Chapter 187: He’s Nothing Like Me

Chapter 187: Chapter 187: He’s Nothing Like Me

"Selene, what are you laughing at?" Madam Thatcher asked, displeased.

Selene Sterling tilted her chin up and enunciated each word, "I’m laughing at how stupid you are."

"What do you mean by that!" Annabelle Thatcher couldn’t help but demand loudly. Her face was very likely ruined. The hospital had told her that if she didn’t want to be left with a scar, her only option was cosmetic surgery. She was incredibly fragile at that moment, on the verge of a breakdown, and Selene Sterling’s words were the final push. She completely lost it.

As if she’d gone mad, she shot up and lunged for Selene Sterling.

Selene Sterling remained seated, unmoving. A nearby bodyguard rushed over with extreme speed and pinned Annabelle Thatcher to the floor.

Madam Thatcher anxiously shot to her feet to intervene, but the bodyguards from Aerie Garden wouldn’t listen to her. With a firm push, Annabelle Thatcher shrieked as she was forced face-down onto the ground.

"Mrs. Sterling, are you just going to let your daughter and her bodyguards bully your guests like this?"

The earlier gentleness had long vanished from Nina Norton’s face. She sneered, "You come to my home, first you slander my future daughter-in-law, then you allow your granddaughter to try and attack my daughter. You think the Sterling family are pushovers, is that it?"

Madam Thatcher was startled by her tone and expression, taking a step back before she could process it.

She realized the woman before her wasn’t just some dignified, polite lady. She was Miss Norton, raised in the Norton family from a young age by the side of that infamous old scoundrel, Norton himself. She might have reined in her temper a bit after getting married, but her fundamental nature was unchangeable.

’A ’Miss’ like that... none of the children she raised could possibly be truly pure and kind.’

Nina Norton stood up. She had no desire to bully the old woman before her, but she wouldn’t be giving the Thatcher family any more face either.

"Madam, when I choose a daughter-in-law, it’s not enough that my son likes her. I have to like her too. Do you understand what I’m saying?"

Madam Thatcher nodded blankly. Nina Norton continued, "Your granddaughter seemed nice enough. I quite liked her at first, which is why I considered setting her up with my Finn. I never expected it was all an act for my benefit."

"It’s easier to fool someone my age."

Selene Sterling was draped languidly over the arm of the sofa, her eyes lowered to the weeping and wailing Annabelle Thatcher on the floor. She chuckled softly. "It’s not that you’re easy to fool, Mom. It’s that you’re too kind-hearted."

Although it was all to help Ian Sterling move on, Nina Norton truly hadn’t had any ulterior motives at first. It was Madam Thatcher who, having heard some news from who-knows-where, brought Annabelle Thatcher to their door and kept hinting about the matter.

It was only after Nina Norton watched Annabelle Thatcher cry and pour her heart out—saying how long she’d loved Ian Sterling, how she was willing to die for him, and so on—that she had agreed to the engagement.

’Kind-hearted?’ Madam Thatcher thought. Back when the collateral branches of the Norton family tried to seize power, seeing that there were no male heirs, Spencer Sterling had been trapped abroad, and only a few children were at home. Yet, Nina Norton had single-handedly dismantled the opposition, securing the inheritance firmly in her grasp. To this day, none of the Norton collateral branches dared to show their faces.

Why? Because back then, in front of everyone, Nina Norton had personally crippled the only male heir of the family that had been making the most trouble. She had then issued a ruthless warning: if any of them dared to have such delusional ambitions again, she wouldn’t hesitate to act a second time.

Nina Norton couldn’t be bothered to talk to them any longer. She stood up and, as she walked past Annabelle Thatcher on her way out, said coolly, "Show our guests out. Just looking at them is annoying. Lynn is so much better—pretty and sweet. Thank goodness Finn didn’t listen to me back then, or I’d be regretting it for the rest of my life."

Selene Sterling didn’t leave. She just watched the two of them quietly, only speaking after Nina Norton was a good distance away.

"Get lost. And don’t harass my brother and sister-in-law in the future. If I find out you have, don’t blame me for what I do."

Not a single person in the Sterling family was to be trifled with.

Madam Thatcher left with Annabelle Thatcher. On the way home, she received a call from Kenneth Keller himself.

"Madam Thatcher, I’m calling to inform you of some very regrettable news. The partnership between the Keller and Thatcher families has been canceled." Kenneth Keller said with a grin, then added thoughtfully, as if he’d just remembered something, "Oh, and by the way, it won’t do you any good to go to my grandmother this time. Because the ones taking over... are the Nortons."

Madam Thatcher’s eyes widened in disbelief as she started to ask a question, but Kenneth Keller had already hung up.

She couldn’t help but suspect that Kenneth Keller’s only reason for calling was to spite her, to rub salt in the wound now that her plans had failed.

"You have Ian Sterling’s number, don’t you?" Madam Thatcher turned to the still-crying Annabelle Thatcher. Sobbing, Annabelle took out her phone, found Ian Sterling’s number, and handed it to her grandmother.

The call went through. The moment it connected, Madam Thatcher couldn’t control her accusatory tone, hissing through gritted teeth, "Was this your doing? Finn, I practically watched you grow up. How could you target an old woman like me?"

Ian Sterling was just about to answer when Spencer Sterling came up from behind, plucked the phone from his hand, and hung up.

He looked down at Ian Sterling, his tone chiding. "How did you end up nothing like me?"

’Is he calling me slow?’

Nina Norton’s eyes flashed as she scowled. "Are you saying he takes after *me*???"

Spencer Sterling’s lips curved into a smile, but he didn’t answer. Nina Norton stood up to hit him, but he dodged back a step and wrapped an arm around her waist.

"..." The brother and sister rolled their eyes, then stood up together and headed for the parking lot.

Selene Sterling said, "Take me to our sister’s place."

Ian Sterling refused. "Going to her place is a detour. No way. I’m going home to Lynn."

"Not an option." Selene Sterling raised a hand threateningly. "Let’s go. Drive me, or I’ll let you feel some ’big sisterly love’."

"..." Ian Sterling grimaced. "I’m not a kid anymore, and you still want to hit me."

"If you deserve it, I won’t hold back." Selene Sterling opened the passenger door, slid in, and glanced back at Ian Sterling with a provocative smile.

Ian Sterling had no choice but to get in the car. He called Lynn Winslow as he started the engine and turned the car around.

"What’s up?" Lynn Winslow’s voice was soft and sweet. Ian Sterling smiled. "Nothing. I’m on my way home, but I have to make a stop at my oldest sister’s place first to drop off my other sister."

"No rush."

Selene Sterling rolled her eyes and spoke toward the phone. "Lynn, I asked Finn to give me a ride, but all he wants to do is rush home to you. How do you put up with him being so clingy?"

Lynn Winslow, who was taking a bath at that moment, heard Selene Sterling’s words and let out a soft laugh.

Ian Sterling quickly hung up, afraid Selene Sterling would say something to make fun of him and ruin his image in Lynn Winslow’s eyes.

Lynn Winslow smiled, pursing her lips as she set her phone aside. She stood up, rinsed the bubbles off her body, wrapped herself in a bathrobe, and walked over to the sink to wash up. Jasper Jennings and the others must have known Ian Sterling would refuse if they invited him out, so they had called her instead, asking to meet at a bar tonight. She had agreed.

Knowing she took a long time to get ready, she decided to do her makeup while she waited for Ian Sterling to get back.

Ian Sterling dropped Selene Sterling off in front of her company building and sped away without so much as a goodbye.