Chapter 239 Will You Refuse Me?
"Are you okay?"
After Stella helped Nathan up the stairs, Jasper glanced at Adeline, whose face bore a swollen handprint with a furrowed brow.
"What could be wrong with me?"
Adeline smirked coldly. She took the ice pack Bennett had retrieved from the servant and gently applied it to her bruised cheek. "I won't die."
She then glanced faintly at Jasper. "You and Stella went to great lengths to have me bring the two children back to the Foster family today, all for Nathan's sake."
Jasper's gaze darkened. "I had no idea my father and grandma were coming here."
Lily rolled her eyes at him. "How could you not know?"
Lily pursed her lips. "I had Ted inform you before you returned!"
"Jasper, why do you care what an employee like Adeline thinks? Even if we wanted her to come here and get slapped by your dad, so what?"
"Isn't she deserving of the beating for what she did?"
As Lily's words fell, the entire living room fell silent.
Jasper coldly instructed the servant to call Ted over.
"Mrs. Lily indeed asks me to inform you."
"But I was afraid of interrupting your business conversation, so I took the liberty of informing Mrs. Stella," Ted said.
The butler looked at Jasper, confused. "Didn't Ms. Stella tell you?"
The living room fell silent once again.
Jasper sighed and rubbed his temples with long fingers, feeling a headache coming on. "You may leave."
No wonder Stella had insisted on bringing the two children over from the beginning.
Stella abruptly changed her mind at Willowcrest Terrace and decided to bring Adeline to the Fosters.
Any random servant working at the Foster family knew about Nathan, Morris, and Stella's relationship.
Stella deliberately encouraged Adeline to come over while Nathan was in Blue Bay.
Was this what she had been planning for all along?
That explains why Stella was so attentive to Nathan.
Jasper let out a long sigh, a hint of helplessness in his eyes. "Bennett."
He casually glanced at the little one sitting next to Adeline. "Take your mother upstairs to your and your sister's room."
Bennett furrowed his brows, puzzled.
"Don't you have a lot to say to her? Do you want to say it in the living room for everyone to hear?"
Jasper's words left Bennett momentarily stunned.
After a while, Bennett finally understood that Jasper was giving him and Lauren a chance to be alone with Adeline!
Excited, Bennett jumped up from the couch. He grabbed Adeline's hand with one hand and Lauren's with the other. "Let's go!"
Adeline couldn't help but smile at his excited expression, glancing back at Jasper.
Jasper nodded, indicating that she should follow Bennett as they left.
Only then did Adeline take a deep breath, one hand holding a child as she headed upstairs to the children's room.
The sound of the children's room door closing echoed from upstairs.
In the living room, only Jasper and Lily remained.
Lily glared at Jasper with a cold expression. "Why did you let the children go with Adeline?"
"She misses the children and so do I!"
Jasper glanced at Lily. "Weren't you happy when you didn't know you had great-grandchildren?"
Jasper glanced in the direction of the upstairs.
"For the Foster family, these two children are a surprising joy. But for her ... they are six years of unbroken bonds of affection."
Jasper didn't know why Adeline had taken the two children away six years ago.
As Adeline had explained, her disillusionment with marriage due to her encounter with a cheating partner might have driven her to steal the children and raise them herself.
But since Stella and he had chosen to forgive her past mistakes, they should now understand the bond she had formed with the children over six years.
Lily rolled her eyes.
"Anyone who sees these children knows they're yours and Stella's."
"But those who don't might think they're yours and Adeline's!"
Jasper smirked. "Grandma, let's not speak out of turn."
Six years ago, he had only been involved with Adeline.
Where else could he have met her?
Lily sneered, "Am I wrong?"
"You care more about Adeline than your father!"
"Your father was so angry he nearly fainted and you don't care!"
"Instead, Stella, who wasn't close to your father before, now seems like a daughter to him!"
She couldn't help but glare at Jasper. "Why don't you go upstairs and check on your father?"
Jasper once again picked up his coffee cup and finished the remaining coffee before gracefully setting it down and heading upstairs.
Stella emerged from the guest room on the second floor just as he arrived.
Seeing him upstairs, she chuckled softly. "Dad fell asleep."
"Don't worry, I've calmed him down. He won't be angry with you anymore."
Jasper Squinted. "I have something to discuss with you."
He then turned and opened the study door.
Stella followed him inside.
"You knew Father and Grandma were in Blue Bay, so you deliberately had Adeline come over, didn't you?"
As the door closed, Jasper came straight to the point.
"You knew that the relationship between Father and Morris would make him lose control, yet you brought Adeline at this time."
"I thought this trip to Victoria Hollow City would make you restrain yourself and realize there's no conflict between you and Adeline."
"But I was wrong."
Stella clenched her teeth tightly.
Her nails dug deep into her palm.
After a moment, Stella bit her lip and looked up at Jasper. "Jasper, I don't know what you're talking about."
"I was just thinking, Dad and Grandma want to see Lauren and Bennett. Adeline is their foster mother, but they haven't seen the kids in a long time. That's why I made the suggestion."
Stella reached out and hugged Jasper's muscular waist from behind. "It's my fault. I didn't consider the feud between Dad and Adeline."
"I'm willing to apologize to Dad and Adeline. Please don't think badly of me, okay?"
Stella's voice carried a hint of a sob.
Jasper's body stiffened instantly.
After a moment, Jasper's voice softened. "You're usually so meticulous. How could you overlook this?"
A sly smile grazed Stella's lips.
She took advantage of the moment and pressed her face against the man's back. Her voice tinged with grievance and reluctance. "When have I ever been meticulous? If I were, I wouldn't have missed Evelyn's mistake before, and I certainly wouldn't have failed to anticipate her suicidal thoughts over going abroad."
Stella's regretful tone caused Jasper's heart to skip a beat momentarily.
After a moment, he sighed and gently held her hand. "I misunderstood you."
Even the most meticulous person might lose their logic when faced with a friend's suicide.
"Jasper."
Taking advantage of his relatively gentle demeanor, Stella pushed further. "We're finally back in our own home."
Her voice grew more bashful as she spoke. "I ... I want to sleep with you tonight."
"You won't refuse me, will you?"
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