Chapter 218
When Henry arrived, Sterling had already changed into his gear.
He was shirtless, showing off sleek, beautiful muscle definition as he adjusted his boxing gloves with downcast eyes.
Henry changed clothes nearby while complaining, "Who pissed off our Mr. Lancaster? Dragging people out in the middle of the night to be your punching bag?"
Sterling didn't respond.
After finishing his change and getting help with his gloves, Henry turned to look at Sterling.
Noticing the bandage wrapped around his arm, Henry gloated, "So someone beat you up and now you're taking it out on me. Who did it? I'd love to meet whoever managed to hurt the great Mr. Lancaster these days—"
Before he could finish speaking, Sterling threw a punch his way. Henry quickly dodged, the fist grazing past his face.
"Hey, no cheap shots! We're not even in the ring yet!" Henry protested, climbing into the boxing ring. "And not the face, man!"
Sterling followed him up, ignoring his protests and pressing forward with relentless punches. Henry quickly fell silent, focusing entirely on defending against Sterling's assault.
After they'd fought enough, both men sat down on the canvas. Henry, sporting several fresh bruises, sighed, "Come on, tell me who got under your skin. You're hitting way too hard."
Instead of answering, Sterling asked, "What's Gloria been up to lately?"
Henry's nerves twitched as he replied innocently, "Did she mess with Willow again? I already told you I can't control her. Don't blame me next time."
Sterling didn't respond.
"Honestly," Henry sighed with complicated emotions, "my sister was pretty well-behaved those first few years after she came to live with us. Even when she caused trouble, she knew to apologize. I don't know if our family spoiled her or what, but she's gotten more and more out of control."
He glanced at Sterling. "Ever since Willow married Charles, she's completely lost it. I don't even know what she wants anymore. What kind of grudge makes someone want to destroy another person? And you—why did you agree to that engagement when you didn't trust her? I bet that's what set her off."
When his sister had forced an engagement claiming pregnancy, even he could tell something was off. He couldn't believe Sterling hadn't seen through it. Sterling was clearly just using the engagement to test Gloria. Now Gloria's obsession with Sterling was entirely his own fault.
"Talk about leading someone on," Henry complained.
Sterling's voice resonated deeply, "She deceived me first. The woman that night wasn't her. I just want to know how she found out."
Henry's attention caught on the first part of Sterling's statement. His mind raced, "Was it Willow?" He recalled the conversation between his sister and Willow that he'd overheard at the Lancaster Manor.
Sterling's silence confirmed it.
Henry's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "You..." He stammered for a moment, "Wait, I was just joking before about you all being in some... incestuous mess, but you actually slept with Charles's wife on their wedding night? Are you even human?"
If Sterling hadn't admitted it himself, Henry would never have imagined such a thing! He wondered if Charles knew that he'd been given such massive horns. Thinking about how Charles would react if he found out, Henry couldn't help but look forward to the drama.
"I was drugged," Sterling said with displeasure.
Henry gave him a look of contempt.
Sterling narrowed his eyes and turned to meet Henry's gaze. "By your sister."
"Don't slander her—" Halfway through his sentence, Henry remembered Gloria's adoptive mother who worked at the hospital, and the rest of his words died in his throat.
"Last time at the resort, she gave Willow the same drug," Sterling said.
Henry's expression grew complicated, knowing Sterling wouldn't falsely accuse someone without reason. Still, he couldn't accept that his own sister would do such things. Being ruthless to achieve goals was one thing, but turning against those close to her was shameful.
After a long moment, he finally spoke with a heavy heart, "If that's true, I'll make this right."
Sterling made no comment.
"Let me spar with you a bit longer," Henry said, bottling up his anger. He still couldn't accept how the sister he'd cared for all these years had turned out this way.
"Is she really my sister?" Henry questioned himself. "Or did the Brown genes mutate? No Brown is like this."
But when they brought her home years ago, the family had verified everything multiple times, and his mother had been absolutely certain. It shouldn't have been a mistake.
It must be Valerie's influence that had led Gloria astray, Henry silently concluded.
Sterling said, "Genetic testing isn't always reliable. The pregnancy report she gave me was genuine too."
Henry paused, then shook his head. "It's not about that. I know."
Sterling didn't say anything more.
---
Early the next morning, Willow was awakened by Maria knocking on her door.
"Willa, are you awake? Get up quickly." Maria's voice carried a hint of displeasure.
Willow had dreamed all night and was deep in sleep. She groggily opened her eyes, got up to open the door, and asked, "Grandma, what's wrong?" She thought Maria might be feeling unwell, but looking her over, she seemed fine, just unhappy.
"Tell me, did you really divorce Charles?" Maria asked.
Willow frowned in confusion. "Yes, I showed you the divorce decree, remember?" They'd been divorced for several days now. Why would Maria suddenly ask about this?
Maria's expression softened slightly as she recalled seeing the divorce papers with her own eyes. When she spoke again, her tone was gentler but still unhappy. "Then Charles must be up to something."
Willow was completely lost. "What happened? What are you talking about?"
"Go wash your face and change your clothes first. We'll talk when you come out," Maria said.
Willow obediently went to wash her face and change. By the time she came to the living room, she was fully awake. Maria was sitting in the living room eating breakfast with the morning news playing on TV.
"Grandma, what's going on?" Willow asked as she sat across from her.
"I just saw the news that Charles announced his marriage, and they're using photos from your speech," Maria said irritably. She had watched Willow's product launch presentation video several times and couldn't possibly mistake it.
Hearing this, Willow frowned and skeptically took out her phone to search social media for "Charles marriage."
Seconds later, the search results appeared. Just as Maria had said, her own photos were all over the results. There were also accusations similar to last night's, suggesting the video was just Charles helping Willow create publicity.
Willow skimmed through a couple of posts, her expression growing increasingly grave.
"You're already divorced, and now he decides to acknowledge it? Too late!" Maria condemned. "Willa, he's just trying to win you back. Don't you dare soften!"