Chapter 161 Nothing's More Important Than a Child's Freedom
Silence fell between them, turning cold.
Stella looked up earnestly. "Jasper, everything I did, I did for you."
"For me?"
Jasper's lips curled into an icy smirk. "So, you knocked down Adeline on purpose, ruining Mr. Carter's painting, all for me?
"You pulled strings to blast that video of the incident all over the internet, and even went as far as groveling at my company to frame Adeline, fabricating some sordid affair to make her look like the seductress?"
After taking a sip of coffee, the man slammed his cup onto the marble tabletop.
The collision resonated, striking a chord in Stella's heart.
She sniffed, mustering a few teardrops. "Jasper, I know what I did was wrong... But isn't this what women do in high society, to keep their families intact?"
Jasper felt suffocated.
The Adeline from six years ago was never like this.
Now, Stella would constantly talk about her prestigious family and empire when giving advice to her children.
But when she messed up, she resorted to saying it was what all high society women do.
With irritation, he tugged at his collar. "It seems you've really changed over these six years."
The woman he admired never paraded her status like this.
Stella bit her lip.
She reached out, grasping Jasper's hand. "Jasper, forgive me, it's just that I feel so insecure..."
Jasper couldn't help but laugh bitterly.
"I've waited for you for six years, searched for you for six years, thinking you'd understand what we have. And now you tell me you feel insecure?" He glared at her. "Do I need to escort you to my office daily and keep you by my side every moment for you to feel accomplished?"
At that moment, his phone rang.
He ignored it and cut the call without a glance.
"Maybe it's my fault."
Jasper rubbed his temples. "Let's just take some time to cool off."
Stella froze. "Cool off?"
"Yeah." He leaned back onto the couch, looking defeated. "I thought too highly of you. I assumed you were different from those manipulative women. We've both changed a lot over these years.
"We need to reconsider our relationship. Are we still husband and wife, or should we go back to being exes? Starting today, the bedroom's yours; I'll sleep in the guest room."
He stood up wearily. "Work calls, I have to go."
Left alone, Stella's nails dug into her palms.
"Jasper." She lifted her gaze to him. "Are we really going to split up?"
"Yeah."
"For how long?"
"We'll see."
Hearing her crestfallen voice, a twinge of compassion flickered in Jasper's heart.
However, thoughts of all those suffocating, migraine-inducing things she had done kept him at bay.
"I'll find out who released the video today," he said with resolve.
Hearing him mention the video rekindled Stella's spirit. "It was Adeline who posted it! Weren't you saying just yesterday she had a video, and if I didn't back off in time, she was going to release it?"
The more Stella spoke, the more animated she became. "I had just retracted the news last night, and right at ten, she posted the video... That anonymous account must be hers; there's no need for an investigation!"
Jasper shot her a cool glance. "It wasn't her."
"How can it not be her?"
Biting her lip, Stella pressed, "Who else knows about the video besides her and Sebastian?"
"It can only be Sebastian; it can't be her."
Jasper sighed, his hands moving to adjust his tie. "I'll keep investigating."
With that, he stood up and strode out of the cafe.
Stella bit her lip harder. "Do you really trust Adeline that much?"
Jasper glanced back with a smile. "It's not about trust. I know exactly what she was doing last night at ten."
With those words, he turned and walked away.
Stella's face flushed with varying emotions as she sat there.
She understood precisely what he meant.
Last night, those two...
"Miss, the investigation turned up something. Mr. Jasper was at the Swan Lake apartments, a bachelor pad that Adeline just moved into today."
The information Mo had given her the night before flashed through her mind unexpectedly.
Stella clenched her teeth tightly.
She had to destroy Adeline. As long as she was around, Jasper would never be with Adeline. It had been that way years ago, and it was still the same now.
...
Adeline spent the morning redrawing the design that Stella had torn up yesterday and tweaking a few details.
When noon arrived, she stretched lazily, planning to go downstairs and find a restaurant for a bite to eat.
But what she didn't expect was to be immediately surrounded by reporters as she stepped out of the corporate building.
"Ms. Adeline, there's talk that you released the surveillance video of Stella pushing you in order to counter the rumors from yesterday, is this true?"
"Ms. Adeline, people saw on the internet that Stella knelt in the company's lobby this morning begging for your forgiveness, is that correct?"
"There are claims that you've been the real mistress upsetting Mr. Jasper and Mrs. Stella's marriage. How do you respond to this?"
"Did you actually get involved with someone else's marriage? Do you have no shame at all?"
...
The reporters came prepared, ready to pry with unsettling persistence.
Adeline furrowed her brows, about to call out for TimTom's help when an aged voice offered a lifeline from behind her. "We will be holding a press conference tomorrow to provide a brief explanation about this matter."
The woman, caught off guard amidst the jostling crowd of journalists, instinctively turned around. There stood not a stranger but her biological father, John Goodwin.
Adeline looked at him in shock. "What are you doing here...?"
John didn't meet her gaze.
Instead, he addressed the encircling reporters with an indifferent gaze. "Good afternoon, I am Mrs. Adeline's father. Regarding the relationship between my daughter and Ms. Adeline, we will be hosting a press conference tomorrow to shed some light on the situation."
After his words landed like a bombshell, the middle-aged man firmly grasped Adeline's arm and swiftly navigated her away from the crowd.
John led Adeline far from the scene. As he clutched her sleeve while they walked down the sidewalk, she felt like she was traversing through time.
This man was her father.
Though aged and stooped, he continued to guide her just as he did in her childhood.
They walked without counting the minutes.
Eventually, John brought Adeline to a rundown rental house.
The musty smell of the room invaded her nostrils.
"Ms. Adeline."
John cleared his throat lightly.
Adeline snapped back to reality.
Before her laid the shabby rental, sunlight struggling through the grimy windows, stifling the air from the room.
"Ms. Adeline, please have some tea." Helen carefully served a cup of tea, placing it in front of Adeline with caution.
Adeline frowned. "Why are you living in a place like this?"
The Goodwin family might not have been as wealthy or notable as the Fosters, but John and Helen shouldn't have had to settle for somewhere so desolate.
Helen and John exchanged glances.
"We sold our company and the house in Las Vegas."
There was a sigh from Helen. "Jasper spouted grand promises, persuading us to send Molly abroad for further education.
"In reality, it was like a closed-off boarding school, no different from a prison. We got tied up with the Morris family from Las Vegas.
"They claimed that for five million, they could get Molly out of that school, and she would be free thereafter. Apart from being barred from returning to Denver, she could do anything she wanted."
Adeline felt like she was suffocating. "So, you sold all of your life's assets for Molly's freedom?"
"Mm-hmm." Helen sighed. "Nothing matters more than our child's freedom."
Adeline managed a bitter smile.
Helen still didn't know the truth that Molly wasn't really her daughter.
With that thought, Adeline looked up at George Carter. "So, what exactly did you want to discuss with me by bringing me here?"
"We're hoping to organize a press conference to clear the air about Stella's innocence," George said, his eyes steady on hers.
"Stella is now Mrs. Foster," he continued. "If she could just share a little of her pocket money with us, we wouldn't have to live like this anymore."
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