Chapter 9: Regret. "Something came up. That's why I’m late. Ethan stood outside the door, exuding a powerful aura, making it impossible for Janet to step forward. "Why are you here? I want to go back. Get out of my way. Janet’s voice broke with anger and sadness. Seeing her red teary eyes, Ethan looked at everyone in the living room. Then, he gently grasped her wrist. "There's no hurry. He took Janet back to the living room. Sean put the bags on the table and opened them one after the other. After displaying everything on the table, he wiped the sweat off his forehead and retreated behind Ethan. Sean was tired of exerting all his physical strength to do his job. Janet’s eyes widened when she looked at the gifts. Expensive jewelry, watches, wine, and other rare antiques dazzled under the lights. She wondered if these gifts were also knock-offs, like Ethan’s expensive watch he had got from his friend. Although the Lind family wasn’t the most powerful family in the city, they had seen the world. They could differentiate fake from the real deal. Janet tugg ed at Etha n’s sleeve. "What were you thinking? They're not easy t o fool! Forget it

If they find out these ar e fake, just tell them that I bought these,” . Janet stood on tiptoe and whisp ered in his ear. A faint smile tug ged at the corners of Ethan’s mouth. Janet's words am used him. It was the first time som eone had thought he would give knock-offs as gifts. More than that, the way Janet wanted to pr otect him and take the blame brought a smi le to his face. He gently scratched her soft . p al m. "Don't worry. I never give a f ake as a gift. It took Fiona and Joce lyn a few seconds to r ecover from the shock. They finally shut their mouths and lo oked at each other. Both of them k new the gifts w ere invaluable. Fiona s miled s weetly. "Ethan, this is your house too now that we’re family. You don’t have to bring gi fts when you come. Moreover, these are too . expensive. H ow can we a ccept them?" . Jocelyn was drawn to the diamond jewelry d azzling on the table. Moreover, the limited ed ition bracelet was her f avorite among the others

Just as she was about to pick it up and put it on her wrist, Ethan shut the velvet box . He began to close the boxes and put them in . th e b ag. Ethan glanced at the moth er and daughter who were greedily eyeing the gifts. "These were supposed to be gifts from the Lester family for you. But I just heard t hat you don’t regard her as your daughter . anymore. Such being the case, there’s no nee d for me to give these gifts. You are a dig nified family. I’m sure you don’t care about . these ins ignifican t gifts. Both Fiona an d Jocelyn wer e dumbfounded. Jocelyn anxiousl y tugged at her mother’s sleeve. “Mom! Say something. I really want that lim ited edition jewelry. Fiona thought she was rich and had seen the luxuries of the wo rld, but clearly she was wrong. The Lind family was i nferior to the Lester family in every way. Even though Ethan was only an illegitimate son of the Lester family, it was normal fo r him to show his respect to his in-laws by . gift ing them. Fiona regretted humiliating Janet when she could have used her to tak e advantage of Ethan in the future