Julian Sterling truly did not harbor a single shred of concern regarding the matter. In fact, if the rumors circulating through the academic grapevine were indeed grounded in reality, he felt a sense of profound relief rather than distress, as it would signify that he had finally shed a cumbersome and stifling burden.
Of course, there was another distinct possibility to consider: Vince Sutton was an inherently arrogant creature, a man who consistently overvalued his own limited intuition. It was highly likely that he had simply assumed, based on his own biased worldview, that the Sterling family had discarded Julian. In the shallow mind of Vince Sutton, the fact that Julian had been sent into a political marriage alliance meant he no longer possessed any functional utility. With no powerful backing remaining, Vince Sutton surely believed that Julian had transformed into a stray dog that anyone could kick or trample upon at their leisure.
