She Swore Never To Be The Other Woman But He Made Her One Anyway Chapter 04

She Swore Never To Be The Other Woman But He Made Her One Anyway Chapter 04

We met at a cafe. 

She was even more beautiful than in her photos. 

Her skin was glowing, and she was dressed in high fashion- 

very expensive. 

I was dressed simply. People always said I was a seductive 

vixen who could enchant men even without trying. 

But seeing Eleanor, I finally understood what a true “pure–hearted socialite” looked like. 

“Sit.” 

She pointed to the seat opposite her. 

I sat down. 

She sized me up. 

“How long has Silas been keeping you?” 

I didn’t say anything. 

She gave a small smile and took a card from her bag, pushing it toward me. 

“Five million.” 

“Is it enough?” 

Looking at the card, I suddenly wanted to laugh. 

They really were a perfect match. 

Even the amount they offered was the same. 

“Not enough?” 

She pulled out a checkbook and pushed it over. 

“Fill it in yourself.” 

“Any amount is fine.” 

I looked up at her. 

“Miss Montgomery, did you call me here just to give me money?” 

She was taken aback, then laughed. 

“Cassie Vance, you’re more interesting than I thought.” 

She picked up her coffee and took a sip. 

“I came because I wanted to see what kind of person Silas would keep around.” 

She set the cup down and looked at me. 

“I want to invite you somewhere.” 

“To The Manor at Saint–Claire.” 

“There’s a family dinner tonight.” 

“See for yourself what he looks like when he’s with me.” 

I should have refused. 

But I nodded. 

Because I suddenly remembered my mother. 

My mother waited twenty years and never got to step inside 

that man’s house once. 

I wanted to see it. 

See what that place I could never enter actually looked like. 

The Sterling family estate was in Westwood Estates, a 

standalone mansion with two century–old ginkgo trees at the gate. I was stunned. 

Eleanor walked ahead of me and looked back: 

“What are you standing there for? Come in.” 

I followed her inside. 

Through the gardens, through the foyer, and into the brightly 

lit grand hall. 

There were many people in the hall. 

Men in tailored suits, women dripping in jewels, glasses clinking, and the air filled with laughter. 

I stood at the door like an intruder who had lost their way. 

Then I saw Silas. 

He was standing in the middle of the crowd, holding a glass, 

talking to several elders. 

He wore a black suit, hair styled back–he was dazzling. 

Different from how he usually was. 

Normally, he would wear a hoodie and curl up on my small 

sofa, or peel pomegranates to feed me. 

Now, he was the eldest son of the Sterling family, the Prince of 

the elite circles, Eleanor’s fiancé. 

Proper. Distant. High–and–mighty. 

Eleanor was standing next to him. 

She had already walked over and taken his arm at some point. 

He looked down at her and smiled. 

I had never seen that kind of smile. 

It was the genuine smile of two people who belonged to the same world. 

He reached out and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her 

ear. 

The movement was light and natural. 

I stood at the door, watching this scene. 

I suddenly remembered that night. 

He was peeling pomegranates and feeding them to me. 

Now I knew, and I understood why my mother kept waiting. 

I stood in the corner. 

No one noticed me. 

A server carrying a tray passed by, and I took a glass of champagne. 

Then I saw someone else. 

In the corner sat a man with graying hair. 

He sat alone on a sofa; no one went to toast him, and no one spoke to him. 

But his features were identical to the man on my mother’s lock screen. 

Teddy. 

The man my mother waited twenty years for. 

He had grown old. 

Most of his hair was white, and his back was slightly hunched, 

yet he still retained some of the grace from his youth. 

He had his head down, lost in thought. 

Then a woman walked over, dressed magnificently and 

covered in jewels. 

She stood before him, looking down at him. 

“Darling, why are you hiding here all by yourself?” 

He looked up and gave a forced smile. 

She ignored his smile and turned to look at Silas and Eleanor 

in the center of the room. 

“Look at how prestigious the Sterlings are.” 

“Then look at you.” 

She left. 

He sat there, his glass still raised, but it was empty. 

I suddenly remembered my mother’s words before she died. 

“Cassie, don’t hate him. He had his own difficulties.” 

His “difficulties“-were they this? 

Being left in a corner, mocked by his wife, drinking alone from 

an empty glass. 

This was the man she waited twenty years for. 

This was the answer she spent her life gambling on. 

And it was the answer I was waiting for too.