CHAPTER 21: CHAPTER 21: HERE TO CATCH AN AFFAIR?

Vera was stunned.

Maeve, who caught up, was also shocked.

The man inside the door looked slightly surprised, with a puzzled expression, raised an eyebrow and said, "Sister-in-law? You all..."

He was Quentin Hawthorne.

Not Ian Kane.

Vera was in disbelief, forgetting to react.

Maeve calmly assessed Quentin, the second son of the Hawthorne Group.

Nearly 190 cm tall, his physique and appearance were quite similar to Ian Kane’s, even his skin was a cold pale shade, with prominent hickeys clearly visible on his protruding Adam’s apple.

The man wore a dark silk robe, the V-shaped neckline partly open, revealing well-defined chest muscles.

So, is he the one the paparazzi photographed?

Is Nina’s boyfriend really this Quentin Hawthorne?

"Ms. Sheridan, why are you also in Veridia?" At this moment, a coquettish female voice came from behind.

Nina embraced Quentin from behind intimately, her shiny manicured nails glinting subtly, craning her neck to look out the door.

Vera met her smiling gaze.

She wore a matching dark couple’s robe with Quentin, her hair cascading down, ambiguous red marks on her neck, and her smooth shoulder half exposed.

Vera calmly spoke, with a smile on her lips, "I came to Veridia on a last-minute business trip to find my husband. I got the wrong room, Quentin, sorry for the disturbance."

"I’ve heard for a long time that Nina has a boyfriend, turns out it’s you."

In her impression, Quentin was elegant and aloof, the most outstanding and ambitious successor in the three generations of the Hawthorne Family.

Not publicly acknowledging Nina as his girlfriend, perhaps it’s like Ian said, just "a fling"?

Quentin smiled with pressed lips, "Sister-in-law, Kane is staying downstairs, this room is where we had a gathering and played games last night, he lost to me."

Vera nodded, "I thought so, he always stays in this room."

"Well, I won’t disturb you then."

With that, she was about to leave, meeting Nina’s triumphant, mocking gaze, as she thought herself a jester.

Recalling all of Nina’s previous hints, Vera felt like she had been played.

"Goodbye, Ms. Sheridan." Nina waved to her obediently.

Vera turned around, Maeve holding her arm, and together they walked to the elevator.

Upon reaching the corner, Maeve opened the photo of the kissing scene taken by the paparazzi and examined it carefully, "Vera, the man in the photo really is Quentin Hawthorne. Look, there’s a mole behind his right ear. Your old man Kane doesn’t have this, right?"

Vera took a closer look; she indeed hadn’t noticed this detail before, "Ian Kane doesn’t have that mole."

Maeve took a deep breath, a surge of delight rising in her heart, "It’s not Old Man Kane, that’s a good thing."

"A false alarm!"

She didn’t want Vera and Ian Kane’s marriage to truly face problems.

And she hoped Vera could heal her wounds within the marriage, instead of suffering more.

Vera couldn’t quite describe the feeling inside her.

She had resolved to divorce, prepared to catch him in the act this time, to witness it with her own eyes, painfully cut the ties, and entirely lose hope.

Yet Ian Kane hadn’t cheated on her with Nina.

"Vera, you should think about how to explain this trip to Veridia to Old Man Kane; don’t let distrust affect your relationship." Maeve reminded her.

Just as she finished speaking, the elevator arrived.

In the brightly reflective elevator, with a "ding" sound, catching her off guard, Vera saw Ian Kane.

He had clearly just woken up, his hair undone, bangs hanging over his forehead, a white shirt loosely covered by a suit jacket, and upon seeing her, the usual joy was missing from his face, an aura of low pressure surrounding him.

Vera intuitively felt that Quentin had told him, and he guessed why she was here.

Maeve also sensed Ian Kane’s emotions.

He said nothing, but when the elevator doors were about to close, he stepped forward and pressed the button to hold it open for them.

Maeve, holding Vera’s arm, stepped inside to break the awkward atmosphere, "Old Man Kane, why did you change rooms? Vera came with me to Veridia on a business trip, called me up before dawn to come find you."

Ian Kane had high emotional intelligence, and no matter how displeased he was, he knew how to defuse the situation, especially in front of his wife’s close friend. He stepped forward and took Vera’s hand, "Why didn’t you let me come pick you up?"

Vera was at a loss for words.

Maeve said, "Vera wanted to surprise you."

Ian Kane smiled faintly, the smile not reaching his eyes. The elevator doors opened, and he held Vera as they stepped out, Maeve returning to her own room.

...

The couple entered the room one after the other, and when the man closed the door, the sound was a bit loud, the door panel emitting a dull noise.

Vera’s heart shook; as she turned around, she saw Ian Kane picking up a Golden Leaf cigarette offered by the hotel from the hallway cabinet, tearing at the cellophane wrapping roughly.

He looked at her, anger mingled with a hint of hurt and grievance in his eyes, as he spoke with sarcasm, "Is it a surprise or are you here to catch me cheating?"

With those words, he let out a self-mocking laugh.

Fingers clawing at the cigarette box, he pulled out a cigarette, placed it in his mouth, but at the moment he was about to light it with a lighter, he thought of her presence, closed the lighter, took the cigarette off, and crushed it in his palm.

He looked at her, under the cold white spotlight, his black eyes faintly glinting with bitterness, "Vera, what have I done wrong for you to distrust me so much, to the point of suspecting me... of having an affair with your student!"

Seeing his wounded yet restrained angry expression, Vera felt a pang of guilt.

"This isn’t the first time, the cufflinks, the watch, I proved myself all those times, yet you still don’t trust me. Over the past few days, I knew you were giving me the cold shoulder, I tried to understand your lack of security, to comfort you, to please you in every way... and you? What did you make of me?"

"In your eyes, am I that unbearable?"

"Vera, I can give you my life, what else do you want me to do to trust me a little?" Ian Kane’s tone was icy, but the corners of his eyes were tinged red, as he slammed a fist onto the tabletop.

The wine bottles and glasses on the cabinet rattled, tipping over in disarray.

Vera’s mind was also in turmoil, past events flooding her mind.

The image of Nina’s suggestive, provocative demeanor flashed through her mind as she pulled out her phone and approached him.

"I received anonymous texts, didn’t believe them at first, but Nina kept hinting, as if to tell me she had something with you." She kept her composure, displaying the compiled anonymous texts, Nina’s social media posts, to him.

Her suspicions weren’t unfounded; they were well-substantiated.

Nina’s behavior all pointed towards her eagerness for the wife to know, playing the role of a homewrecker who wanted to replace.

Ian Kane looked at these, his pupils subtly contracting, his brows furrowing tighter and his tone a shade colder, "This Nina, she’s clearly trying to sow discord."

"I intended to put an end to her last time, but you stopped me."

Vera looked him in the eye, "Why would she want to sow discord between us? I wasn’t bad to her in the past, unless it involved a love triangle, would she have treated me like this?"

Ian Kane pondered, dialed Quentin’s number, and put it on speaker, his tone unfriendly, "Quentin, have Nina come over!"

Quentin’s voice was husky and magnetic, "Kane, what’s up with Nina? We’re busy right now."

"Oh, stop it..." Nina’s coquettish voice came through the phone, lingering on with great ambiguity.

Ian Kane’s face darkened, "She crossed my wife! Tell her to come over immediately!"

...

Half an hour later, Nina was sent over by Quentin.

She wore a black strapless cocktail dress, a Chanel-style jacket over it, walking unsteadily, red and purple marks on both knees sparking wild imaginations.

Nina bit her lower lip with her pearly teeth, looking timid, "Ms. Sheridan, Mr. Kane, you called me... what for?"

Ian Kane, sitting on the sofa, long legs crossed, thumb rubbing the silver wedding band, "Why we called you, you don’t have a clue?"

Vera got straight to the point, "Nina, why do you always hint to me that your boyfriend is my husband?"

Nina shook her head, looking wronged, "I didn’t."

Ian Kane tossed the printed evidence from Vera’s phone onto her face, "Can you say that your posts on social media didn’t hint at my wife?"