The Bride They Replaced Came Back Richer Chapter 05

The Bride They Replaced Came Back Richer Chapter 05

Isla Ashford looked down at me and leaned into Oliver with practiced intimacy.

“Sorry, Mrs. Whitaker. Looks like your word doesn’t count after all.”

I looked at Isla Ashford’s smile.

This girl.

Even her little look of triumph was exactly the same as her mother’s back then.

The day Serena put on my wedding gown and married my fiancé.

Only now, the man standing beside this girl was my son.

For the first time in twenty years, Oliver defied me.

He looked at me.

“Mother, I’m sorry.”

“But… I can’t help who I love.”

Looking at my son standing in front of me, I forced down the pain in my chest.

Then I stood.

“Come with me. Alone.”

Oliver and I talked privately in a room for half an hour.

Half an hour later, Oliver spoke with a choked voice.

“You really went through all that twenty years ago?”

After telling him about the past, I felt as if all my strength had been drained out of me.

I nodded.

Then I looked at him.

“So now you know why I won’t allow you to be with Isla Ashford?”

His eyes were red.

He said nothing.

But the look in his eyes told me he understood everything.

“I know it’s hard to accept after hearing it for the first time.”

“That’s fine. I’ll give you time.”

“Think it over carefully.”

Oliver didn’t speak.

He only began to sob quietly.

I stood and walked out.

Suddenly, he spoke behind me.

“Mother, it hurts knowing what you went through.”

I turned back.

My eyes reddened before I could stop them.

In twenty years, this was the first time anyone had ever said that to me.

Even my own mother had never felt sorry for me.

Not even a little.

Not long after, Oliver also walked out.

Everyone’s eyes landed on him.

Isla Ashford watched him, hope lighting her face.

I looked at him too.

I watched as he walked toward me.

Isla Ashford’s face fell.

“Oliver Whitaker!”

“Mother.”

Oliver came to stand in front of me.

I finally let out a breath and smiled.

But in the next second, that smile froze on my face.

He bowed to me.

“I’m sorry.”

“Oliver?”

“Mother, even if you don’t agree, even if those things happened in the past, none of that was Isla’s fault. I can’t follow you into doing something foolish.”

“After all, your pain is still yours. It doesn’t give you the right to punish Isla.”

I looked at him in disbelief.

Oliver turned around.

He took Isla Ashford’s hand.

The way he looked at me carried a new coldness.

“Mother, I’ve made my decision.”

A ripple of shock went through the room.

Joy flashed across Isla Ashford’s face.

She gripped his hand tightly and leaned against him shyly.

“What if I say that if you two stay together, I’ll cut off our mother-son relationship?”

“Then do it.”

I had imagined Oliver might agree.

But I hadn’t expected him to answer without the slightest hesitation.

The son I had raised on my own for twenty years.

In this moment, he didn’t hesitate at all.

My eyes burned instantly.

But I smiled.

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.”

Oliver didn’t flinch.

Suddenly, I realized something.

When this child turned cold, he really did resemble my mother.

“Then we separate our finances, and you give up your claim to the family trust.”

“Fine.”

Oliver’s tone was flat.

“I’ll earn mine. You earn yours.”

“Mr. Whitaker!”

My staff grew anxious.

I lifted a hand and stopped them.

“In that case, draft the agreement. Let him sign.”

Oliver froze.

But when the trust exclusion agreement was placed in front of him, he still signed it without hesitation.