Chapter 65

The cold glint in Jason’s dark eyes sent shivers down Sean’s spine.

“What gave you the impression you were permitted to ask questions?” Terrence remarked. “When you shouldn’t ask something, don’t.” He nudged Sean toward the door. Under his breath, he muttered, “How can you not understand this, Mr. Stevens?”

Sean’s face went pale, and he left feeling embarrassed. That single question could have been a serious misstep.

Sweat beaded on his brow as Terrence opened his car door. Jason leaned against the back of the sofa and took out a cheap mobile phone. There was only one number in the contacts list. He pressed it. After a while, a gentle female voice answered.

“Sister,” he said slowly. “What do you want to eat for dinner? I’ll bring it back for you,” he added softly. The coldness in his eyes was replaced with tenderness.

That night, Grace wiped the photo frame holding her mother’s picture with a paper towel. She had bought a small desk solely for this photo and made a point of dusting it every few days. All of her mother’s belongings had been left with the Cummins family. This photo was the only item she had left to remember her mother by.

As she wiped the frame, Jason sat nearby, watching her quietly.

“Oh, right. Jay, it’s almost Thanksgiving. Do you have a… uh, a bus ticket?” Grace asked. Many of her colleagues from the Sanitation Service Center had been struggling to get tickets to go home for Thanksgiving.

“No, I don’t.”

“Okay,” Grace said, nodding. “I can pick one up for you tomorrow.”

Jason’s brows furrowed as he realized what she was implying. “I don’t need to buy any tickets.”

“You don’t have to go home?” she asked, surprised.

“Aside from here, I don’t have a home.” Even though he had lived at the Reed Residence for many years, he had never felt it was home.

She remembered his statement that he had no family. Didn’t people usually visit relatives during the holidays?

When she voiced her doubts, he smiled faintly. “I do have relatives, but I don’t need to visit them.” As for the old head of the Reed family, despite being grandfather and grandson, family affection was nonexistent. His grandfather was only interested in an heir. As long as Jason was capable and powerful enough, his grandfather wouldn't care about anything else. But if he ever disappointed the family, he would be cast out, even as his grandfather's grandson.

Furthermore, half his blood came from that woman. His grandfather, it could be said, even felt disgust towards him because of it. He remembered his grandfather looking at him with disgust and saying, with a ferocious expression, “Why do you have that woman’s blood in your body? You shouldn’t exist at all!”

As a child, Jason had been beaten many times by his grandfather, for infractions ranging from poor test scores to speaking out of turn. Only after he grew up and demonstrated his capabilities in the boardroom did his grandfather's attitude slowly change. However, the fact of his mother's blood remained unchanged.

Grace hesitated, then asked, “What about your… parents? They are…”

Jason’s face shifted slightly. He looked at her with his extremely beautiful eyes, eyes seemingly veiled in silk, obscuring his thoughts.

Grace bit her lip. “If you don’t want to tell me, just pretend I didn’t ask.”

“Would you really like to know?” he countered, his voice carrying a hint of unintended coldness.

Grace wrung her hands—a nervous habit. He knew her fingers often pained her, so this gesture usually indicated significant anxiety.

“Why do you ask, Grace?”

Her large, pretty eyes looked up at his. “I just wanted to know more about you. However, if you don’t want to talk about these things, then let’s not. In any case, the past isn’t important. We just need to look ahead, right?”

He appreciated her consideration. That was Grace, always putting others first.

“My father died. The day you met me was my father’s death anniversary. He died where I was sitting by the road.”