The Genius Bride He Underestimated Chapter 05

The Genius Bride He Underestimated Chapter 05 Look Similar

Thea’s face changed in an instant. She slammed her palm on the desk and shot to her feet. “Sloane!”

Sloane couldn’t be bothered to respond. She turned and walked away.

Back at her workstation.

Sloane pulled out a small mirror and looked at the faint blood mark on one side of her cheek. It wasn’t deep. She wiped it once with a damp tissue. No need to do anything else. With a face like hers now, what did one more scar matter?

And then she thought of that girl again. Somehow, she looked familiar.

Near the end of the workday.

Sloane got a call from her dad. Ezra was back, and he wanted her home for dinner.

Sloane brightened. “Ezra is back? Didn’t you say he’d be home on the fifteenth?”

Her father said, “He wrapped up work and came back early.”

“Okay. I’ll come home as soon as I get off.”

Sloane drove back to the Powell family house.

Their place was in a mid-range complex in the west side of the city, a spacious secondhand condo they’d bought earlier this year.

Her father ran a mid-sized real estate company. They weren’t some elite dynasty, but they’d always lived comfortably, so Sloane had grown up in a well-off life.

But the market had turned cold. More than half a year ago, a failed investment blew a hole through the company’s finances, pushing it to the edge of bankruptcy. When her father found out she was pregnant with Jaxson’s child, he hadn’t forced her to march up to the Cole family and demand an answer.

Watching her father grow older and more worn by the day—so desperate he was already selling off assets just to pay debts—Sloane finally made her choice and went to the Cole family. Back then, she’d had her own selfish reasons. It wasn’t only for her father. It was for herself, too.

She did get what she wanted. The Powell family cleared the debt because of a huge bride price from the Cole family.

But she’d paid the price she was supposed to pay.

So the pain she suffered now… it was all her own doing. She couldn’t blame anyone else.

Back at the Powell House.

Nora came out of the kitchen. “Sloane, you’re back.”

When Sloane was nine, her mother divorced her father. Her mother took her brother and left Sloane behind.

Later, Nora met her father, but the two of them never got a marriage license. They lived together like partners.

At first, Sloane didn’t accept her—she even hated her. But little by little, she felt Nora’s kindness. And Ezra treated her so well. After losing her brother, she’d gained a new one.

“Aunt Nora, where are my dad and them?”

“They should be on the way. They’ll be back soon. Go rest for a bit first.”

“Okay.”

Sloane went back to her room. Even though she was married, her father had always kept a bedroom for her, renovated in the style she liked.

Back in a place that belonged to her, all the exhaustion and bitterness inside her vanished in a single breath.

She sat on the edge of the bed and saw the photo album on the nightstand. She reached for it and opened it. The very first photo was a torn family portrait.

The picture was old.

She had been eight that year.

Her young, handsome father held her in his arms. Beside him stood her brother—he’d been fourteen. On the other side was her mother.

She was the one who had ripped the photo.

Because she’d hated her mother for taking her brother and abandoning her and her dad. Time had passed, and now that ripping, splitting pain no longer existed the way it used to.

She turned to the next page.

In the photo, a teenage girl looked bright and beautiful. She wore a long white dress and a light-brown woven little square cap, standing beneath golden ginkgo trees. The sunlight fell perfectly over the girl’s radiant smile.

Long black hair. A small oval face. Features that were vivid and striking, moonlit and mesmerizing. Especially those eyes—sparkling like stars in the sky.

But later, she’d gotten seriously ill and had to take steroid medication. Her body slowly gained weight. No matter how she tried to lose it, nothing worked. She could only rely on starvation and exercise to keep herself from getting even bigger.

All at once, Sloane thought of the girl from today.

Her features looked somewhat like the girl in this photo—especially those eyes.

Chapter 6 Far Out of Her League

Knock, knock, knock.

“Sloane, your dad and brother are back,” Nora called through the door after knocking.

Sloane didn’t think much of it. She set the photo album down, got up, and walked out. The moment she saw the two men coming in, her face lit up. “Dad, Ezra.”

Ezra and Silas Powell both looked at her.

“Sloane, I brought you something. Come see if you like it,” Ezra said, motioning her over.

Sloane hurried toward him, delighted. “What is it?”

Ezra carried in several bags and set them on the coffee table. Then he pulled out a designer jewelry box and handed it to her. “Open it.”

Sloane took it happily. Inside lay a beautifully crafted gold bracelet. “Thank you, Ezra. I love it.”

“Glad you like it.”

Ezra reached out and ruffled Sloane’s hair with easy affection.

He’d also bought Nora a different gold bracelet that suited her, along with skincare sets for both women. For Silas, he brought tea and liquor, plus local specialties.

The atmosphere was warm, easy—the way home should feel.

Only here did Sloane feel like she could finally breathe.

“Sloane, when are you due?” Ezra asked, concern creeping into his voice.

Her belly really did look like someone else’s late-term pregnancy.

“Two more months,” Sloane answered.

“Sloane must be carrying a girl,” Nora said with a smile.

Sloane nodded. “It is a girl.”

“You checked?” Silas asked.

Nora seemed to catch something and tensed up alongside him.

“Yeah. But Wren cares a lot about this baby,” Sloane said.

Silas finally let out a breath. “Good. As long as there’s a child, you and Jaxson will slowly work things out down the road.”

Sloane lowered her eyes. Her chest tightened, heavy and aching, and for a moment she didn’t know how to respond. Jaxson had already brought up divorce.

But she couldn’t hide it forever.

And she’d already decided to move out of Emerald Bay Mansion and come home.

Forget it. She’d tell them after dinner.

Nora prepared an elaborate meal.

Ezra had partnered with a friend to start a tech company. Two years ago, when the business was just getting off the ground, Silas hadn’t hesitated—he’d given Ezra startup capital. The company was doing extremely well now, focusing mainly on AI. This trip had been for a partnership deal, and it had gone smoothly.

Silas, meanwhile, was in the process of selling off his own company.

Before, thanks to the bride price from the Cole family, the company had managed to stay afloat. But the economy was struggling now, and pivoting had proven nearly impossible. The business simply couldn’t survive.

He was getting older, with far less energy than before. He believed strongly in Ezra’s company. Ezra’s company would enter its financing stage by the end of the year, so it was the perfect time to sell his own business and invest everything into Ezra’s.

Then he shared another piece of good news: Silas was going to officially get the marriage license with Nora.

Nora’s eyes immediately welled up.

Years of standing by his side had finally led to this.

Sloane had no objections. She knew her father had held back all these years because, deep down, he still missed her mother.

She’d never understood why her mother had divorced and left a man as good as him.

But now it didn’t matter.

On a day like this—

She couldn’t bear to ruin the mood.

But in the end, she still said it.

“Dad. Aunt Nora. Ezra.” She forced the words out. “Jaxson is planning to divorce me.”

The moment it left her mouth, the dining room went dead silent.

Everyone’s expression turned heavy, especially Silas. He lowered his head, his face tight.

The result wasn’t exactly a shock.

Only the speed of it was.

The Powell family and the Cole family had become in-laws, but there had been no wedding—just a marriage certificate. In the past six months, the two families had had no contact at all.

Jaxson had never once stepped into the Powell family home.

No matter the holidays, the Cole side never sent gifts.

Every time Sloane came home alone, Silas and Nora would prepare holiday gifts and have her deliver them to the Cole family.

When she brought them over, Wren would accept them politely, but Sloane knew she handed them straight to the staff at Cole Estate.

Lyra, on the other hand, had a servant throw them directly into the trash right in front of Sloane, telling her not to let her family send that kind of low-class junk again.

Jaxson only reminded her not to do something so pointless.

In a marriage that unequal, going their separate ways had always been a matter of time.

Sloane pressed her lips together and continued, “But we’ll wait until after the baby is born. And I already agreed to Professor Grant—I’m going to Stanford University for advanced study next February.”

Ezra was the first to break the suffocating silence. “Going for advanced study is good. Sloane, you’re so outstanding. You shouldn’t be trapped in a marriage. No matter what you decide, I’m backing you.”

Sloane smiled and nodded. “Thanks, Ezra.”

Silas sighed—a sigh full of endless helplessness and guilt. “Then divorce. It’s all Dad’s fault. People like us… ordinary folks… we really can’t reach a family like the Coles.”

Sloane’s eyes burned red. All the pain she’d endured lately suddenly felt small compared to this.

She had her family.

They were her shield, her support.

With them behind her, there was no hurdle she couldn’t get over.

Seeing her like that, Nora quickly grabbed a tissue and wiped at Sloane’s reddened eyes, soothing her.

In the end, the family still finished this dinner with smiles.

At the same time.

In the southern suburbs, at Cloud Peak One—an area that had existed for over twenty years, an old-money neighborhood with aging infrastructure.

A Bentley slowly stopped at the gate of Villa 12.

This villa was the one the Powell family had sold.

The car window slid down, revealing a handsome, flawless profile. He looked into the villa. Inside, the lights were blazing.

Warm yellow streetlight fell into his eyes, unable to hide the complexity and loneliness there.

He pulled his gaze back and lit a cigarette.

Then his phone vibrated.

He picked up and answered, his voice gentle. “What’s wrong, Liora?”

Liora’s sweetly complaining voice came through. “Declan, when are you getting here? I’m starving. And Jaxson won’t even let me eat first.”

Right after that, a low, indulgent male voice sounded on the other end. “Who was it that told me to remind her to watch her mouth? Now she’s blaming me?”

Liora huffed.

“If you’re hungry, eat first. I’ll be there soon,” he said.

He hung up.

Declan stubbed out the cigarette. Then, one last time, he looked out the window.

He raised the window and drove away from the villa.