CHAPTER 381: CHAPTER 381: THREAT OR NOTIFICATION

When Ruby Sullivan opened the door and entered the house, she was first hit by the warm air, causing her to sneeze. She took out a tissue to wipe her nose before sitting down to change her shoes.

She had drunk some beer, not much, but now she felt a bit tipsy, her head was a bit swollen, and she really wanted to take a hot shower and sleep. Suddenly, she heard her phone ring.

She took it out to see a message from Ethan Sterling: I’m in the living room, don’t be scared when you see me.

Ethan Sterling was afraid she might scream later on and wake the two little ones who had just fallen asleep, and might even disturb Mama Bennett and Owen Fulton.

She frowned, unable to understand the meaning of the message, and directly called him.

It was very quiet at night, and any sound could travel far, so Ruby Sullivan, who was sitting in the entranceway, immediately heard the vibration from the living room and then saw Ethan Sterling hang up the phone.

She then realized that the guy was indeed in her living room.

Ruby Sullivan immediately put on her slippers and walked in, turned on the light, and saw Ethan Sterling sitting upright on the sofa, seemingly waiting for her.

He glanced at her, stood up, "Let’s talk in the room."

Ruby Sullivan felt there wasn’t much left to say between them, but she didn’t want to argue with him, so she took off her coat and hung it up, then followed him into the bedroom and closed the door. "Why are you here?"

"Did you drink tonight?" Ethan Sterling thought of the scene at the hotel earlier where he ran into her with Damian Quinn, frowned, and connected her smell of alcohol to socializing, adding a bit more sternness to his gaze.

"What I do outside doesn’t require telling you, Mr. Sterling." Ruby Sullivan went into the bathroom to fill the bathtub with hot water.

She turned back to the room, seeing Ethan Sterling getting a bit impatient, "I’ve already told you before, you can see the children, but only with my permission. You always show up suddenly like this, it’s not good for you, me, Honey, or Seth."

Ethan Sterling raised an eyebrow, mockingly said, "You still remember Honey and Seth?"

Ruby Sullivan coldly chuckled, "A man who left the kids to be cared for by a stranger is now here to criticize me for not spending enough time with them?" She had asked why he was there, but after asking, she basically figured it out.

Christmas Eve, surely Honey felt aggrieved and called her dad, then Ethan Sterling, as a father, could come in and play the role of a heroic and thoughtful parent.

Ha, now, this father still wants to diss her as their mother.

"I admit I underestimated this before, so now you shouldn’t be like the old me! I won’t interfere with your career, but if you’re unable to take care of both children, I have the right to sue for custody!"

Ruby Sullivan looked at his sharp gaze, suddenly feeling like a knife stabbed her in the chest, then, the white knife went in, the red knife came out, yet another stab, and this pain was doubled, even more excruciating.

She instinctively covered her chest, feeling that all this turmoil was incited by alcohol, otherwise, it wouldn’t be this intense.

"Do you feel like vomiting?" Ethan Sterling saw her not speaking, continuously rubbing her chest, wondered if she was feeling unwell.

Ruby Sullivan thought, if vomiting could make things better, vomiting was no harm.

She looked up at him, using a light, floating tone, asked, "Ethan Sterling, are you threatening me, or just giving me a heads-up?"

She knew that if he truly wanted to fight her for custody, she almost had no chance of winning, even if she could play the family card to gain custody, what then? Ethan Sterling had ways to ensure Nirvana couldn’t survive, as long as she was economically reliant on him, she and the two children couldn’t have peaceful days.

Ethan Sterling was heartbroken by the coldness in her eyes.

In her eyes, was he really such a devil? How could he use the children to threaten her?

"You’re drunk, let’s talk another day." After saying this, he quickly walked out of the room.

Ruby Sullivan held on until he closed the door and left, suddenly crouched down, hugged herself, and only after holding it in for a while did she not cry.

Ethan Sterling lay on the sofa, unable to fall asleep for a long time, inexplicably, his mind was filled with Ruby Sullivan’s face, and after a glance at the time, he sat up.

He worried that she might fall asleep in the bathroom while taking a bath, and indeed, it wasn’t the first time this had happened before.

Ethan Sterling walked to the door, knocked on it, waited for a while with no response, then opened the door and went in.

There was no one on the bed; the bathroom light was on, with no sound.

He knocked on the bathroom door again, still no response.

He pushed the door open, saw Ms. Sullivan leaning back with a shower cap, head resting on the bath pillow, and indeed, she had fallen asleep.

Ethan Sterling felt the bathtub he chose back then was not really suitable for Ruby Sullivan, too easy for her to fall asleep while soaking.

He swiftly undressed, pulled her out of the water, as he had done before, dried her off, and tucked her under the covers.

Ruby Sullivan woke up in the morning to the alarm clock, then was hit by the lingering smell of alcohol in her hair.

Sitting up with a frown, she thought for a while before recalling that she must have fallen asleep while bathing last night, and considering she was wearing nothing, the only one who could have pulled her out of the bathtub was Ethan Sterling.

Her face reddened with embarrassment, making her uncomfortable.

She needed to go to the shop early today and didn’t have time to waste, so she quickly got out of bed to the bathroom, took a proper shower, and rid herself of the hangover smell before anything else.

When she came out of the room, Honey and Seth had already left.

She was a bit surprised, "Why did they leave so early today?"

Mama Bennett was even more surprised, "Both Seth and Honey have activities at school, they needed to arrive early today."

"An activity?" Ruby Sullivan was astonished, "Why didn’t anyone tell me?"

"Perhaps they were afraid you were too busy to make time, I also only learned about it last night. Last night, Seth asked me to prepare breakfast an hour earlier this morning, Mr. Sterling was supposed to go to the school, I heard him talking with the kids during breakfast."

Ruby Sullivan frowned, thinking about Ethan Sterling’s words last night, feeling very uncomfortable.

"How would he manage to go to both kids’ schools alone?"

"I heard that young master is accompanying Seth, if you have time today, you should go to the school too, I heard both kids have performances," Mama Bennett advised.

"Hmm." Ruby Sullivan looked at the porridge in front of her, yet felt unable to eat.

She sat in the car, dazed for a bit, hesitated for a long time, before finally calling Howard, telling him to look after the store first, as she might go there later.

After hanging up the phone, she went to the kindergarten.

Teachers were busy putting makeup on the children, and Honey’s adorable little face, messed up by the teacher’s heavy makeup, looked like a mountain patrolling demon, with thick eye makeup and blood-red lips, plus an awkwardly small red dot the size of a fingernail, it was as ugly as it could get.

Probably many mothers anticipated this, so those who could do makeup brought their little beauties fully made up beforehand. Indeed, having a mom-made child was as angelic as could be.

Honey was originally standing in front of her father, perhaps saying something, then suddenly saw her mom, her eyes widened in disbelief, and asked her dad in surprise, "Is that mom?"