Chapter 228: Everything He Can Give You, I Can Give You

Chapter 228: Chapter 228: Everything He Can Give You, I Can Give You

Sienna had just rushed out to the balcony, her phone still ringing, when she saw Julian Forrester following her. She instinctively waved him away. "Go on back to the room. I need to take this call."

Julian didn’t go back to the room, nor did he come any closer. He leaned casually against the glass balcony door and crossed his arms. "Go ahead. I won’t disturb you."

He just stood there, his presence immense, watching her answer the phone.

Sienna: "..."

’Then again,’ she thought, ’it’s not like I’m cheating on him. There’s nothing to hide.’

It just felt a little strange.

Sienna turned her back to him, answered the call, and pressed the phone to her ear, subconsciously lowering her voice. "Hello?"

On the other end, Simon Sinclair was surprised for a moment when the call connected, then he chuckled. "Tsk. I thought you’d hang up on me without a second thought. You actually answered?"

"What do you want? Is this about something important?" Sienna was in no mood for his games and asked in a low voice.

"Baby, what’s with that secretive little voice..." Simon’s charming eyes crinkled as his lips curved into a suggestive smile. "Are you cheating on Julian Forrester with me behind his back?"

He sounded pleased as he asked, "Willing to let me be your mistress, then?"

Sienna: "..."

’Regret.’

’I regret answering this call!’

Sienna took a couple of deep breaths and spoke in a rush. "About your birthday... I... I just forgot..."

The other end of the line suddenly went quiet.

After five or six seconds of silence, the man’s husky, dangerous voice came through. "So you finally remembered?"

Sienna awkwardly rubbed her nose. "Well, you didn’t remind me. Would it have killed you to drop a hint?"

"Sienna Everett, if I have to be the one to remind you about my own birthday, wouldn’t that make me seem a little pathetic?"

"..."

The man’s voice, raspy and dark, came through the phone’s earpiece, betraying almost no emotion. "It’s not the first time you’ve abandoned me."

"Don’t talk nonsense!" Sienna bristled. "What do you mean, ’abandoned’? We don’t have that kind of special relationship! Stop slinging mud at me!"

Just as Sienna finished speaking, a man’s hand, with its well-defined knuckles, suddenly closed around her wrist.

She looked up to see that Julian Forrester had walked over at some point.

There was a wooden wicker chair on the balcony.

Julian sat down in the wicker chair, pulling Sienna down with him so she landed in his lap.

Sienna blinked in confusion. Covering the mouthpiece with her hand, she whispered, "What are you doing?"

His voice was perfectly composed. "I was afraid you’d get tired taking the call standing up."

Sienna: "..."

’What an excuse.’

Sienna uncovered the phone and asked Simon, "So, why did you call today?"

Simon didn’t answer her question. Instead, he asked slowly, "Sienna Everett, who was it that once told me, ’Your birth isn’t a sin. From now on, I’ll celebrate your birthday with you’?"

"..."

"Baby, you broke your promise to me. Don’t you think you should compensate me somehow?"

’Compensation?’

Sienna frowned. Before she could speak, Julian’s arms tightened around her waist.

Then she heard Simon say, "You can compensate me... by making me your mistress."

"..."

’Here he goes again!’

Sienna was certain Julian had heard Simon’s words.

The arm around her waist tightened abruptly, and he lowered his head, leaning in close.

They were so close she could feel his warm, intimate breath on her skin.

Sienna’s eyelashes fluttered, and she frantically lowered her gaze. Her rejection to Simon on the phone was swift and decisive. "Would you stop being crazy? I’m in a real marriage, and we have a great relationship! If you’re calling me about something as morally bankrupt as being the other man, then I’m very busy. I don’t have time for this!"

But the next second, she heard Simon let out a low, derisive laugh.

His low, raspy laugh traveled through the faint static, filled with a defiant air. "Baby girl, I’ll be making a trip to Celestria soon."

Sienna frowned suspiciously. ’What does it matter to me whether he comes or not?’

Sienna didn’t say anything else. She just hung up.

She looked up and met Julian Forrester’s deep, quiet eyes. They were like a bottomless abyss, threatening to pull her very soul inside.

Sitting on Julian’s lap and being watched by him with such intensity, Sienna found her body moving on its own before her mind could even think. She instinctively snuggled closer into his embrace.

When she realized what she’d done, Sienna awkwardly raised a hand to her neck. "Um, don’t pay any attention to what Simon said about being a mistress or whatever. His mind doesn’t work right. Just... don’t take anything he says seriously."

Julian’s gaze burned into her, his eyes darker than she had ever seen them. "Sienna."

"Hm?" Sienna looked up at him.

The man’s cool, slender fingers gently caressed the side of her face. His Adam’s apple bobbed, and the voice that escaped his throat was low and lingering, enough to make one’s heart burn.

"Whatever Simon can give you, I can give you."

"And what Simon can’t give you, I can give you too."

"Don’t let him confuse you, okay?"

Sienna froze. Her eyelashes fluttered rapidly, and her heart skipped a beat. A shimmer rippled through her watery eyes. "Of course I won’t be swayed by him... I don’t even like him..."

Hearing her say she didn’t like him, the tension in Julian’s body eased slightly.

’Just now, listening to her talk with Simon, hearing about the unique past they shared... in that past, she understood him so well. She knew about his dark childhood, she knew his birthday, and she had once told him so firmly: *Your birth isn’t a sin.*’

’Simon had saved her, and she had saved him.’

’That past, those bonds... were things he could never be a part of.’

’The jealousy and darkness in his heart erupted, growing wild like a towering tree.’

’His own childish, wretched impulse had been to pull her into his arms while she was still on the phone with Simon, as if that was the only way to break their bond, the only way to get closer to her, the only way to feel like he even existed at her side...’

"Sienna, how long have you... known Simon?"

Sienna blinked and blurted out, "Not that long! It’s not like with you. We grew up together. I can’t even count how many years I’ve known you."

Julian gazed steadily at the girl before him.

Sienna suddenly lowered her lashes, then raised her soft, pale hand and placed it gently over his heart.

She lifted her gaze, her eyes twinkling with a light as bright as a sky full of stars.

"Julian Forrester, I was just thinking... in all my childhood memories, aside from my grandparents, all that’s left is you."

They had grown up together, spent all their younger years together, just like family.

Even what she had once thought was a falling-out had just been his unspoken feelings for her.

When she was at her most pained and lonely, right after cutting ties with the Everett Family, he had appeared and welcomed her into his world, letting her feel what it was like to have a home again.

Sienna blinked playfully. "What am I going to do? I feel like ever since Grandma and Grandpa passed away, you’re the closest person I have in this world. If only I’d made a few more friends when I was a kid..."

Before she could finish, Julian could no longer hold back. With a desperate fondness, he pulled her into a tight embrace.

In that instant, the girl’s soft, warm fragrance filled his senses, gradually soothing the dark emotions born from his possessiveness.

"Having just me is enough," he said, holding her.

Sienna let out a proud little huff, deliberately contradicting him. "Who doesn’t want more friends?"

Julian hugged her tighter, his nose nuzzling her soft, pale earlobe. "Sienna..."

His warm breath brushed against her ear as he spoke, sending a shiver through her. Sienna’s body trembled uncontrollably. "What is it?"

"Sienna, be with me..."

Sienna froze. Her fingers tightened on his shirt, and she subconsciously held her breath.

Then, she heard the man’s low, magnetic voice resonate slowly by her ear, filled with an indescribable reverence and warmth.

"Whether you love me or not, I will always love you. I will always, always be good to you..."