bJust /bas Sebastian finished speaking, his phone rang from where ity on the side.

    He nced at the screen and deliberately dismissed the call with a tap.

    Once the call disconnected, the phone rang again right away. Maxine asked, “Aren’t you going to answer that?”

    She seemed to catch a glimpse of Brian’s name on the screen.

    With a resigned sigh, Sebastian answered the call, only to hear Brian’s usatory tone. “Dad, school’s out! Where are you?bi” /i/b

    Brian had little homework today, so he finished it all during study hall, eagerly waiting to go find his mom with dad after school. But when he got home, the housekeeper told him that his dad hade back in the afternoon, changed clothes, and left again.

    It hit Brian like a ton of bricks.

    Brian fumed, ‘We were supposed to go together! Dad broke his promise, he sneaked off while I was at school!‘

    The housekeeper saw Brian slumped dejectedly on the sofa and, unable to bear it, tried tofort him, “Maybe he just went to a meeting.”

    Brian stared nkly ahead, his eyes vacant. “No way,” he muttered, “If Dad was going bto /ba meeting, he’d never havee back just to change his clothes.”

    With that, Brian pulled his phone out of his pocket and called Sebastian, the one who had broken his promise.

    “You just stay home and get some rest, okay? I’ll take you out next time,” Sebastian exined.

    He thought, ‘After finally getting some alone time with Maxine, there’s no chance I’m bringing along this damn third wheel.’

    Brian wasn’t about to let this opportunity slip away. He dug in his heels and insisted, “I’ming! Where are you guys? I’ll get Scott to take me there right now!”

    After the kidnapping, Sebastian assigned Scott Manwaring as Brian’s bodyguard. Fresh out of sports academy and from a family that ran a martial arts dojo, Scott wasn’t Sebastian’s first pick, he’d nned to hire a professional. But Scott defeated every other candidate in thebat trials.

    When asked why he took the job, Scott just shrugged. “The paycheck alone was reason enough, I was sold the moment I saw those numbers.”

    Once on the job, he quickly bonded with Brian. While providing close protection at home, he even doubled as Brian’s personal tutorb, /bmuch to everyone’s surprise.

    Listening to Brian’s unyielding tone, Sebastian couldn’t help but think, ‘Kids really do get harder to handle as they grow up.‘

    Before Sebastian could respond, Maxine, sitting across from him, asked, “Is that Brian?”

    Sebastian really wanted to say ino/i, but he knew if he did, Brian would probably call Maxine directly.

    After a brief hesitation, he gave a reluctant nodb, /bclearly unhappy about it.

    Maxine smiled and said, “Why don’t you join us? The food hasn’t even arrived yet, and the mansion is just nearby.”

    Half an hourter, Scott dropped Brian off at the restaurant entrance, where Sebastian was waiting to usher him in.

    As soon as Brian walked in, he immediately asked the waiter to add a seat next to Maxine. Eagerly leaning in, he said, “Mom, let me sit with youb, /bbwhatever /byou’d like, I’ll get it for you!”

    Sebastian pretended not to notice how desperate Brian was for Maxine’s attention, and used the serving spoon to pick some food from the pot a it on her te.

    b1/2 /b

    bce /b

    bChapter /b243

    bBrian /bbhuffed /bbpointedly /bbas /bhe refilled Maxine’s drink. The subtle brivalry /bbbetween /bfather and bson /bthickened the bair /bbwith /btension.

    bMaxine /bcould see there was something off between the two of them.

    Maxine set down her silverware with a sigh, looked between the two of them, and said, “Alright, what’s going on with you two todayb? /b

    As soon bas /bshe finished speaking, Brian pouted andined, “Mom! Dad promised to bring me to see you, but he sneaked off alone band /bbwouldn’t /bter

    me be/bb!/bb” /b

    Maxine looked at Sebastian, who cleared his throat awkwardly and mumbled, “You still have schoolwork.”

    Brian snorted at his dad’sme excuse and turned away. “Mom, let’s just ignore him!”

    Maxine simply smiled without saying a word.

    After dinner, Brian quickly took over Maxine’s wheelchair, deliberately shouldering his dad asi

    attention all to himself.

    with a huffb, /bmaking it clear he wanted his mom’s