Chapter 470
“What does that mean? Am I a mascot?” Rosalie shook her head. She cast aside the jumbled thoughts in her mind and refocused her attention on the case files in her hands.
In a few days, the compensation trial for Larry’s car accident would officially begin. Judging by the current attitude of the defendant, it was clear they intended to prolong the process and had no intention of paying up.
For the defendant, serving a one-year prison sentence would easily offset the hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation, turning it into a profitable choice.
Although Rosalie was seventy to eighty percent confident that the real perpetrator was the celebrity, Aubrielle, the evidence at her disposal was not sufficiently compelling.
Perhaps Rosalie needed to revisit the route the car had taken that day or the scene of the incident to find some useful clues at the scene. Rosalie thought to herself, “After all, that’s all I can do at this point.”
Otherwise, Larry and his family would still receive no compensation even if they won the case in court.
“Why are you staring so intently?” Jonathan’s voice suddenly sounded in Rosalie’s ear.
Rosalie then realized that Jonathan had finished his video conference at some point, and he had walked over to her.
At that moment, Jonathan was leaning over and supporting himself with one hand on the table, His gaze was fixed upon the documents in her hand.
“It’s nothing. It’s just a case from the firm,” Rosalie responded.
Jonathan asked, “Do you really intend to remain a mere assistant in this law firm and not accept my help? I can give you your own law firm. You have a license now and can take cases independently. There’s no need for you to be an assistant.”
“No. I want to gain some experience for now,” Rosalie replied.
“So, are you refusing me, then?” His voice dropped, and there seemed to be tension in the air.
Rosalie bit her lip slightly. “Jonathan, you don’t need to give me anything. I’m already grateful that you’re willing to arrange protection for Amelia and Aiden.”
For Rosalie, what she wanted most now was to rely on herself.
Even if Jonathan really gave her a law firm, it would never be truly hers. It would be like a pie in the sky, splendid yet not substantial.
If Jonathan ever chose to retract his offer, he could do so at any moment. In that case, she would be left with nothing once
more.
Jonathan’s fingers gently stroked her lips, preventing her from biting them once more. “Why are you so hesitant to call me Jon? You always have to wait for me to ask before you say it. Is it really that difficult for you to say this name willingly?”
Rosalie remained silent.
She mused, “Is it difficult? Actually, it’s not difficult as long as I regard it as an address for him. However, maybe it’s because the name ‘Jon’ used to be so special to me.”
Now, he was just Jonathan to her.
Rosalie feared that calling him Jon might give her a false impression that he was still the same person as before.
Rosalie continued thinking, “No, or should I say that Jon was only a creation of my imagination? In truth, I had never truly understood him, which is why his talk of breaking up felt so sudden.”
The “Jon” in her heart was just what she had created according to her expectations. It was not the real him.
“Call me Jon. Like hearing you say it,” he whispered.
“Jon…” she gently uttered.
“Say it again.”
“Jon.”
“Once more.”
“Jon… Jon…”
Rosalie repeated those words over and over, but she kept reminding herself in her heart that he was just Jonathan.
“In front of you, I’m just Jon,” he said, holding her in his arms.
His breath immediately enveloped her entirely, but a trace of sadness flashed in her doe eyes.
He would never be Jon to her again. Jon had already ceased to exist when he asked to break up with her.
In the hotel bedroom, Warren was speaking to Irene on the other end of the phone. “All right, I’ll be back tomorrow, and I’ll handle all those rumors online.”
“Warren, what exactly happened that made you leave without even explaining? I-I’m not blaming you. I just want to understand.” Irene’s voice was tinged with a sense of hurt, eliciting a protective response from those who heard her.
“Let’s talk about everything when I return,” Warren replied and rubbed his temples.
He had hardly slept for the past two days. Whenever he closed his eyes, scenes from the past with Amelia would appear uncontrollably.
Warren reminisced about her smiles and tears. The memory of her announcing that she was carrying his child came rushing back, along with his own reactions to her words.
Warren recalled the time he had sought her, requesting that she bear a child for him, and how she resolutely responded by thrusting a shattered glass against her abdomen.
A child… It turned out that she had already given birth to a child who shared his blood.
A child who was deaf and disabled.
Back then, Warren had asked Aiden what was wrong, but Aiden simply looked at him with eyes strikingly similar to his own. Aiden used his fingers to gesture continuously and utter incomprehensible sounds.
That was the moment Warren realized that this child was deaf and, therefore, unable to speak.
The outside world had always tagged Warren as a cold-hearted individual. Nevertheless, he experienced a seldom-seen, welling of sympathy for this child.
However, Warren could never have fathomed that the child he empathized with would turn out to be his son.
Aiden was his own flesh and blood. Yet, astonishingly, Warren became aware of his existence after all this time.
Suddenly, Warren got up, picked up his suit jacket, and walked out of the bedroom.
His subordinate in the living room immediately stood up and inquired, “Mr. York, it’s quite late. Where are you going?”
“I’m going to Amelia’s current residence,” Warren replied. He wanted to take another look at that child.
“Yes!” his subordinate answered and followed Warren out of the hotel.
The car drove toward Amelia’s residence, and they reached their destination in just about twenty minutes.
It was a budget inn.
Amelia’s face suddenly changed when she opened the inn’s door and saw Warren. She instinctively tried to close the door, but he blocked it with his hand.
“Do you believe that I have a hundred ways to open the door later if you dare to close it now,” he uttered coldly
Amelia’s body trembled. Naturally, she knew that he was capable of it.
At this moment, a tender voice sounded, “Mommy, is it Rosalie?”
Amelia was stunned. The next moment, Warren had completely opened the door of the room and saw Aiden standing
beside Amelia.
