Chapter 1603
Sophia reached out and grabbed Adrian, yanking the painting from behind him. After displacing Adrian to one side, she unfurled the painting and took a look.
But there was nothing unusual. It was just an ordinary landscape painting.
Adrian was livid to see his painting taken away. He tried to jump and retrieve it, but to no avail. Sophia was much taller than him and out of reach.
“Give it back! Give me my painting back!”
Sophia flipped the painting over and examined the back, but still found nothing amiss.
However, after seeing the flustered and frustrated look on Ellinor’s spoiled brat, she couldn’t help but feel a sense of satisfaction. So, she deliberately didn’t return the painting.
Adrian’s clamor roused Thaddeus, Bertha, and Lea.
“Sophia, what’s going on? What’s the kid fussing about?” Thaddeus emerged from his room, posing the question with an air of authority.
Sophia flashed her father a smile. “Dad, it’s nothing. The kid insisted on running out by himself. I tried to stop him, and now he’s throwing a tantrum.”
Bertha, seeing the flustered and sweaty Tristan, beckoned him over with a tender wave. Tristan, come here; come to Grandma and Grandpa. You can’t run out by yourself. Grandma will put on a cartoon for you.”
Adrian was angry with Sophia and didn’t know Thaddeus and Bertha well enough to consider them grandparents.
He didn’t heed Bertha’s sympathy and continued to jump, trying to reach for the painting Sophia held. “I don’t want to watch cartoons! I want my painting! Give my painting back to me!”
Bertha was helpless, but not angry.
Thaddeus, however, was somewhat irritated by the child’s disobedience and snorted. “That’s the kind of child Marcus has spoiled. He has no manners whatsoever! Sophia, does he always treat you with such an attitude?”
Sophia sighed with a hint of grievance. “Ah, Dad, I’ve gotten used to it. But this kid isn’t spoiled by Marcus. Marcus is quite strict with him. It’s just that this kid… I don’t know who he’s taken after, but he’s just so disobedient.”
Who had the kid taken after?
The moment Sophia said this, Thaddeus thought of the child’s origin and felt a sense of disdain.
Indeed, blood that wasn’t his own was always off-putting.
Just then, Lea stepped up, speaking in defense of her little nephew. “I think Tristan is quite well-behaved. He’s not as willful as you make him out to be, Sophia.”
Sophia glanced at Lea, her eyes concealed with disdain. “How long have you been around him? You haven’t seen his mischievous side at all
“I may not see it because you always keep Tristan cooped up at home. You don’t let him socialize. It’s hard for me to see what I can’t witness.
However, I do know why Tristan is throwing this tantrum now. Isn’t it because you took the painting I gave him? If you don’t return it, of course, he’s going to be worried.”
Thaddeus and Bertha finally noticed the rolled-up painting in Sophia’s hand. She held it high, intentionally out of Tristan’s reach, while he incessantly attempted to grab it.
Sophia looked at Lea with a smile that was barely different from a scowl. “Lea, you are misunderstanding me again. I didn’t take Tristan’s painting on purpose. I was just worried that he took it from you without understanding the consequences. I was going to return it to you.”
Lea furrowed her brows. Her dislike for Sophia was deepening.
Who would suspect their own child of theft?
She used to think that Sophia, who went to great lengths to snatch her man, would love Tristan because he was part of that man.
Now, it seemed like she thought too highly of Sophia.
Sophia was fundamentally selfish. Even her love was selfish
