Chapter 50: The Chance You Already Have

Chapter 50: Chapter 50: The Chance You Already Have

~Reynold’s POV~

Frederick immediately turned toward the staircase as well. His intense eyes narrowed when he saw me standing there.

Eva suddenly lunged forward, trying to rush toward the stairs, her tear-streaked face filled with anger and disbelief.

Before she could get any closer, Frederick grabbed her from behind and pulled her back.

"Eva, leave my house!" he roared, stepping in front of her and blocking her path. His bodyguards immediately moved in, surrounding her and forcing her back toward the open doors.

I didn’t wait to see what happened next. I turned and hurried up the rest of the stairs, my heart pounding against my ribs.

When I reached the top landing and started down the plush hallway toward the master suite, I suddenly froze.

Lily was standing a few feet away, having clearly heard the commotion from downstairs. She looked at me with an unreadable expression.

The moment our eyes met, a small smile touched her lips.

"Good morning, Reynold," she murmured smoothly before turning on her heel and walking toward her room.

I watched her walk away for a moment before following her down the hallway. We continued toward the small sitting area at the end of the hall, where Lily took a seat on one of the comfortable armchairs.

I sat down across from her.

For a while, we sat in silence. I didn’t say anything or ask any questions. I simply let the echoes of the shouting downstairs fade away until Lily finally broke the silence.

"That’s my mother," Lily said softly, her voice remarkably steady. "But you don’t have to worry about her. She won’t get in your way with my father."

I shook my head, keeping my eyes on her. "I already told you, your father and I are nothing. We’re not lovers."

"I know, but..." Lily began.

I gently cut her off. "Enough about that. How are you feeling right now?"

She let out a quiet breath and leaned back in her chair. "I’m fine. My mother is greedy and selfish. I don’t hate her, but I can’t say I love her either."

Her expression hardened slightly. "My mother didn’t deserve my father. My father is my everything, Reynold. He stayed with me and raised me all by himself after my mother left."

She went on to tell me how Frederick had taken care of her, how he had been there for every milestone, always putting her first even when she was just an infant who had been abandoned by her mother.

I listened quietly, surprised by how openly Lily was talking about her feelings.

"I never want to disappoint my father," she continued, her voice dropping to a near whisper. "That’s why, whenever school holidays come around, I always want to come straight home to him. No matter how short the holiday is, I still want to spend that time with him. When I’m away at school, I don’t always trust the people around me. My so-called friends could easily drag me down or lead me astray. But I trust my father completely. I always feel safer when I’m with him."

She swallowed hard, her gaze dropping to her hands resting in her lap.

"I just don’t tell him how much I need him," she whispered, her voice tightening slightly. "But nothing scares me more than the thought of disappointing him someday. I never want to do anything that would break his heart. I trust him more than anyone in this world. He has sacrificed so much for me, more than you could imagine. People might look at him and think, He has money, so what could he possibly sacrifice?"

A faint, melancholic smile touched her lips as she looked back at me.

"But I’m the one who knows what he has actually done for me. When I first moved abroad for school, I called him crying because a friend had said something that really hurt me. I was sobbing on the phone, telling him I wanted to come home. Normally, I would have had to book a commercial flight and deal with all the arrangements myself. But my father didn’t tell me to handle it on my own. He dropped everything, flew to me, and stayed with me for weeks until I was feeling better."

She paused, taking a shaky breath.

"And when he finally returned home, he bought me my own private jet. Just like that. He took care of all the paperwork, the documents, the clearance, everything. He even arranged a crew to handle the flights, so whenever I want to come home, all I have to do is tell him. He’ll have everything arranged, and they’ll fly me home to him. He never makes me worry about anything."

"Whenever I feel unsafe or homesick, he tells me to come home. He even assigned Uncle Wilson as my personal aide. Whenever I need to travel, especially when my father is busy, Uncle Wilson takes care of the arrangements for me. My father trusts him to handle things on his behalf, so I never have to worry about anything. He would go to any length just to make sure I’m safe and comfortable."

Her eyes glistened as she looked at me, the love and loyalty in her expression clear.

"That’s why, even when I’m far away from him, I still listen to him. Reynold... he’s a good man. And sometimes, when I think about everything he went through and everything he still quietly did for my mother despite all the betrayal and pain she caused him, it hurts me so much."

She looked up, meeting my eyes with a sadness that seemed far beyond her years. "My mother is a professional manipulator. And because of me, because my father refused to let me grow up without someone there to protect me, he had to endure years of her games. She really hurt him."

Lily paused, her expression becoming more serious. "So, for my father to truly love someone again, especially someone young like you who might still want to chase your own dreams someday, isn’t easy for him. He carries a lot because of what my mother did. He protected me, raised me, and stayed strong for us, but it also made him very guarded."

She leaned forward slightly. "That’s why I’m telling you this, Reynold. He’s afraid of being used or abandoned the way my mother left him. If you’re going to stay in his life, you need to understand how much he has sacrificed and why it’s so difficult for him to open his heart completely."

I stared at her for a moment, trying to make sense of everything she had told me. "But your father explicitly told me he doesn’t want love or affection."

Lily let out a quiet sigh. "Because he doesn’t trust it. He doesn’t believe someone could truly love him and stay."

A faint, disbelieving smile touched my lips. "I thought you were going to talk about your mother, but somehow, you’ve spent this entire time praising your father. And I bet you never even tell him any of this to his face."

Lily smiled softly. "My father knows me well. And I praise him because that’s who he has been to me my entire life. I don’t know my mother. My father is everything to me."

I shifted in my armchair, a knot of confusion tightening in my chest. "Then why are you telling me all of this?"

Lily leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees as she looked directly into my eyes. "Because I want you to make good use of what’s right in front of you."

My heart skipped a beat. "Do you... actually think I have a chance of making your father love me someday?"

A bright smile spread across Lily’s face. "You’ve had that chance from the very beginning, Reynold. What you do with it is up to you."

I frowned, shaking my head in disbelief. "What do you mean? Your father doesn’t love me."

Lily’s smile turned slightly mysterious. "How do you even define love, Reynold? Is it something that has to be shouted out loud, or is it measured by the things he does through his actions? Be smart, especially with a man like him."

I stared at her, completely lost in her riddles, a desperate need for clarity pulling at my chest. I looked at her, "Can you just tell me? I don’t understand."