His Naughty Lessons-Chapter 293: What Runs in the Family

** Harper **

Those words gave Harper an odd feeling.

Perhaps she should be flattered that someone like Ronald Sterling was giving her a peace offering, finding her adequate to enter the exclusive social circle that would otherwise be reluctant to welcome her. Or perhaps she should be thrilled that her boyfriend’s difficult father was finally giving them his blessing, changing his mind on those manipulative games and cold wars with his son.

But ... what she felt instead was only a dull ache of sorrow for Eli. What kind of position was his father in to ask this of her? As a husband who betrayed his wife — wives — he was in no place to speak of loyalty. As a father who neglected his son during the hardest years of a child’s youth, and then tried to show "care" by meddling incessantly in an adult’s life, he had long missed the chance to act like a guardian angel. Even if he was asking for her promises out of good intention ... it still didn’t feel right.

Because to make that promise to him would mean to forgive him, and only Eli had the right to make that decision.

So Harper smiled instead. "He is already at the first and foremost place in my heart, Mr. Sterling. And I know he will stay there, because that’s where home is for both of us. I don’t think we need oaths or promises — especially not to anyone else — for that to last."

The man’s gaze turned scrutinizing, yet she continued. "However, I do agree a hundred percent with what you said about Eli deserving the best. If I may offer a small suggestion ... I believe he will take over your company’s legacy much more willingly, if you actually give up the control you still have through all the executive members who only follow your orders. Like you said, Eli has a talent, but the power games that he hates might kill it before he gets the chance to put it to use."

She met Ronald Sterling’s eyes with another smile. To her, this was what caring about someone really meant — to consider their feelings, to respect their decisions. She could only hope that the man in front of her would understand that someday.

~ ~

** Eli **

Eli stared at the closed exam room door again, then stared at the clock. Harper had been in there at least ten minutes now ... and he was getting increasingly uneasy with every passing moment.

"Can you stop fidgeting like she’s gone into a mountain lion’s lair?" Emory looked up from her phone with an annoyed frown. "It’s not like she’ll come out missing a limb or something. You are unbelievably overprotective."

"Says the one who came yelling at me at the gala because I might break her heart." Eli resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "At least some people have a better idea about who she needs to be protected from."

Emory glared at him for a moment before putting down her phone with a scoff. "Guess that trait simply runs in the family."

"... If you’re trying to tell me that man in there is protective, I might think you’re mad."

The two of them went quiet for a while after that.

"He’s not that bad, you know," Emory offered at last. "I mean, I had a phase when I hated Dad, too. Back when I first heard about you and your mom. Don’t just assume we’ve had it easy on our side. We might have both made it through alive, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt."

Well, that was a change of topic Eli hadn’t expected.

"But if you know him — actually know him, by living with him for so many years — you’ll realize that he does care. About both of his families." Emory sighed, a bit wistfully. "In his own somewhat messed up way, that is. He does care, but he doesn’t always do it right."

Those words felt so mature for a college student that for a moment, Eli wondered if the old man had told her to say this. But he quickly brushed that thought off of his mind. Ronald Sterling, admitting that he screwed up and didn’t always do things right? That simply wasn’t possible.

"So I don’t think he’s going to threaten her or tell her to get away from you or anything. You don’t have to worry about that," Emory concluded. "He does eventually make compromises when he knows you’re dead set on the decision you’ve made."

"That doesn’t make him ’care’." It was Eli’s turn to scoff this time. "That only makes him a businessman who’s smart to know when to cut his losses."

"Ouch, that’s harsh." Emory glanced up at him, though she looked more curious than offended on her father’s behalf. "You don’t believe he loves you?"

A weird question coming from a half-sister, but Eli contemplated it with all the seriousness he could give.

"I’m not sure if it matters." He shrugged in the end. "He’s not the type of person who understands how to love someone. Being the target of that affection isn’t a blessing, and at this age, I can do just fine without it."

He was surprised by his own calmness as he said the words.

Maybe after all these years, and especially with his father lying in an ER bed, that pain inside him had finally formed a scab. One that no longer hurt every time it was touched, only numb like the ugly reminder it was of an unforgivable past. Or maybe after all these years, he had finally learned to not let that scab remind him of his own self, making him believe that he was exactly like his father, like someone who didn’t know how to love or how to care.

Because an angel had entered his life at a time when he needed her most. She had given him a chance to prove that he could be different, that he could be so much more.

The exam room’s door opened right then. The angel stepped out, and Eli all but sprang up from his chair.