Chapter 118: Chapter 118: Godsister

Xavier Warren had previously suggested making a formal apology to Jessie Sterling with a trip to The Caldera Resort. However, due to Lynn Jennings’s impending visit, the plan was postponed until New Year’s Day.

Lynn Jennings flew into Aethelburg on the morning of New Year’s Day, and Jessie Sterling went to pick her up from the airport.

It hadn’t been that long since they’d last seen each other, but the moment Jessie Sterling saw Lynn Jennings emerge from the terminal, she let out a shriek and broke into a run.

Lynn Jennings clicked her tongue with a “tsk” but obligingly opened her arms and ran toward her, playing along with Jessie’s childish welcome.

Jessie Sterling was carrying a huge bouquet of sunflowers.

When she reached her, she handed the bouquet over.

The weight of the bouquet nearly brought Lynn Jennings to her knees. “You did this on purpose, didn’t you?”

A bouquet of sunflowers that large was certainly beautiful, but it was also incredibly heavy.

Jessie Sterling burst out laughing with a “pfft.” She really had forgotten to consider the weight of the massive blooms when she bought them.

Spotting the Valhalla parked in the underground garage, Lynn Jennings let out a “Wow!” “This color is way nicer than mine.”

“Victor Morgan bought it,” Jessie Sterling said, opening the car door and sliding in.

Lynn Jennings clicked her tongue. “Yeah, yeah, I get it.”

On the way, Lynn Jennings could see that Jessie Sterling really hadn’t been too affected by the incident with Shawn Stuart, and her expression gradually relaxed.

Xavier Warren’s Caldera Resort was located several dozen kilometers from the city center.

Though somewhat remote, it was quite famous among Aethelburg’s elite circles.

By the time Jessie Sterling and Lynn Jennings arrived at the resort, Victor Morgan and the others were already there.

Since this was to be an apology for Jessie Sterling, Xavier Warren had made a grand gesture: he closed the entire resort to the public for the three days of the New Year holiday, reserving it exclusively for his friends.

The reception hall was a two-story log cabin with a design inspired by The Nordlands.

The temperature in the suburbs was already significantly lower than in the city, so a layer of snow had fallen over The Caldera Resort the previous night.

As far as the eye could see, everything was a vast expanse of white. In front of each of the scattered log cabin villas, a spring bubbled. Scalding water welled up continuously from the earth, its billowing steam meeting the cold air to form a thick white mist, creating a dreamlike, ethereal scene.

As Jessie Sterling and Lynn Jennings walked in, the first person they noticed was the woman sitting next to Victor Morgan.

Jessie Sterling raised an eyebrow.

She was a young woman dressed in a classic Fendi camel-colored coat and over-the-knee boots that hugged her slender legs. She was laughing and chatting with Victor Morgan, and the two of them looked quite familiar with one another.

“Our sister-in-law’s here.” Xavier Warren, looking thoroughly bored, was sitting at the bar fiddling with a lighter. He was dead tired.

He had pulled an all-nighter, and if it weren’t for this gathering, he’d definitely still be sprawled out on his massive 2.8-meter-wide bed.

The whole group knew that Jessie Sterling was picking up her childhood friend from Southaven that morning, so as soon as Xavier Warren spoke, nearly everyone in the lobby turned to look at the entrance.

Jessie Sterling was the type who would never allow herself to look anything less than impeccable, no matter the occasion.

Nina Walsh had heard a great deal about Jessie Sterling. Looking up now, she saw one of the newcomers dressed in a black, double-faced wool coat, a pink Burberry scarf, a slim-fitting black velvet dress with a square neckline, and black, red-soled high heels.

Even bundled up against the northern winter, it didn’t stop Jessie Sterling from showing off her favorite high-end jewelry.

Her neck and wrists were completely covered, so she instead wore a pair of dazzling, large-model Van Cleef & Arpels Snowflake diamond earrings. The light they refracted was so brilliant that even her thick, wavy hair couldn’t hope to conceal their sparkle.

Victor Morgan immediately stood up and walked over to Jessie Sterling. “Was the drive okay?” He wasn’t entirely comfortable with Jessie driving in Aethelburg and had originally offered to go with her to the airport. But Jessie had refused him, and her reasoning was quite compelling: what if she wanted to bad-mouth him to Lynn Jennings? Wouldn’t his presence be terribly inconvenient?

Her confident, matter-of-fact tone had left Victor Morgan defeated.

“Couldn’t have been smoother,” Jessie Sterling said.

Only then did Victor Morgan’s attention shift to Lynn Jennings, who stood beside Jessie.

Victor Morgan’s impression of Lynn Jennings was still stuck on that time she had taken Jessie to a nightclub and hired a circle of male models.

“President Morgan,” Lynn Jennings greeted him first.

Victor Morgan nodded. “Miss Jennings, you’re Jessie’s childhood friend. Please, just call me by my name.”

Listening to their exchange, Jessie Sterling felt a headache coming on. “And you, stop calling Lynn ’Miss Jennings.’ She has a name, you know!”

Victor Morgan let out a resigned laugh and, as if to humor Jessie Sterling, corrected himself. “Lynn Jennings.”

Just then, Xavier Warren and the others came over, and everyone made their introductions.

Although they ran in different social circles—one from the north, one from the south—they had likely all heard of one another to some extent.

Besides, they had briefly met once or twice before at Jessie Sterling’s wedding.

The last to approach, however, was Nina Walsh—an unfamiliar face to Jessie Sterling.

“Miss Sterling, hello. I’m Nina Walsh, also a childhood friend of Vic’s,” Nina Walsh said as she walked over to greet Jessie.

She had a doll-like face and looked quite adorable.

The words sounded polite enough. But when compared to Xavier Warren and Roman Lynch calling her “sister-in-law,” this so-called “childhood friend” of Victor’s referring to her as “Miss Sterling” sounded pointedly distant. It was as if she were drawing a clear line, separating Jessie from their group of Aethelburg natives.

Jessie Sterling was naturally sensitive to people’s emotions. How could she possibly fail to detect the passive-aggressive barb from Nina Walsh?

But if Nina thought that Jessie, as the newcomer, would just smile and patiently tolerate one of Victor’s “childhood friends,” she was sorely mistaken.

Patience was not one of her virtues, and she certainly wouldn’t practice it for someone she had absolutely no connection with.

Jessie Sterling ignored Nina Walsh completely, turning instead to look at Victor Morgan.

“For someone your age, you have childhood friends who look awfully young, don’t you?”

Victor Morgan, Xavier Warren, and the others were all around thirty. Nina Walsh, however, looked much younger—Jessie guessed she was probably about her own age.

Little kids like playing with older kids, but older boys generally don’t like dragging a much younger ’little sister’ around.

Therefore, Jessie Sterling highly doubted that Victor Morgan saw Nina Walsh as a “childhood friend” in the same way he saw Xavier Warren.

This wasn’t the first time Victor Morgan had heard Jessie Sterling comment on his age. And while it was an objective fact, hearing her jab about him being “old” still made his chest tighten.

“She’s Roman Lynch’s…” Victor Morgan paused, then finished, “…god-sister.”

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