Chapter 3

Ethan's POV

The next morning, I didn't go to Emily to argue.

I sat in the study and pulled up the house access log.

Tristan had come more than once.

Emily said he only occasionally came for a meal and rested in the guest room for a while. But the times in the access log were all chosen for when I was on business trips, working overtime, or not coming home at night.

Several times, Tristan entered late at night and didn't leave until dawn.

The access permissions had been opened by Emily herself.

I stared at those lines of records and suddenly felt that Emily's act of covering for me at the main table last night was like an even louder slap in the face.

She wasn't unaware that Tristan had long since stepped into this home.

She just wanted to placate me in front of everyone first.

At noon, Emily came to the study.

She was holding a revised trust document, her tone very low.

"I had it revised. Tristan won't touch the child's money and won't make decisions for the child. He's just participating."

I didn't take it.

"Why does it have to include him?"

Emily pressed her lips together.

"Ethan, if it weren't for him back then, I might already be dead. His right hand still can't function normally, and his engagement fell through. He could have had a good life, but he became like this because of me."

"So?"

"I can't just give him money."

Emily's voice grew even lower.

"He's not a servant, and he's not a stranger. I have to make him feel that all these years of suffering weren't for nothing."

I looked at her.

"Then give him a Hayes family house, give him your shares, give him the car and staff under your name."

Emily's face went pale.

I pushed the document back.

"Don't use my child and my house to compensate him."

When Emily heard "my child," her eyes clearly stiffened.

She quickly suppressed it.

"Ethan, don't say that."

She reached out to touch me.

"I won't let you be wronged."

I looked down at that hand.

In last night's footage, it was this hand that had pushed open the master bedroom door.

I moved away.

Emily's expression finally darkened.

"Then take a few days to calm down."

She left with the document.

That evening, Tristan appeared outside the gate.

When the housekeeper came in to report, Emily was sitting in the living room.

She went downstairs and saw Tristan standing in the wind, his right hand hanging down, his face pale, yet he wouldn't step inside.

Tristan smiled first.

"I won't go in. I don't want Ethan to see me and think I'm stealing his home."

Emily immediately frowned.

"What are you doing standing outside? Come in first."

Tristan shook his head.

"Forget it. I won't come to the house anymore, and I won't bring up the child again. No one likes having an outsider in their home. I understand."

The word "outsider" had just fallen when I happened to reach the stairway.

Emily turned and saw me, her eyes first showing panic, then turning to reproach.

As if I had truly driven a pitiful man to stand outside the door.

I didn't speak, nor did I invite Tristan in.

Tristan laughed softly and turned to leave.

Emily took two steps after him, then stopped.

She turned back to look at me.

"Did you have to push him to this point?"

I stood on the stairs and asked calmly, "Did I close the door?"

Emily was blocked.

But after that night, calls from the Hayes family came one after another.

Some cursed me for being cold-blooded, some said Tristan was understanding enough already, and others said that before the child was even born, I had already made the household restless.

I didn't argue with any of them.

I just recorded all the calls and put them in the same folder.

The next day, the trust signing was still scheduled.

The Hayes family didn't cancel it, and they even called Tristan.

As soon as Tristan entered, he apologized to me first.

"Ethan, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have put Emily in a difficult position, and I shouldn't have caused the child to be gossiped about before it's even born."

His words sounded like a concession.

Every word pinned me as the oppressor.

Linda immediately looked at me.

"Tristan has already said this much. You should at least give him some face."

Emily also looked at me.

"The document can be revised later, but don't make today too awkward for everyone."

I opened the document but didn't sign.

"The trust is suspended. We'll discuss it after the child is born."

The room instantly went cold.

Tristan lowered his head and laughed.

The next second, he clutched his right hand, his face going white.

Emily was the first to rush over and support him.

The Hayes family also gathered around.

No one looked at the trust document still sitting on the table.

I stood in place, watching Emily tightly support Tristan.

Tristan leaned on her and looked up at me.

In that gaze, there wasn't a trace of concession.