chapter2245

Elena let out a chilly laugh. "Mr. Chandler knows you just fine; he simply doesn't want to deal with you."

She stretched lazily, every motion unhurried.

"Remember a few years back?" she went on. "While you were off enjoying life overseas, the Chandlers had a crisis, called you, and you wouldn't even give them a minute."

That incident was so distant Wren had already forgotten it.

"Did that really happen?" he asked, awkward.

Elena rolled her eyes. "Your memory's amazing-you delete anything that makes you look bad."

Wren took the scolding without storming off the way he once would have.

He understood he was the one asking a favor now.

"My fault," he admitted. "Could you set up a meeting with Mr. Chandler so I can apologize in person?"

Elena studied him, suspicion rising. "Wren, what's your game? Since when are you this polite to me?"

She would have bet anything he needed something from Mr. Chandler.

Sure enough, he came clean.

"My brother says Dad's grave has bad feng shui," Wren said. "Our family plot borders the Chandler lot, so he wants me to ask if we can buy that strip."

Elena pushed herself upright at that.

"If your brother wants the land, why isn't he negotiating himself? Why drag you along?"

Wren's face tightened, and his voice climbed. "It's my father's grave of course I have to help."

Elena's mouth twitched. "Wren, are you yelling at me?"

The question snapped Wren back to himself.

"That's not what I meant," he rushed eYou were once our

to say.

daughter-in-law can't you help with this small thing?"

MS

"Small?" Elena gave a short laugh. "If it's so small, why don't you handle it yourself?"

Wren's tongue tied itself in knots again.

"What will it take for you to help me?" he asked, thinking of Robert's repeated pushes.

Elena crossed her arms. "If Robert wants it, I'll make sure he doesn't get it."

Wren drew breath to argue, but his phone started ringing.

He checked the screen and answered quickly. "Brother, what's up?"

Robert's mild voice came through. "Wren, did you hear what happened at school with Jon, Elliot, and Felix?"

"What are you talking about?" Wren asked, baffled.

Robert sighed. "Nothing serious—just a scuffle. By the way, are Jon and Elliot hurt?"

"I haven't heard a thing. What exactly happened?" Wren pressed.

Robert said, "As long as they're fine. Felix just got a scratch-kids bump around Anyway, I'll hang up But Wren, theyre blood-how could Jon side with outsiders to pick on his own brother?"

Back when Old Mr. Rainsworth lived, Robert's branch insisted Felix was the older brother, the first

great-grandson of the clan

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Now the patriarch was gone, the tie between branches had thinned; there was no shared heir, only separate grandsons.

So Robert had begun calling Felix the younger brother instead, hoping the second branch would feel guilty.