Too Late, Mr. Cooper: Your Bride Ran with Your Baby novel Chapter 99

Isabella had Logan with her. The little boy had been tugging on her hand, looking bored, but his round eyes lit up the moment he saw Linton. He broke away and ran toward him. "Dad—Uncle!"

He had instinctively started to call him 'Dad', but a glance at Liliana made him freeze. As if someone had harshly corrected him before, Logan's lip trembled, and he reluctantly changed his tune. "Uncle, are you here to get me and Mommy? Mommy said you promised to take me to Universal Studios today. When are we leaving, Uncle?"

He tilted his head back, an innocent smile on his face as he clung to Linton's legs. To any outsider, they looked exactly like a father and son. The atmosphere, which had just begun to recover, plunged back into an awkward, tense silence.

Linton's gaze was cold, but he couldn't bring himself to push away a three-year-old child. He looked at Liliana, his eyes full of apology. "I can explain…"

"You don't have to," Liliana said, her voice flat. She offered a dismissive smile. "I don't want to know, and I'm not interested. Your business has nothing to do with me."

Her indifference sent a jolt of panic through Linton's heart. The more she acted like she didn't care, the more it twisted him up inside. His brows furrowed. He had to explain, but Liliana gave him no chance. She was done giving him chances. She'd given him more than enough over the past twenty years. Any one of them, had he taken it, might have changed things. But he never had.

She looked at Liliana, her expression one of perfect innocence. "I was just speaking with Mr. Foster. Linton has put me in charge of the Cooper Group's new design brand, and as I've been out of the field for some time, I was hoping to find a venerable master to guide me. Unfortunately, Professor Foster mentioned he's no longer taking students."

She turned her wide, guileless eyes on Liliana. "Linton came today to help me speak with him about it. Since you're his student, it would be a wonderful thing, wouldn't it? For us, as sisters-in-law, to have the honor of being taught by the same master."

Liliana had to admire her skill. Isabella's words were a perfectly laid trap, designed to bake her over an open flame. In front of all these people, if Liliana refused to help, she would look petty, ungracious, and jealous.