Chapter 102 Does He Still Have a Heart?

Chapter 102: Chapter 102: Does He Still Have a Heart?

The situation made Sophie Winslow feel as though her chest had instantly been filled with gravel mixed with molten lava. Her throat burned with a stinging, metallic ache, as if her blood were boiling.

She was in shock. No matter how ugly their fallout had been, she was a human being, not an object. She felt Julian Sterling shouldn’t have dismissed her so callously.

The camera was still pointed at Julian and Stella Sutton, so she could see the man’s reaction with absolute clarity. He unhurriedly lifted his gaze, his expression completely devoid of anger or annoyance.

Sophie didn’t wait to hear how Julian would respond. She simply tapped the button and hung up.

Pinching the bridge of her nose, Sophie realized she no longer had a shred of curiosity about Julian’s attitude. They had already gone their separate ways and severed all ties. Whatever he thought had nothing to do with her anymore.

Peter Preston was sitting right next to Sophie and naturally heard the entire exchange. His face turned a sickly green as he slammed his hand on the table and shot up. "You are a person! Not some toy they can casually push around and play with! After so many years of marriage, even if you are getting divorced, he shouldn’t be completely indifferent when another man is targeting his wife, right? Does he even have a heart?"

Peter was furious, his handsome face darkening like a thundercloud. If it had been any other man, he would have warned Lucas Langley off long ago. But no, it was Julian Sterling! His disregard for Sophie had reached an absolutely outrageous level!

Sophie knew why Peter was so angry; he had always treated her like his own sister, so his outrage was inevitable. She also felt quite guilty. Because of her disastrous relationship, she was dragging the people around her onto a daily emotional rollercoaster.

"Does he even remember that tomorrow is your birthday? He’s probably been so bewitched by Stella Sutton that he’s forgotten everything!" Peter sneered. Forgetting his own wife’s birthday, and even letting Sophie go on a date with another man—even as a man himself, Peter was starting to despise his own gender. "And that Lucas Langley is no saint either. We don’t need this investment!"

Peter hadn’t expected Lucas to treat Sophie like a casual plaything. If that was the case, so what if it was three hundred million? He didn’t care.

Sophie stepped forward and patted Peter’s back. "It’s fine, I know what I’m doing. I’ll take the contract over tomorrow. If he tries to play games, I’ll just leave. At worst, I’ll urge Julian to transfer the funds earlier and use my divorce settlement to inject the capital. I won’t let myself get taken advantage of."

Peter knew Sophie had a handle on things, but hearing it with his own ears still made his blood boil. Let alone how she, the person actually involved, must feel? Even though they were divorced, it was impossible not to feel a chill in her heart!

Sophie spent quite a while pacifying Peter before finally seeing him off.

As for her birthday, she didn’t take it to heart. Her mother had been in a coma for years following a car accident, and Isaiah Sutton had never cared about her. Her grandfather, Quentin Winslow, drifted in and out of lucidity and couldn’t remember it all the time. So, it didn’t matter if she celebrated it or not. No one remembered it anyway.

She gave Ivy Hawthorne another call.

"Don’t worry. I’ll start editing the footage as soon as I get back tonight," Ivy said. "The hospital recording is super long, so I have to go through it frame by frame to find the key moments of Seth Sutton’s medication usage. I’ll try my best to filter it all out by tomorrow night."

Sophie finally felt relieved. Once she returned to Kingsford, the matter would finally be resolved.

She had formed some new ideas regarding the smart medical robots from the companies they had inspected in Seabourne. Seabourne truly lived up to its reputation as a city at the forefront of technology. She stayed up until almost 4:00 a.m. doing detailed analyses of the various robot models they had examined.

Eventually, she caught a bit of a chill and her nose got stuffed up. Tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep, she simply went downstairs to get breakfast as soon as the sun came up.

She threw on a random hoodie, so exhausted she could barely keep her eyes open. The luxury hotel’s breakfast spread was incredibly lavish, but she just grabbed a few items and sat down to eat.

Soon after, someone took the seat across from her. She looked up and saw it was Evan York.

Sophie continued stuffing her face with her sandwich without even a word of greeting.

Evan was already used to Sophie’s attitude toward him. His deep, peach-blossom eyes narrowed slightly. "Didn’t you just divorce Julian? Getting involved with another man this quickly—how is this any different from seamlessly jumping to the next guy?"

At first glance, his words sounded entirely accusatory, as if she had somehow wronged Julian Sterling. Sophie immediately lost her appetite.

She stared at him coldly. "Fighting for Julian’s honor? With how enthusiastic you are, do you need me to hand you a Good Samaritan award?"

Meeting Sophie’s gaze, Evan’s heart tightened for no apparent reason. He frowned. In truth, he had wanted to warn her that Lucas Langley wasn’t serious and to tell her not to fall for him, or at least tell her to reject Lucas’s date today. But the moment the words left his mouth, they came out completely wrong.

Sophie genuinely couldn’t stomach another bite. She had stayed up all night, her head was throbbing, and now she was being criticized first thing in the morning. She seriously wondered if she had desecrated his ancestors’ graves or something; why else would he constantly target her and pick fights?

She put down her knife and fork, having no intention of continuing the conversation, and stood up to leave.

Evan instinctively stood up as well. Staring at her retreating back, he suddenly felt like there was something wrong with his head. Why was he worrying about Sophie’s affairs? Especially when she was so unappreciative of his good intentions.

He massaged his temples. Lately, he really had been losing his mind and acting completely abnormal.

Sophie returned to her room, planning to catch up on some sleep. Right then, Lucas’s WhatsApp messages came through.

[Did you answer my video call yesterday? It shows a video call duration of two and a half minutes.]

[I’ve booked a restaurant for tonight. Here’s the address. See you at eight.]

[Sophie, it’s basic courtesy to reply when you see a message.]

[Fine, just don’t be late.]

Sophie was speechless. To prevent him from bombing her with more texts, she simply replied with an "OK" emoji before finally drifting off to sleep.

She woke up a little past 2:00 p.m., roused by a sharp pain in her throat. Getting out of bed, she chugged a large glass of water.

She had an online meeting with Helios today. Once she finished her work, she wouldn’t be delayed for her investment discussion with Lucas. She texted Peter to ask where he was. When Peter replied that he was at the hotel’s swimming pool, Sophie hesitated for a moment before grabbing her laptop and heading downstairs.

She didn’t actually know how to swim. In fact, she was terrified of water.

Many years ago, before marrying Julian, she had accidentally fallen into the Sterling family’s pond, which was practically the size of a lake, and had nearly drowned. She had been terrified of water ever since. The only reason she had booked the previous suite with a private pool was because she absolutely loved its panoramic view. Being forced to switch to the waterless presidential suite—even though Stella Sutton had stolen her original room—actually left her quite satisfied. It was better this way without the water.

The hotel’s swimming pool covered a massive area. Sophie left her laptop on a table at the café just outside the pool area and ordered a drink before heading inside to look for Peter.

There were quite a few people walking in and out wrapped in towels, along with children laughing and playing.

Sophie looked around as she walked. Realizing the place was much too large, she felt too lazy to keep searching. She looked down at her phone and sent Peter a message.

[Which pool are you at? I’ll wait for you outside. Come out after you change.]

Just as she hit send and turned around, a couple of children chasing each other sprinted straight toward her. Sophie was just about to look up when one of the children slipped, their body slamming hard against her side.

Sophie instantly lost control of her center of gravity. She stumbled sideways, reeling several steps toward the edge of the pool. Her expression changed drastically as her entire body pitched forward into the water without warning.

The water instantly swallowed her over her head, violently rushing into her throat. Repressed memories flooded her mind, and the suffocating sensation made Sophie thrash her limbs wildly in the water.

"Help..."

SPLASH.

Another sound of something breaking the water’s surface rang out. As she sank, a hand grabbed her arm and hauled her up. In a daze, she felt herself being pulled into someone’s embrace, breaking free from the surface of the water.