He Dumped Me For a Heiress, Unaware I Owned His Whole Legacy Chapter 09

He Dumped Me For a Heiress, Unaware I Owned His Whole Legacy Chapter 09

Silas was far more perceptive than Ewan.

I said nothing.

He didn’t push me, his tone calm.

“No one but those directly involved would know all these tiny details.”

“Miss Hale, are you trying to force me to back down?”

“Or are you testing me with all of this?”

“What? Do you think I’m just as useless and clueless as Ewan?”

I lifted my gaze and met his eyes without flinching.

“Silas, we both know this meeting’s only happening for my brother’s sake.”

“What I choose to do has nothing to do with you. If you don’t want to keep this up, we can end this dinner anytime you’d like.”

I stood to leave, but he caught my wrist before I could step away.

He picked up the coffee mug I’d been drinking from and took a sip without a trace of hesitation.

Heat flooded my cheeks, and I tried to pull my hand free.

Silas held on tight, refusing to let go.

“Elowen, this isn’t the first time we’ve met.”

“It was much earlier than today.”

“Back in your second year with Ewan, I worked as Old Mr. Knight’s assistant. Ewan hated having me around and attacked me at the Knight estate.”

“You stepped between us and cleaned my wounds for me.”

I froze.

I did vaguely recall that incident, but I’d only thought I’d helped some random staff member of the Knight family and never bothered to remember his face.

Before I could speak, Silas let out a quiet, soft laugh.

“How could I ever turn you down? I’ve waited almost three years for this chance.”

“My mother gave birth to me solely so I could seize the family inheritance. The old man kept me close just to balance Ewan’s power. For thirty years, no one has ever treated me kindly without an ulterior motive.”

“Elowen.”

“Stop loving Ewan. Give me a chance, won’t you?”

It turned out someone really could hold onto a small kindness for years on end.

Yet Ewan had taken every bit of my devotion for granted.

“You gave five years of your life to Ewan. I’ve waited for you in the shadows for three. Now he’s out of the picture. It’s my turn.”

I nodded.

“Alright. Let’s give it a try.”

“There’s just one thing I need to confirm, though.”

“When my brother suddenly tracked me down all those years ago, was it you who tipped him off?”

Silas’s breath hitched, his voice low and raw with honesty.

“It was me. I wanted to pull you away from him.”

“I failed back then, though.”

I smiled at the faint flush creeping up his ears.

“Well, you succeeded now, boyfriend.”

Silas’s head shot up instantly.

In that moment, his eyes shone brighter than every star outside the window.

Later on, Liora was sent to prison for stealing the experimental research data.

After being stripped of his heir status, Ewan was demoted to a low-level entry position.

He’d made countless enemies over the years, and someone retaliated against him in secret, shoving him into an under-repair elevator. Both his legs were crushed beyond repair. He would spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.

He tried to come see me dozens of times, but my brother’s bodyguards always blocked him at the gates of the Hale estate.

Word got around that he drowned his sorrows in alcohol every night and was hospitalized repeatedly with severe stomach and liver damage. He didn’t have much time left.

By the time I heard any more news about Ewan, I felt absolutely nothing.

Silas and I built a steady, gentle relationship.

We got married the very next year.

After our wedding, he still memorized all my little preferences and respected every single choice I made.

At long last, I no longer had to shrink myself or compromise just to hold onto love.

In the third year of our marriage, a groundbreaking drug for congenital heart disease was released, boosting survival rates for patients by forty percent.

Our child was born the fourth year.

The cold, powerful tycoon everyone knew Silas to be stood outside the delivery room with red, tear-streaked eyes.

Watching him fumble clumsily but wholeheartedly as he soothed our baby, I knew life had twisted and turned, only to hand me the perfect happy ending I’d always deserved.