Chapter 726: Two Choices
Chloe Reed’s heart was a tangle of complicated emotions.
"Chloe, what are you thinking about?"
Fiona Linton’s curious voice sounded beside her.
Chloe Reed snapped out of it, turned to look at her, and then shook her head.
"Auntie."
Just then, Noah heard their voices and turned to look. When he saw Chloe Reed, his eyes lit up, and he held out his arms to her.
"Cuddle."
Chloe Reed looked at him with a complicated expression, walked over, and picked him up.
Only after lifting him did she realize just how small he was—a little boy not yet four years old.
His worldview hadn’t even begun to form. He was just starting to understand the world and express it with words.
And yet, he had already experienced so many complicated and dark things.
For him to still be able to open his heart to others under these circumstances was truly a rare and precious thing.
Chloe Reed looked down at him, at the face that so closely resembled Julian Grant’s, and the wall of ice around her heart completely shattered.
He was Julian Grant’s child.
He himself had done nothing wrong.
The one at fault had always been Sunny Reed.
She shouldn’t project her negative feelings onto a child.
Chloe Reed couldn’t help but hug him a little tighter.
Noah loved being held by her. He felt so warm—warmer than in his own mother’s arms.
He lifted his little face and asked, "Auntie, can you tell me a story?"
Chloe Reed gave a helpless smile and shook her head.
Judith Pierce said, "Noah, your auntie is hurt. She can’t speak right now."
Noah turned to look at Judith Pierce, then back at Chloe Reed, before reaching out to touch her throat.
"Does it hurt?"
"If it hurts, I’ll blow on it for you."
As he spoke, he really did lean in and blow on it with great earnestness.
Chloe Reed’s expression stiffened for a moment, and she shook her head.
Noah asked, "Then when will you get better? I want you to tell me a story."
His mother had never told him a story.
Judith Pierce took him into her arms and said, "When your auntie gets better, she’ll tell you stories then. For now, how about Grandma tells you one? Grandma knows lots and lots of stories."
"Really?"
"Of course! I’ll tell you one right now..."
"..."
Dylan Finch came out, supporting Walker Grant, and said, "Ma’am, Mr. Grant says it’s time to change his dressing."
"Okay."
Chloe Reed responded and immediately walked over.
She took Walker Grant’s arm to support him.
Fiona Linton glanced at the time, then shot Walker Grant a strange look.
’It’s not time to change his dressing yet.’
’Is this guy just missing his wife?’
’Tsk!’
"..."
「That evening.」
Judith Pierce helped Walker Grant out to the garden. They sat on a long bench, and she told him everything Noah had said to her.
"Walker, did you know about any of this?"
After speaking, she looked at him with a serious expression.
Walker Grant’s face was exceptionally grim, his jaw muscles tight. "I didn’t know," he said.
He thought about all the times in the past he had abandoned Chloe Reed for Noah’s sake. ’So it was all Sunny Reed’s deliberate scheming!’
There had been nothing wrong with his relationship with Chloe Reed. All the problems had started after Sunny Reed got pregnant.
She had gone abroad to clear her head, only to discover she was pregnant. The Grant family couldn’t be kept in the dark, so he had flown over directly and told her to have the child.
That was his older brother’s only child.
He had given her two choices.
Have the child, and he would give her a large sum of money. She could do whatever she wanted, but she could not take the child with her.
Or, she could stay with the child. She would remain the Young Madam of the Grant family, responsible for raising the child and being with him as he grew up.