Chapter 273

Stella's fingers froze midair.

Adrian glanced at the two children in the backseat, engrossed in their ear-covering game, oblivious to the tension up front.

The car glided toward the ancestral home.

Her phone buzzed.

[Ms. Valentine, there's a new wonton place downtown with authentic flavors. Free next week for a taste? —Dr. Melford]

"Him again?" Adrian's grip on the steering wheel tightened.

"Yes."

"Next week?"

"Yes."

"You agreed?"

Stella stared out the window. "Dr. Melford specializes in liver diseases. Celeste's condition can't wait."

"I'm working on the donor match."

"More experts mean more hope."

Adrian slammed the brakes. "She's not your biological child. Why this devotion? Harry abandoned her, but she still has a birth mother—"

"No!" Stella whirled toward him. "Celeste is mine."

"What if her mother comes back for her?"

Her fingers twisted in her lap. "She won't."

"Can't be sure," Adrian scoffed. "Once Celeste recovers, she's still Harry's blood—"

"Enough!" Stella cut him off. "Saving Celeste is all that matters now."

"You treat her... like your own daughter."

"I do."

His gaze darkened. "Does she... have ties to Mr. Alistair?"

Stella's nails dug into her palms.

The reaction spoke volumes.

Adrian restarted the engine. Celeste was Harry's daughter, abandoned by a mother who couldn't afford treatment. Mr. Alistair had no financial constraints or blood relation to the girl.

Then why...

His eyes flicked to Stella. Mr. Alistair's place in her heart eclipsed everything.

Including him.

Three years of emotional armor, shattered since their reunion. Xavier had taught him: A frozen heart is invincible.

Yet the walls he built crumbled the moment he saw her again.

Penny once asked, "Mr. Roland, any regrets?"

Regrets?

He was the one who erred, who wounded her, who pushed her away. What right did he have to regret?

"Did you ever hate her?" Penny pressed.

He'd pondered it deeply.

"Yes," he admitted. "But more often, I loved her. Had I known how much she suffered—"

"And your parents' accident—"

"That's why I'm torn," he'd said bitterly. "Half of me wants to be a filial son, the other half just wants to love her freely. If only I could split in two..."

Penny laughed at the absurdity. "That's Sun Wukong's magic."

Indeed. Mortals don't get doppelgängers.

At life's lowest points, people fantasize—

Stock crashes? Imagine never investing.

Breakups? Rewrite those last conversations.

Lost loved ones? Turn back time.

His fantasy? A clone who could love her without restraint.

"Penny, what's yours?"

"Oh," she grinned, "being a shrew who blocks my boyfriend's deployment."

"He's military?"

"Border patrol."

The car halted before the manor.

Benjamin hurried out. "Master Adrian! Ms. Valentine! The old master's been asking for you all day!"

"Grandfather's inside?"

"Discharged himself, insisted on seeing his great-grandchildren." Benjamin sighed. "The doctors say his time is short..."

Adrian looked at Stella. Her eyes glistened.

He extended his hand. "Shall we see Grandfather?"

He expected rejection.

Instead, soft fingers slipped into his palm. "Yes."

His heart stuttered.

This fleeting warmth wasn't for him. She'd take anyone's hand for Edward's sake.

Yet he savored it.

Pathetic? So be it.

As long as it was her.

His fingers tightened. "Let's go."