CHAPTER 15: CHAPTER 15: VERA SHERIDAN CORNERS THEM IN THE PRIVATE ROOM

As she lowered her eyes, she saw her hair tangled in his shirt button.

No wonder her scalp hurt just now.

The man’s slender, distinct fingers gently untangled her hair from the button and then slowly raised his eyes.

When their eyes met, Vera Sheridan’s breath paused, and she quickly turned her face away.

Noah Grant noticed the blush behind her ears, swallowed his dry throat, and sat up straight. "Grandma is in good health, staying in Ardendale, and often thinks of you."

Vera thought of Grandma Grant and smiled, "I miss her too."

Noah said, "Someday soon, I’ll arrange for you two to meet up?"

Her right ankle suddenly throbbed with pain. Vera hesitated and nodded slightly.

Ever since her foot injury, she rarely met people.

Thinking about it, Noah’s words were likely just a polite remark she didn’t take to heart.

The car’s interior fell into a prolonged silence.

Vera looked out the window while Noah sat upright, not saying much throughout the journey.

He escorted her to the villa entrance, and Maeve came out to open the door, surprised to see Noah.

Vera, known for her cold temperament, was never close to men...

Yet tonight, a man had sent her home.

Furthermore, he had an extraordinary demeanor, clearly a noble young master of a prestigious family.

He seemed much more stable than their own Mr. Kane.

After saying goodbye and expressing gratitude to Noah, Vera entered the villa with Maeve’s support.

...

After their marriage, Ian Kane almost never returned late; even with social engagements, he would be home by 10:30 p.m.

The only time he returned after 11 p.m. was on a winter night before the New Year.

That night, after his engagement, it began to snow, and he passed by a popular shop selling sugar-roasted chestnuts. Remembering that she liked them, the busy president braved the cold wind and snowfall to queue and buy some for her.

That night, to maintain her weight, she usually avoided late-night snacks, but she made an exception and ate ten of the chestnuts he personally peeled.

Tonight, after Vera finished listening to meditation music, it was just past 11 p.m., but there was no sound of a car engine from downstairs.

She took a sleeping pill and turned off the light to sleep.

The next morning at six, Vera woke up, recalling that Ian Kane did return the previous night.

She remembered vaguely hearing the car engine in her groggy state, likely in the later half of the night.

After cleaning up and dressing neatly, Vera left the bedroom and encountered Maeve coming out of Ian’s room with a basket of dirty clothes.

"Maeve, did Mr. Kane drink last night?" Vera asked, thinking she should make him a hangover soup.

Maeve hung her head low, appearing deep in thought, as if she hadn’t seen her.

Vera raised her eyebrows, "Maeve?"

Maeve looked up and quickly smiled, "Ah, oh, Vera, Mr. Kane drank last night; his clothes reek of alcohol."

Vera noticed her evasive eyes and the floating scent of alcohol mixed with a faint, cheap perfume in the air.

It was the smell from Ian Kane’s changed clothes.

Vera’s expression remained unchanged as she instructed, "Maeve, leave the clothes for now and make Mr. Kane a hangover soup. In the tea cabinet, there’s some I’ve stocked; one pack with 800 milliliters of water, simmer on low heat for half an hour."

Maeve replied with an "Mm" and placed the basket down to head downstairs to make the soup.

After she left, Vera picked up Ian Kane’s changed white shirt and, before it even reached her nose, she smelled the rich, cloying scent of peach perfume...

—Nina Sullivan’s favorite perfume.

There’s a popular online review of the fragrance: Wearing this scent is like being a ripe peach, tempting men.

Vera’s heart grew cold.

She opened WeChat, and in the dance group chat, a girl posted a photo. In the blue velvet booth, sat six or seven young men, all noble sons of Ardendale.

Among them, sitting in the center, head down, frowning, and lighting a cigarette was Ian Kane.

"Everyone, guess who Nina’s boyfriend is? Nina said it’s one of them!" the girl asked.

Vera sat on the sofa, dazed for a long time, until the sound of an electric razor came from the bedroom, pulling her back to reality, and she took the basket of dirty clothes downstairs.

Ian Kane came down promptly for breakfast.

Vera was making hand-brewed coffee at the bar, and he gently embraced her from behind.

"Morning, Mrs. Kane, why didn’t you come to the bedroom to find me?" The man’s voice was magnetic, lazy, and hoarse from the hangover.

Vera glanced up and saw him in the reflection of the wine cabinet glass.

His handsome face, deep and sharp features with a gentle smile. A white shirt with a tie hung around the collar.

"You got home so late last night, I thought I’d make you a cup of coffee to wake you up. I heard you were at The Sovereign last night?" Vera asked in a casual tone.

Ian’s chin rested on her head, watching her through the glass, "Mm, a few guys from the circle got together, Owen Sheridan was also there, and Old Man Crowe wanted him to design a private villa."

Vera gently stirred the coffee, testing quietly, "Didn’t you run into a bunch of young girls from our dance troupe?"

Ian rubbed one side of his temple, "Mm, I saw them. They were noisy and came over to say hello to us. Oh right, it was Nina Sullivan leading them."

The man’s gaze was as candid as always.

Vera mechanically stirred the coffee, secretly staring at him, "Nina went to see her boyfriend, right?"

Ian blinked slightly, speaking nonchalantly, "Hmm? She has a boyfriend now?"

"Yes, she was at The Sovereign last night too. I thought you might know who it is." Vera spoke with a casual, unassuming attitude.

Ian let go of her, "I wasn’t paying attention."

Vera, "I heard he’s from your circle; you wouldn’t know?"

"Boyfriend?" Ian laughed lightly, seeming to reflect disbelief, "I didn’t notice who she’s with."

"Besides, in our circle, who would admit someone like Nina Sullivan as a girlfriend?"

He sipped the coffee, eyeing her nonchalantly, "It’s just for fun."

Vera was taken aback, observing him.

His casual manner, as if discussing something unrelated to him, with undertones of arrogance toward Nina’s background.

But how did the strong perfume scent get on his shirt?

And why did Nina keep subtly provoking her?

Ian met her scrutinizing gaze, "Mrs. Kane, what’s with that look? Interrogating a criminal? Yes, I was given too much to drink last night, and I returned late. That was wrong of me!"

He set down the coffee, standing upright, adjusting his posture.

Vera considered, subtly shifting the topic, "It’s not that; I can understand occasional indulgences... It’s just... Mr. Kane seems to have a bit of a playboy air, daring to say he plays with girls."

When Ian first pursued her, Vera also thought that as a young master of a grand family, he was only playing with a girl of ordinary background like her.

Time proved otherwise; he was not like that.

He kept himself clean, away from other women, and was disciplined and ambitious in both academics and career, unlike those idle playboys.

Ian pressed his lips, with an appreciative expression, "Mrs. Kane, you don’t miss a detail. My words were meant from Quentin Hawthorne and the others’ perspective."

"I treat every woman equally."

He still maintained an indifferent demeanor, while Vera’s heart remained uneasy. She casually grabbed a wet wipe and cleaned off the coffee stains on the bar that looked like cracks. "It’s getting late, let’s eat and head to work."

The couple went to the restaurant together.

In the vase on the bar, a bouquet of nearly withered white roses shed a petal quietly in the shifting air.

...

It was only after Vera arrived at the dance troupe that she received a WeChat message from Owen.

An hour ago, she had asked Owen: When did your brother-in-law leave your private room last night?

Owen: Sis, I left The Sovereign at ten-thirty last night to return to the studio to do some sketches. Brother-in-law went back later than me. What’s up?

Vera replied: It’s nothing.

On the other end, Owen, who was still lazily sleeping, suddenly felt wide awake. He sensitively perceived Vera’s emotions. For a moment, he was unsure if Vera and Ian Kane indeed had a problem or if it was just her childhood shadows playing tricks on her.

...

In the dance troupe changing room, the girls who were singing karaoke until ten-thirty last night changed their clothes right on time, except for Nina.

"It’d be strange if Nina came today. She left us early last night to go with her boyfriend to the VIP room. There’s no need to guess what they were up to."

"Yvonne, did you actually see who her boyfriend was? Which one of those prince charmings was he?"

At Michelle’s question, the girls, bending over to put on their dance tights, all paused and looked up, their eyes filled with gossip.

Yvonne recalled the man who kissed Nina and went into the room with her in the dim hallway last night. Her brows furrowed with complexity, and she pursed her lips, hesitating to speak.

The girls grew even more curious, "Yvonne, just tell us, who was it? Master Langdon, Master Morgan? Or was it Master Cheng or Master Shea?"

Yvonne shook her head, "It was none of them..."

"Then who else? Master Hart, Master Hawthorne, and—Ms. Sheridan’s brother and President Kane!" The girls used the process of elimination.

Yvonne, standing on one leg while putting on her socks, nearly lost her balance.

"Yvonne, what’s wrong? It must be between Master Hart and Master Hawthorne. Any problem with that?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Yvonne saw Vera walking in and composed herself, "It was too dark for me to see clearly. Let’s hurry up and get changed for morning practice!"

Seeing Vera, the girls didn’t dare continue gossiping, quickly got dressed, and dispersed.

Vera had just been at the door, heard everything, and noticed Yvonne’s hesitant and nearly unstable demeanor.

In reality, it was easy to confirm by checking if there indeed was a birthmark below Ian Kane’s right hip bone.

But such a private area—

Vera’s lips curled into a bitter smile.

As a wife, she knew even less about her husband’s secrets.

When she had some free time, she went to Maeve Holloway’s for another session of psychological counseling.

Since the occasional late night, Ian hadn’t left her side after work, except for business trips.

That evening, they went to celebrate Sean Shea’s birthday, held at The Sovereign.

Vera went with Ian Kane.

As soon as the affluent young men of Ardendale saw Vera, they didn’t wait for Ian to say a word; they all discreetly extinguished their cigarettes and shooed away the women who were entertaining them with drinks.

Vera noticed that of the two men, Ethan Hart and Quentin Hawthorne, suspected to be Nina’s boyfriend, only one called a lady over. The other didn’t.

Quentin Hawthorne didn’t call a lady.

The second young master of Hawthorne Group.

The dim lighting in the room highlighted Ian’s handsome face, making it look deep and angular. With a pair of disposable gloves on, he meticulously and patiently peeled the white strands off a mandarin and fed it to Vera.

Across from them, Jonah made a clicking sound, "The couple’s here to make us singles miserable again, huh?"

Ian glanced at him, pulling Vera closer with a smug look.

At that moment, Vera’s phone rang.

Seeing it was a video call invitation from Nina, she frowned and started to leave to take the call, but Ian stopped her, "Whose call do you have to take outside?"

Vera lifted her eyelids slightly, "Nina."

Ian’s brow furrowed slightly, "What does she want with you? Just answer it here, it’s fine."

Vera answered the call.

"Ms. Sheridan!" Through the video, Nina greeted her with a smile.

The girl wore a black deep V-neck camisole dress. The velvet texture revealed her graceful shoulders, and under the light, her sexy collarbones gleamed white.

She seemed to be in a private room similar in style to hers.

"Ms. Sheridan, I saw that you also came to The Sovereign."

Vera pondered silently, "Yes, do you want to come over and join us?"

Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced at Ian next to her. The man, with his legs crossed, was chatting with Jonah, absentmindedly grazing his thumb against the wedding band on his left hand.

"No, I’m waiting for my boyfriend. We haven’t hung out together for days," Nina winked at her, with an air of playful ambiguity.

Haven’t hung out for days.

Vera, without batting an eye, looked around the room. Everyone was present, "Oh, your boyfriend is here too."

Nina’s tone was innocent, "Yes, Ms. Sheridan, I won’t bother you any longer. Have fun!"

Vera hung up, peeling nuts, listening to Jonah sing.

He sang well; rumor had it he had a fun band of his own.

After finishing a song, he exclaimed that he had chosen a duet, "Love in Hiroshima," for her and Ian Kane.

Just as Vera took the microphone, Ian’s phone rang. He glanced at it, a shift in his expression, leaned close to her ear, and softly said, "There’s an important client playing around here; I’ll go over to say hello. I’ll be right back."

Vera, "Okay."

...

Half an hour passed, and Ian hadn’t returned.

Using the restroom as an excuse, Vera walked out of their room and went to the V9 room upstairs.

The room behind Nina during their video call had the same panoramic window as this one.

Through that window, you could overlook the river view—the best scenic view at The Sovereign.

Ian had brought her here for Valentine’s Day this year.

Standing at the doorway of the room, Vera’s hand rested on the door, her whole body stiff as wood.

She suddenly felt afraid, afraid Ian was inside.

Afraid one knock would shatter her belief in love.

She didn’t originally believe in love, but Ian had made her a believer.

But she couldn’t tolerate no speck of doubt in her heart.

The knocking echoed—

But no one inside opened the door, and Vera’s heart climbed slowly to her throat.

She dialed Ian’s phone number.

The sound of a ringing phone emanated from inside the room...