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Chapter 45: Chapter 45: You Can’t Always Be Nice to a Man

Lynn Winslow said, ”Repeat it for Miss Clayton.”

The bodyguard’s hand tightened on the tattooed man’s shoulder. The man cried out, then stammered in pain, ”I-it was a man. He found me, gave me two hundred thousand, and told me to help him put on a show. But when I saw Miss Clayton, I... got ideas. That’s why I didn’t stick to the plan.”

Lynn Winslow rested her chin on her hand and asked, ”What kind of man?”

”He was average-looking, dressed in a suit. Nothing memorable about him.”

Chloe Clayton said angrily, ”For just two hundred thousand? Am I only worth two hundred thousand?”

”What else?” A smirk played on Lynn Winslow’s lips as she said cuttingly, ”With a brain like yours, tricking you is child’s play. I’d say even a hundred thousand is too much.”

Chloe Clayton trembled with anger. Lynn Winslow said to the bodyguard, ”Hand him over to the Claytons. Let Liam Clayton investigate.”

As the car started moving, Lynn Winslow glanced at the scrapes and bruises on Chloe Clayton and said to the driver, ”Let’s go to the hospital.”

The driver nodded, floored the accelerator, and they quickly arrived at the hospital.

After a nurse had treated and bandaged Chloe Clayton’s wounds, Liam Clayton rushed in. The moment Chloe saw her brother, she burst into tears all over again.

Lynn Winslow discreetly rolled her eyes. ’Listening to one sibling wail while the other tries to soothe them is making me want to go home,’ she thought.

Chloe Clayton finally calmed down. Sniffling, she said to Liam Clayton, ”Brother, this is Lynn Winslow. You’ve probably heard of her. She’s the one who saved me.”

Liam Clayton narrowed his eyes at Lynn Winslow. Lynn stood up and smiled at him, but before she could speak, she heard Liam say coolly, ”Miss Winslow, your timing is quite convenient.”

How could Lynn possibly miss the sarcasm in his tone? She met his icy gaze and retorted with a sharp smile, ”It certainly is. Otherwise, who knows where your sister would have been dragged off to by now. I do hope Mr. Clayton will protect his sister better in the future, and not immediately suspect the person who comes to her aid.”

”Then I suppose I really should thank you, Miss Winslow,” Liam Clayton said, nodding curtly.

Lynn Winslow’s lips curved into a smile. ”Don’t mention it. My bodyguard will be handing over the man who assaulted Miss Clayton tonight. As for who was behind him... I trust a man of Mr. Clayton’s capabilities can figure that out, can’t you?”

Liam Clayton’s gaze darkened. Lynn Winslow let out a soft, mocking laugh and walked past the siblings toward the elevator.

Chloe Clayton watched her go, hesitating for a long moment. Only after Lynn had stepped into the elevator did Chloe finally muster her courage, call out Lynn’s name, and limp toward her.

”Lynn, thank you for saving me. Can... can we exchange numbers?” She held out her phone, her face flushing red. It was the first time she had ever been the one to ask.

Lynn Winslow took the phone, typed in her number, and handed it back.

Chloe Clayton bit her lip, bracing herself. As the elevator doors began to close, she thought, ’Well, I’ve already been bold enough to ask once, what’s asking a second time?’ and rushed to say, ”When I’m all healed up... can I come see you?”

Lynn Winslow smiled. ”Of course.”

Chloe Clayton let out a sigh of relief and waved goodbye to Lynn, her smile so bright that even Liam Clayton, who had grown up with her, found it a little strange.

Liam Clayton said coolly, ”It can’t be a coincidence that she just happened to be there to save you.”

”But Lynn has no reason to set me up,” Chloe said, blinking as she tugged on her brother’s sleeve. ”Brother, she’s actually really nice. Those old rumors must have been fake. You can’t believe them.”

Liam Clayton sighed, a flicker of regret in his eyes for having raised his sister to be so naive.

Just as Lynn Winslow was leaving the hospital, she ran into Mia Rhodes, who was rushing in.

When Mia Rhodes saw her, her expression twisted for a split second before she asked, ”Cousin, what are you doing here?”

Lynn Winslow raised an eyebrow and said sweetly, ”All thanks to you, dear cousin.”

Mia Rhodes’s heart leaped in panic for a second, but then she calmed herself. ’She never saw me, and the man I hired was several steps removed. There’s no way it could be traced back to me.’

She played dumb, asking in confusion, ”What do you mean by that? I don’t understand.”

Seeing her play dumb, Lynn couldn’t be bothered to continue the conversation. She just shook her head and said gently, ”It means nothing. You should go on, cousin.”

Mia Rhodes watched her walk away, gritting her teeth.

Lynn Winslow got into the car and rubbed her aching temples. The driver asked with concern, ”Miss, it’s getting late. Will you be eating at home or out? I should let the chef know.”

Lynn glanced at the time and was surprised to see it was already ten o’clock. She sighed. ”It’s too late. I’ll eat out.”

The driver acknowledged, started the car, and headed to the address Lynn had sent him.

The address Lynn had sent was for a private kitchen near Ian Sterling’s company. The owner recognized her and asked curiously, ”Miss, are you by yourself today? I don’t see Finn.”

”I’m eating alone.” Lynn Winslow smiled faintly. ”Just bring me whatever Ian Sterling usually orders.”

The owner nodded and led her to a private room. After bringing out the dishes one by one, he was about to leave when Lynn suddenly asked, ”Are these all the dishes Ian Sterling likes?”

”Yes, this is basically what Finn orders every time he comes.” The owner was puzzled but answered honestly.

Lynn murmured, ”I see,” and gestured for him to leave.

’Ian Sterling was such a picky eater. All these dishes were her old favorites. She remembered trying to force him to eat them, but he had stubbornly refused back then.’

Lynn felt her resolve soften. She pulled out her phone and sent a reply to Ian Sterling, who had been bombarding her with messages.

Have you had dinner?

Ian Sterling replied instantly: I have. What about you? Are you eating properly?

Lynn replied that she had, then put her phone away.

’She’d read in a novel once that you can’t always be nice to a man, or he’ll get spoiled and take you for granted. The carrot and the stick approach—Lynn found it very useful and planned to stick with it.’

Ian Sterling was still in the middle of getting his hair dyed. Since he had just dyed it black, bleaching it to go red again was a real pain. He was lucky his hair was so resilient; otherwise, it would never survive this kind of abuse.

Nina Norton had been calling him repeatedly since last night, but Ian Sterling had just brushed her off with a few noncommittal words each time.

Who would’ve thought that Nina Norton was still awake? She suddenly hit him with a video call.

Ian Sterling was in the middle of texting Lynn when he saw the video call from his mother pop up. He answered it. Nina Norton saw that he was dyeing his hair again and froze, shocked. ”Why are you dyeing it again?”

”Because I like it,” Ian Sterling said flatly.

Nina Norton gritted her teeth. Just as she was about to scold her increasingly rebellious youngest son, she suddenly spotted a faint bite mark on his exposed collarbone.

Seeing that the sullen look on her son’s face from the past few days was gone, and adding the bite mark to the equation... well, she’d had five children. How could she not know what that meant?

”Did you and Lynn Winslow make up!?”

Ian Sterling frowned. ”Mom, can you just leave me alone? Go bother my second brother or my sister, why don’t you? Or go pester my oldest brother about having kids.”

He had no qualms about throwing his siblings under the bus to shield himself, but Nina Norton wasn’t falling for it.

”Why would I bother them? Every single one of them is less trouble than you! Never mind your oldest brother, let’s just talk about your second brother...”