Family on Their Knees Heart Turned to Ice novel Chapter 54

Colin sighed. “This is such a mess. She’s a grown woman, why can’t she be more sensible? She’s constantly worrying the family. She’s married now, part of the Blake family. This shouldn’t be entirely our problem, should it?”

“Sebastian’s attention is completely on Bella now. Are you really that clueless, or are you just pretending not to see it?” Brandon shot back. “Do you honestly think he’s going to step in for Lillian?”

As the eldest brother, Brandon felt that he couldn’t completely ignore Lillian’s situation. He couldn’t just stand by and watch her completely sever ties with the family, creating an irreparable rift. If that happened, she would truly have nothing left. A divorced woman who had a child and had been to prison, even if she was still an heiress, was someone most men wouldn’t dare to touch. Let alone if she were cast out of the family—what kind of future would she have then?

“That Sebastian is a real piece of work,” Colin muttered. “He has his cake and wants to eat it too. Lillian has been nothing but good to him, never wronged him in any way. How could he treat her like this?”

“Shut up!” Brandon immediately snapped. “Have you lost your mind? Have you forgotten who the Mercer family relies on to stay afloat?”

“Brandon, I was just saying it in private.”

“Walls have ears. Bella is loyal to Sebastian first, and to us second.”

“I know, I know. I’ll go talk to Lillian alone later.”

——

After leaving the Mercer house, Lillian was picked up by Leonard and taken back to Crowncrest Heights.

“From now on, we’ll stay at Crowncrest Heights, not the hospital.”

Lillian didn’t argue. “Give me your account number, and I’ll transfer the rent to you.”

“You don’t need to pay rent to live with me,” Leonard said. “We already agreed, remember? It’s mainly to make sure you don’t die somewhere and waste a perfectly good kidney.”

She was a bit confused. “If your home is set up like this, why do you still live at the hospital?”

“More people at the hospital. It feels livelier.”

That was the last thing Lillian had expected. Who would ever consider the hustle and bustle of a hospital to be genuinely lively? The smell of disinfectant mixed with the constant presence of life and death... She dreaded hospitals and avoided staying in them despite her own precarious health.

Leonard seemed to sense her confusion. “Don’t worry. The only reason I stay at the hospital is because I’m not dying anytime soon. I just get lonely and bored. With my physical limitations, I can’t work for long periods or go out and have fun. It’s more interesting to be at the hospital, observing other people’s situations, than to be bored at home.”

“So, Sebastian, you’re saying Nathan might not actually have a connection with Professor Avery, and this is just a way to curry favor?” Brandon asked.

“Brandon, you might not know this,” Bella explained, “but Professor Avery has extensive government connections. Even a company like Litech NaLabs would want to get closer to him to leverage those official resources and gain state support for their development. But even if Litech NaLabs has no connection to him, we can’t celebrate too early. They have the Li Algorithm, which still gives them a much bigger advantage than us.”

It was as if a lightbulb went off in Brandon’s head. “Do you think Litech NaLabs has been dragging its feet on partnering with us because they were planning for this all along?”

“It’s not impossible,” Bella conceded. “After all, we are still competitors.”

“The business world is unpredictable,” Sebastian stated. “One moment you’re competitors, the next you could be partners. No one can say for sure.”

While this group was strategizing on how to approach Thomas Avery, on the other side of town, Nathan was sprinting out of the airport, frantically calling Lillian.

“Li, I’m telling you, the old man’s face was as black as the bottom of a pot when he didn’t see you at the airport. He ‘politely’ tore into all the corporate reps trying to poach him for consulting gigs. I can’t handle it! I’m out. I can’t pick him up for you. I’ll apologize profusely later!”

Lillian: “...”