CHAPTER 126: CHAPTER 126: IRIS CRAWFORD’S CHILD—WHOSE IS IT?

Upon hearing the nickname "pretty boy," Steven Rhodes’s mouth twitched slightly. He wanted to refute it for a moment but noticed Iris Crawford’s expression seemed indifferent, so he held back.

Consequently, Lachlan Wyatt took this as confirmation and clamped Iris Crawford’s waist more forcefully. Although he was smiling, his words were squeezed out through clenched teeth, "Yesterday, I warned you not to play around with office romances, and today you’re already..."

Right in front of everyone, Iris Crawford landed a kiss by Lachlan Wyatt’s lips, "I was wrong, but no matter what I do, you’ll always forgive me, right?"

Hell! I’m being manipulated!!!!

Lachlan Wyatt smiled without warmth, "So what do you plan to do with him?"

"From today onwards, he’s my personal assistant. Besides being a good aide at work, he’ll also take care of my daily life, truly a skilled helper!"

Iris Crawford walked over like she was greeting an old buddy and patted Steven Rhodes’s shoulder, speaking rather maturely, "Come on, Rhodes, let me introduce you. This is Lachlan Wyatt, you can call him anything."

Lachlan Wyatt squeezed out two words through gritted teeth, "Call me brother."

Steven Rhodes feigned ignorance, "Good evening, Lachlan."

"Call me brother."

"Lachlan."

"Call me brother!!!!!!!"

Lachlan Wyatt was nearly ready to rip Steven Rhodes’s mouth apart. He shot him a sideways glare with annoyance, "You don’t think I didn’t know your identity, do you?"

Both Iris Crawford and Steven Rhodes were taken aback.

Could it be...

"From the moment you started working at The Crawford Group, I knew."

Lachlan Wyatt, slightly taller than Rhodes, leaned down intentionally to emphasize that fact, drawing close and fixing his cold, beautiful eyes on Rhodes’s face, speaking word by word, "Don’t think for a moment I don’t know who got you in here, Steven Rhodes."

Steven Rhodes’s complexion paled.

"Sneaking in shows you’ve got some skills..." Lachlan Wyatt sneered in a low chuckle, "If you dare harbor any thoughts towards Iris Crawford, just wait for your sister to come out of prison to collect your corpse."

Even when uttering that final sentence, Lachlan Wyatt maintained the same frivolous expression, but at the instant the last word dropped, an overpowering killing intent erupted from him!

Steven Rhodes inhaled sharply; the man before him was indeed a smiling tiger!

It appeared he didn’t care about much, yet lurking behind that frivolous gaze was a beast-like possessiveness... Rhodes believed, although at this moment Lachlan Wyatt was teasing and flirting ambiguously with Iris Crawford, seemingly just playing pretend.

But if anyone dared to lay a hand on Iris Crawford, Lachlan Wyatt would take their life!

Clenching his fingers, Steven Rhodes gritted his teeth, "I don’t understand what you’re saying."

Who actually brought Steven Rhodes in?

It was The Crawford Family who hired him.

Iris Crawford didn’t understand either.

Lachlan Wyatt always appeared aloof, knowing more than they did, yet he acted like he knew nothing. Indifferently watching every tragedy unfold without ever stepping in to help, that was Lachlan Wyatt’s truest nature.

Taking a deep breath, Iris Crawford noticed Lachlan Wyatt hadn’t chosen his sports car to drive over this time—did he know there would be an extra person tagging along?

What could possibly surprise him?

Iris Crawford opened the passenger door, "Why suddenly choose this car?"

"Just remembered there’s a BYD hardly driven, decided to take it for a spin." Lachlan Wyatt replied unflinchingly, getting into the car.

"...This is a Bentley." Steven Rhodes couldn’t hold back; Lachlan Wyatt was clearly talking nonsense—where was the BYD?

"Both start with a ’B’ in English, all the same to me."

"..." Typically, cars are categorized by class and price, but here’s someone classifying them by first letters!

Lachlan Wyatt didn’t care what Steven Rhodes thought, but while starting the engine, he gestured to Steven Rhodes with a nod of his chin, "Hey, you, get in the back."

Steven Rhodes remained standing, unmoved.

"What’s wrong, need me to invite you?" Lachlan Wyatt tutted, as Iris Crawford sitting in the passenger seat seemed like the car’s true owner. Side by side, they looked exceptionally beautiful and well-matched, making Steven Rhodes seem superfluous!

"Steven Rhodes, please get in, we’ll head back together later." Iris Crawford waved at Steven Rhodes, who then moved. He was demonstrating a fact to Lachlan Wyatt through his actions—you can’t command me, only Iris Crawford can.

Little rascal.

Lachlan Wyatt smiled in irritation, flashing his teeth until Steven Rhodes was seated and buckled up in the backseat. Iris Crawford, seated upfront, said to Lachlan Wyatt, "Let’s visit Seraphina at the hospital; she’s having surgery today and I want to be there for her."

Lachlan Wyatt had already caught wind of this and was driving straight towards the hospital. Steven Rhodes felt curious about asking something, yet remained silent.

The people stopped at the hospital entrance, Iris Crawford, familiar with the place, found the ward with ease. When she opened the door, Seraphina Colbert had just finished her surgery and was lying weakly on the bed. Seeing Iris Crawford, she attempted to sit up but was held in place by Iris Crawford, "Don’t strain yourself."

Seraphina Colbert clutched her belly, saying, "I aborted the child...now I feel awful, I’ve failed them, I’m not a responsible mother..."

"There will be more children."

Something must have touched Iris Crawford deeply because Lachlan Wyatt, sensitive as ever, noticed her eyes seemed to redden slightly—perhaps reminded of the child she once had with Jordan Jacobs?

Lachlan Wyatt suddenly recalled Jordan Jacobs accusing him of being the adulterer, even Yvonne Jennings had hinted that the child wasn’t Jordan Jacobs’s... But back then, Iris Crawford was notoriously overweight and equally renowned for her love for Jordan Jacobs.

If it’s not Jordan Jacobs’ child with Iris Crawford, then whose could it be?

Pressing his lips together, Lachlan Wyatt pushed these thoughts down and took out his phone to send a message to Leo Langdon.

Investigate what happened back when Iris Crawford was pregnant.

He fell into deep thought, only snapping out of it when James Chesterton called his name several times, "Why do you look so miserable today, Lachlan?"

Lachlan shrugged, "Someone’s been keeping a toy boy behind my back. I’d be a ghost if I could still laugh about it!"

James was stunned, then turned to Iris for confirmation. She responded, "Steven Rhodes, come in, let me introduce you to my brothers and sisters!"

Steven peeked his head in from the hospital door, pointing to himself, "Is it okay if I come in?"

"Hottie!" Seraphina Colbert, who had looked weak, suddenly perked up with bright eyes upon seeing Steven, "Well, well, Iris, he really is a toy boy, perfect! Come on, handsome, let Auntie take a look at you. Auntie is your Auntie Crawford’s good friend. Come, come, how old are you? How many people in your family? Have you been to school?"

"..." James looked at Iris in exasperation, "You’ve turned my sister into one of your kind!"

Lachlan was on the verge of exploding, "A toy boy is good?! Just because he’s a few years younger than me!"

"A few years younger and already beat you by a mile!" Seraphina pulled Steven’s hand and placed it on Iris’, "Listen to Auntie, your Auntie Crawford has plenty of money. Stick with her, and you won’t suffer any grievances—" she finished by patting their hands twice.

Iris nearly burst out laughing, while Seraphina slyly glanced at Lachlan’s dark expression, grinning as she saw it. She was indirectly provoking Lachlan on Iris’s behalf!

Serves you right for not cherishing her back then, for driving her away! Ah~ who would’ve thought, now our Iris has a handsome guy by her side, ha, drives you mad!

Just before the third pat, Lachlan, with a grim face, separated their hands!

A certain T-Rex, clenching his teeth, drew close enough to hear his grinding jaw, "Having fun?"

James suddenly jumped up, "Why are you being physical!"

"I’m pulling my woman back!" Lachlan yanked Iris to his side, sneering at James, "Why are you so jumpy!"

"So sour, so sour, wow!" James fanned his nose as if he could really smell a sour stench, "Look how anxious you are. Speaking of which, Steven, Iris brought you along, indicating she approves of you. No need to be overly cautious, we’re all family here. I’m James Chesterton, and this is my sister Seraphina, you can call her Colbert as she’s the youngest here."

He pointed to Lachlan, "As for this guy, well, he’s Iris’s ex—"

"Former boss," Lachlan quickly interrupted, sparing him from saying "ex-boyfriend."

Hearing those three words is just annoying now!

Steven obediently greeted everyone in turn, until he reached Lachlan, where he went quiet, reluctantly saying, "Lachlan."

"Call me bro!"

"Lachlan."

"..." Iris sent you here to piss me off, didn’t she!

Just then, there was a commotion outside the door, "What’s all the excitement about?"

A man stepped inside and froze at the sight of so many people in the room, "What the heck, Lachlan, you’re here too?"

Lachlan squinted at the newcomer, "Silvan Caine, what are you doing here?"

James huffed coldly, "I called him over to accompany my sister. It’s his responsibility since she’s having an abortion because of him."

Silvan held large bags in his hands, "Yep. Couldn’t afford to offend them, now she’s the second miss of the Chesterton Family. I’m here with an olive branch."

Seraphina’s face turned pale, James immediately voiced, "Shut up!"

Alright then!

Silvan put down his gifts, gesturing with his hands in surrender, "My mom made soup herself to apologize."

Seraphina asked blankly, "Your mom?"

"Yeah, my mom knows about this now." Silvan ran his hand through his hair in frustration, "It was indeed my fault you got pregnant, we even compared the DNA on the baby’s body."

Even resorted to DNA comparison...

Perhaps reminded of her past, Seraphina gripped the blanket in shame, as James was about to speak, Silvan cut him off, speaking even faster, "My mom wants me to marry you to show our apologies."

Marry...marry?!

Seraphina was dumbfounded, even Iris was shocked, only regaining her composure after a moment, she firmly gripped the side of the bed, "I don’t agree to this marriage!"

"I don’t either," Lachlan voiced indifferently, "I know all too well your behavior, still the same womanizer."

"Like you’re any different," Silvan sneered, "You think marriage makes you a good person?"

Lachlan glanced at Iris.

He certainly wasn’t a good person.

Meeting Iris, he felt even more like being a bastard.

With a half-smile, he said, "At least better than you."

Silvan flipped him off, then turned back to Seraphina, "How about this, we’ll put on a show for my mom, pretend we’re together, reassure her for a while, then find an excuse that we’re incompatible and break up."

"We don’t have any emotional foundation between us, although it’s my bad you got pregnant, but now that the child is gone, all I can do is compensate." Silvan’s voice was cold and emotionless, "You wouldn’t want a nominal marriage with me either, right?"