The Husband I Loved for Eight Years Never Loved Me

Chapter 248: What’s Yours is Yours

Chapter 248: What’s Yours is Yours

Something suddenly occurred to Rachel Royce, and she looked around for her phone but couldn’t find it.

She had no choice but to use Melissa’s watch phone to call Julian Jennings.

The call connected quickly.

"Hello, who is this?"

"Professor, it’s me."

"Rachel, you’re awake," Julian said. "How are you feeling now?"

"Thank you, Professor. I’m fine," she said anxiously. "My phone isn’t on me."

Her phone contained a lot of internal data from Rowan.

Julian said, "Your phone and Joanna Sutton’s were both taken. I’ve already had someone hack them and wipe all the data."

He didn’t mention that the other party had already downloaded a portion of it, not wanting to worry her.

Rachel Royce let out a sigh of relief. It was clear their target this time wasn’t just her, but also the internal information from Rowan she possessed.

"Are you at the hospital now?"

"No, I’m at Melissa’s home," Rachel said.

After they arrived at the hospital, Julian hadn’t stayed for long; he left partly to deal with their phones.

Rachel Royce, meanwhile, had remained unconscious even after her IV drip was finished. Once it was confirmed that she was in no serious danger, Tristan Sterling took her and Melissa directly back to the villa.

They had only just returned.

And Rachel Royce had woken up.

Julian hummed in acknowledgment. He had probably guessed as much.

"Then get some rest. Don’t worry about this matter; I’ll investigate it thoroughly."

"Okay," Rachel said.

"By the way, Rowan no longer needs the Norvane merger deal."

The contract was in Tristan Sterling’s hands. Julian figured Tristan intended to use it to demand something from Rachel. He knew her personality; though she was strict with her subordinates at work, she was uncompromising when it came to protecting her employees’ tangible interests.

That was why her team had such immense faith in her now.

Her insistence on negotiating with Norvane until the very end wasn’t just for herself, but more for the benefit of the company and its employees.

Rachel might very well compromise because of that.

"Coincidentally, Rowan is currently in talks for another partnership. If it goes through, it can make up for the loss from the Norvane deal."

Hearing this, Rachel asked, "That’s good. How are Joanna and the others now?"

"They’re fine. It was just a common knockout drug."

Rachel hummed in acknowledgment.

Tristan Sterling returned to his study to handle some work.

「Twenty minutes later.」

There was a knock on the door.

"Come in."

Rachel Royce pushed the door open and walked in. She approached the man’s desk and stopped. Before she could say anything, he slid a document in front of her.

Rachel was taken aback for a moment.

"Take a look."

She reached out, picked up the document, and saw it was the Norvane contract.

Rachel looked at him. "What do you mean by this?"

Tristan Sterling spoke up, "I don’t need the Norvane merger deal either."

Rachel clutched the contract tightly, a faint, ironic smile touching her lips. "But this is what Claire Ainsworth went to great lengths to get."

Tristan lifted his gaze to meet hers. "What’s yours is yours."

Listening to his words, delivered in a calm tone, Rachel couldn’t decipher their true meaning.

Of course, she wouldn’t believe for a second that Tristan Sterling had gotten the contract back from Alexander Sullivan just for her. Even if she was part of the reason, there was definitely a scheme involved.

"So, what do you want?" If she hadn’t called Julian Jennings, she might have actually compromised. But now, she was very curious to know what Tristan Sterling wanted her to do in exchange for this contract.

How could Tristan Sterling not see Rachel’s wariness and suspicion? "What if I said I don’t want anything?"

"You’re playing the philanthropist now?"

Tristan let out a low chuckle. "If you insist that I make a request, then just stay here for a few days. It’ll save Melissa the trouble of traveling back and forth."

His tone was gentle, completely devoid of the overbearing threats he used to make.

Rachel stared at him, trying to see through him, but his face revealed nothing.

Seeing her guarded expression, he smiled faintly. "I’m not going to do anything to you. You’d just be staying here to be with Melissa. What are you afraid of?"

"Of course, if you insist on leaving, I won’t stop you."

Tristan’s change in attitude truly caught Rachel off guard. ’So he’s really giving this to me for free?’

Rachel, of course, didn’t believe him. After a moment of silence, she slowly put the contract down.

"I don’t need this contract," she said. "Since I couldn’t get it back myself, it means this deal doesn’t belong to me."

Tristan Sterling looked at the contract, then reached out and took it back. "Since you don’t need it, I won’t force you."

He put the contract away.

She had no idea what he was plotting now with this uncharacteristic behavior.

"Today’s incident has everything to do with Claire Ainsworth." As Julian Jennings carried her from the hotel room, she had groggily seen Claire. It was too much of a coincidence for her to be there. And then there was that time in Meridia. It was clear Claire hadn’t given up her malicious intentions.

The irony was that Tristan Sterling had been the one to save her both times.

She could just imagine Claire Ainsworth’s pained and resentful expression.

Tristan Sterling said, "I’ll handle this matter and give you a satisfactory result."

His words surprised Rachel, but then she suddenly let out a laugh. "How are you going to give me a satisfactory result? Don’t you know exactly why Claire Ainsworth does these things to me?"

The main culprit was the man standing right in front of her.

The man’s handsome face was calm. He said, "I’ll do anything to make it up to you, except get a divorce."

Taken at face value, his words made it sound as if he had such deep feelings for her that he would never agree to a divorce.

"What if I want you to send her to prison?"

Tristan Sterling replied, "She’s the eldest daughter of the Ainsworth Family, and she couldn’t have pulled this off alone."

Rachel said mockingly, "Then what’s the point of talking about making it up to me or giving me a satisfactory result?"

"I can give you the TC project."

At his words,

Rachel was stunned. The value of that project was on a completely different level from the Norvane merger.

Tristan Sterling had personally negotiated that deal.

"You’d go this far for Claire Ainsworth? Why don’t you just marry her?"

"It’s not for her."

Rachel’s pupils contracted slightly. The man’s dark eyes were like a bottomless vortex, threatening to pull her in.

She quickly looked away.

"You can think it over tonight."

「During dinner.」

Melissa sat next to her mother. With both her mom and dad by her side tonight, she happily swung her little legs, ate her food obediently without being picky, and even had an extra bowl of rice.

"So it seems Melissa loves Mommy more now, huh?" Tristan’s voice was gentle, almost as if he were jealous of Rachel.

Melissa lifted her little head to look at her dad and said, "Melissa loves Daddy and Mommy both, but Mommy wasn’t around before, so Melissa has to love Mommy a little extra right now."

Rachel stroked Melissa’s small head, a wave of tenderness washing over her heart.

Tristan Sterling watched her.

Rachel felt his gaze and looked up at him.

Their eyes met for a moment.

The man simply gave her a gentle smile.

Rachel lowered her eyes, calmly retracting her gaze.

Just after dinner was finished,

the doorbell rang.