Chapter 38: The One Who Has Known Me for Sixteen Full Years, Evelyn Grant

Chapter 38: Chapter 38: The One Who Has Known Me for Sixteen Full Years, Evelyn Grant

’If the Sterling Family found out about us, my mother would definitely scold me, but the biggest victim would be Ryan Sterling!’

’He’d have to face criticism from his parents and his own brother.’

’The pressure... just thinking about it gives me a headache.’

Besides, this whole mess was a consequence of her asking for his help. She couldn’t just sit by and do nothing—that would be too unfair to Ryan Sterling!

As soon as Ryan Sterling came out of the kitchen, he glanced casually at Evelyn Grant and knew she had something she wanted to say.

’And he had a pretty good idea what it was about.’

So, he decided not to give her a chance to speak. "Those chat logs between Jane Jacobs and her best friend weren’t found on the account she usually used to talk to my brother."

Evelyn Grant had already rehearsed what she wanted to say, but his sudden interruption caught her off guard, and she froze for a moment.

"Huh? Then how did you find them?"

"I illegally hacked into the phones of a few of her close friends. It took me a few days to comb through everything bit by bit."

"..."

In truth, what Ryan Sterling said was an exaggeration.

He had indeed hacked the phones and checked them one by one, but it had taken him less than 24 hours to find the evidence.

However, the work had spanned two separate days, so saying it took him "a few days"...

’Two days counts as ’a few days,’ right?’

But what he said effectively shut down whatever Evelyn Grant had been about to say next.

’Ryan Sterling had put in so much money and effort to get her out of jail. If she rejected the compensation he’d only just proposed last night, wouldn’t that be a bit...?’

After a moment’s thought, she decided not to be direct. Instead, she would try to remind him of the situation by approaching it from an angle.

"Ryan Sterling, I’m truly grateful for your help! To be honest, back when I was in the detention center and you said you’d help me find evidence, I didn’t dare get my hopes up. After all... you’re Julian Sterling’s own brother. I thought you’d be more inclined to believe what he said."

That’s why, after seeing him, Evelyn Grant had met with her lawyer again.

But the lawyer had been at his wits’ end, able only to keep reminding her that since she was pregnant, she couldn’t receive the death penalty, so she should try to relax.

’As if she needed him to tell her that!’

’Of course she knew that!’

"If I believed him, would I have helped you get pregnant?"

’He had said so himself on the day of the incident—that he believed her.’

"Then didn’t it occur to you... that you’d be offending your brother by doing this?"

Ryan Sterling’s slender hand paused. He scoffed, "If that’s what counts as offending him, then there’s nothing more to say."

"..."

"At the end of the day, it was just a matter of choice. He didn’t believe you, but I did. Who made the rule that just because I’m his brother, I have to make the same choice he did?"

Evelyn Grant frowned slightly. "But my relationship with him—"

"You’re only thinking about your relationship with him. Why don’t you stop and think about the fact that you and I also grew up together?"

’In fact, if you were to base the strength of a relationship on who’s known whom the longest, then he, Ryan Sterling, knew Evelyn Grant even before Julian did!’

Back then, when the Grant Family moved into the military residential compound, it was right when Julian Sterling was on summer vacation, visiting his grandparents.

That year, however, Ryan Sterling had bombed his final exams and was ordered to stay behind in Kyro for tutoring, forbidden from going with the others.

And so, he had a whole summer to get to know Evelyn Grant before his brother did.

"Your entire perspective is based on one fact: that you’re my brother’s ex-wife." Ryan Sterling leaned back slightly, his gaze darkening as it finally settled on her delicate face. "But my perspective is based on another—that you’re Evelyn Grant. The Evelyn Grant I’ve known for sixteen whole years."