Chapter 242: Just How Much Did Julian Forrester Pay?

Chapter 242: Chapter 242: Just How Much Did Julian Forrester Pay?

Keith Sterling was also surprised. When his brother gave Sierra the bracelet, he hadn’t said a thing...

Sienna Everett gazed at the Red Jade Bracelet on her wrist. ’Precious’ was no longer enough to describe it. Julian Forrester was literally protecting her with his own life.

’How could she bear to inflict her suffering on him?’

Sienna Everett tried to take off the bracelet.

Keith Sterling saw through her intention and quickly reached out to stop her. "Sierra, everything my brother does for you, he does it willingly. In fact, he’s happy to do it! If you can’t bear for him to suffer for you, then just protect yourself from now on. That way, everyone wins, right?"

Sienna Everett’s heart trembled. Her slender, pale fingers gently caressed the two jade stones that looked like red beans, and she nodded silently.

She looked at the unconscious Julian Forrester on the hospital bed. Suddenly, she longed to hear him call her ’Sienna.’ Suddenly, she missed the way his dark, deep eyes would look at her—more than she ever had before...

’Keith Sterling was beginning to understand why his brother had only given Sierra the bracelet back then without saying anything else. He probably just wanted to see her safe and happy, to see her life be smooth and carefree, without wanting to burden her in the slightest.’

Looking at the silent Sienna Everett, Keith Sterling couldn’t help but recall the scene in the restaurant when the chandelier fell.

The situation had been so critical that he hadn’t been able to react at all, only managing to shout a warning for Sienna Everett to get out of the way.

But his brother... he had run over so quickly to shield Sienna Everett. The chandelier had come crashing down, and the full impact had landed on him, not allowing Sienna Everett to be harmed in the slightest. It was clear just how well his brother protected her...

「Time passed slowly in the silent night.」

The IV bag was empty. Sienna Everett called a nurse to remove the needle from Julian Forrester.

Several attending physicians also rushed over. Under normal circumstances, so many doctors wouldn’t have come.

But the patient in this room was no ordinary person. The doctors were sweating bullets as they cautiously checked him over one more time. Only after confirming that the patient’s vital signs were stable did they breathe a small sigh of relief.

After giving a few simple instructions, the doctors left the room again.

The door to the hospital room closed.

Sienna Everett sat by the bed and took the hand that Julian Forrester had just had the IV in. The infusion had left it a bit cold, so she gently wrapped both her hands around it, slowly warming it up.

Keith Sterling twisted open a bottle cap, took a sip of water, and asked, "Sierra, are you tired? It’s really late. If you’re sleepy, you should go rest on the companion bed for a while. It’s the same if I watch over him."

Sienna Everett shook her head. "I’m not tired."

’How could she possibly feel tired at a time like this?’

"You said your brother mentioned me to you before. What did he say?" Sienna Everett suddenly asked softly.

Keith Sterling thought for a moment, set his water bottle aside, and sighed softly. "My brother did mention you to me before, but... I feel like more than talking about you, he was mostly just thinking about you."

Keith Sterling leaned closer to Sienna Everett and lowered his voice. "The time I remember most vividly was during a senior management meeting. I was there too, since the Sterling Family and Forresterer Family cooperate on things. During that meeting, I happened to notice my brother zoning out while listening to the department managers’ reports. I had no idea what he was thinking about, which was really rare—my brother rarely spaces out! I leaned over to take a look, and I saw he had unconsciously written two words with his pen on the paper!"

Keith Sterling told the story so vividly that Sienna Everett’s curiosity was piqued. "What words?"

Keith Sterling: "Your name! ’Sienna Everett’! He must have been thinking of you! Why else would he unconsciously write your name on a piece of paper during a meeting?"

Sienna Everett’s heart suddenly sped up, and she tightened her grip on Julian Forrester’s hand. "And then?"

"And then my brother caught me peeking and gave me such a cold look that I got scared and immediately sat up straight!"

"..."

"But you know, Sienna, I thought about it later. The department manager mentioned the surname ’Everett’ during his report, which must be why my brother immediately thought of you! Sigh, to think of you just from hearing a surname... My brother must have really been thinking about you every single day back then."

Sienna Everett’s breath hitched, and a poignant sorrow welled up in her heart.

Keith Sterling also later realized that his brother organized the Forresterer Group to do charity work every year, donating to places like orphanages. Wasn’t that also because of Sienna Everett’s experiences of living in an orphanage as a child?

"Actually," Keith Sterling said earnestly, lightly scratching his cheek with his index finger, "even though you two had a falling out back then, my brother was always secretly looking out for you. Really!"

Sienna Everett’s eyes snapped up. "Secretly looking out for me?"

"Yeah!" Keith Sterling nodded emphatically. "At first, when he found out you’d been found by the Everett Family, and that you’d done a DNA test and they were really your family, my brother was happy for you. He knew you’d always missed your parents and had finally found your family."

"But then he discovered the Everett Family wasn’t treating you well. My brother’s face was grim every day. He wanted to go to you, but you two had fallen out, and you hated him so much... So he had to send you an anonymous message, saying he could help you leave the Everett Family. But you refused. After that, all my brother could do was help you secretly from the shadows..."

Sienna Everett’s heart clenched painfully, and her mind fell into a daze.

She remembered that.

After being taken back to the Everett Family, she had suffered a great deal. She had once received an anonymous text message from someone who said they were willing to help her escape the Everetts.

It was just that she had been too blind back then, too desperate for familial love. She thought she could melt the Everetts’ hearts and hadn’t seen them for who they truly were, so she had refused the offer in that message.

Later, she had a vague sense that someone was helping her in secret, shielding her from much of the suffering the Everetts inflicted.

’Could it have been... Julian Forrester?’

’All these years when she thought they had fallen out and lost contact, he had actually been silently watching over her, secretly caring for her...’

’In places she never knew, just how much had he done for her...?’

Keith Sterling’s phone suddenly rang. He stepped out of the room to answer it.

Sienna Everett sat by the bed, holding Julian Forrester’s unresponsive hand.

Watching the man’s peacefully closed eyes, looking at his sickly pale face, Sienna Everett’s eyes grew hot as a hazy mist welled up.

She slowly leaned down, pressing her forehead against the back of his cool hand.

’Please wake up soon...’

’She suddenly missed him. So, so much. She had never missed him like this before...’

Sienna Everett closed her eyes, her long lashes trembling slightly.

A single, scalding tear fell onto the man’s long, fair fingers.

After finishing his call, Keith Sterling had just turned around when he saw Sienna Everett through the glass window of the hospital room door. She was leaning over the bed, her thin shoulders trembling gently, enveloped in an aura of loneliness and desolation.

Keith Sterling’s footsteps faltered. He lowered the hand he had raised to push open the door and turned back into the hallway.