CHAPTER 6: CHAPTER 6: JUST BY THE WAY

Sienna Monroe was stunned, her calm almond-shaped eyes blinked gently, full of confusion, "Wha... what?"

Sebastian Prescott knew she heard clearly, and didn’t repeat, instead he asked, "How many times a week?"

Sienna considered herself not to be the coy or pretentious type, but it was hard not to feel awkward discussing such a sensitive topic with a stranger.

Especially when this stranger was handsome, but had an utterly nonchalant expression, not even moving his eyebrows.

He asked with such seriousness.

"Does this have anything to do with my divorce consultation?"

"Yes," Sebastian said, "It relates to how determined you are to divorce, whether coming here was a rash decision."

He had represented many divorce cases caused by affairs, most of the wives couldn’t accept things when they first found out and came for legal consultation, but often ended up forgiving their husbands when they tried to make amends and give them another chance.

He didn’t like to waste time or do anything pointless.

Sienna considered herself to be rational, she had feelings for Caleb Sinclair that couldn’t be easily severed, but she wasn’t magnanimous enough to share her husband with another woman.

The heartbreak and the glaring truth were things she couldn’t ignore, no matter what.

Men are like cats that sneak around; once there’s a first time, there will definitely be a second and third.

If it weren’t for what she witnessed that morning, it would have been hard to make such a decision based solely on text messages.

She could hope for his honesty; after all, they had been in love for six years, his love and kindness for her were still vividly present.

Over the years, he had played the role of a deeply affectionate, devoted person to the extent of etching it into her memory.

But precisely because of this, she couldn’t choose forgiveness.

Being deceived, betrayed, and kept in the dark felt like being pierced with a thousand swords; she wouldn’t be foolish enough to accept that.

Sienna clenched her knuckles, her eyes with reddened corners were filled with resolve, "I want a divorce, I want him to leave with nothing, I want him to retrieve everything he gave to the mistress!"

Vivian Nash’s name had already been tainted heavily in her heart.

Now, it was only worthy of the filthy label ’mistress’.

Sebastian’s gaze fell on her hand, noticing the deep ring mark on her ring finger.

Seemingly, it hadn’t been long since she took off the diamond ring.

His expression relaxed slightly, "Do you have evidence?"

"Yes."

Sienna said, paused for a moment, then took out her phone from her bag, finding the photos taken that morning.

The two people in the photos were tightly embracing, Caleb’s hand still gripping Vivian’s head, even though it wasn’t a video, it was clear how fervently and passionately they were kissing.

Much clearer than what she saw that morning.

Tears ultimately couldn’t be restrained, and fell down.

She quickly looked away, raised her hand to wipe the tears, and handed the phone over; her originally gentle and elegant voice now carried a sob, "Although it’s a bit blurry, their faces can be recognized."

Sebastian glanced at the pain revealed in her eye, and his peripheral vision swept across the steel pen on the desk, then leaned forward to hand her a tissue.

Sienna was taken aback, lifting her tear-filled eyes to look at him.

Sebastian’s eyes were deep, like thick ink that couldn’t be dissolved, seemingly capable of stripping away the surface of everything, layer by layer to explore its essence.

Sienna was inexplicably panicked when he stared at her for a moment, she accepted it, "Thank you."

Sebastian withdrew his gaze, glanced at the photos in the phone, "Is this all you have?"

She clenched the paper in her hand, nodded lightly, "At the moment... this is all."

"It’s not enough. The more evidence you have, the better it is for you, such as their chat records, whether they’ve ever cohabited, and transfer records, etc."

Cohabitation...

Sienna’s thoughts were suddenly pulled away.

She remembered Caleb’s noticeably increased business trips this year, long ones of six to seven days, and short ones of one to two days.

Which ones were real business trips, and which ones were fake?

Could he have been deceiving her about going on business trips, while actually living with Vivian Nash?

Sienna let her nails dig deep into her palm, her eyes stirred with emotion, her voice grew hoarse, "If I find this evidence, will the chances of him leaving with nothing be high?"

"Do you have a prenuptial agreement?"

"Yes."

Although Caleb was a private son, he indeed owned quite a bit of property, and she did too.

Given that it involved the interests of both families, regardless of how good their previous relationship was, a prenuptial agreement was essential.

Yet, the terms of the agreement weren’t too harsh or too precise, they had been living together without division for the past three years.

Not only in daily necessities, but even stocks, finance, funds, etc., were all mixed together, completely indistinguishable, and they usually didn’t care much about this.

The most valuable thing in their marriage was each other’s affection.

But now, the most priceless thing, was only the assets.

Sebastian said, "Then you need to sort out all the evidence of your shared marital assets and see if he has hidden or transferred any."

The property Sienna was aware of was only those Caleb was willing to disclose to her.

Did he really not hide or transfer any?

Can a person who deceives you with words and actions claiming to love you be trusted?

Sienna certainly wouldn’t trust him.

Now she only trusts what she has seen and investigated herself.

After staying in the law firm for over an hour, before leaving, Sienna asked, "Lawyer Prescott, is it convenient to add WeChat?"

Having a contact is always good.

In the future, if there was anything to ask, she wouldn’t need to make a special trip, it could be considered a kind of mutual understanding for cooperation.

Sebastian stared at her for two seconds, took a business card from a card holder, and handed it to her, "I don’t have the habit of adding clients on WeChat, call if you need anything."

"..."

Phone calls work too.

Sienna’s eyes were filled with a faint smile, not all that genuine, her slender and fair hand accepted the card, "Thank you, I’ll probably need to trouble Lawyer Prescott quite a bit in the future."

She said politely, tossed the business card into her bag.

Sebastian glanced at the white jade pen in the case, hesitated to speak, "This pen might be important evidence in the Esther Sherwood case, I’ll submit it to court tomorrow..."

The implication was that she likely wouldn’t be able to get the pen back.

Of course, when Sienna brought the pen out, she hadn’t intended to take it back.

She just followed the text message instruction, using the pen as an excuse to meet him.

Sienna pulled a slight smile toward him, "I’m not too familiar with the Esther Sherwood case; I’m not sure if the pen will be useful, I’ll leave it to Lawyer Prescott to handle."

"Thank you." Sebastian Prescott nodded, "My assistant will contact you again for the engagement agreement."

"Alright."

Sienna Monroe left, Sebastian Prescott didn’t stand up to see her off, just said "Take care," as she passed by, a faint pear blossom fragrance unintentionally lingered at his nose.

Fresh and elegant.

It seems quite different from her striking face, her decisive nature.

Thinking of this, Sebastian Prescott frowned slightly, his gaze deepened.

After a few seconds pause, he got up, walked to the computer on his desk with a pen, and searched Starrism’s website. The result he checked was the same as Sienna Monroe had said.

Soon, the assistant came in holding two files, Sebastian looked up and said, "Go and investigate the identity of Sienna Monroe."

As she came out of the law office, the evening glow had painted half the sky, the twilight slowly descended.

The cold wind of late autumn penetrated through her coat, making Sienna Monroe shiver.

She looked at the time, it was nearly six o’clock.

It was also this time when the text message came in: [Caleb Sinclair’s liquid assets total four hundred and twenty million, stored in five banks. Stocks and funds worth thirty-nine million, holds 38% shares of five companies under The Sinclair Group, 13 properties, 3 large shopping malls, 9 cars worth over a million, and 6 credit cards with a million limit. The liquid assets shared as marital property are currently a hundred and twenty-nine million, including a portion of stocks, 5 houses, 4 cars. Last month, for Vivian Nash’s birthday, he gifted a BMW worth one hundred and twenty thousand to Vivian Nash.]

Sienna Monroe paused, a trace of surprise flashed across her eyes.

She was still wondering how to investigate the assets under his name.

It turns out this saves her a lot of trouble, but she still needs to rush to a few banks to get all these property records sorted out.

As for Caleb Sinclair gifting Vivian Nash a luxury car worth millions, given the earlier mansion worth over twenty million, she was no longer surprised, but it was hard for her heart not to be stirred.

The force with which she held the phone still couldn’t help but tighten.

Now she just needs to find the transaction records for the things he bought for Vivian Nash, and that will be enough.

Returning home, it was already dark, she didn’t see that black Cayenne in the garage.

Caleb Sinclair hadn’t returned yet.

When she entered the house, the nanny saw her, quickly smiled and greeted, "Madam, you’ve returned."

Sienna Monroe smiled and nodded, "Prepare to make dinner, please."

The nanny asked, "Should I prepare a portion for Mr. Sinclair?"

Sienna Monroe pursed her lips; she didn’t want to call or send a message to Caleb Sinclair, "Just do it as usual."

After speaking, she went upstairs to remove her makeup, took a shower, and changed into comfortable casual clothes.

When she came down again, the nanny had already prepared four dishes and a soup, she pulled out a chair and sat down, having just taken a few bites when she heard the car’s engine outside.

After a while, Caleb Sinclair came in, carrying a white bag in one hand and a blue coat draped over his other arm.

Sienna Monroe was momentarily dazed, her phoenix eyes reflected his calm and gentle face, which quickly overlapped with the passionate kissing face from this morning with Vivian Nash in her mind.

She thought that impactful scene might repeatedly remind her like a nightmare in the days to come, how painful it feels to be betrayed by the two closest people.

Seeing her, Caleb Sinclair immediately flashed a gentle smile, unconsciously quickening his steps, putting the bag on the table.

"Sienna, you’re back. Why are you home so early today, weren’t you working overtime?"

Sienna Monroe had already masked the complex emotions in her eyes well, putting on a soft smile, "I felt a bit tired, so I came back early."

She looked at the logo on the white bag in his hand with surprise, "Did you go to Northgate?"

Caleb Sinclair noticed her fatigue, his eyes filled with concern, raising a hand to touch her face, he softly said, "You seem to be losing weight from all the tiredness, your complexion isn’t great, and you’re not eating much."

After speaking, he took out the items from the bag, "I thought maybe I could get something to whet your appetite, so I drove over to buy snowy glutinous rice, caramel pudding, and rib rice cakes."

Sienna Monroe stared blankly at these things.

These were all things she loved eating from university, and Caleb Sinclair wasn’t buying them for the first time.

There are similar things in the Southcroft area where they lived, but Sienna Monroe, being sentimental, always preferred the taste from a few shops near Northgate University.

It takes an hour and a half to drive from Southcroft to Northgate, a round trip takes three hours.

She remembered it always being this way.

Whether during university or after graduation, as long as she mentioned wanting to eat something, even at midnight, no matter how far, or how difficult it was to buy, he would drive to get it.

Sometimes it was just her casually mentioning she suddenly wanted to eat something, and that item would appear in front of her within minutes, hours, or the next day.

Or like today, he would occasionally surprise her, whether it was food, or flowers, or a bracelet, necklace, earrings, or hair ties, these little things.

He was always willing to put all kinds of thought into her.

Sienna Monroe couldn’t understand if his love was sincerely given or falsely composed.

If it was genuine, why did he have an affair?

If it was false, how could he persist for six years?

A bitter taste spread in her heart, infiltrating every cell.

She struggled to suppress her emotions so her voice wouldn’t betray a sob, "Why go all the way there? It’s so far. My appetite has never been big, I’m just tired lately, a good rest will be enough."

She was also afraid of being noticed acting differently, while saying this, she opened the lid, looking at those items, suddenly they didn’t seem so appealing anymore.

No appetite at all.

"Time got delayed on the way, they’re cold now." Caleb Sinclair picked up the bag, "I’ll go heat them up."

Sienna Monroe said, "Let Auntie Miller heat them, you’ve been driving for so long, take a rest, eat first."

Caleb Sinclair looked at her, smiled, "Alright, I’ll go wash my hands."

As soon as he left, her phone on the table buzzed with a text message: [Before coming back, he went to Rippling Crest Estates, went to Northgate because Vivian Nash was fussing about wanting to eat the cream cakes and rock candy pear from there.]

Sienna Monroe was stunned.

It’s like the hole in her heart just got bigger, the biting cold wind kept rushing in.

Oh, turns out the things he bought for her, were just incidental.

Just incidental!

She suddenly laughed, her face full of mockery, but her eyes grew warm.

Sienna Monroe gently sniffed, but afraid the tears would really fall, she quickly got up intending to go upstairs, her leg just about stepped onto the first step when a very faint sound of talking came from the right side.

Right around the corner from the stairs is the restroom on the first floor.

This voice, belongs to Caleb Sinclair.

The content was rather indistinct, but she heard the words ’darling’.

Sienna Monroe’s pupils froze for a moment, instinctively retracting the leg that had stepped forward, and moved two steps around the corner, hesitating for a bit, she still turned on the recording on her phone.

Caleb Sinclair gently cooed to the person on the other end of the phone, "Okay okay okay, I know. Just find someone to pretend for a bit, she won’t suspect a thing. I’ll come to accompany you the day after tomorrow, okay?"

Though his voice was low, it was easy to hear the warmth and indulgence within.

Originally, this coaxing tone and manner were exclusive to her.

Now, hearing him coaxing another woman, Sienna Monroe’s heart swelled, her eyes blurred with a thin mist, and after all, the pure tears began to fall down her cheeks.