He couldn’t bear to wait endlessly anymore, waiting for a day when she might suddenly fall out of love with Julian Sterling and finally turn around to see him standing there.

That hope had been so incredibly slim.