novelraw Chapter 202: No Obligation to Help You Find Women
Chapter 202: No Obligation to Help You Find Women
Chapter 202: I’m Under No Obligation to Find Your Women for You
Zion Alden’s voice came through the phone. "Tristan, where’d you go? I haven’t seen you around."
Tristan Sterling replied, "Something came up. I left early."
"Did you know the power suddenly went out just now?"
"I don’t know."
"I saw David with the Adams family’s daughter. And Evelynn suddenly disappeared."
Tristan Sterling’s voice was calm. "She disappeared. What’s that got to do with me?"
"I saw Julian Jennings anxiously looking for her."
"You’re paying a lot of attention to Julian Jennings. Are you interested in him, too?"
Zion Alden let out a cold laugh, his voice laced with amusement. "You left suddenly, and Evelynn disappeared, too."
Tristan Sterling remained expressionless. "What a coincidence."
Zion said, "It is quite a coincidence. If you know where she is now, you have to tell me right away."
"I’m under no obligation to find your women for you. If there’s nothing else, I’m hanging up."
With that, Tristan Sterling hung up.
「An hour later.」
The car pulled into the courtyard of a luxurious, European-style villa in the Upper East District.
The driver got out and opened the car door.
Tristan Sterling walked around to the other side and looked at the woman leaning back in her seat, showing no intention of getting out. Rachel Royce turned her head away, refusing to look at him.
Tristan Sterling ducked into the car, reached out, and scooped the woman up into his arms.
Rachel Royce was startled, her entire body resisting. "You..."
Looking at the resistance in her eyes, he asked, "You want to walk on your own?"
She hadn’t just scraped her knee when she fell. She had also twisted her ankle, and a sharp pain was now radiating from it.
Tristan Sterling carried her into the villa, set her down on the living room sofa, and ordered a maid to bring the first-aid kit.
The maid quickly brought the first-aid kit. Tristan Sterling took out some disinfectant, grabbed the woman’s injured wrist, and pulled it toward him.
Rachel Royce stared at him and instinctively struggled to pull her hand back, but his grip was anything but gentle. The slight movement sent a sharp pain through her wrist where he held it.
Tristan Sterling sprayed the disinfectant on the wound in her palm. The sting made Rachel Royce frown. "I’ll do it myself."
Tristan Sterling glanced up at her, handed her the disinfectant, and placed a tube of anti-swelling ointment in front of her.
Rachel Royce took a cotton swab and carefully cleaned the wound on her left hand before applying the ointment.
Her knee also needed attention. She lifted her skirt to just above her knee, revealing an alarming, dark purple bruise on her right kneecap where the skin had been broken.
Rachel Royce cleaned the wound and put on a bandage. The injury on her other knee wasn’t as severe, just a minor scrape.
The worst part was her sprained ankle, which was now severely swollen. She was about to bend down to examine it.
Suddenly, the man beside her stood up.
Rachel Royce glanced at him, only to see him kneel on one knee in front of her. He took hold of her injured ankle with his large hand and slipped off her high heel with the other.
"You really like to torture yourself, don’t you?"
The high heels she was wearing were ten centimeters tall.
Rachel Royce said unhappily, "What’s it to you?"
The next second, before Rachel Royce could react, a sharp CRACK echoed.
Rachel Royce cried out in pain, cold sweat instantly beading on her forehead. It felt as if her ankle was about to snap.
Then she heard the man say, "There. It’s done."
Rachel Royce was still reeling from the pain as Tristan Sterling applied some ointment and had a maid bring over a pair of slippers.
She stared at him. ’That bastard definitely did it on purpose!’ she thought, angrily grabbing a pillow and throwing it at him.
Tristan Sterling caught it with one hand and set the throw pillow down. "From now on, you’re living here."
Rachel Royce shot back, "Why should I listen to you?"
Tristan Sterling lowered his gaze, his dark eyes narrowing as he looked at her. In a dominant tone that allowed no argument, he said, "You will stay here until you go back to the country."
"Tristan Sterling, you have no right to restrict my freedom."
A faint, cold smirk touched the corners of the man’s lips. "If I don’t have the right, who does?"
Rachel Royce’s delicate brows furrowed as she glared at him resentfully.
Tristan Sterling saw the fury churning in her beautiful eyes and simply said, "As for you wanting to sell your KU shares, someone will handle that for you."
’He knows,’ she thought.
The man walked away and went upstairs.
Rachel Royce sat on the sofa.
Her phone wouldn’t turn on. She asked a maid if she could use the villa’s landline, but the maid told her it wasn’t working.
’Julian Jennings and Thomas Sterling must be looking for me right now, but they can probably guess who took me.’
’The security around this villa is extremely tight. It won’t be easy for anyone to get in. Even if I wanted to leave, I couldn’t get far without a car. And with my injured foot, it’ll take at least three or four days to get better.’
’As long as Tristan Sterling won’t let me go, I’m stuck here. If I keep fighting him, I’ll be the only one who suffers.’
She thought back to Tristan Sterling’s call with Zion Alden.
’Of course, I don’t think Tristan Sterling was intentionally protecting me. It was all because of Melissa, in the end.’
’At least for now, I can stay away from that perverted lunatic.’
A maid had prepared a bedroom for her on the first floor.
"A change of clothes will be delivered shortly. Please wait a moment."
After saying this, the maid left the bedroom.
「That night.」
Rachel Royce lay in bed but didn’t sleep well. The unfamiliar environment, with no one she knew around, felt so empty it made her extremely uncomfortable.
When she woke up the next day, her head felt groggy.
A maid came to wake her for breakfast.
"I don’t want to eat."
"Should I bring it in for you?"
"No, thank you."
The maid didn’t insist and left the room.
The maid didn’t return until noon, when she came to call her for lunch.
She asked, "Where’s Tristan Sterling?"
The maid replied, "Mr. Sterling has gone out."
Only then did Rachel Royce leave her room and go to the dining room for lunch. Her ankle and knee were a little sore, but it didn’t affect her walking too much.
The meal was a Western-style lunch, consisting mainly of steak and other similar dishes.
「After lunch.」
With nothing to do, Rachel Royce could only wander around the villa.
The place was probably not lived in often, so while the villa was luxurious, it lacked a human touch and felt very empty.
She made a point to go down to the underground garage to have a look.
It was empty. Not a single car.
’It was probably just that one car from last night that dropped him off,’ she guessed.
She then went to his study. There was a landline on the desk, but when Rachel Royce tried it, it confirmed her suspicion: it didn’t work.
She put the phone down, deflated.
After eating dinner around six in the evening, she could only watch TV to pass the time.
Around seven o’clock, Tristan Sterling returned to the villa and saw the woman sitting quietly on the sofa, watching TV.
He strode over, sat down beside her, and placed the cake he was holding in front of her.
Rachel Royce froze for a second, blinking at him in confusion.
"What are you looking at me for?"
Rachel asked, "Why did you buy a cake?"
Tristan Sterling replied, "Because it looks nice."
Rachel Royce’s delicate brows knitted together. ’Who is he being so snarky with?’
She turned her head away, not bothering to engage with him. She then saw Tristan Sterling make a video call. It connected quickly, and Melissa’s face appeared on the screen.
"Aunt Evelynn!"
Rachel Royce reached out and took Tristan Sterling’s phone.
"Melissa, Auntie wants to talk with you alone for a bit."
Melissa said, "Okay! I want to talk with Aunt Evelynn, too."
Holding Tristan Sterling’s phone, Rachel Royce went back to her room.